Boston Foundation accepting applications in 2nd Collaborate Boston challenge

Foundation to support four innovative partnerships serving Fairmount Corridor neighborhoods with $25,000 awards

Boston – The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, has begun to accept proposals in the second-ever Collaborate Boston competition, an incentive-driven prize competition to support collaborative efforts to create thriving people and vibrant places in the city. In 2014, the Foundation will award four $25,000 grants to resident-led collaborations focused on strengthening the Fairmount Corridor neighborhoods of Dorchester, Hyde Park, Mattapan and/or Roxbury.

The request for ideas is now available at collaborateboston.org.

“Community foundations have a unique opportunity to bring together groups large and small to solve local and regional problems,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “We hope that Collaborate Boston will expand those cooperative efforts to new individuals, organizations and others who have innovative ideas to achieve collective impact on the issues that matter most to them.”

For 2014, Collaborate Boston will place an emphasis on fostering resident-led collaborations that include nonprofit and other partners. Full criteria for projects and application materials are accessible collaborateboston.org, along with highlights and lessons learned from the 2013 contest. The deadline for entries is March 28, 2014.

In its inaugural year, more than 70 groups submitted collaborative proposals to improve outcomes for young men and boys of color in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan. Two winners were selected, Codman Square Brotherhood Project and Black and Latino Boys at the STEM of Success, and presented their projects in a special Collaborate Boston showcase.

“For 2014, we wanted to build on last year’s success and support collaborative efforts focused in the developing neighborhoods along the Fairmount Corridor,” said Jennifer Aronson, Senior Director, Program & Nonprofit Effectiveness. “We know from our work the unique power of resident leadership in creating effective solutions to neighborhood issues, and hope this year’s competition will inspire collaboration that combines resident wisdom with the capacity to have an impact.”

The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, is one of the largest community foundations in the nation, with net assets of close to $900 million.  Founded in 1915, the Foundation is approaching its 100th Anniversary.  In 2013, the Foundation and its donors made nearly $98 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and received gifts of $130 million. The Foundation is a partner in philanthropy, with some 1,000 separate charitable funds established by donors either for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes.  


The Boston Foundation also serves as a major civic leader, provider of information, convener and sponsor of special initiatives that address the region’s most pressing challenges.  The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), an operating unit of the Foundation, designs and implements customized philanthropic strategies for families, foundations and corporations around the globe. Through its consulting and field-advancing efforts, TPI has influenced billions of dollars in giving worldwide.  For more information about the Boston Foundation and TPI, visit www.tbf.org or call 617-338-1700.