Boston Foundation announces latest round of Vision Fund small grants

Deadline for latest quarterly round of small grants from the Permanent Fund for Boston is July 15; small organizations encouraged to apply

Boston – The Boston Foundation today announced its latest round of grants from the Vision Fund, a unique small grants program that provides grants of up to $7,500 to support activities that advance the Foundation’s mission and generally have a total project budget of no more than $15,000.

The Vision Fund program is designed to support capacity building efforts, pilot or demonstration projects, program design, evaluation or research, as well as board assessment/development, explorations of mergers and restructuring or other components of a strategic planning effort. Emphasis is on increasing the organizational impact and effectiveness of nonprofit organizations. Since it began in 1993, The Vision Fund grants program has provided more than $1.5 million in grants to support Greater Boston nonprofits.

This quarterly round of grants provides more than $60,000 in support of ten Greater Boston organizations.

The Vision Fund and other small grants programs are an often quiet but critically important part of our grantmaking from the Permanent Fund for Boston,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “As a Foundation, we pride ourselves in being ‘There at the Beginning’ for well over a hundred of the region’s most valued nonprofits, and this program is one great opportunity to support tomorrow’s great nonprofit leaders and ventures.”

Eligible nonprofits may apply for consideration for the next round of Vision Fund grants by July 15, 2014. For more information and an application, visit The Boston Foundation website. Grantees for this quarter include:

• Natick Community Organic Farm: A Vision Fund grant of $7,500 to Natick Community Organic Farm, a nonprofit, certified-organic public farm committed to providing a year-round, hands-on youth and adult education and sustainable farming practices, to support design and modernization of the organization’s registration system.
• Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts (Supportive Living, Inc.): A Vision Fund grant of $2,700 to Supportive Living, Inc., an organization that aims to raise the quality of care and dignity of life for survivors of brain injury, to support its strategic planning efforts.  
• Federation for Children with Special Needs: $4,000 Vision Fund grant to the Federation for Children with Special Needs, an organization with the mission to provide information, support and assistance to parents of children with disabilities, their professional partners and communities, to support the implementation of a placement options website devoted to the logistical and emotional process of considering alternative placements for their children.
• Regis College: $3,450 Vision Fund grant to Regis College, an institution of higher education with a focus on educating Boston area students, to support the rTIP Summer Institute, a one week intensive course for faculty members focused on infusing curriculum from a variety of disciplines with effective technological pedagogies.
• Write Boston: A $7,500 Vision Fund grant to Write Boston, an organization that seeks to boost the capacity to teach and use writing to support student learning, for establishing its Teens in Print program web development protocols and procedures to streamline operations and build youth media skills. 
• The Record Company: $7,500 Vision Fund grant to The Record Company, an organization that provides affordable recording space for independent musicians and training and mentorship to Boston youth, to support their strategic planning.
• East Boston Main Streets: $7,500 Vision Fund grant to East Boston Main Streets, which supports businesses in the local community, to support the strategic visioning project of the Boston Main Streets Coalition. 
• Healing Abuse, Working for Change, Inc.: A Vision Fund grant of $7,500 for Healing Abuse, Working for Change, an organization that creates social change by taking action against personal and societal patters of violence and oppression, to support the development of an organizational strategic plan.
• Casa Myrna Vasquez: A Vision Fund grant of $7,500 to Casa Myrna Vazquez, an organization that delivers solutions to end domestic and dating violence in Boston through a comprehensive, bilingual serves, to support a strategic assessment and planning process.  
• United Teen Equality Center, Inc. (UTEC): A Vision Fund grant of $6,000 to United Teen Equality Center, Inc. (UTEC), an organization that seeks to re-engage young people to trade violence and poverty for social and economic success, to support web implementation and financial practices consultation for its social enterprise expansion into Greater Boston.

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.