Meeting the Moment: Sustaining Families is an evolving initiative that uses the Foundation’s grantmaking, donor partnerships, research, convening, and advocacy power to distribute critical funding that responds to current need, identifies paths to protect critical systems and institutions, and collaboratively reimagines what a more resilient, robust safety net could look like.
We are launching this effort with a commitment across our Foundation and in partnership with our donors, nonprofit leaders and organizations and civic leaders at the local, regional and state levels. We will work to ensure that every person in our city and region is able to access quality food as part of our broader efforts to meet this moment and defend the rights, health and wellbeing of everyone who calls Massachusetts home.
Meeting the Moment: Sustaining Families is an evolving effort - please check back here and elsewhere on TBF.org for more announcements and information as this work takes shape, and for ways you can be a part of this effort or access the opportunities it provides.
Prompted by rising food insecurity and cuts to federal food programs, the Meeting the Moment: Sustaining Families initiative will be a multi-part, multi-million dollar commitment in support of a stronger regional system to address hunger and food insecurity in Eastern Massachusetts.
Read the announcementThis fall, TBF and a group of nonprofit partners announced the Leadership Longevity Fellowship for Food System Leaders, an innovative nine-month program for nonprofit leaders working to alleviate food insecurity who are ready to grow their individual capacity for well-being and impact, as they forge partnerships to help address broader needs in the food system. This 2026 fellowship cohort, developed and supported by the Boston Foundation, the Cambridge Community Foundation (CCF), and New Sector Alliance, builds upon two successful pilot cohorts with TBF grantee partners in 2023 and 2025, honing New Sector Alliance’s science-backed curriculum and leadership development program to help address rising burnout amongst nonprofit leaders.
The program kicks off in January 2026 and will invite up to 15 mid-career, frontline nonprofit leaders from TBF’s Sustaining Families Initiative and CCF’s Food Access and Security Initiative to participate, offering a blend of in-person and virtual retreats, coaching sessions, peer learning circles, and a culminating fellowship project and public convening, to ensure that the fellows have the tools, strategies, and networks of support to collaborate, adapt and lead through a time of immense change and increased demand for services.
The latest grants, to 61 organizations, bring the total distributed by TBF, our partners and our community of donors to over $4.6 million, with more than $6 million raised to date in support of organizations committed to meeting the basic food needs of our community.
The new round of grants was seeded with $500,000 from TBF's Fund for Boston’s Future, which donors quickly supplemented as part of the Foundation’s long-term commitment to meeting basic needs.
The Greater Boston Food Bank distributes as much as 80 percent of the food supplied to food pantries across the Commonwealth.
We are already seeing a sharp rise in food insecurity. Significant and immediate cuts to SNAP—particularly for legal immigrants and mixed-status families—has deepened the urgency to stabilize the critical organizations and systems that are simply too important to fail.
Right now, nearly 1 in 3 adults in Massachusetts has experienced food insecurity in the past 12 months according to 2024’s Food Equity and Access in Massachusetts: Voices and Solutions from Lived Experience, a collaboration between the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) and Mass General Brigham (MGB).
Our Boston Indicators team identified the areas most impacted, using data on SNAP usage, foreign-born households, children, employment status, and disability. This all points to a system under strain:
Our work to address current and emerging needs requires a coordinated, full-system response that reflects a framework that guides everything we do:
You can easily make a donation to directly support this initiative. Just be sure to specify "Meeting the Moment: Sustaining Families" if donating by check.
Support this initiative from a Donor Advised Fund by recommending grants to "the Boston Foundation" for the purpose of "Meeting the Moment: Sustaining Families."
To make other types of donations, or if you have a donor-related question, email our Donor Services team.