On January 28, 2020, Paul S. Grogan announced his plans to step down as President and CEO of the Boston Foundation.
For more than a century, The Boston Foundation has responded to the changing needs of the community and the people it serves, and the next President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will lead at a crucial time. As the needs of the communities of Greater Boston change drastically and as the resources of the government – the city, the Commonwealth, and the nation – struggle to meet the demands, The Boston Foundation will need to pivot its emphasis to rebuild services and infrastructure and to join the national conversation about how to create more just, inclusive communities.
The CEO of The Boston Foundation is responsible for ensuring that the Foundation deliver on its mission:
“As Greater Boston’s community foundation, the Boston Foundation devotes its resources to building and sustaining a vital, prosperous city and region, where justice and opportunity are extended to everyone.”
The Board seeks a courageous, aspirational thinker on issues of equity and justice and a superb organizational leader and manager who has a vision for how to address the pressing problems in the Boston and the region. She/he/they will possess the strategic acumen required to chart a course for the future in a dynamic environment, the operational acumen to oversee successful execution of goals, and the agility to be responsive to a changing external environment. The CEO will inspire confidence and broader investment through extensive partnerships with civic, business, and nonprofit leaders, through impact analysis, and by fostering effective grassroots leadership.
The President and CEO will drive organizational initiatives, both strategic and tactical, that will catalyze this ambitious mission in the Greater Boston community. To be successful, the President and CEO will embrace the Foundation’s values statement to “foster collaboration and heal racial, ethnic and community divisions.” These values require that the President and CEO and the Foundation engage with the Greater Boston community with empathy and authenticity so that ideas and voices coming from places of genuine need are fully heard and engaged. This inclusive based approach to the Foundation’s work applies within the organization and the new CEO will continue to inculcate these values in the internal operations of the Foundation.
The Boston Foundation is poised to serve the city and region as a convenor, a leader, a partner and a supporter. The next CEO will inherit a strong organization primed to lead during this critical moment that is filled with significant challenges and change.A Search Committee comprised of will advise the Board of Directors on the selection of The Boston Foundation’s next President and CEO and has retained Spencer Stuart to support the search.
Search Committee members include:
Elyse Cherry, Committee Co-chair
Keith Motley, Committee Co-chair
Zamawa Arenas
Sandy Edgerley
Paul Lee
Linda Mason
Peter Nessen
Dwight Poler
T.J. Rose
Scott Squillace
The members of the Search Committee are actively seeking to identify the best candidates. To that end, they welcome your comments, inquiries, applications and nominations, which may be submitted via an e-mail message with supporting materials to: Ao0lkYkW5nx0jNqkT2KkQBeX74cQmZPS6dVvR5hOhKVpgP9wEunCQVkLmiCr3SMXi6ndBkRPwT+ekbvl/seDVK5Zl74Qf7uWUMvGPE+sIy9G/sgrL+RoCTEvJSIm6mZNbZWnLxYZylfGNsWcz5W4nfKdppMTqgt0dfVQ5ZOsLjBParA7Loi/Uq7PfcvbQqhT4i72nuVz8N0ZwVrB9nOUid7fkoO3oyd+oN9CYKratcM=
The Boston Foundation is committed to providing fair and equitable consideration of all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, ancestry, age, national origin, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, genetic information, or status as a member of the armed forces or veteran of the armed forces, or any other category protected by federal, state, or local law.
The next President and CEO of the Boston Foundation will:
The capabilities and characteristics of the next President and CEO will include:
Strategic Visioning:
At a time when the focus on creating an equitable, sustainable, more compassionate future for the city and region has never been stronger, the next President and CEO will:
Collaborating and Partnering:
In a city with distinct history, strong communities and neighborhoods, and a range of challenging social, racial and economic issues, the next President and CEO will:
Organizational Capacity Building:
A large complex organization with outsized impact and evolving demands, TBF must develop a strong organizational framework and the resources to accomplish its ambitious goals. To do this, the next President and CEO will be a tested executive who will:
Other Personal Characteristics:
Now more than ever, The Boston Foundation has work to do. With COVID-19 raging throughout the world, the long-overdue focus on systematic racism, and the increased focus on equity and justice, the mission of the Boston Foundation could not be more pressing, more relevant:
“As Greater Boston’s community foundation, the Boston Foundation devotes its resources to building and sustaining a vital, prosperous city and region, where justice and opportunity are extended to everyone.”
As one of the nation’s oldest and largest community foundations, TBF serves the people, organizations and communities of Greater Boston and its region and has pivoted to meet the changing needs of the region. Since 1915, the Boston Foundation and its donors have invested more than $2.05 into nonprofits, $1.6 billion of this since 2001. While these figures are large, the important focus is on what the leaders – civic, community, and business – accomplished with these funds to improve the city of Boston in a myriad of ways.
A new era with new challenges has enveloped the city, the region, the country and the world. The COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the demand for racial justice following George Floyd’s brutal murder, will change the city of Boston and demand a new role for The Boston Foundation. The City and Commonwealth will call upon The Boston Foundation, its partners, donors and peers, to collaborate in addressing many significant challenges: racial inequality in education, employment and health; the need to create a new vision for public safety and support; the impact of climate change, particularly on the most vulnerable; and the infrastructure needs of transportation and digital access.
These audacious problems will need equally audacious solutions, and the Boston Foundation will be a key player as a convener, a leader, a partner and a follower. Greater Boston relies on TBF to serve its numerous communities and the Foundation understands that a pivot is required – a pivot towards increased collaboration and partnership; a pivot towards the fundamental needs of the city’s most vulnerable; a pivot towards a profound, lasting change in the city’s racial and economic landscape. The next decade of the Boston Foundation promises to be one of bold shifts, ambitious vision, and broad collaborations in service of a more resilient, equitable, and thriving city and region.
Financial and Operational Highlights
The Boston Foundation has $1.3 billion in assets - including a $454 million endowment (as of June 2019) and $700 million in Donor Advised Funds – and an operating budget of approximately $18.5 million. In 2019, the Foundation and its donors paid $153 million in grants to nonprofit organizations, with $16 million in grants going from the endowment, the Permanent Fund for Boston, to highly effective nonprofits working in its strategic areas. More than $125 million in grants are made every year through donor advised funds, with some $70 million of that giving going to nonprofit organizations in Greater Boston.
The Foundation has 111 full-time staff and a 20-member Board of Directors, selected to represent the broad diversity of the community’s interests and needs. Boston Indicators, the Foundation’s research center, informs the Foundation’s grant-making and publishes reports focusing on issues that are central to the city and region. The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), a unit of the Foundation, provides third-party, consulting services to families, foundations and corporations around the globe seeking to optimize their philanthropic giving.