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Partnering with Purpose

M. Lee Pelton

President & CEO

From TBF President and CEO M. Lee Pelton

We are living through a time of profound challenge and change. Divides are widening, trust is eroding, and the institutions that bind our communities are being tested as rarely before. Yet moments like this also reveal something essential: conviction, courage, and clarity of purpose.

At the Boston Foundation, we believe that leadership begins with listening. Through listening, we learn; through learning, we act. This year, our work has been shaped by that principle, standing firm in our values and working across differences to strengthen the common good.

In an era of uncertainty, we have chosen to move forward with resolve—responding to urgent needs, supporting a strained nonprofit sector, and grounding every action in data, partnership, and trust. We have done so alongside hundreds of donors, civic leaders, and organizations whose shared belief in possibility continues to light the way. You will meet some of them in the pages that follow.

Leadership is not defined by the absence of challenge, but by our response to it. For the Boston Foundation, it means showing up for one another, standing together in the face of adversity, and choosing hope over hesitation. In this moment, our purpose is clear: to build a Greater Boston rooted in trust, belonging, and shared opportunity.

Lee Pelton
President and CEO

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Dwight Poler

Chair, Board of Directors

From TBF Board of Directors Chair Dwight Poler

At the Boston Foundation, we are committed to meeting this moment with purpose and partnership. Across the many communities we serve, this year has brought extraordinary challenges. Yet it has also revealed extraordinary opportunities. By bringing together the full range of the Foundation’s tools and expertise, we are helping to guide and amplify donor generosity and turn it into lasting progress for Greater Boston.

Our strength lies in how we do this work. We listen closely to our donors to understand their priorities, aspirations, and the approaches that best fit them. We work alongside nonprofits and community leaders, as well as city and state policymakers, to identify shared goals and amplify impact through collective action. This report is organized to highlight the Boston Foundation’s approach to impact, showing how our tactical, disciplined methodology delivers meaningful results through listening, convening, research, investment, and advocacy.

We are also expanding the ways donors can invest with, to, and through the Boston Foundation to optimize their impact and involvement. Through initiatives such as Mission First Investments, donors can channel their philanthropic capital into projects that strengthen local economies, expand opportunity, and build more equitable communities—while recycling those same funds in the future for even greater impact.

This combination of partnership, creativity, and purpose defines the Boston Foundation’s civic leadership. It enables us not only to respond to urgent needs but also to build a stronger, more resilient Greater Boston for the future.

I am deeply grateful for the trust and partnership of our donors and community allies. Together, we are proving what is possible when philanthropy listens, learns, and leads with conviction, experience, and the strength of a powerful network.

Thank you for your continued trust and for partnering with us to create the good you want to see across Greater Boston.

Dwight Poler
Chair, Board of Directors

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Supporting Our Communities

Giving through TBF combines flexibility with trusted expertise, allowing donors to support any eligible 501(c)(3), around the block or around the globe. In parallel, TBF directs $18 million in discretionary grants—99.5 percent within Massachusetts.

145

Greater Boston

Total grants to Greater Boston in FY2025 were $144,882,274.

Massachusetts

Total grants to Massachusetts beyond Greater Boston were $10,589,152.

U.S.A & Beyond

Total grants to nonprofits elsewhere in the United States and abroad were $99,197,805.

Listening & Learning

In May, TBF collaborated with Entrepreneurship for All to gather fellow funders, passionate entrepreneurs, business incubators, and others interested in leveling the opportunity playing field in an interactive networking and friend-raising event. Listening dominated the day as small-group table conversations interspersed with speakers and an expert panel sparked storytelling, peer learning, and idea generation on the theme: Philanthropy’s Role in Inclusive Entrepreneurship. This event was just one of many ways TBF convened leaders, thinkers, and doers this year.

Trust turns listening into understanding.

Boston Indicators

New! 2025 GBHRC

TBF’s research team includes rigorous data pros who also excel at communicating their findings—to subject area experts and newcomers alike. A trusted source for fact-based reporting, Boston Indicators’ work is relied upon by journalists, policymakers, and anyone seeking to understand what is happening in our region.

For instance, the 2024 annual Greater Boston Housing Report Card had a special focus on how public lands might be used by municipalities or the state to increase housing supply. A year later, the City of Boston passed an ordinance prioritizing the use of municipal land for affordable housing.

Read more about it in a 2025 blog post, “How Data and Recommendation Move into Policy: Shifting the Conversation—and the Outcomes—on Housing in Our Region.”

Detail from the 2024 GBHRC.

Sounding the Alarm

After January 20, a blizzard of executive orders and policy decisions began reshaping the relationship between the nonprofit sector and the federal government. We heard uncertainty—percolating in the sector for months—growing more acute in our conversations with nonprofit partners. To better understand their challenges and fears, TBF partnered with the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network and MassINCPolling Group to survey nonprofit professionals. Researchers administered the Massachusetts Nonprofits Federal Impacts Survey statewide between February 25 and March 21, 2025.

The survey and outreach language was translated into Chinese (simplified), Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. From nonprofit organizations across the Commonwealth, 523 staffers responded to the survey. Results were sobering, capturing reactions to the realized and anticipated impacts of new policies on Massachusetts nonprofits and the communities they serve. (In short, needs for their services were increasing while resources to provide them were decreasing.) The release of this research at a public forum in May drew the largest audience of any in TBF history. A follow-up survey is planned for a year in; meanwhile, you can read Sounding the Alarm, a summary of findings.

“We need to bring people together to strategize, do scenario planning, understand what is changing. And then more importantly, to rally the sector. And in this specific instance to rally the philanthropic sector to say, ‘This is our moment.’”

Mary Skelton Roberts

CEO of Philanthropy Massachusetts, at the Shifting Federal Landscape research presentation.

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In fiscal year 2025, TBF hosted….

Free and open forums and other events

206

Unique panelists, presenters or performers

Attendees at forums and convenings

Convenings included online and in-person research presentations and panel discussions, small-group investment talks, nonprofit strategy and support workshops, author book talks, and more. In addition, our three equity funds held fundraising celebrations, and the Haiti Development Institute produced the sixth annual Haiti Funders Conference.

Meeting the Moment

As our last fiscal year began, in the summer of 2024, Massachusetts residents were still coping with post-pandemic inflation, and a surge of refugee migrants to Boston strained social support systems and housing in general. As the calendar turned to 2025, immigration eased but inflation and other existential concerns flared. Federal programs were cut or queued up for the chopping block. Informed by research, we knew we needed to bolster support of local safety net organizations of all kinds—food, fuel, shelter, and even legal aid. We called to our donors and they responded. With their prompt generosity, we increased our spring Safety Net Grants from $2 million to $2.65 million, which went into 77 community-serving organizations through $25,000 or $50,000 grants. Later in 2025 donors again met the moment to help TBF make extraordinary grants to the Greater Boston Food Bank and nine smaller regional organizations in the food system.

“It started with a conversation with Julie Smith-Bartoloni at TBF. She said, ‘We’re aiming to increase the pool here. Would you be interested in making a significant donation?’ We said yes. Like everybody, we were feeling at a loss about how to help and where to give. We could not possibly do the research necessary. We obviously trust the Boston Foundation. It made sense to say, ‘You tell us what you’re doing, and we’ll support that.’”

David and Jill Adler

TBF DAF holders and Safety Net Grants supporters.

Racial Wealth Gap Partnership

Donors and other partners regularly join the Boston Foundation to rally support for addressing long-standing regional challenges. The Racial Wealth Gap Partnership is a coalition, launched by TBF in 2022 and now comprising more than 40 parties, dedicated to shrinking race-based gaps in economic well-being by expanding wealth-building opportunities for those who have been previously shut out. The most direct way to do that? Increase homeownership in communities of color. This laser-focused goal is approached through three priorities: growing housing supply, expanding down-payment assistance, and increasing access to affordable mortgage products.

This year saw a joyful milestone with the launch of the ONE+ Mortgage Program, the first major program made possible by the Partnership’s support. Joining Racial Wealth Gap Partnership members for the November 25, 2024 announcement were Massachusetts state officials including Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, and Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus.

“The [Racial Wealth Gap] Partnership’s first investment in the ONE+ program will unlock homeownership opportunities for hundreds of Greater Boston families, but it is just the beginning of our growing commitment to expand down payment assistance and create and preserve wealth in underserved communities and households of color through homeownership.”

M. Lee Pelton

TBF President & CEO

Exploring Together

Getting to know Boston’s distinctive and vibrant neighborhoods with donors and members of nonprofits rooted in those neighborhoods has been a new way for TBF’s partners to connect over shared values, meet their counterparts and peers, and learn what efforts are under way to improve lives and strengthen communities in specific locales. Since August 2024, TBF staff, donors, community members, and nonprofit leaders have explored:

East Boston

Chinatown

Chelsea

Nubian Square

Jamaica Plain

Responsive Support

One example of responding to extraordinary need: As we heard from nonprofits trying to navigate a slew of federal policy changes in 2025, the dire need for legal guidance became clear. We provided Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston with a $100,000 grant to offer pro bono legal clinics for nearly 60 area nonprofits.

Pathway Building

TBF’s discretionary grants often deliver multiyear funding for general operating support in areas of Child Well-Being, Community Leadership, Community Wealth, and Economic Opportunity—our Pathways. Our DAF holders are generous contributors to our Pathway-aligned organizations, and this year, total funds granted to Pathway nonprofits in our region were $78 million. A sample of significant grants this year, by Pathway and Equity Fund:

Child Well-Being: Zero to Three received $188,000 (of a multiyear $365,000 grant) to guarantee that current TBF-funded HealthySteps sites continue program implementation and sustainability.

Community Leadership: Massachusetts Nonprofit Network received $175,000 (from two multiyear grants totaling $535,000) in general operating support to help it strengthen the nonprofit sector.

Economic Opportunity: Roxbury Community College received $132,000, with part from a multiyear $300,000 grant for the launch of the Center for Economic and Social Justice.

Community Wealth: Massachusetts Housing Partnership received $2,000,000 as part of our Racial Wealth Gap Partnership work for affordable rental housing and pathways to home ownership.

Community Wealth: Arts & Creativity: Boston Public Art Triennial received $75,000 (part of a multiyear $200,000 grant) to bring art like Alison Croney Moses’ This Moment for Joy to new spaces in the city.

Asian Community Fund: Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition will receive $30,000 over two years for general operating support as it launches Malden’s first-ever Asian American Community and Cultural Center.

Equality Fund: The LGBT Asylum Task Force, which provides comprehensive support for asylum seekers until they have work permits, received $25,000 for general operating support.

Latino Equity Fund: Pathways Adult Education and Training received $50,000 for general operating support as it offers free English language classes and high school equivalency programs in English and Spanish.

Strategic Impact Investing

Donor advised fund holders at the Boston Foundation can put their money to work even before a grant is made. TBF invests DAF assets while donors plan their philanthropy, with historically strong returns. Among donors’ fund investment options since 2020 is the Impact Pool, which includes investments that generate positive social global impact with an eye toward our local community.

Twenty years ago, the Foundation committed $15 million from our endowment to be used for “Mission First” investments. These investments unlock capital beyond grantmaking to support local efforts in areas such as housing, climate, and business equity, where revolving funds can strengthen and supplement our grant making efforts. Over the years, this revolving pool of capital has been deployed, returned to TBF, and reallocated several times over, generating tens of millions of dollars in additional impact.

Last spring, TBF’s Board voted to expand our MissionFirst investments to include allocations from our donor advised fund community. Beginning July 1, 2025, one percent of donor investments in all but the Short-Term Pool will be allocated to the Mission First Pool. That allocation will grow by one percent each year to a total of five percent by 2030. (Donors may opt out or increase Mission First Pool allocations.)

In addition to our standard offerings, the Boston Foundation partners with donors on custom impact investing efforts—from our Business Equity Fund to program-related investments in housing and economic development, for example.

Dwight Poler on Impact Investing

Dwight Poler is Chair of the Boston Foundation and Founder and CEO of AccelR8 Ventures, a fund investing in early-stage climate change mitigation technologies. He has been active in philanthropic activities for many years with a special emphasis on impact investing.‍‍

Can you define impact investing, and speak to how the Boston Foundation fits in?

Dwight Poler: For the purpose of this conversation, I’ll use impact investing to mean social impact investments where meeting goals enables the return of capital. The success of impact investing depends on defining problems, setting clear goals, paths to achieve them, and incentives to do so, all up front. By clarifying expectations and accountability between the nonprofit change-makers, communities in need and funders, right from the start, the direct collaboration dramatically improves the likelihood of success, efficiency, legitimacy and outcomes. And the recycling of capital amplifies outcomes and improves sustainability.

One challenge I’m attuned to is the reality that those with money to grant or invest are often less proximate to understanding the specific dynamics of those they hope to support. Here I have found the Boston Foundation to be a great partner. It has a deep and proximate staff, closer understanding of the issues, and more tools of impact—including research, convenings and public policy advocacy—than I could ever develop in my own family foundation. With time and engagement with Boston Foundation staff, I have been able to expand both the depth and the breadth of the impact of my investments.

How do these volatile times affect the potential for impact investing?

Dwight Poler: The philanthropic sector is under attack at exactly the time communities’ needs are rising. Thus, we need to ensure that every charitable dollar deployed realizes its highest impact, whether in our grantmaking or impact investing. As just described, impact investing presents the opportunities to realize sustainable outcomes, and—by recycling capital—positive outcomes over time. Investing well takes discipline, but now is the time! Community foundations, with deep and experienced staff at the ready, can help each donor think through their own portfolio goals and amplify their impact most effectively. I think often of the age-old wisdom: “Alone I go fast, but together we go far.” Working in partnership with the Boston Foundation has proven the essence of that phrase.

Do you think impact investing can expand the pool of donor partners for a community foundation such as the Boston Foundation?

Dwight Poler: Absolutely! Most mass market Donor Advised Fund platforms don’t offer impact investing in the many ways that the Boston Foundation does, and few family foundations have the extensive resources to do this work well. Community foundations bring far more than just donor money to bear on our community’s challenges and opportunities. While every donor is different in a variety of ways, the more we collaborate through community foundations, the more likely that we will create economic opportunity and personal satisfaction all around.

The Boston Foundation was “There at the Beginning” for so many critical improvements in Boston that we now take for granted. To the extent that funders continue to invest in turning the challenges of Greater Boston into opportunities for its future, I believe the Boston Foundation can and will attract more donors, creating a positive flywheel for our shared city.

Participants at the 2025 Innovations in International Philanthropy, cohosted by TPI.

The Philanthropic Initiative

Since 1989, The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI) has worked with thousands of donors, foundations, and corporations, influencing billions of dollars going into philanthropy. Operating on a fee-for-service model, TPI offers customized philanthropy consulting and program management services across all philanthropic vehicles including private foundations, donor advised funds, and corporate giving programs. In 2012, TPI merged with the Boston Foundation and continues to advise clients locally, nationally, and globally.

In FY25, TPI provided consulting and program management services to 75 active clients, particularly in strategic planning, family philanthropy and next generation engagement, social and environmental research, program design and management, scholarships and college success programs, evaluation and assessment, and communications. In addition to client work, it was also a strong year for TPI’s thought leadership and field-building efforts, as well as financial performance; TPI generated $3.59 million toward TBF’s operating budget.

Together, TBF and TPI offer a comprehensive philanthropic solution that meets the diverse needs of donors across the spectrum. TBF provides accessible, community-rooted services for a wide range of donors starting at $10,000, while TPI delivers high-touch, strategic support for ultra-high-net-worth individuals and institutions seeking deeper impact. This dual approach enables tailored engagement across asset levels and philanthropic goals, empowering donors to achieve meaningful and lasting social change.

Learn More about TPI

Wage Equity Now

On August 6, 2024, at the Massachusetts State House, Gov. Maura Healey signed into law the Frances Perkins Wage Equity Act. The Boston Foundation is a proud partner, leading advocate, and convener of the Wage Equity Now coalition, which worked for years to bring this new law to fruition. Named for the first woman to hold a U.S. Cabinet position and a champion for workers' rights, the law requires employers to collect and share demographic and wage data. The aim is to empower workers and provide the Commonwealth with information to address wage disparities and systemic inequities in the workplace.

ESOL for Work

In spring 2025, five staff TBF members and other partners testified in support of legislation to streamline and support employment-based English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs in Massachusetts. Two years ago, TBF helped community organizer Nickey Nesbeth build a coalition of 40 organizations, called English for a Strong Economy, to fight for this essential change in our workforce development ecosystem. As the legislature deliberates, the push continues.

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