Boston Foundation Funder Map 2026
TLDR
Most Boston nonprofits apply to Barr, Cummings, and the Boston Foundation without checking what each has actually funded over the last three years. This 12-page map pulls 990-PF distributions for 25 Greater Boston funders and pairs them with portal calendars, so you can rank the prospects you keep before you draft another LOI.
Why This Map Exists
The 25 largest Greater Boston foundations distribute well over $1 billion in grants each year, and most of that money flows through a small number of repeated patterns: Barr’s three-program initiative cycles, Cummings’ once-a-year open application window, the Boston Foundation’s Open Door rounds, Klarman’s invitation-only structure, and the family foundations whose actual giving rarely matches the program areas they list publicly.
The most expensive mistake mid-sized Boston nonprofits make is treating these funders as if they were interchangeable. They are not. Cummings will fund a $30K general operating grant for a Lawrence-based food pantry that Barr would never consider, and Barr will fund a $250K multi-year climate initiative that Cummings is structurally not built to support. Confusing the two costs you cycles you cannot get back.
This map fixes the confusion at the source. Every entry pairs the funder’s stated priorities with what the 990-PF actually shows the funder paid out, surfaces the grant size and geography mismatches that kill LOIs before they reach a program officer, and notes the intake mode (open application, rolling LOI, invitation-only) so your prospect list reflects who can actually be approached.
What’s Inside
The map includes 25 Greater Boston-area funders ranked by 2024 distributions: Barr Foundation, Klarman Family Foundation, The Boston Foundation, Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation, Cummings Foundation, Yawkey Foundations, Bennett Family Foundation, Liberty Mutual Foundation, State Street Foundation, Highland Street Foundation, Linde Family Foundation, Amelia Peabody Foundation, Paul and Edith Babson Foundation, the Boston Bruins Foundation, Frances R. Dewing Foundation, Riley Foundation, Hyams Foundation, Cabot Family Charitable Trust, Beveridge Family Foundation, Boston Children’s Hospital Trust, Schrafft Charitable Trust, Foundation for MetroWest, Cambridge Community Foundation, the Devonshire Foundation, and the Charlestown Foundation.
For each funder the map shows median grant size and range, typical grant count per cycle, the program areas funded over the last three fiscal years (not the priorities page), the application intake mode, the realistic time-to-decision, and any flags around program-officer turnover or strategic shifts.
Boston Foundation Funder Map 2026
A 12-page map of the Boston-area foundation landscape - Barr, Klarman, Boston Foundation, Cummings, and 21 other funders with median grant sizes, intake processes, fiscal calendars, and 990-PF patterns. Delivered by email.
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- 990-PF
- The IRS form that private foundations file annually. It lists every grant the foundation paid during the fiscal year, which is the only authoritative source for what a funder has actually funded - as opposed to what its website lists as priorities.
DEFINITION
- LOI window
- The period during a foundation's grant cycle when letters of inquiry are accepted. Boston-area funders frequently use rolling LOI windows but invitation-only full proposals.
DEFINITION
- Median grant size
- The middle value of all grants paid in a fiscal year. More useful than average grant size, which is distorted by a small number of large institutional commitments.
DEFINITION
Q&A
Which Boston foundations accept unsolicited LOIs?
Barr Foundation accepts unsolicited LOIs only for its Climate program through specific open windows. Cummings Foundation runs an annual open application for its $30K and $100K grants restricted to Massachusetts organizations within 10 specific counties. The Boston Foundation accepts proposals through its Open Door Grants program. Klarman Family Foundation is largely invitation-only. The map flags each funder's intake mode.
Q&A
What is the typical grant size from Greater Boston foundations?
Median grant size varies sharply: Cummings $30K-$100K through its open program, Barr $100K-$500K for multi-year initiative grants, Boston Foundation $25K-$75K through Open Door, Klarman $50K-$250K to invited grantees. The map lists median, range, and modal grant size for each of the 25 funders.
Q&A
How is the Boston Foundation different from Barr Foundation?
The Boston Foundation is a community foundation: it pools donor-advised funds and unrestricted endowments and awards grants from a mix of designated and discretionary pools. Barr is a private foundation funded by the Klarman family with three program areas (climate, arts, education) and a different grantmaking cadence. The map separates community foundations from private and corporate foundations because the application logic differs.
Frequently asked