Safety Net Grants
The Fall 2024 application closed October 21, 2024.
The Safety Net Grants program is designed to support social service organizations that respond to essential needs for marginalized communities and vulnerable residents in Greater Boston.
Safety Net Grants provide an opportunity to provide much-needed general operating funds to nonprofits addressing critical, immediate and essential needs for people throughout the region.
Safety Net Grants are $50,000, two-year general operating support grants, paid in two equal annual installments of $25,000. Essential needs are defined as resources that restore health, wellness, safety and belonging for individuals or families in crisis. They can include, but are not limited to:
- Childcare assistance
- Direct cash assistance
- Disability assistance
- Food security
- Health care access
- Legal support
- Mental health support
- Rental and housing assistance
- Support for survivors of trauma
Grants are offered twice each year - once in the spring and once in the fall. Information on the program is available via the Quick Links box, or elsewhere on the page below. If you have specific questions, please send an e-mail to safetynetgrants@tbf.org.
Quick Links
Downloadable version of application questions
TBF announces $1 million in grants to 20 organizations
On July 1, 2024, TBF announced that 20 nonprofit partners have been chosen to share $1 million in this round of the Foundation’s Safety Net Grants program. Recipients, who were decided through a community-led process, will receive a $50,000 grant for general operating support over two years.
Safety Net Grants Information Session
This session offered potential applicants to the Safety Net Grants program a chance to learn more about the eligibility requirements, application process and selection criteria.
Monday, September 30th, 2024, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Watch a recording of the info session webinarEligibility:
Who Is Eligible?
Eligible Organizations primarily serve communities historically excluded from institutional philanthropy in Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk counties with a focus on the communities of greatest need as defined by the supplemental poverty measure (SPM). An eligible applicant would also meet the following criteria:
- Has not submitted an application within the past 12 months;
- Has a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit designation from the IRS or operates under the fiscal sponsorship of a tax-exempt nonprofit;
- Has been operating for at least three years
- Engages in year-round programming
- Aligns with Our New Pathway, the strategic vision for The Boston Foundation;
- Does not discriminate in the hiring of staff or the provision of services on the basis of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin or disability;
- Responds to an essential need by providing resources that restore health, wellness, safety and belonging for individuals or families in crisis
We are especially interested in organizations that are:
- Smaller and have been historically excluded from philanthropic support
- BIPOC-led and/or whose leadership reflects the demographic composition and lived experiences of the communities they serve;
- Meeting the needs of seniors and people with physical disabilities;
- Providing food, fuel and shelter support
Take this short quiz to help you determine your eligibility.
If you applied for the Safety Net Grants March 1st deadline, you are not eligible to apply for the upcoming October 21st deadline.
Exclusions:
The Boston Foundation does not make grants for capital construction costs, endowments, medical or academic research, scholarships, sectarian or religious purposes, or to support candidates for political office. Private non-operating foundations, 501(c)(4) organizations, and Section 501(a)(3) Type III Non-functionally Integrated organizations are not eligible to apply. In addition, grants are not made to individual persons. Parent Teacher Associations and tuition-based schools (including K-12 and post-secondary schools and universities) are also not eligible for this funding.
We are currently not accepting grant proposals from CDCs certified under Certified under MGL Chapter 40H and small businesses.
Who is Involved in Making a Funding Decision?
The Safety Net Grants team uses a version of participatory grantmaking—the practice of centering affected communities in grant-making decisions by giving them the power to decide which organizations to fund. We started by using a mixture of staff and community reviewers to guide our decision-making process and final grant decisions are approved by our board. Now Safety Net Grant applications are reviewed in a 100% community-led process. Community reviewers represent a diverse group of nonprofit leaders in Greater Boston and are responsible for the final grant recommendations for the program. The goal is to deepen this practice over the next several rounds.
TBF announces the first cohort of grantees under the new Safety Net Grants program
In June 2023, TBF announced the first cohort of grantees under the new Safety Net Grants program, distributing $1.2 million in grants to twenty-four organizations making Boston a more equitable city through their critically important work serving essential needs. Providing a vital partnership, the decision-making process for these grants was led by a final review panel of 26 community members, working with TBF to ensure the final slate represented a diverse portfolio of organizations across Greater Boston. Overall, 79% of the Safety Net Grants recipient organizations are led by people of color, and nearly half are organizations that have not received funding from TBF in recent years.