Quick Stats
- Annual Giving: $1,097,639 (grants paid)
- Grant Range: Up to $25,000 (Community Grant Programme); average Community grant approximately $7,100
- Geographic Focus: Brookline, Massachusetts (serves those who live, learn, work, or play in Brookline)
- Application Method: Mixed (fixed deadlines for Community Grant, Racial Equity Grant, and Youth Development Grant programmes; rolling for Safety Net Grant programme)
Contact Details
- Website: https://brooklinecommunity.org/
- Email: grants@brooklinecommunity.org
- Phone: 617-566-4442
Funding Priorities
BCF supports organisations, efforts, programmes, and initiatives that:
- Address racial and economic inequity
- Support BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) and other vulnerable populations, including immigrants, women, children, older adults, and LGBTQ+ individuals
- Provide health and wellness services
- Support education initiatives
- Meet essential needs (food access, rental assistance, utility payments, child care assistance)
- Expand access to arts and culture programming
- Protect the environment
- Support ageing in place
- Nurture young children and families
- Build organisational capacity
- Provide crisis intervention services
The foundation considers requests for general operating expenses, project and programme funding, capital improvements, sector-building efforts, community- and movement-building initiatives, and capacity building.
What They Don't Fund
- Programmes that have been cut from Town budgets or that the Town is legally required to provide (except when grant requests address immediate needs of underserved populations or enhance existing programmes and services)
- Direct assistance to individuals (though they fund organisations that provide direct financial support or scholarships to individuals)
- Organisations that discriminate in hiring staff or provision of services on the basis of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or disability
Application Process & Timeline
Applications are submitted through BCF's online Grants Management System. The foundation operates multiple grant programmes:
Community Grant Programme: Fixed deadline (November each year). Applications are reviewed by BCF's team, then the Programme & Grants Committee (comprised of board members), with final approval by the Executive Director and/or Board of Trustees. Review period runs through January.
Safety Net Grant Programme: Rolling applications year-round until available funds are allocated for the current fiscal year (July 1-June 30).
Youth Development Grant and Racial Equity Grant programmes: Fixed cycles with varying deadlines.
Eligibility: 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisations, Town departments or agencies, and community groups can apply. Proposed projects or programmes should directly benefit members of the Brookline community.
References
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