Lincoln and Therese Filene Foundation Grants

Lincoln and Therese Filene Foundation Grants is sponsored by Lincoln and Therese Filene Foundation. Supports organizations providing services to individuals and localities, with a focus on the performing arts.

Lincoln & Therese Filene Foundation | Inside Philanthropy OVERVIEW: The Lincoln & Therese Filene Foundation was established by a well-known department store empire with deep roots in Boston and New England, and it provides grants in the Greater Boston region in various civic and cultural areas. IP TAKE: The Filene Foundation has been a mainstay in Boston philanthropy for nearly a century.

This funder is both transparent and accessible with clear funding interests. Community engagement is a big cause here, so try to craft a proposal around promoting engaged and educated Boston citizens, regardless of which program area you apply to. PROFILE: Established in 1937, the Lincoln & Therese Filene Foundation is the foundation of two innovators in Boston’s early philanthropic scene.

Lincoln Filene turned the William Filene’s Sons Company into a large department store with many locations in New England.

According to his biography , he also worked for “codes of fair business dealings and aided in bringing about state systems of unemployment insurance, was a founder of the American Arbitration Association, and through the International Chamber of Commerce, of which he was an active member, helped to eliminate a number of unfair business practices abroad and to establish an international arbitration commission.

” Lincoln’s wife, Therese, was an advocate for women’s suffrage and involved in philanthropy, especially related to immigrant families in Boston and the local music scene. The couple’s two daughters and their children and grandchildren have remained active with the foundation. Five generations of the family continue on with the founding couple’s grantmaking in four program areas.

The foundation’s areas of funding are civic education , human development and self-sufficiency , music education and the performing arts , and public education and broadcasting . Grants for Democracy and Civic Engagement Filene’s civic education funding involves supporting programs that engage, educate, and encourage citizens about values, responsibilities for natural-born and immigrant populations.

Grantees include Bill of Rights Institute, Youthbuild Boston, Center for Civic Education, Presidential Classroom for Young Americans, iCivics, and Generation Citizen. Grants for Violence Prevention, Homelessness, and Human Services The human development and self-sufficiency program funds organizations in the areas of domestic violence, homelessness, job training and youth.

Past grantees include Dorchester Youth Collaborative, Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, EMPath, Bird Street Community Center, and Neighborhood Developers, Inc. Grants for Arts and Culture and Arts Education Filene funds music education and performing arts grants mostly to ongoing programs at Wolf Trap Farm for the Performing Arts, the Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts and the Opera Company, and the Filene Music Program at Skidmore College.

Other arts requests are considered on a limited basis. Grants for Education and Journalism The foundation funds public education and broadcasting grants to organizations “that create, distribute, or facilitate distribution of educational content to the general public in underserved communities. ” Programs in public school systems are also prioritized here.

Grantees include Epiphany School, Tech Goes Home, Lowell’s Boat Shop, and Cambridge Center for Adult Education. Grants are generally between $10,000 and $20,000. The foundation awarded over $1.

4 million in grants in a recent year and held more than $28 million in assets. Across all program areas, the foundation focuses grantmaking on the Greater Boston area, but also throughout New England. This foundation accepts unsolicited grant requests from nonprofits.

To be eligible to apply for a grant, your organization must be in Massachusetts or have received a special invitation to apply if in another state. This is typically a funder of program support, not general operating support or capital campaign support. Direct general questions to the foundation via the online contact form .

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