The Legacy Fund for Boston, a public charity that distributes grant money drawn from local real estate mitigation funds for the purpose of preserving and enhancing Boston's historic spaces, announced today it has awarded a total of $600,000 to 13 exemplary historic preservation projects across nine Boston neighborhoods.
BOSTON, Nov. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Legacy Fund for Boston (LFB), a public charity that distributes grant money drawn from local real estate mitigation funds for the purpose of preserving and enhancing Boston's historic spaces, announced today it has awarded a total of $600,000 to 13 exemplary historic preservation projects across nine Boston neighborhoods.
The funded projects support a range of activities, including the preservation and restoration of historic buildings and houses of worship, efforts to document the immigrant history of Boston, preservation planning grants, and urgent structural repairs to critical historical resources. Grants were awarded across a range of dollar amounts, with the average grant amounting to just over $45,000. Two of the thirteen awards were for the maximum grant amount, at $100,000 each.
Funding for the grants comes from mitigation agreements made by Boston-based real estate development projects for the benefit of communities and residents across the city. Major contributors to the Legacy Fund include Massachusetts General Hospital and its current expansion program, and commercial real estate developers MCAF Winthrop LLC at Millennium Partners, developers of the Winthrop Center, an office building and residences in downtown Boston.
"Boston is a vibrant, diverse city with an extraordinary heritage. Our responsibility is to ensure that heritage remains intact for future generations by funding organizations that are engaged in projects to preserve spaces and tell stories that bring Boston's rich history to life. We are thrilled to be supporting work that will make a profound difference to locals and visitors alike," said incoming Legacy Fund Director Carissa Demore.
"It's always a pleasure to see community benefits from development come to fruition, and we are proud to have been a partner in negotiating this funding from the Winthrop Center project and Mass General Clinical Building project," said Chief of Planning Kairos Shen. "Congratulations to all the recipients, and I look forward to seeing how they will use this funding to encourage historic preservation in Boston."
Read more about Legacy Fund recipients.
The 13 recipients were selected from a pool of 60 applicants. To be eligible, organizations must be registered nonprofits engaged in work that benefits the city of Boston, with an emphasis on restoration, rehabilitation, or preservation of historic resources.
"We prioritized projects with ambitious but realistic goals that would have an immediate impact on the city's culture and historic spaces," said Legacy Fund Board Member Alison Frazee. "It was a difficult decision, as there were so many qualified applicants, and not enough money to support all the worthy proposals. We hope to grow the funds over time so we can increase both the number of grantees and the amounts they receive."
Members of the Legacy Fund's board represent leaders in Boston's cultural and preservation nonprofits and community representatives: Kathy Kottaridis, Historic Boston; Alison Frazee, Boston Preservation Alliance; Carissa Demore, Historic New England; and Gerald Ward, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In addition, at-large directors bring expertise in community building, culture, and neighborhood development: Deneen Crosby, landscape architect; Byron Rushing, former State Representative and historian; Candelaria Silva-Collins: arts administrator, writer, and neighborhood leader.
The Legacy Fund plans another round of grants in 2025. A call for applications will be announced on the Legacy Fund website.
Recipients of the Legacy Fund for Boston 2024 grants:
- Beacon Hill Friends House
- Benevolent Fraternity of Unitarian Church
- Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England
- Eliot Congregational Church
- Footlight Club
- Friends Of Boston Archaeology
- Friends Of Cedar Grove Cemetery
- Hyde Park Historical Society
- Revolutionary Spaces, Inc.
- Second Church in Dorchester Church of the Nazarene
- Shirley-Eustis House Association
- The Friends of Historic Green Street
- Vilna Shul Boston Center for Jewish Culture, Inc.
About the Legacy Fund for Boston
The Legacy Fund for Boston (LFB) was established in 2018 with the sole purpose of managing charitable funds for the benefit of the City of Boston and its residents. The principal activity and purposes of LFB are to receive and distribute funds to enhance and preserve the character, sense of community and space, and cultural aspects of the City of Boston, with a particular focus on historic preservation. More specifically, LFB's efforts would result in Boston's continued presence as a vibrant, diverse, world-class city that respects, protects, and celebrates its historic resources coincident with enlightened development and change. LFB was incorporated as a public charity in 2022 as it began to receive charitable funds. LFB is managed by the Philanthropic Advisory Practice at Hemenway & Barnes LLP.
Media Contact
Claire Vail, Hemenway & Barnes LLP, 1 8572258738, [email protected]
SOURCE Legacy Fund for Boston
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