The Lynch Foundation

Since our founding in 1988, The Lynch Foundation has been committed to funding bold ideas that are responsive to local needs. The Lynch Foundation views giving as an investment. We spread our resources in a diverse portfolio of sustainable organizations, from innovative and promising start-ups to well-established organizations with strong leadership. This allows us to serve the largest constituency possible and help its partners act as a catalyst for effective change.

Over the last 3 decades the Lynch Foundation has invested over $150 million in more than 300 unique not for profit organizations. We champion high-impact organizations with visionary leaders focusing on education, cultural and historic preservation, health care and wellness, and the religious and educational efforts of the Roman Catholic Church. The Foundation focuses its work particularly in the Greater Boston area. We value bold initiatives with the focus and determination to create change that honors human dignity and values individual potential.

The Lynch Foundation’s grantmaking strategy is a mix of both philosophy and practice. This grantmaking strategy is our core competence--it is what sets the Foundation apart--and allows us to make the high-leverage investments that many other foundations in Boston, even those with larger coffers, cannot make. 

 The strategy is called “Informed Investment”. It is based on three core principles, pursued in a defined sequence: 1. Achieve close proximity to the issues and people you are considering for support; 2. Use this proximity to ensure that you have deep understanding of the dynamics and opportunities in play; 3. Make informed investments that balance likely risks against the long-term growth potential of the people and organizations you choose to back--as contrasted with a more transactional grantmaking approach that seeks to “buy” specific short term outcomes.  

Based in Boston, the Foundation focuses regionally, and selectively engages nationally, working in partnership with nonprofits, foundations, the public sector, and civic and business leaders. We seek to support knowledge, capacity, policies, and practices essential to the health and impact of the nonprofit and philanthropic sector. Across all of this work, Lynch seeks to contribute to as well as learn from the field.