Harbus Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Harbus Foundation supports the Greater Boston area in the fields of education, literacy, and journalism.
FUNDING AREAS: Education, literacy, journalism
IP TAKE: Nonprofits do not necessarily need to have a Harvard connection or Harvard alum on staff to gain the attention of this foundation.
PROFILE: Established in 1997, the Harbus Foundation is operated by Harvard Business School students. Harbus News Corporation sought to utilize its operating surplus and created the foundation to carry out its philanthropic pursuits. The Harbus has been the news source for Harvard Business School since 1937. While the foundation is independent from the newspaper, Harbus News provides media and financial support to it. The Harbus Foundation aims to “generate positive social impact in the communities of Greater Boston and promote HBS student involvement in social enterprise and effective philanthropy.” The funder is solely focused on the Greater Boston area and supports the fields of education, literacy, and journalism.
This foundation supports the local community where the school operates. Education grants often support K-12 education efforts. Meanwhile, literacy grants are often awarded for literacy efforts in Boston Public Schools, and journalism grants tend to go towards supporting opportunities for young journalists. The foundation typically awards one grant in each category per year.
Education and literacy grantees receive $20,000 each, and journalism grantees receive $10,000 each. Therefore, total annual grantmaking is $50,000. The foundation has given over $1 million to local organizations since it was established. Past grants have gone to local nonprofits including Empower Schools, Generations Incorporated, and GroundTruth. Grantseekers can view a list of recent grantees on the funder’s website. Grantmaking is restricted to the Greater Boston area. Winning organizations are notified about new grants in March of each year.
This foundation does not accept unsolicited grant applications and awards grants by invitation only. Harbus sends out those invitations to local nonprofits in November of each year. The Harbus Foundation is run entirely by current Harvard Business School students, with grantmaking teams that evaluate grantees and an investment team to manage the endowment. Grantseekers should direct general questions to the foundation at foundation@harbus.org.
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