Vertex Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Vertex Foundation supports STEAM education, social innovation, healthy families and community support in Boston, Massachusetts and other places where the Vertex company operates.
FUNDING AREAS: STEAM education, social innovation, healthy families, community support
IP TAKE: This company-sponsored foundation is a big giver of small grants in Boston. It is not an accessible funder in that it chooses to research it’s own grantees to fund rather than accepting new proposals or letters of inquiry. However, reach out to its staff to learn the situations in which the foundation does accept unsolicited proposals and to learn more about its grantmaking strategies.
PROFILE: Established in 2017, the Vertex Foundation is a corporate foundation based in Boston, Massachusetts. Vertex is a global biotechnology company that creates medicines for people with serious diseases, such as cystic fibrosis. The company was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1989 and has since moved to the Boston Innovation District. The foundation aims to "improve the lives of people with serious diseases and contribute to the communities where Vertex is located through education, innovation and health.” It funds local efforts for STEAM education, social innovation, healthy families and community support.
The Vertex Foundation’s STEAM education giving supports the next generation of innovators, while social innovation grants fund innovative solutions to community challenges. The funder’s health grants focus on improving the quality of life for families with children who have serious diseases. Community support grants fund disaster relief, scholarships for people affected by cystic fibrosis, employee volunteering and matching gifts. The Vertex Foundation commonly supports summer camps for middle school students, programs that address racial inequity and Ronald McDonald House Charities to help sick children. The funder also responds to natural disasters, public health crises. It has a one-for-one matching gift program for employee donations and awards $5,000 scholarships for college too.
Grants range between about $100 and $10,000. The foundation has been awarding a few hundred thousand dollars in grants per year recently. Learn more about this funder’s local giving by examining its recent tax records. Grantmaking largely focuses on Boston, Massachusetts, but also funds programs in other regions where the company has a presence, such as San Diego and London. Past local grantees include i2Learning, the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research and City Year Boston.
This foundation does not typically accept unsolicited grant applications from nonprofits. Direct general questions to the staff at vertexgrants@vrtx.com or 617-961-5104.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
