TSNE’s Fiscal Sponsorship program offers management support to small nonprofits, so they can put more time and resources into meeting their program goals and creating positive social change. Learn more about our programs and how to donate to these innovative projects.
Boston Family Boat Building
Boston Family BoatBuilding brings real world experiences and academic skills together to excite students about learning. We offer a year-round schedule of experiential learning opportunities, from learning how to chart a course, to an oral history of descendants of African Americans who were involved in the maritime industry, to building a boat. Donate now.
BUILD Initiative
BUILD’s work and its vision of comprehensive early childhood development systems is at the center of an emerging and vibrant state-based policy movement in the early childhood development field. BUILD helps states construct a coordinated system of programs, policies and services that responds to the needs of young children and their families. BUILD works with organizations and agencies that set policies, provide services and advocate for our youngest children to make sure that they are safe, healthy, eager to learn and ready to succeed in school. Donate now.
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
CCFC’s mission is to reclaim childhood from corporate marketers. A marketing-driven media culture sells children on behaviors and values driven by the need to promote profit rather than the public good. The commercialization of childhood is the link between many of the most serious problems facing children, and society, today. Childhood obesity, eating disorders, youth violence, sexualization, family stress, underage alcohol and tobacco use, rampant materialism and the erosion of children’s creative play, are all exacerbated by advertising and marketing.
When children adopt the values that dominate commercial culture-dependence on the things we buy for life satisfaction, a “me first” attitude, conformity, impulse buying, and unthinking brand loyalty-the health of democracy and sustainability of our planet are threatened. CCFC works for the rights of children to grow up-and the freedom for parents to raise them-without being undermined by commercial interests. Donate now.
The Carrot Project
The Carrot Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating financing solutions for small- and midsized farms, limited-resource farms, and those using ecologically sound practices. Our program model is designed to incubate, learn from and establish alternative financing programs in combination with business technical assistance. They are helping to rebuild a farming system that offers stability to local farmers, provides healthful food for citizens, replenishes the environment, and is good for regional and local economies. Donate now.
Greater Berkshire Agriculture Fund (a program of The Carrot Project)
The Greater Berkshire Agriculture Fund will provide capital, as well as business and financial management technical assistance resources, to small and mid-sized farmers and farm-related businesses using sustainable or organic practices. These farms and businesses will serve markets within the greater Berkshire area or nearby states.
Center to Support Immigrant Organizing
The mission of the Center to Support Immigrant Organizing (CSIO) is to support and help develop the work of individuals, groups, organizations and communities dedicated to organizing immigrants around the issues that affect their lives. CSIO was founded in 1999 in response to an assessment of the barriers to organizing for social and economic justice in immigrant communities in the greater Boston area. Donate now.
Commonwealth Seminar
The Commonwealth Seminar (MassCS) exists to open the doors of the State House to diverse leaders. They fulfill that mission by providing legislative training, networking opportunities with top policymakers and access to public service job opportunities for diverse leaders in Massachusetts. Donate now.
Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty
The Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty is a nonprofit organization committed to repealing Connecticut’s death penalty through public education and citizen advocacy. The CNADP is a diverse collection of organizations and individuals united by the shared belief that capital punishment is poor public policy. Donate now.
Design Studio for Social Intervention
DS4SI is dedicated to changing how social change is imagined, developed and deployed here in the United States. We are creating a design studio for the progressive arm of the nonprofit sector in order to support the sector’s ability to create new forms of effective social intervention and the exploration of new ways to be interventionists. Donate now.
Early Childhood Funders Collaborative
The Early Childhood Funders’ Collaborative (ECFC) is an affiliation of individuals who serve as staff at foundations or corporate giving programs that have substantial grantmaking portfolios in early childhood care and education. ECFC was formed by grantmakers to provide opportunities for networking, information sharing and strategic grantmaking. Donate now.
F.R.E.S.H. New London
F.R.E.S.H. New London is a holistic response to hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity. We promote and build local resources to meet local needs. F.R.E.S.H. programs range from intensive summer and year round employment and training of New London teens, garden based education programs for children, community gardens, the F.R.E.S.H. Farm, marketing and donation of fresh produce and culinary programs/ community meals. Donate now.
Future Chefs
Future Chefs works with young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are enrolled in vocational and comprehensive high schools and are interest in exploring and preparing for culinary and related careers. The program operates out of a teaching kitchen in Boston’s South End as well as in vocational high schools in greater Boston. Annually, between seventy and one hundred students are served by the program. Students in internships that are paid by Future Chefs, rather than the restaurants or institutions where they are interns, will be hired as part-time, temporary employees for their eight-week internship placement. Donate now.
Gardening the Community
GTC is a youth-based food justice organization engaged in urban agriculture, sustainable living, and organizing for healthy and equitable communities. We believe in the power of our communities to make change through developing and supporting home grown leaders. Donate now.
Institute of Social and Economic Development
The mission of ISED Solutions is to strengthen the social and economic well-being of individuals and communities in the United States and worldwide. ISED Solutions provides consulting and evaluation to organizations focused on refugee and immigrant services and economic and asset development to help improve long-term social and economic outcomes for low income people.
MadSci Network
The MadSci Network is an interactive science teaching and community outreach tool, staffed and maintained by volunteer scientists and engineers from around the world, devoted to promoting science literacy and encouraging an interest in science. Their main focus has been their free Ask-An-Expert service, which receives 90-150 questions a day from visitors in the U.S. or as far away as Malaysia, Chile and even Antarctica. More than 1,000 scientists provide answers to questions in topics from Astronomy to Zoology. They also maintain a searchable archive of over 36,000 answered questions, experiments, and other areas of interest to learning science.
Main Street Partners
Main Street Partners is a nonprofit that seeks to create jobs and improve local inner-city economies by providing small businesses with the resources and human capital necessary to dramatically improve their business. Main Street Partners was formed by a group of professionals from several of America’s top consulting firms who decided it was time for small businesses to have access to the same minds, research and methodologies that Fortune 500 corporations use to ensure their organizational success. Main Street Partners consultants come from top business strategy consulting firms, such as McKinsey and Bain, top banks, such as JP MorganChase and Citi, and top business schools, such as Harvard Business School and the MIT Sloan School of Management. Together they form Project Teams to collectively leverage their experiences, training and education to help small businesses succeed.
Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery
MOAR is a grass-roots organization started by volunteers on behalf of people in recovery and their families. The MOAR mission is “to organize recovering individuals, families and friends into a collective voice to educate the public about the value of recovery from alcohol and other addictions.” MOAR envisions a society where addiction is treated as a significant public health issue and recovery is recognized as valuable to all our communities. Donate now.
Massachusetts Voter Table
The Massachusetts Voter Table seeks to increase the share of the vote that comes from the “Rising Massachusetts Electorate,” made up of people of color, low-income people, women and youth.
The Table develops leadership from low-income communities and communities of color and is carrying out a coordinated field plan that connects issues, values and voting for every voter. The Table works in alliance with existing progressive organizations, issue organizations and labor unions, strategically partnering to increase its impact. The Table’s capacity-building aim is to strengthen every member organization and strengthen the voices of each member organization. The Table seeks to build long-term infrastructure that reduces barriers between base-building organizations and with traditional progressive organizations and labor unions.
Massachusetts Worker Education Roundtable
The Massachusetts Worker Education Roundtable is a network of worker education programs dedicated to promoting partnerships of employers, unions and educators that provide high quality education as well as training for Massachusetts union members. Programs that develop partnerships with employers, unions, learners and educators are programs that succeed.
MataHari: Eye of the Day
Matahari: Eye of the Day is a social justice organization that mobilizes, advocates and creates safe spaces for historically marginalized, immigrants, communities of color and allies, who are survivors of labor exploitation, trafficking, racism, heterosexism, sexual, societal and familial oppression. In solidarity, they strengthen leadership and raise their voices for social action and transformation to increase freedom, dignity and human rights. Donate now.
Medical-Legal Partnership | Boston
Medical-Legal Partnership | Boston allies health care providers with legal advocates to improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable people. By integrating legal assistance as a core component of patient care, we address the complex needs of low-income patients and ensure that they are able to meet their basic needs for food, housing and utilities, education and employment, healthcare, and personal and family stability and safety. Donate now.
MissionSAFE
MissionSAFE works with highly and proven at-risk youth and young adults from challenged situations and communities, working with them to gain the skills and confidence they need to succeed and thrive, not merely survive, and to be agents for positive change in their communities and the larger world. Donate now
My Sister’s Keeper
My Sister’s Keeper is a faith-inspired, multi-racial collective of women who work together to lend sisterly assistance to communities of women in various locations throughout the world. At present, they are focused on supporting the aspirations of women in the African country of Sudan. It is their hope that their way of working together will inspire other small groups of women to form sisterhoods that support the hopes of women who dare dream in the face of dire socioeconomic conditions. Such is the essence of My Sister’s Keeper. Donate now.
Nonprofit Centers Network
The NCN is a community of nonprofit and philanthropic leaders and professionals from the financial, real estate, and public sectors dedicated to sharing their knowledge and networks for creating and operating quality nonprofit workspace. The mission of the NC is to increase the capacity and effectiveness of the nonprofit sector by supporting the development and ongoing operations of multi-tenant nonprofit centers and other quality nonprofit workspace. Their vision is of a future when every nonprofit organization has access to the workspace it needs to support and sustain healthy, vibrant communities. Donate now.
Northeast Regional Ocean Council
Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC) is a state-federal partnership that reaches across state boundaries to find and implement solutions to the region’s most pressing ocean and coastal issues. NROC members include the New England coastal states (Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine) and federal agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, several line agencies within the Department of the Interior (including the Bureau of Offshore Energy Management, the U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. TSNE currently administers a grant to NROC from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Donate now.
Opportunities Exchange
The purpose of this project is to encourage the formation of shared service alliances in the early care and education industry. These alliances are formed by networks of small center- and home-based early care and education providers, which join forces administratively to lower costs, increase wages and benefits, improve financial stability and improve quality. Most importantly, shared service alliances establish an infrastructure for sustainability — an entity with the capacity to tap and manage the multiple public and private funding streams so critical for providing stable, high quality care for young children. Donate now.
Our Transportation Future
Our Transportation Future is a diverse collaboration of organizations representing business, industry, planning, labor, municipal and environmental interests working together for increased transportation investment in Massachusetts.
To meet mobility needs, foster economic growth, create jobs, increase economic competitiveness and sustain a healthy environment, Our Transportation Future advocates for an efficient, equitable and effective transportation system for the Commonwealth. The Coalition supports legislation, programs and policies to adequately fund the repair and maintenance of the Commonwealth’s existing transportation system, as well as investment in strategic expansion and enhancement projects. Donate now.
Real Food Challenge
Formerly Real Food Challenge, a program of The Food Project
The Real Food Challenge leverages the power of youth and universities to create a healthy, fair and green food system. Our primary campaign is to shift $1 billion of existing university food budgets away from industrial farms and junk food and towards local/community-based, fair, ecologically sound and humane food sources—what we call “real food“—by 2020. The Real Food Challenge also maintains a national network of student food activists—providing opportunities for networking, learning, and leadership development for thousands of emerging leaders.
Resource Generation
Resource Generation is a national organization that works with young people with financial wealth who are supporting and challenging each other to effect progressive social change through the creative, responsible and strategic use of financial and other resources. Resource Generation supports the ability of these young people to better understand themselves as philanthropists, their place in the socio-economic system, and their capacities to contribute to social change. Resource Generation also builds cross-class alliances with people and organizations working for social, racial and economic justice. Donate now.
Rhode Island Food Policy Council
The Rhode Island Food Policy Council’s work is coordinated by a statewide collaboration of diverse, committed and engaged stakeholders from all sectors of the food system. The Rhode Island Food Policy Council will create partnerships, develop policies and advocate for improvements to the local food system to increase and expand its capacity, viability and sustainability. Donate now.
Rhode Island Land Trust Council
The Rhode Island Land Trust Council is a coalition of land trusts with a mission of protecting land to preserve open spaces, natural areas, scenic character, farm lands, forests, historic sites, watersheds and drinking water areas that uniquely define our communities and our state. Collectively, they are preserving the heritage of our communities so that it remains a legacy for future generations. Donate now.
Safe Havens Interfaith Partnership Against Domestic Violence
Safe Havens was founded in 1991 in response to all victims of abuse who reach out to their faith leaders for help. Their goal is to engage faith community leaders in prevention, earlier intervention, accountability and social change through outreach, education and resources. Safe Havens’ collaborative and innovative work has strengthened the faith community response to domestic violence. In addition, Safe Havens works with the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women as a national Technical Assistance Provider in the areas of rural domestic violence and abuse in later life. Donate now.
SeaPlan
SeaPlan strives to achieve a future in which vibrant coastal economies and societies are sustained by resilient ocean ecosystems supported by best practices in ocean management.
The SeaPlan team has been actively engaged in the practice of Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP) since 2007. Building on our experiences and lessons learned in Massachusetts and the northeast region of the U.S., we are well-positioned to assist others tackling CMSP or related challenges, including:
- State governments/agencies developing an ocean management plan for their waters
- Federal agencies involved in CMSP
- Regional governmental entities charged with developing Coastal and Marine Spatial Plans under the 2010 National Ocean Policy and Executive Order
- Private interests – such as marine dependent industries, technology businesses and other enterprises – wishing to capitalize on valuable byproducts of CMSP, including increasing data availability and emerging models/ tools/products
- Foundations seeking to affect change by developing the scientific basis for policy/management decisions and/or by advancing communications and processes to support meaningful stakeholder/public engagement in public policy
Sustainability Guild International
Sustainability Guild International (the Guild) is a mission-driven social enterprise based in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. We are dedicated to the design and piloting of collaborative and sustainable community development solutions in the form of programs, initiatives, products, and services that promote inner city equity, prosperity, health, and beauty.
Our work is built upon four pillars:
- The creation of vibrant public spaces
- The creation of worker-owned social enterprises that leverage community based skills, assets, and energy
- Collaboration between inner city resident and cross-sector institutions
- Global research on innovation and sustainable development
- Sustainable Agriculture Credit Union Research Project
The purpose of the SACU Research Project is to answer the question: Could a credit union further the growth of small, sustainably-managed farms and related businesses in the Northeast?
At a minimum, the project is expected to take 9 months in 3 roughly sequential 3-month phases as outlined in the research project grant budget:
Phase 1: Understanding the Market. This phase includes 20-30 in-depth farm finance interviews and co-op member interviews, competitive analysis, advisory board set up, initial financial modeling, respond to the National Credit Union Administration on field of membership application, canvassing potential members and interviewing other institutions in the sector such as the Farm Credit System.
Phase 2: Refining the CU Model. This phase includes investigating the CU charter, business modeling, continued research on competitors (e.g., Farm Credit), market research and financial modeling. Interview write-ups and analysis would likely continue into Phase 2.
Phase 3: Final CU Sustainability Assessment. This phase includes preparing the final report and financial/business models, clearly stating the “go” or “no go” decision, researching future grant resources and defining next steps.
Tools of the Mind
Tools of the Mind is a research-based early childhood program that builds strong foundations for school success in preschool and kindergarten children by promoting their intentional and self-regulated learning. In a series of rigorous experimental trials, Tools of the Mind has been shown to have a significant impact on self-regulation of preschool children. The study also found these gains in self-regulation to be related to scores in child achievement in early literacy and mathematics. Donate now.
Tutors For All
Tutors for All bridges the achievement gap one student at a time. Through the creation of partnerships between colleges, public schools, and community agencies, they offer underserved urban adolescents the systematic one-on-one instruction they need in order to thrive. Students in the Tutors for All programs have shown dramatically improved MCAS scores, significantly higher grades in their high school classes, and renewed and deeper confidence in their academic abilities. Tutors for All is committed to helping all Boston area youth excel in high school, graduate from college, and thrive in life. Donate now.
Trust for Learning
In April 2013, under the fiscal sponsorship of Third Sector New England, a collaborative fund was launched that is designed to share expertise, resources, and influence to increase the availability of early developmental education to children in the United States and advance a systemic reframing of the role and practice of education in this country.
It’s primary focus at present is to support the work of the Montessori Leaders Collaborative (MLC), a group of national education leaders and advocates who have come together to create strategies for increasing access to this rich, time-tested and replicable model of developmentally appropriate education and to influence the education reform debate currently underway. By supporting the MLC’s work, the funders collaborative is laying the foundation for a national initiative engaging organizations from across various sectors who share an ambitious vision for reimagining education to meet the needs of our children.
Voices from Inside
Through creative writing workshops and public performances and readings, Voices from Inside (VFI) empowers women who have been incarcerated in Hampden County to make changes in their lives and to engage positively with the communities to which they return. VFI has seen an increasingly positive impact since its inception in 1999; not only on the incarcerated women themselves, but also on the way the public accepts their re-entry. As VFI continues weaving a net of support while building self-confidence and self-esteem through the process of creative self-expression, women in our workshops and performance projects will continue to sharpen and utilize the valuable tools they’ve found within themselves. Donate now.
Workforce Solutions Group
The Workforce Solutions Group advocates for an effective training and education system that increases workers’ skills, advances families to self-sufficiency and promotes job creation and economic growth. Donate now.
YogaHope
yogaHOPE is a nonprofit yoga outreach program dedicated to bringing the practice of yoga to underserved women in recovery or life transition–the incarcerated, those in drug and alcohol treatment, those living on the streets, battered women, and women transitioning from hospital treatment for disordered eating issues. The practice of yoga has been shown to produce positive motivational change by helping women regain their vital center of energy, satisfaction and stability. It also teaches mindfulness, impulse control, interpersonal relationship skills, discernment in decision-making, patience, and acceptance of self and of the surrounding world. The practice of yoga can help reduce low self-esteem and poor body image, and greatly improves a woman’s sense of personal empowerment. Donate now.