Carolyn and Peter Lynch established The Lynch Foundation in order to spread the values that were instilled in them throughout their childhood. Both children of educators, they went to public schools and attended college on scholarships. As they went on to have successful careers, they remembered the importance of education and the generosity of those who afforded them an opportunity to receive one. As a result, they founded The Lynch Foundation in 1988.
Children’s Services
Children’s Services of Roxbury was founded in 1972 by community and church leaders, Reverend Richard Richardson and Mrs. Jestina Richardson, to prevent children of color from being removed from their home communities when placed in foster care. Fostering 25 children themselves, the couple built a network of multicultural families across...
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Uncornered
In Boston, 85% of gunshot injuries occur within a single network of people representing less than 6% of the city’s total population (BPD). Uncornered (formerly known as College Bound Dorchester) harnesses the power of these Core Influencers of violence at the heart of communities and offers them a different path.
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HopeWell
In Massachusetts, there are about 750 young people “age out” of the foster care system annually. These young people are trying to navigate complex systems such as housing, health care, and post-secondary education without the support and stability of a permanent family or home.
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Found in Translation
Found in Translation’s (FIT) founder, Maria Vertkin, learned first-hand the hardships of being a low-income, multilingual, immigrant woman in America. As a social worker, she met homeless and struggling women who had valuable linguistic talents but faced systemic barriers to meaningful employment such as discrimination, limited ability to pay for...
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EDEN
Research reveals that over 67% of families experiencing homelessness return to shelter in less than 3 years after finding housing. Jehu Leconte, had dedicated his entire career to serving families experiencing homelessness. After years working in shelters he became more and more frustrated seeing the cycle of housing insecurity repeat...
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Father’s UpLift
Father’s UpLift was founded in 2011 by husband and wife team Charles Daniels, Jr. and Samantha Fils-Daniels. After their own lived experiences in both their personal lives and their professional lives in the field of social work, Charles and Samantha were well-aware that there was an incredible lack of resources,...
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Ron Burton Training Village
RBTV (Ron Burton Training Village) was founded in 1985 by Ron Burton, who was the number one draft pick of the original New England Patriots in 1960. He was an African American establishing roots in the Boston area at a time when the city was experiencing significant racial issues and...
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Thrive Scholars
Today, only 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs, 5% of senior executives, and 10% of scientists and engineers are either Black or Latinx, despite the fact that over 30% of Americans identify as Black or Latinx. Thrive Scholars provides our most talented and ambitious black and African American low-income students with...
Thrive Scholars
The Greater Boston Food Bank
The Greater Boston Food Bank is committed to increasing food distribution to provide three meals a day to every person in need in Eastern Massachusetts while supporting healthy lives and healthy communities.
The Greater Boston Food Bank
Boston Schoolyard Initiative
Founded in 1995, the Boston Schoolyard Initiative (BSI) was uniquely designed to bring together city agencies, community groups, and private donors to renovate and rehabilitate Boston’s public school playgrounds. The Lynch Foundation made a multi-year commitment to BSI, helping them reclaim over 130 acres of space for Boston’s youth.
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KIPP Academy
KIPP Academy Lynn is part of the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP): a national network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools. KIPP schools have a track record of preparing students in under-served communities for success in college and in life.
KIPP Academy
Inner-City Scholarship Fund
Peter and Carolyn Lynch both received partial scholarships to attend school. Recognizing how vital those scholarships were, The Lynch Foundation has helped raise over $175 million for the Inner-City Scholarship Fund since 1991. The scholarships support over 4,000 students annually throughout the Archdiocese.
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Year Up
Year Up is a national non-profit organization, operating in more than 30 sites across the country. Year Up was founded in 2000 in Boston. To date, they have served over 36,000 students across the country, as they strive to close the Opportunity Divide. It is estimated that there are over...
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My Brother's Keeper
In 1988, My Brother's Keeper was humbly founded by Jim and Terry Orcutt in Taunton. They began collecting clothes for families in need and while visiting area shelters, they learned a critical need existed for furniture. No local charity provided essential household items for people leaving shelters. So they borrowed roof racks for their...
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Camp Harbor View
Camp Harbor View serves over 1,000 Boston youth and families annually providing a one-of-a-kind summer camp experience for middle school students, year-round leadership development for high school students, and comprehensive family services including college and career planning, scholarships, and clinical support — all at no cost to families.
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Community Learning Collaborative
For young people of color in Boston, the Pandemic has exacerbated long-standing inequities in opportunity and education. These inequities often result from limited access to academic, enrichment, and out-of-school opportunities available to children of wealthier households. That’s where the Community Learning Collaborative answered the call.
Community Learning Collaborative
Early Education Initiative
In 2011, The Lynch Foundation launched the Early Education Initiative, a comprehensive strategy to support the launch and redesign of early childhood programs across the Archdiocese of Boston Catholic Schools.
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Teach For America
Shortly after Teach for America (TFA) started in 1989, Carolyn Lynch saw the potential for the organization to grow and awarded an initial grant of $10,000. Years later, The Lynch Foundation helped TFA launch a Massachusetts chapter, which now provides over 250 teachers across 60 schools each year.
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City Year
City Year was founded in 1988 as a national service program to unite young adults from diverse backgrounds for a demanding year of full-time community service. City Year has grown from 50 corps members in Boston to more than 3,000 members serving in 29 US cities, as well as in...
City Year
Homestart
HomeStart was founded in 1994 in response to an overcrowded shelter system and the suffering of individuals and families affected by homelessness. The organization began as a small pilot program with the then-radical idea that the best way to end homelessness was to invest resources in helping homeless families and...
HomeStart
Acceleration Academies / Sontag Prize in Education
Commissioner of Education Jeff Riley first launched Acceleration Academies when he was still a middle school principal in the Boston Public Schools. When he was recruited to become the Receiver of the Lawrence Public Schools in 2012, he brought the concept with him and expanded the pilot program from 9...
Acceleration Academies / Sontag Prize in Education
Boys & Girls Club
Since opening its first local club in 1893, Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB) has helped children reach their full potential through programs in technology, art, math, life skills, and physical fitness. By providing a safe space and affordable after school programming in Boston and Chelsea, BGCB fosters social...
Boys and Girls Club
Urban Catholic Teacher Corps
Founded in 1997, Urban Catholic Teaching Corps (UCTC) is one of a small handful of organizations incubated and shepherded from inception to maturity by The Lynch Foundation. It’s a two-year graduate program in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development founded on the core values of teaching as ministry,...
Urban Catholic Teacher Corps
The Posse Foundation
Deb Biel noticed particularly low graduation rates among first-generation college students, so in 1989 she launched The Posse Foundation, which equips students with the tools they need to graduate. The Lynch Foundation helped Biel launch a Boston chapter in 1999, providing $106 million in scholarships to date.
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MENTOR
Since 1990, The Lynch Foundation made an initial investment in MENTOR’s powerful idea that young people lack critical support relationships to help them grow and succeed. Since then, MENTOR has spread across the country, facilitating 4.5 million mentorships across the country including over 50,000 statewide.
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Pine Street Inn
New England’s largest homeless shelter, Pine Street Inn, was seeking a pilot grant for a new program in 1993. The Lynch Foundation funded it, offering the individuals moving from emergency shelters to permanent homes more support. Today, Pine Street Inn owns or manages more than 440 housing locations.
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Artists for Humanity
Artists for Humanity started as a unique six-person project for high schoolers integrating arts and business opportunities. The Lynch Foundation first supported the program with $10,000 to help build its flagship site, and has continued to donate over the years as AFH has grown into Boston’s largest onsite youth employer.
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Lynch Leadership Academy
In 2010, in partnership with Boston College, The Lynch Foundation helped Massachusetts schools solve an unmet need: leading the leaders of schools throughout Greater Boston. The result, the Lynch Leadership Academy, now has over 250 exceptional alumni educating over 100,000 students across Massachusetts.
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The BASE
The BASE was founded in 2013 by seasoned civic, community, and nonprofit leader Robert Lewis, Jr. Building on 40 years’ experience running the Boston Astros youth baseball program, The BASE combines exceptional athletic training with education and career resources to empower student-athletes to achieve their full potential.
The BASE
i2 Learning Foundation
i2 partners with over 20 of the world's leading STEM organizations to develop a series of project-based STEM courses in topics not traditionally found in middle school.
i2 Learning Foundation
Special Olympics
Having beloved family members with intellectual disabilities, the Lynch family closely identifies with the values of respect and dignity shared by The Special Olympics. Spanning decades, The Lynch Foundation has supported this organization, co-chairing a $100 million campaign, supporting its expansion to include young athletes and more.
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YMCA of Greater Boston
The YMCA of Greater Boston was founded in 1851 by a retired sea captain and a group of Boston evangelicals to offer a safe gathering space for socializing and prayer meetings. Over the next 160 years, strong leadership, innovation, and a commitment to meeting the ever-changing needs of its community,...
YMCA of Greater Boston
The Phoenix
The Phoenix was launched in 2007 by Scott Strode, who experienced the power of physical activity and social connection along his personal recovery journey. The Lynch Foundation provided seed funding to launch a Boston chapter and $1.5 million to help purchase its building, where it has served over 2,000 people.
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InnerCity Weightlifting
InnerCity Weightlifting is part perception changer, part economic driver, and full social change agent. ICW hires formerly incarcerated gang members as personal trainers, building bridges throughout the community. Since The Lynch Foundation helped the organization expand in 2010, ICW has gone from serving 4 to 150 youths.
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Partners in Health
Partners in Health started in 1987, providing health care in the mountains of Haiti. The Lynch Foundation has been a partner since 1995 as PIH now serves over 7 million people across 18 countries. Efforts have included treating communicable diseases and supporting Haiti in the wake of the 2010 earthquake.
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The Boston Children's Museum
The Boston Children’s Museum is the second oldest children’s museums in the world. Emphasizing hands-on play to spark children’s natural curiosity, the museum’s exhibits are designed to develop foundational skills and an appreciation of the world. The museum nurtures the whole child through programs in science, culture, health, and the...
The Boston Children’s Museum
Lynch Family Skatepark
When famous sculptor Nancy Schon found her iconic turtle and hare sculptures at Copley damaged by skateboarders, she had an idea: make a space for the skateboarders to skate! The Lynch Foundation partnered with Schon, other philanthropists and public officials, helping create the largest skate park on the East Coast.
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Harvard Medical School Cell Biology and Systems Biology
When Harvard Medical School launched their first new department in over 20 years — The Department of Systems Biology — The Lynch Foundation partnered with Harvard to ensure it had funding to recruit key faculty and establish the department. Today, over 120 alumni lead their own organizations across the world.
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Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
Sister Lorraine Connell conceived and created installations and programs to provide villages in Nigeria and Congo with electricity, clean water, and reliable communication — and empower them to run the installations themselves. The Lynch Foundation helped the project launch their first two sites and scale to over 15 more.
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Renew International
RENEW seeks to increase laity engagement and leadership in the Catholic Church. With its first investment in the early 1990s, The Lynch Foundation was one of the original funders of RENEW, and recently helped them launch an initiative that has expanded across the U.S., Latin America and South Africa.
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Historic New England
Historic New England is the oldest and largest heritage organization in the nation. It is also the first nonprofit organization where Peter Lynch served as a Trustee, and currently owns 36 historical sites throughout New England. The Lynch Foundation and family have supported this historic organization for over 45 years.
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Charles Sposato Graduate School of Education
The Charles Sposato Graduate School of Education, Inc. (CSGSE) is a unique and successful graduate school of education that grants Master’s in Effective Teaching (MET) degrees. The mission of CSGSE is to produce outstanding novice teachers for schools that are serving low-income populations and to gain new insight into the...
Charles Sposato Graduate School of Education
Historic Boston, Inc. – The Steeples Project
Historic Boston, Inc. (HBI) redevelops at-risk historic buildings in order to help Boston’s neighborhoods thrive. Started in 1960 as a rescue mission for Boston’s oldest commercial building, the Old Corner Bookstore, when it was slated to become a parking garage. A group of concerned Bostonians came together to save the...
Historic Boston, Inc. – The Steeples Project
Nonquit Street Land Trust
Nonquit Street Land Trust (NSLT) was developed in 1991 though the voluntary grassroots efforts of local residents led by community activist Ruth Clarke to address the bleak conditions of both Nonquit Street and Upham’s Corner in the northern section of Dorchester, an area with high poverty and crime rates. The...
Nonquit Street Land Trust
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and is widely recognized as one of the top hospitals in the nation. Founded in 1811, it is the third oldest hospital in the United States and holds 1,000 beds.
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Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary is a part of Massachusetts General Hospital, the country’s largest research hospital. A leader in innovation for all diseases of the head and neck, Mass Eye & Ear is committed to finding cures for blindness and deafness. In 2011, it became the world’s largest vision...
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Rose Kennedy Greenway
The Rose Kennedy Greenway is a mile-and-a-half stretch of contemporary parks in the heart of Boston situated on land created from the largest transportation investment in US history: The Big Dig. When the elevated central highway was rerouted underground, community leaders seized the opportunity to create a park that would...
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Boston Public Garden
The Boston Public Garden is America’s first public botanical garden. Situated next to the Boston Common – the country’s first public park – the Public Garden offers meandering, decorative, and restorative space in the heart of bustling downtown. A product of Victorian aesthetics, the Garden features a pond, fountains, imported...
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Early Childhood Initiative
Founded in 2006, the Lynch Foundation's Early Education Initiative provides families access to affordable, high-quality early education, increases enrollment and revenue, and develops talented, diverse early childhood educators across our partner schools within the Archdiocese of Boston. The program has five key pillars, which include planning support for program expansion and redesign; high-quality and developmentally appropriate curricula and furniture; summer institute and professional development for leaders across the initiative; one-on-one coaching for classroom teachers; and access to scholarships for teachers to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees with a commitment to remain within the initiative for two years upon graduation. The initiative has grown to serve 26 schools with over 140 classrooms serving nearly 2,200 students from ages three months to five years old. The Foundation is already working with three new schools to join the initiative in the 2025-2026 school year.
“Discover where your passion lies.
Act on it. And you will accomplish great things.”
– Carolyn Lynch
(Founder)
Act on it. And you will accomplish great things.”