Who We Are

After more than two decades of marriage, three children, extraordinary hard work and blessings; Carolyn and Peter create The Lynch Foundation with a $2M gift with the hopes to provide people with life changing opportunities through supporting innovative non profit organizations.

Carolyn and Peter partner with Boston University, Salem Hospital, Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, and the Archdiocese of Boston to create the Lynch Foundation as a supported organization charitable foundation. Organizations then appoint Ernest Wiggins, Ralph Sweetland, Nancy Coolidge, and Thomas Leahy as founding independent Board Members.

One of the Foundation’s first gifts was seed funding to support the creation of MENTOR, which has remained partners for almost three decades and has increased the number of at-risk youth in structured mentoring relationships from 300,000 to 4.5 million.

After receiving an unsolicited request from the college senior Wendy Kopp, Carolyn was so impressed and curious that the Lynch Foundation made a modest investment in the initial creation of TFA.

The Lynch Foundation offers early support for City Year to launch the first site in Boston and begin investing in the power of young people in service. Over the next three decades, they expand to 29 cities. City Year now has more than 32,000 alumni.

Peter travels to India during a due diligence visit as Renew International continues to expand across the world, spending 10 days visiting with the local community leaders and parishes to determine the potential impact of Renew International’s programming.

The entire Lynch Family travels to Russia on an Americares aid delivery trip providing life saving medicines and medical aid to those in desperate need.

The Lynch Foundation is the first foundation to support Artists For Humanity, which begins with 6 students in founder Susan Rodgerson’s South End studio. After close to three decades, AFH is serving over 500 youth in their 51,500 square-foot EpiCenter and is the largest teen employer in the city of Boston.

Carolyn receives the St. Julie Billiart Award from the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur for her outstanding leadership in the true spirit of Saint Julie.

The National Catholic Education Association presents Peter with the Mother Seton Award for his exemplary support and service of Catholic education.

The Trustees approve an innovative pilot grant to the largest homeless shelter in New England to support the transition of individuals from shelters into permanent homes. Thus, creating a solution to homelessness for thousands in the Boston area.

Carolyn traveled to Nigeria with Renew International during a due diligence visit for possible expansion into the country, spending 10 days visiting with the local leaders and parishes to learn about the community and context of the program.

Dr. Paul Farmer persuades the Trustees to support an innovative pilot grant to provide critical research on treating MDR-TB, which ultimately led to the discovery of a cure and prevention of the transmission of the disease, saving millions of lives all over the world.

After almost a decade, the Trustees hire Katie Everett as the Foundation’s first staff person.

Impressed with the Inner-City Teaching Corps of Chicago, in partnership with the Flatley and McGrath Families, the trustees collaborate with Boston College to create and fund the Urban Catholic Teacher Corps. A two-year post-graduate volunteer teaching program serving as urban Catholic school teachers in the Archdiocese of Boston. Since its inception, 164 teachers have graduated from the program.

The Trustees approve an investment to repair and preserve 52 historic houses of worship across the city of Boston through a unique and competitive public and private matching grant program.

With profound respect for the importance of extraordinary educators, Boston College establishes the Lynch School of Education. The school is dedicated to Carolyn and Peter Lynch and a testament to their own parents’ teaching legacy.

When MENTOR presented an incredible opportunity to launch the first state expansion site in Massachusetts, the Trustees unanimously approved a critical expansion grant to establish Mass Mentoring Partnership.

As a graduate, Carolyn serves as a Trustee for a decade from 1997-2007 during which time she commits to convening industry leaders and alumni to join her in advancing the biology department to best prepare students for careers in emerging life sciences fields.

Carolyn and Peter receive the Papal Honor of Order of St. Gregory the Great, the highest honor for a layperson. The honor is bestowed upon Roman Catholic men and women in recognition of their personal service to the Holy See and to the Roman Catholic Church, through their unusual labors, their support of the Holy See, and the examples they set in their communities and their countries.

Carolyn receives the Boys and Girls Club of Boston Partners of Youth Award. Recipients of the award are selected for their outstanding leadership and support, and commitment to the youth of Boston. Carolyn served as a Trustee of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston from 1993-2002.

Founding Board Member Ernie Wiggins passes away.

$9,803,994 was invested in 349 organizations. The average gift size was $28,091.67.

More than a decade into giving, the Trustees engage a not for profit consulting firm to guide them through a process in which they formalize the Foundation’s policies, processes and mission statement.

Touched personally by the inspirational leadership of Eunice Shriver, Carolyn and Peter co-chair the very first Campaign for Special Olympics with Steve and Jean Case. They successfully reached the campaign goal to double the number of athletes actively involved in Special Olympics around the world from one million to two million.

The Trustees approve the largest gift to date in the Foundation’s history. The investment establishes endowment funds supporting scholarships, technology, and marketing for the Archdiocese of Boston Catholic Schools. The funds provided an immediate opportunity for students and schools as well as established a strong foundation for future generations of students.

As a science major and the daughter of a chemistry teacher, Carolyn understands the importance of high-quality science teaching and learning. She partners with Emmanuel College to provide urban teachers high-quality professional development to stimulate creativity, innovation, and curiosity that can be shared with their students advancing science education in classrooms across the state through the Carolyn Lynch Institute.

The Trustees are excited by a unique challenge grant to leverage local engagement and community support in the Uphams Corner neighborhood. The Nonquit Street Green revitalizes two vacant lots into beautiful open space and includes a “magic dragon” sculpture by Nancy Schon.

The Lynch Scholarship Program and Leadership Fund are established at Assumption College, providing scholarships and immersive experiences to graduates.

The Lynch Foundation provides early critical funding for Year Up to launch the first site in Boston enabling low-income young adults to move from poverty to professional careers in just one year through a high support, high expectation model. Year Up is now in 12 cities across the country, with more than 12,000 graduates.

The Lynch Foundation moves from their home office into office space located in Boston and hires a second employee.

With more than 25% of Boston teens skateboarders, and not one single safe or legal place to practice and perform their sport, the Foundation’s initial grant was made at a critical time to the Charles River Conservatory to establish the largest skatepark in the Northeast.

The Lynch Foundation provides seed funding for the creation of the first new medical department at Harvard Medical School in decades, the Department of System’s Biology. This study of systems of biological components has become central to all areas of biology and medicine. Today, HMS’s Systems Biology Department is the world leader training in this interdisciplinary area — over 120 of the department’s alumni lead their own research laboratories across the world attempting to solve society’s most complex challenges.

The Trustees’ strong belief in RAW Art Works’ mission approve funding for RAW’s capital campaign to expand from their original one-room studio to purchasing and renovating the entire building, allowing them to serve over 550 youths annually.

The Lynch Foundation provides capital support to purchase land and construct a new facility for the Marblehead/Swampscott YMCA. The new Lynch/van Otterloo facility is one of the largest non-profit organizations on the North Shore, growing from 3,000 to 15,000 members and providing over 3,500 subsidies so local individuals and families can access the YMCA’s programming.

The Lynch Foundation funds an innovative pilot grant to develop and implement the Special Olympics Young Athletes Program, enabling individuals as young as 2 to participate in sports play programming. The Young Athletes Program reduced the age limit from 8 to 2, increasing access and ability to serve more than five million athletes today.

The Institute of Contemporary Art, the first new museum built in Boston in over a century, received a capital investment from The Lynch Foundation. Trustees felt a commitment to support such a new and exciting project on the waterfront that expanded the ICA’s audience tenfold and also served as a catalyst for contemporary art in Boston.

After the Massachusetts Legislature approves the Early Education For All Act, the Trustees recognize a significant opportunity for the Archdiocese of Boston Catholic Schools to increase their enrollment and serve more families in need. The Lynch Foundation helps create a voucher program providing subsidies for low-income families to access high-quality early education programs.

The Lynch Foundation provides seed funding for an innovative solar energy program, The African Photovoltaic Project, which brings electricity and pure water to Fugar, Nigeria. The installations generate electricity for multiple uses in schools, clinics, and café settings, including water purification, educational programming, and reliable communication. The project increases safety and provides educational opportunities for people living in the village.

The Boston Children’s Museum, the second oldest children’s museum in the United States, opens the Peter and Carolyn Lynch Early Learning Gallery. Created in partnership with innovators at MIT, the learning center houses the museum’s first space designed specifically for young children ages 0-3 to spark exploration and creativity.

The Lynch Foundation supports the Boston Schoolyard Initiative, a public-private partnership between foundations and the Boston school system. BSI renovates all of the 88 Boston Public Schools playgrounds in every neighborhood in the city, reclaiming over 130 acres of open space that covers every neighborhood in the City of Boston.

Identifying a unique opportunity to use the power of leadership, The Lynch Foundation announces a challenge grant to The Posse Foundation to create an endowment fund at an annual dinner with more than 1,000 attendees. The success of the campaign triggered additional gifts to establish a $20 million endowment for Posse to replicate their model in more cities across the country.

Close to two decades after the initial investment in TFA, new political leadership created the opportunity to support TFA’s long awaited expansion to Boston. In partnership with two other funders, the trustees made a critical investment to support the creation of TFA MA.

Founding Board Member Tom Leahy passes away.

The Board welcomes a new Trustee, Rick Spillane, making him the first new Trustee in more than a decade. Spillane, a former professor of Social Entrepreneurship at Babson College, also brings extensive experience in the financial services industry.

A true visionary committed to create the most unique museum experience in Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner organized concerts, lectures, exhibits and encouraged the celebration of art, music and horticulture. An expansion provided an opportunity to celebrate the mutual admiration with an outdoor courtyard housing The Lynch Family Garden.

Peter is inducted into the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s Academy of Distinguished Bostonians.

$43,749,270.52 was invested 513 organizations. The average gift size was $85,281.23

The Peter Lynch Scholar program was established in 2010 to honor the 20th anniversary of Peter’s involvement with the Catholic Schools Foundation and Inner-City Scholarship Fund. A minimum of one and a maximum of five students are designated as Peter Lynch Scholars at each elementary school in the Archdiocese of Boston annually. Additionally, each year, at least one 8th grade student at each school is honored and the names are shared with Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Boston. Peter Lynch Scholars have excellent academic achievements and work ethic, exhibit care for others in the school community, are significantly impacted by a Catholic education, and demonstrate financial need for the scholarship. As of 2020, 1,570 students have been named Peter Lynch Scholars.

With two decades of experience of investing in leaders of education, The Trustees made the significant investment to create the Lynch Leadership Academy. A practical and tactical leadership training program for aspiring and sitting school leaders serving the highest needs communities in Massachusetts. LLA is the only leadership training program in the country working across public, charter, and Catholic school sectors.

Peter receives the Richard F. Connolly, Jr. Distinguished Service Award for his dedication and commitment to the organization that had an incredibly positive impact on his life. Peter caddied at Brae Burn Country Club as a teenager and received a Ouimet Fund Scholarship to attend Boston College. The Trustees recently voted to establish an endowed scholarship for inner-city Boston Ouimet Scholars in honor of Peter.

The Lynch Foundation’s first Board Retreat in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Trustees participate in facilitated conversations, school site visits, meet with innovative nonprofit leaders and philanthropists, and attend the Philanthropy Roundtable’s Annual Meeting where Carolyn and Peter are keynote presenters along with Tom Tierney.

Boston Magazine recognizes Carolyn Lynch as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Boston.

Artists for Humanity honors Carolyn and Peter at its 20th Anniversary celebration for the Lynch’s early belief and continued support of the organization.

Carolyn and Peter receive the Connors Funders Award from the Campaign for Catholic Schools for their outstanding service to Saint John Paul II Catholic Academy.

The Lynch Foundation provides early, critical support of InnerCity Weightlifting, an innovative nonprofit aiming to reduce community violence. The unique model connects victims of trauma and racial segregation to new opportunities, including meaningful career tracks in personal training. The Foundation’s grant allowed them to open a permanent facility, doubling the number of students served.

Boston Business Journal selects Katie as one of its 40 Under 40 honorees for her significant and positive impact on the Boston community.

The Lynch Foundation converts to a private Foundation and celebrates its 25th Anniversary. The 25th Anniversary celebration is held at Artists For Humanity’s EpiCenter and attended by over 300 of the Foundation’s grantees, partners, and community leaders. The event showcased performances and demonstrations from its grantees and highlighted the connections and impact the Foundation has had on individuals and communities throughout its 25 years.

The Foundation provides seed funding to launch the Acceleration Academies and Sontag Prize in Urban Education in the Lawrence Public Schools. The Foundation worked closely with Jeff Riley, who created the innovative Academies and Teacher Prize. The Academies grew from a pilot of serving 2,000 students in Lawrence to serving over 5,000 students during the two school vacation weeks. Serving as a critical component to the District’s successful turnaround plan.

Boston Magazine recognizes Carolyn and Peter as one of Boston’s Top 25 Most Influential People in Philanthropy.

Carolyn and Peter receive Posse Boston’s Power of 10 Award in honor of their philanthropic leadership and commitment to educational access for students.

Carolyn and Peter accept the Breast Cancer Research Fund’s Boston Humanitarian Award from Dr. Gerry Doyle for their philanthropic leadership in Boston.

The Foundation provides seed funding to launch an innovative training institute for College Bound’s College Readiness Advisors, creating a pipeline of well-trained and non-traditional educators. The successful pilot led to the launch of the Boston Uncornered Initiative, which works to move 500 gang-involved youth annually off the streets and into college. The Initiative is transforming neighborhoods by harnessing the power and influence to positive goals of college and career.

Partnering with the Smith Family Foundation, The Lynch Foundation supports the monumental and world-acclaimed public art sculpture, “As If It Were Already Here” from internationally-renowned local artist, Janet Echelman. The sculpture is made up of 100 miles of rope and suspended by 6 skyscrapers 365 feet above the Greenway. The incredible installation catapulted Boston’s public art scene, attracting thousands of visitors.

The Lynch Foundation hosted a Philanthropy Roundtable with influential Boston public and private leaders to discuss the community benefits of pooled funding. The response was so overwhelming that the Foundation provided seed funding for and recruited a highly talented and motivated founder, as well as a business plan, for the Boston Schools Fund.

For the first time, all three second-generation members — Mary Witkowski, Annie Lukowski, and Elizabeth de Montrichard — are active on the Board together.

Jack Regan, a partner at Wilmer Hale and an active member of many nonprofit boards, joins The Lynch Foundation Board of Trustees. The Lynch Foundation holds its second retreat in Westerly, Rhode Island. The Trustees review the Foundation’s historical grantmaking strategies and principles, update policies and internal documents, and meet with current grantee leaders.

The Trustees, recognizing the need for high-quality STEM curriculum and teaching, approved seed funding for the pilot year of STEM Week in 15 early-adopter Boston public, charter, and Catholic schools. Due to the success of the pilot, STEM Week has grown to 80 schools in Boston and across the state, reaching over 20,000 students. Select schools have implemented STEM Month and an after-school STEM Club to provide more STEM programming for their students.

The Lynch Foundation hosts its third retreat in Kennebunkport, Maine. The Trustees review the topics discussed at the second retreat, discuss the Foundation’s Legacy and future planning, and hear presentations from current grantees.

EdNavigator is an innovative organization that helps families find the path to a great education, partnering with leading businesses and community organizations to provides employees with expert Navigators who serve as personal education advisors. The Lynch Foundation funded to launch the first replication site of EdNavigator in Boston, which is now serving 550 families in Boston and plans to continue their growth.

The Trustees met Founder Scott Strode and were impressed by his leadership and The Phoenix model of creating a sober active community. In 2014, the Board approved seed funding to launch a Boston chapter, due to the rising opioid crisis in Massachusetts. Three years later, an exciting opportunity was presented for Phoenix to secure a permanent facility in Boston and the Trustees approved a large challenge grant to help them obtain the immediate funding needed. The new 11,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in Newmarket Square has allowed The Phoenix to serve 2,000 members annually.

The Carolyn Lynch Garden on the Greenway opened in the spring after expansive renovations and improvements. Carolyn was an avid horticulturist and designs and plants from her personal gardens in Marblehead and Ireland can be found in the Greenway garden in Boston.

Mission Grammar honors The Lynch Foundation with its Community Partnership Award in honor of the Foundation’s support to help the school advance its mission. The Lynch Foundation provided seed funding to launch Mission Grammar’s early education program and supported the program’s growth to include high-quality, year-round infant and toddler programming.

Peter accepts Leadership Roundtable’s Inaugural Monan Medal of Catholic Philanthropy on behalf of the Lynch Family. The award was given to three outstanding Catholic philanthropic families from around the country who exemplify the legacy of the former president of Boston College, Father J. Donald Monan, SJ.

The Foundation provides critical support to help First Teacher grow to serve more families in Roxbury and Dorchester. First Teacher is a parent-led school-readiness movement built and led by the same families who participate. First Teacher supports parents and caregivers in their role as their children’s first teacher through sharing resources, facilitating workshops and play groups, and providing them with a growing network of families in the community.

$75,203,027 was invested in 684 organizations. The average gift size was $109,945.95.*

*Numbers from 2019 still not complete

The Boston Resiliency Fund was the City of Boston’s effort to help coordinate fundraising and philanthropic efforts. Their goal is to provide essential services to Boston residents whose health and well-being are most immediately impacted by COVID-19.

A significant one-year grant to increase HomeStart’s capacity to grow and expand their eviction prevention services immediately, to prevent the number of evictions from 475 to 650 in the Eastern (Greater Boston) Housing Court and from 45 to 70 in the Southeastern (South Shore) Housing Court as well as expand to the four other Massachusetts Housing Courts across the state.

The Massachusetts COVID-19 Relief Fund worked in concert with regional nonprofits, community foundations, and leaders at the community and state levels to understand the response and relief landscape. The goal was to ensure that all the needs were understood and responded to swiftly and that all of the interventions supported were effective.

The Community Learning Collaborative comprised of community organizations led by leaders of color – YMCA of Greater Boston, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, The BASE, and Latinos for Education –built an integrated continuum of services for Black and Latinx students and families during the pandemic., These four organizations stepped in to create learning pods, free of charge to families, to provide high-quality academic support, social-emotional development, health and wellness, recreation, arts, movement, and food in a fun and engaging environment.

The experience of a low-income, multilingual, immigrant woman in America who saw hospitals in Boston struggles to find bilingual talent to meet the growing need for interpreters, leading to costly and even fatal medical errors, lead Maria to establish Found in Translation. Translation’s Language Access Fellowship Program integrates free training toward a Medical Interpreter Certificate, job placement, and holistic support to help women transition from poverty and homelessness to stable careers while providing a critical service in the community.

Having proven its model, ICW is now ready to scale. Of the roughly 450 individuals who are involved in more than 50% of Boston’s gun violence, ICW has worked with 119 of them. ICW’s goal is to work with 270 of the 450. They plan to quadruple the number of people in the program, including the number of personal and corporate training clients, over the next five years.

St. Mary’s Center supports 500 of Boston’s most vulnerable women and children annually with critical wrap-around assistance that includes shelter, clinical support, trauma services, and education and workforce development programs. Our partnership created a center that provides high-quality early childhood education to 60 families in St. Mary’s residential and job-training programs, as well as an additional 90 families in the surrounding community from infant to age 5.

The Lynch Foundation hosted our fourth retreat, including three new Board Members as well as numerous partners and stakeholders. We enhanced our current priorities as we added two new areas of focus.

City Fresh Foods (CFF) is a Black-owned and operated healthy food production and delivery company located in Roxbury with a 28-year track record of delivering meals to seniors, students, and vulnerable groups. Our partnership enabled City Fresh Foods ability to purchase, build, and equip a new facility in Roxbury and, with the capacity the new facility provides, grow its business substantially over the next ten years to provide more healthy fresh meals for students, seniors, and vulnerable populations in the Boston area.

With a new drop-in facility, Father’s Uplift’s  Homecoming Program will help incarcerated fathers reenter society and maintain relationships with their children. The program provides wrap-around mental health and support services for low-income men experiencing reentry.

A partnership to launch the Early Education Workforce Collaborative, which will reduce barriers that early educators, especially women of color, face when entering and advancing their careers. Through a partnership with state agencies, community-based organizations, higher education institutions, and philanthropy, the initiative will serve 500+ educators over three years.

Catholic Schools Foundation – 33rd Annual Building Minds Scholarship Dinner. Peter Lynch was honored for his 33 years of leadership and service to the organization and Rick Spillane received the Carolyn and Peter Lynch Award, which is given annually to individuals or organizations making a transformational difference in the lives of CSF’s scholarship recipients. The dinner broke all fundraising records raising $6M for the Annual Fund and $14M for the Peter Lynch Scholarship Endowment Fund to provide students and opportunity to attend Catholic Schools for generation to com.

Trustees Elizabeth de Montrichard and Nancy Coolidge with Katie Everett at the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra site visit, which the Foundation provided a grant to support their capital campaign.