GMA Funder Community’s four-session pooled giving and learning experience accepts grants from donors eager to identify and fund community-driven solutions to a large-scale problem affecting people across the country. Following three learning sessions with experts, participants meet with prospective grantees and then decided together how to allocate the Fund’s dollars.
These participant-driven funds take place once a year and have addressed issues like Trauma and Resilience, Responses to the Opioid Crisis, and Environmental Justice.
GMA Funder Community, January – April 2025
17/25 Fund for Young Adults: Guaranteed Income in Workforce Development Programs
Purpose: Unlocking economic self-sufficiency for 17-to-25-year-olds
The 17/25 Fund for Young Adults digs into innovative and effective strategies to support young adults in Greater Boston and Gateway Cities through their transitional years. This age group has received proportionately little philanthropic investment and requires resources, supportive relationships, and opportunities to reach their potential.
The number of people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are neither working nor in school, sometimes referred to as Opportunity Youth, surged during the pandemic and now stands at over 6,000 in Greater Boston alone. Despite considerable progress in increasing accessibility, college and career pathways are still not working for everyone, particularly not for young adults with inadequate support systems.
Grant Announcement: La Colaborativa and YouthBuild Boston Receive $90,000 Grants
April 2025. The GMA Funder Community’s 17/25 Fund for Young Adults, a pooled giving and learning experience, has awarded two $90,000 grants to add guaranteed income to workforce development programs for young adults in Greater Boston.
The Fund’s ten participating funders selected La Colaborativa and YouthBuild Boston to receive support for no-strings-attached monthly cash payments that will supplement training stipends and help more than 40 young people complete programs in solar installation, HVAC, and the building trades. Over the course of a year, La Colaborativa will distribute $594 per month to 12 participants, and YouthBuild Boston will provide $237.50 per month to 30 participants.
These grants build on a growing national movement to provide unconditional cash assistance along with training and mentorship, giving young people the flexibility to manage real-life demands while building meaningful, financially independent futures. Visit Mayors for a Guaranteed Income to read about the movement.
Why Guaranteed Income?
Research indicates that alternative pathways—like those offered through employment and training programs—can significantly improve outcomes for young adults. But financial insecurity remains one of the biggest obstacles to completion. Is guaranteed income a critical component of success?
Pilot programs across the country suggest the answer is yes. Direct cash assistance provided consistently at pivotal points in a young person’s life can be transformative. Learn more about initiatives like The $50 Study and YALift!
Fund Participation
GMA’s six-month pooled giving and comprehensive learning experience accepts grants from donors eager to identify and fund community-driven solutions to a large-scale problem affecting young adults across the country.
2025 Participants:
The A.M. Fund, Paul and Edith Babson Foundation, Castle Square Tenants Organization Trust, Devonshire Foundation, Fuller Foundation, James S. McDonnell Foundation, Mable Louise Riley Foundation, Nordblom Family Foundation, and individual donors.
The participant-directed Fund is a project under the fiscal sponsorship of Philanthropy Massachusetts. Participation is open to private foundations, corporate giving programs, donor-advised fund accounts, and individual donors.
Contact GMA Senior Program Officer Rachel Rifkin by phone 617-391-3097 or email rrifkin@gmafoundations.com to learn more about the GMA Funder Community.
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Read about earlier funds launched by GMA:
2023-24 Fund for Young Adults
2022 Child Behavioral Health Fund
2021 Environmental Justice Fund
2020 Opioid Response Fund
2019 Trauma and Resilience Fund