Strengthening Inclusion in and Access to Youth Athletics Across Greater Boston
WESTWOOD, MA – The Yawkey Foundation has awarded $350,000 in Program & Small Capital grants to athletics-focused nonprofit organizations in Greater Boston. These grants continue the philanthropic legacy of the Foundation’s founders, Jean and Tom Yawkey, and their enduring commitment to expanding access to and inclusion in sports.
Since 1977, the Yawkey Foundation has invested more than $99 million in youth & amateur athletics initiatives that foster teamwork, respect, and sportsmanship — values the Yawkeys demonstrated through their love of sports, especially baseball, during their lifetimes.
This year’s grantees share a commitment to ensuring that young people of all backgrounds and abilities can experience the transformative benefits of sports, from building character and resilience to fostering belonging and community.
“Sports have always been about more than competition – they are one of the most powerful vehicles we have for building confidence, belonging, and opportunity in young people,” said Alicia Verity, CEO of the Yawkey Foundation. “These grants reflect our belief that every young person in Greater Boston has the potential to grow through sports, and deserves every opportunity to do so. The organizations we’re supporting understand their communities deeply, and we are proud to invest in the work they do every day.”
2026 Youth & Amateur Athletics Program & Small Capital Grant Recipients:
- Boston Baseball Camp
- All Dorchester Sports & Leadership
- Cape Cod Baseball League
- Good Sports
- Bay State Games
- Special Olympics Massachusetts
- The BASE
The Foundation also sustains multi-year partnerships with organizations delivering athletic and recreational programming across the region, including a $7.5 million grant to Camp Harbor View, a $460,000 grant to Ron Burton Training Village, and support for America’s oldest amateur baseball league, the Boston Park League.
Program & Small Capital Grants support impactful nonprofit organizations in delivering on their core missions by funding innovative programming, vital small-scale projects, and essential equipment. Grant amounts typically reach up to $100,000 for immediate, discrete, time-bound initiatives that are critical to an organization’s work.
About the Yawkey Foundation
The Yawkey Foundation is dedicated to perpetuating Tom Yawkey’s and Jean Yawkey’s philanthropic legacy, whose eight decades of quiet generosity supported individuals and families in the communities closest to their hearts – Massachusetts and Georgetown County, South Carolina. Having awarded more than $620 million to date in charitable grants to organizations focused on health care, education, human services, youth and amateur athletics, arts and culture, and conservation and wildlife, the Yawkey Foundation is committed to preserving and sustaining the Yawkeys’ charitable values by investing in nonprofits that provide resources, opportunity, and dignity to vulnerable and underserved individuals, families, and communities.
For more information and the latest announcements, please visit the Foundation’s website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.