The Barra Foundation

Catalyst Fund

Don’t re-invent the wheel. There are many services and programs for individuals and communities that work—and work well. These approaches are critically important, but they are not for the Catalyst Fund. Instead, the Catalyst Fund is intended to support ideas and initiatives in their early stages of development. We recognize the need to provide financial […]

News & Highlights, Spring 2022

Grantee Spotlight At our most recent board meeting, a Catalyst Fund grant was made to College Unbound (CU),  a contemporary accredited college that aims to reinvent the higher education experience for underserved adult learners. Its student-driven model of rigorous and engaged scholarship focuses on each student’s unique ability to power meaningful, transformative change in their […]

2021 Grants

Recovery and Response Effort Grantees Our Recovery and Response Efforts grants were awarded to a select number of nonprofits in 2020 and 2021 that we believed were quickly and effectively responding to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racism on communities of color. We thank these grantees for their work centered on supporting […]

TAKING LESSONS LEARNED INTO 2021

As promised, we took some time to look back on a year that fundamentally challenged how we do our work. 2020 taught all of us that we can only plan so far ahead, which further strengthens Barra’s commitment to remain flexible and open to new approaches and ideas. Though it’s easy to feel like hope […]

Learning, Adapting and Looking Ahead

As we move further into 2021, many institutions are sharing how they responded to the COVID-19 pandemic shaking the world in 2020, with its swift and destructive wave transforming life as we knew it. That new way of life was changed even more after the murder of George Floyd, with a renewed and robust demand […]

2020 Grants

Emergency Response March through June Operating Support to 2013-2019 Barra Awardees $270,000 PHL COVID-19 Fund $100,000 Catalyst Fund to Food Connect $50,000 County COVID-19 Funds $100,000 TRACE Generocity Project with Independence Media Foundation $5,000 COVID-19 Arts Aid PHL Fund $250,000 PRI Loan to Women’s Opportunities Resource Center $100,000 EMERGENCY RESPONSE TOTAL: $875,000 Recovery and Response […]

Year In Review: Our Role Throughout 2020

At Barra, we strive to adapt and consider new ways to tackle challenges – and this was no different in 2020, as we responded to the pandemic and the movement to end systemic racism. Though we look forward to what the future may hold, we know it’s equally important to look back on a year […]

News and Highlights

We’re sure many of you have been using January to catch your breath and think through what happened in 2020—as well as at the beginning of this year. Like you, we are reflecting on how our grantmaking adapted to a changed world, and we are thinking about what worked and what didn’t work. Soon we […]

A Message About Our Response to the Effects of COVID-19

April 8, 2020 Barra’s Board of Directors and staff are grateful for the hard work of all nonprofits in our region, particularly given the unprecedented challenges organizations in every sector are facing during the COVID-19 crisis. To better support nonprofits’ work, we are identifying the most effective way for Barra to provide both immediate and […]

Welcome New Staff!

We are delighted to announce our two new staff members: Linda Rich, Senior Program Officer, Learning and Network Stephanie Lerner, Program Officer, Catalyst Fund Linda and Stephanie bring deep knowledge and experience working with nonprofit organizations and in philanthropy.  Linda Rich will manage the Barra Awards process and portfolio as well as learning across the Barra […]