Innovation: GreenLight Boston Launches Portfolio Advisory Council

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged us as a community– affecting thousands of children, youth and families throughout our region. Our portfolio of proven models mobilized to respond to the growing needs in our community, and the long term impacts of this time. In support of their efforts to bring their effective services to more families throughout the region, we reexamined our work and our process. We will continue to bring in new models to our city and plan to strategically double down on our portfolio organizations. We have an audacious goal: to double the number of youth, children and families we serve over the next four years.

Our portfolio organizations serve over 300,000 individuals annually. We will expand our reach with the strategic guidance and targeted investment from our new Portfolio Advisory Council (PAC). The PAC, a group of 10-15 philanthropists, innovators and investors, will advise and guide GreenLight and our portfolio organizations in their efforts to grow and scale across the region. The impacts of this virus are deep and sure to be long lasting, with the number of families in and on the brink of poverty continuing to rise– many of them facing the issues and challenges that GreenLight portfolio organizations address. The PAC, an innovation to our work at GreenLight, builds on our proven track record of success. Together, we will continue to partner with the Boston community to address our most pressing needs and barriers to prosperity for all.

We would like to welcome the following individuals to the PAC:

With the direct investment of PAC members, our efforts will provide grants to scale and deepen the impact of portfolio organizations, and to support them through these challenging times. Recognizing the urgency to respond, the PAC has awarded Friends of the Children Boston the first grant. Balancing action with strategic investment, the PAC’s support and guidance will help combat the biggest challenges in our city, ultimately providing greater and better services for the children and families in our community.