The Charitable Foundation’s Board of Trustees created this program in 2000 to encourage REALTOR® support for local non-profit groups and their initiatives to provide affordable housing, shelter and other emergency care services within the Commonwealth.
Each local REALTOR® association in Massachusetts is able to nominate one housing or homeless assistance charity organization from their jurisdictional area for a monetary grant from the Foundation. Grant awards will be made in the spring and fall of each calendar year. While each charity can be nominated in successive funding rounds, each charity is only eligible to receive one grant award per calendar year.
To nominate a local charity, each local REALTOR® association must submit the Foundation’s official,
two-page grant application. The application has been formatted so text can be entered directly on to it. If you are using Adobe Acrobat, you can click the submit button when finished and it will be emailed directly to the Foundation. If using a different pdf reader, the application can be saved and emailed directly to Karen Dumond,
kdumond@marealtor.com . Deadline for the spring funding round is April 30, 2013 and the deadline for the fall funding round is August 30, 2013.
Applications may be accompanied by additional literature or materials that demonstrate the impact a nominated charity has had within the community or local market area. However, applications that are supported by such documents will not be weighted more heavily than those that do not.
In addition to submitting the application via email, the application can be printed and mailed to: MAR Charitable Foundation, 60 Hickory Drive, 4th Floor, Waltham, MA 02451. However,
emailing is preferred.
In completing the grant application process, it is important to provide as much detail about the activities and services offered by the nominated non-profit group as possible, particularly how the programs offered assistance to those in need of shelter or affordable housing. Your association is free to nominate any local charity you’d like for the grant, but please be aware that grants will be awarded based on the merits of the program – i.e. how closely the group or organization’s programs match the stated housing goals of this grant program and how effective the charity has been in impacting the lives of local citizens.
In addition, the Foundation encourages you to consider groups you already support on the local level, because increased familiarity with a charity may make the application process less complicated, provide visible evidence of community backing, and offer your association the chance to use funds awarded by the MAR Foundation as a matching grant.
Groups chosen to receive a Housing and Homeless Assistance Grant, will be announced at the Association’s annual May Board of Director’s meeting and at the annual the MAR Professional Awards Reception which takes place in the fall.