Alongside its change-the-world corporations, Kendall Square is home to many change-the-world non-profits organizations. Consider supporting these causes on Giving Tuesday this year.
Education
Breakthrough Greater Boston (BTGB) improves educational equity by inspiring excitement for learning, creating paths to college, and promoting careers in education. The organization has a dual mission to 1) prepare low-income students for success in college and 2) train college students to become the next generation of urban teachers.
For nearly 85 years, the CAC has been on a mission to cultivate an engaged community of youth whose powerful artistic voices transform their lives, their neighborhoods, and their worlds.
Community Charter School of Cambridge
CCSC is a small, free, open-enrollment charter public school serving grades 6-12. The school supports and celebrates its community’s diversity, growth, and success and takes pride in ensuring every CCSC student is known, nurtured, and challenged.
One of the oldest and largest charter public schools in Massachusetts, PHA’s Pre-K through 12 program prepares students with the academic knowledge and social/emotional skills needed to succeed in college and beyond.
A student-run non-profit out of MIT, Project Boom donates computers to children and families who need them.
Tech Goes Home is dedicated to addressing the digital inequities that deny people the opportunity to succeed.
Aimed at advancing educational equity by supporting youth in their academic, personal and social growth through free, individualized tutoring, mentoring and enrichment programs.
Empowering girls and gender-expansive youth to embrace STEM through meaningful mentorship and free, hands-on experiences
Per Scholars
Greater Boston offers free hands-on technology training to students throughout Greater Boston. It is accessible by the MBTA in the heart of Kendall Square.
Through a partnership with the Cambridge Housing Authority and the Biogen Idec Foundation, TPP launched a new Makerspace in Kendall Square to provide a hands-on learning environment for students.
Community
CASPAR (Cambridge And Somerville Programs for Addiction Recovery)—a part of Bay Cove Human Services—is a community-based non-profit organization founded in 1970 in response to growing community need for substance abuse treatment.
East End House is one of Greater Boston’s oldest social service centers, and has been a vital resource for newly immigrated and lower-income individuals and families for more than 145 years. Today, as a dynamic community center, EEH continues to meet community needs through innovative programs that support families and individuals of every age and ability.
For 50 years, De Novo has delivered free civil legal assistance and affordable psychological counseling to people with low incomes.
The CRC strives to make the Charles River and its parks a well-maintained network of natural urban places that invite and engage all in their use and stewardship.
Food for Free rescues nearly 2 million pounds of food each year from supermarkets, universities, corporate dining halls, wholesalers, farms, and other sources. They donate this food to help fight hunger in our community!
Just A Start serves Cambridge building equitable and thriving communities by guiding individuals and families on their path to economic stability through affordable housing, career training, and comprehensive support services.
ICW’s mission is to amplify the voice and agency of people who have been most impacted by systemic racism and mass incarceration. The team has created a culture and community in which power dynamics are flipped, social capital is bridged, and new leaders emerge in the fight to combat long-standing inequities.
Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House
The Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House provides integrated services to individuals and families to empower them to overcome challenges, reach their potential and achieve their goals.
Housing Navigator MA is a nonprofit organization offering tools and information about affordable rental housing throughout Massachusetts. Their search tool provides up-to-date, verified listings with photos and information on over 160,000 units from Agawam to Andover, Cambridge to the Cape.
Science + Research
A world-renowned non-profit research institution, Whitehead Institute is dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research. Donations directly support researchers as they seek to transform medicine and health care through innovations in biomedical science.
From fighting the pandemic to developing critical tools and methods to advance scientific discovery, the Broad is dedicated to accelerating the pace at which the world conquers disease.
Founded in 1994, The Angiogenesis Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization disrupting disease through angiogenesis, the process the body uses to grow new blood vessels. The team’s mission is to improve global health by advancing angiogenesis-based medicine, diet, and lifestyle.
Global
Root Capital invests in the growth of agricultural enterprises that are building a more prosperous, inclusive, and resilient future for rural communities. To date, Root Capital has distributed $1.5 billion to improve the lives of over 10 million people in farming families.
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
J-PAL’s mission is to reduce poverty through research, policy outreach, and training—ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Your contribution supports our work conducting rigorous randomized evaluations, training others to run their own evaluations, and impacting lives through policy outreach and the scale-up of programs found to be effective with partner governments and implementers.
Open Learning Exchange
OLE’s big idea is to demonstrate a solution to the three most serious barriers to learning: the lack of quality materials, the lack of effective teachers, and the lack of meaningful connections with the rest of the world. In partnership with nation-based educational entrepreneurs who establish independent organizations, with leadership, staff and funding, OLE provides strategic advice and technical support, and regularly assembles our partners to share and learn from each other.
Pst! Are you a non-profit in Kendall, but don’t see your organization listed here? Reach out to our team at hello@kendallsquare.org.