The Charles Hayden Foundation seeks to promote the mental, moral and physical development of children and youth ages five to eighteen in the metropolitan area of New York and the City of Boston. Our focus is on those institutions and programs serving youth most at risk of not reaching their full potential, especially youth in low-income communities. We support programs that have a long-term and significant impact on children.

Program Support

Program Support grants are focused on efforts to help youth develop the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in school and lay the foundation for satisfying and productive lives. We look for evidence of program impact on young people.

Priority is given to programs in New York City and the city of Boston that:

Improve and expand community-based programs offering needy school-aged youth educational, social, and recreational opportunities in the non-school-hours (after-school, evenings, weekends and summers).
Improve student achievement by strengthening K to 12 education. Most of this support is earmarked for strengthening core academic learning. The Foundation's focus includes charter schools in existence for at least two full operating years in New York City, Boston, Massachusetts, and Newark, New Jersey. In addition, the Foundation provides support to independent and parochial schools for improving educational programs at individual schools that predominantly serve needy students.
Strengthen informal educational enrichment programs offered outside of schools in institutions such as museums, zoos, aquariums, and botanical gardens.

Capital Support

The Foundation provides "bricks and mortar" funding for renovation, expansion, construction, and acquisition of physical facilities and purchase and repair of non-expendable equipment. Emphasis is on assisting those organizations in need of better physical facilities to improve the availability and quality of programs for young people. We recognize the problem of deferred maintenance in youth-serving facilities; however, we carefully review the record of past attention to maintenance and an organization's long-term strategy for repair and renovation.

Organizations eligible for capital grants include: youth-serving agencies and other community-based organizations whose facilities are predominantly used by and for youth; non-public educational institutions serving those students most in need; charter schools with at least two years operating experience; museums, zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens with facilities used primarily for youth-oriented activities.