Perpetual Benevolent Fund

Established in 1932, the Perpetual Benevolent Fund is a private charitable foundation administered by Bank of America’s Massachusetts Philanthropic Solutions office. Its mission is to support residents of Newton, Waltham, and Watertown, Massachusetts, who are experiencing financial hardship. It fulfills this mission by making grants to 501(c)(3) public charities that directly relieve the financial burdens of local individuals and families in crisis. This fund does not support general operating support, endowment, capital projects, or multi-year funding, and only one application per organization is accepted within a 12-month period. The Fund issues grants twice per year, with application deadlines on March 1 and September 1. For March submissions, applicants are notified by May 31; for September submissions, notifications are sent by November 30. Applications must be submitted online via the foundation’s grant portal. Email, hand-delivered, or postal submissions are not accepted. Additionally, Letters of Inquiry or Intent are not considered for this fund. All application communication must be conducted electronically, and technical support is only available during business hours, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. Only public charities operating within Newton, Waltham, and Watertown are eligible to apply. Applicants must not submit requests for general operating, endowment, capital, or multi-year support. Grants must specifically target relief efforts that align with the Fund’s mission of easing financial hardship for individuals and families in the specified municipalities. Applications from public schools are discouraged unless they are for programmatic rather than general operational support. The online application consists of multiple sections including legal organization information, contact information, organizational profile, service community details, and grant request specifics. Required attachments include current and previous fiscal year operating budgets, organizational and project budgets (if applicable), board list with affiliations, most recent audited financial statements or alternative, latest IRS Form 990, sources of funding, and potentially an outcomes summary and annual report. File formats must be PDF, Word, or Excel (PDF preferred), and files must not exceed 25MB. Applicants are encouraged to start early and save drafts using the portal’s “Save Draft” function. A PDF version of the application can be downloaded for offline preparation. Password reset support and technical assistance are not available on weekends, and incomplete applications cannot be submitted. Submission confirmation and status updates are sent via email. Site visits are rare, and applications undergo thorough internal review before funding decisions are finalized by committees or co-trustees. For questions or technical support, applicants may contact the foundation at ma.grantmaking@bofa.com or call 866.778.6859. Email inquiries should include the foundation name in the subject line. The fund's online application help guide and procedures are available for reference on the Bank of America grantmaking site.

Avoid jargon, use Save Draft, be clear about services and outcomes, review required attachments before starting