Special to the Regional Review
The Lenny Zakim Fund (LZF) hosted its 29th annual Awards Ceremony last week celebrating the work of its 2025 grant recipients. A total of $678,000 in unrestricted grants will be awarded to 53 nonprofit organizations, whose work ranges from food security, housing, and accessibility to youth development, violence prevention, and LGBTQ+ organizing. In addition to grant funds, LZF offers grantee partners an array of support services, such as expert advising, executive coaching, capacity-building educational seminars and workshops, and pro bono legal services.
“The work being done by grassroots nonprofit organizations to advance social, racial, and economic justice in communities throughout eastern Massachusetts is more critical today than perhaps at any time since LZF was founded 30 years ago,” said LZF Executive Director Allison Picott . “The Lenny Zakim Fund is proud to support the 53 grassroots organizations who make up our 2025 grantee portfolio and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them – and the nearly 400 grassroots partners we’ve proudly supported since 1995 – on the front lines of this 21st Century Civil Rights Movement.”
Keynote speakers at the Awards Ceremony wias Joan Ilacqua, Founder and Executive Director of The History Project, which is focused exclusively on documenting and preserving the history of New
England’s LGBTQ communities and sharing that history with LGBTQ individuals, organizations, allies, and the public, and Kassandra Brandao, Board Vice President of Gratis Healthcare, Inc, which recognizes the growing need for access to basic health care for those communities that are uninsured or underinsured in the MetroWest and Greater Boston area by providing free medical and mental health services to those in need. The evening will also feature special performances by Refugees & Immigrants Cultural Empowerment Massachusetts (RICEMA) who uses performance art and education to preserve the culture of refugee and immigrant communities, while deepening individuals’ connection to their heritage.
With both new and returning grantee partners in attendance, the Awards Ceremony honors Lenny Zakim’s mission that was the impetus for his founding of this Fund in 1995: to develop deep relationships and build bridges among people and communities to advance social, economic, and racial justice.
The Lenny Zakim Fund has worked since 1995 to develop deep relationships and build bridges among people and communities to advance social, economic, and racial justice. The LZF mission is to listen to those most impacted by inequity and provide the funding, essential resources, and support they need to create lasting change. The Lenny Zakim Fund envisions a more just and equitable world where communities thrive because of the contributions and leadership of grassroots organizations.