City Trusts
Bostonians benefit from more than 300 trust funds, with some dating back as far as the late 1600's.
The Trust Office is part of the City of Boston’s Treasury Department, which manages the finances and operations of more than 300 trust funds.
-
trust@boston.gov -
617-635-3692
Overview
HOW TRUSTS ARE ESTABLISHED
Before the mid-20th century, local governments were the primary non-church, non-education entities with professional capacity to manage funds with the long term interests in the welfare of citizens. It was this understanding of government that led to generous citizens leaving funds for various purposes to the city. Libraries, schools, public places and the poor were often the beneficiaries of these donors. In the latter half of the 20th century, the City itself established municipal trusts for a variety of purposes.
Testamentary Trust Fund: A variety of assets given to the municipality in trust by a donor and intended to provide a public benefit as specified by the donor in his/her/their will or other trust instrument.
Non-Testamentary Trust Fund: A variety of assets provided in trust intended to provide a public benefit as specified in city ordinance or other trust instrument.
HOW Trusts ARE MANAGED
City trusts can either be held in an endowment mechanism where the principal is invested and the income is expended, or in a non-endowment or spend-down model.
Funds are invested consistent with the City’s investment policy. Treasury and Trust Office staff, working with an independent financial consultant, monitors the performance of the City’s investment firms. These firms are selected to oversee the trusts’ investment programs consistent with the City of Boston Trust Funds Investment Policy Statement. Funds grow and shrink with market fluctuations but overall the funds have grown.
HOW TRUSTS DISTRIBUTE FUNDS
Grantmaking Trusts: Trusts that distribute funds through a granting process. Only a few funds require a proposal process – this is a relatively new mechanism in the 250+ year history of charitable giving by some of these trusts. In most cases where it is used, it is a mechanism the Trust Office staff identified to distribute funds. The 3 Trusts that award grants are:
Noncompetitive Trusts: Trusts that - due to their particular purpose - are not suited to a proposal program (for example William Kerr left funds to establish a trust for use by the City Law Office to purchase law books and similar resources).
The City's Trusts are audited annually by an independent auditor. That firm also prepares annual filings with the IRS and Massachusetts Division of Public Charities as required.
For a complete list of our trust funds, please click the link below:
Grantmaking Trusts
Grantmaking TrustsPlaces That Our Trusts Support
PlacesThe City’s 3 active and 16 historic cemeteries benefit from 11 trusts. Some of these are tied to a specific site. The largest trusts were set up under state law. The Collector-Treasurer is the Trustee of the perpetual care trusts for the active Cemeteries (Mount Hope in Mattapan, Evergreen in Brighton and Fairview in Hyde Park) and a general trust that can benefit all of the cemeteries.
The cemeteries' trusts went through a period of reinvestment to grow the principal. Now the trusts produce income for projects and enhanced maintenance in the cemeteries. The Cemeteries Division of the Parks and Recreation Department provides the daily care and maintenance.
Working with that Division, the Trust Office engaged a landscape architecture firm to provide a needs assessment and cost estimate for the 3 active cemeteries.
The Libraries' 192 trusts make up more than half of the named trust funds. While some are small, many have grown to provide significant income annually.
Learn more about how the trusts support the BPL's budget here. Detailed information is available under 'Additional Financial Documents - Trust Fund Distributions'.
The Fund for Parks and Recreation includes many program-specific and place-specific subfunds. The Fund supports programs, activities and care of public open spaces in Boston.
The earliest schools trust dates to 1693, the most recent to 1989. These 41 small funds have very constrained purposes. Most are dedicated to a specific school or use.
Featured Trusts
Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund
The Browne Fund was created under a will from attorney Edward Ingersoll Browne in 1892. Mr. Browne directed that a third of his estate would be invested and the income used for the:
“adornment and benefit of (Boston) by the erection of statues, monuments, fountains for men and beasts and for the ornament of its streets, ways, squares and parks in such manner as will promote the pleasure, comfort, education, patriotism and good taste of its citizens.”
A City Ordinance established the process through which the Browne Fund distributes its income. A committee reviews proposals, and a commission has final funding authority. The Browne Fund Commission is made up of the Mayor, the City Treasurer, and the senior member of the City Council.
George Robert White Fund
The George Robert White Fund, established in 1922, through the bequest of the industrialist George Robert White, is a sole source capital construction and acquisition fund. The White Fund holds title to the ''works" it creates and leases them at low fee to City agencies and non-profit organizations in order to provide social, cultural and recreational programs for the residents of Boston. The White Fund can expend funds to subsequently improve and/or expand the "works" it creates, but the routine maintenance and operational expenses of each facility is the responsibility of its user tenant.
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQIn short, a Trust is:
- A dedicated fund kept segregated from general city funds
- Set up for a stated purpose consistent with local and state laws
- Audited annually by an outside auditor
- Overseen by the Public Charities Division of the Attorney General’s Office of Massachusetts
- Governed by a trustee or trustees
- Under the custodial care of the Collector Treasurer
- Restricted in its disbursements to the purposes for which the fund was created
No, most of the City’s grant programs are not trusts. Grant Programs can be funded a number of ways, typically from city funds but also sometimes with funds from the state or federal government. For example, within the Treasury Department, the Community Preservation Program is a city taxpayer funded grant program, not a trust.
In some cases, the word “Trust” is used in the name of a city program that does not meet the formal definition as used here. For example the “Renew Boston Trust” is a program funded through typical city appropriation of tax dollars.
No, most trusts do not have 501c3 designation by the IRS. The exceptions are Fund for Parks, Make Boston Shine, Boston Charitable Trust and Faneuil Hall Trust.
No. There are several organizations - including the Fund for Boston Neighborhoods, the Boston Educational Development Fund, the Fund for Boston Public Library and the Foundation for BCYF - that are not part of the City’s Trust program.
Who's Involved:
-
trust@boston.gov
-
617-635-3692
