About Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance
Inspire young people to explore their passions, experiment with potential careers, and navigate a path to a meaningful and rewarding future by providing free digital experiences, strategic investments, grants, research, advocacy, and partnerships that expand career-readiness learning.
Focus Areas
career explorationwork-based learningpostsecondary pathwaysworkforce developmentresearch and evaluationprograms for underserved youth (rural, low-income, Indigenous, youth with disabilities, foster/justice-involved, youth of color, immigrant/multilingual, LGBTQ+)
Who They Fund
secondary and postsecondary students (Washington, DC metro area)young adults / early-career learners pursuing workforce entry
Funding Style
program support/sponsorship
About Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance
Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation’s recent funding shows a strong commitment to career-connected learning across multiple stages of the pathway, with large grants to organizations working on postsecondary pathways, work-based learning, and career exploration. The biggest grant in the recent list was $5,000,000 to Jobs for the Future Inc in Boston for postsecondary pathways, followed by $4,448,985 to Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship in New York for skill-building and social capital. Those awards sit alongside repeated support for groups working on youth transitions into education and work, including New Venture Fund and Rodel Foundation of Delaware. The foundation also backs organizations that connect learning to practice and reach young people through digital and community-based strategies. Recent grants include $600,000 to Big Picture Learning in Providence for digital innovation and $527,000 to Caps Network Inc in Overland Park for work-based learning. Its portfolio includes national intermediaries, research-oriented partners, and operating nonprofits that support career readiness and pathways into further education or employment.
What Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Funds
In postsecondary pathways, Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation gave $5,000,000 to Jobs for the Future Inc for postsecondary pathways and $500,000 to New Profit Inc for the same area. Those grants point to an interest in supporting organizations that help students move from learning into further education and career entry. For career exploration, the foundation funded New Venture Fund twice, including $1,500,000 through Catalyze Challenge and another $1,500,000 award in 2025, both tied to career exploration. It also supported Rodel Foundation of Delaware with $566,666 in 2024 and $500,000 in 2025 for the same theme. Work-based learning appears repeatedly as well, with grants to US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Naf, Gps Education Partners Inc, and Big Picture Learning for programs tied to hands-on learning and experiential pathways.
How Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Gives
Typical recent grants fall in a middle-large range, with a p25 of $100,000, median of $200,000, and p75 of $500,000. The list shows repeat funding across multiple years for several organizations, including Jobs for the Future, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Rodel Foundation of Delaware, Big Picture Learning, US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, New Profit Inc, Naf, and Gps Education Partners Inc. That pattern suggests ongoing relationships rather than one-off awards. The foundation is a regular funder, not a DAF, and it does not fund individuals. The active grant program descriptions show both an open-call annual cycle and a youth participatory pilot, and the annual cycle accepts unsolicited proposals.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$20.3M
Total Assets
$1.1B
Total Revenue
$153.6M
Total Expenses
$114.9M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $100K and $500K, with a median of $200K.
25th Percentile
$100K
Median
$200K
75th Percentile
$500K
Geographic Reach
National23 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
JEAN EDDY
Accepts unsolicited proposals
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