SOURCE OF WEALTH: Adage Capital Management
FUNDING AREAS: Education & youth, health, global health, Boston community
OVERVIEW: Robert Atchinson and family conduct their philanthropy through the Robert and Michelle Cooke Atchinson Foundation. The family’s philanthropy steadily supports select youth organizations in the Boston area. The Atchinsons are also interested in health and global health. According to available tax filings, the Atchinson Foundation awarded $3.1 million in grants in 2016.
BACKGROUND: Robert George Atchinson received a BA from Hartwick College and an MBA from Stanford University. He served as a senior vice president and head of the Select Equity Group at the Harvard Management from 1991 to 2001. He went on to co-found Adage Capital Management.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION & YOUTH: Atchinson and family have supported Play Ball, which runs sports programming for youth, St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, Year Up, Inner-City Scholarship Fund, Big Brother Big Sister Central Mass/Metrowest, and College of the Holy Cross, which has received particularly strong support recently in the form of a $2 million grant. Campaign for Catholic Schools is also a major grantee, having received a $500,000 grant in 2017 and nearly $1.5 million in total funding since 2014. The Atchinsons are College of the Holy Cross parents and Robert was once a College of the Holy Cross trustee.
HEALTH: The foundation has supported Massachusetts General Hospital since 2008 with approximately $350,000 in funding over multiple grants. Additional health grantees include Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary and Nantucket Cottage Hospital.
GLOBAL HEALTH: The Atchinsons support health organizations that work on a global level, including Care2Communities, which provides medical support for women, and Medicines for Humanity. They have supported Maranyundo Initiative, which advances girls’ education. The foundation has awarded the initiative around $150,000 in total grant funding since 2014.
BOSTON COMMUNITY: The family has supported Strategic Grant Partners, whose mission is to “partner with outstanding leaders with game changing ideas that improve the lives of children and families in Massachusetts.” The foundation awarded the organization over $500,000 in grants from 2006 to 2014. Atchinson’s business partner, Phillip Gross, is a founder of Strategic Grant Partners.
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the Atchinsons to stick with their select interest areas.
CONTACT:
The Robert and Michelle Cooke Atchinson Foundation does not provide a clear avenue of contact but below is an address:
The Robert and Michelle Cooke Atchinson Foundation
115 Commonwealth Ave., No. 2
Boston, MA 02116
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