The One Fund Boston: Lessons for Leaders

Abstract

Established in the immediate aftermath of the April 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, the One Fund Boston disbursed $61 million dollars in donations to survivors and victims’ families within two months of its launch. The scale and success of the One Fund vastly outpaced victim and survivor funds created in other American cities and towns in the last two decades. This report, published by the Initiative on Cities at Boston University, provides mayors, as well as business and community leaders, with a blueprint for the design and implementation of the One Fund. It identifies lessons for leaders in other communities affected by mass trauma who are confronted with a similar desire and need to coalesce empathy into a useful form.