MIT Community Service Fund

If 100 donors make a gift of any amount (from nano to giga!) to the MIT Community Service Fund (CSF) on March 12, $10,000 will be donated by a long-time member of the MIT community and members of the MIT Community Service Fund Board of Trustees and the Community Giving at MIT Steering Committee. For MIT alumni, your CSF gift counts toward the annual gift program.

Based at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, LL EduCATE (Lincoln Laboratory Courses for Accessible, Technical Education) develops publicly available and accessible STEM lessons for middle- and high-school students. Here students learned about Bluetooth-based proximity detection in their Bluetooth Bandit workshop. Image courtesy of MassHire Greater Brockton Workforce Board

Supercharge MIT’s Volunteer Efforts 

For 55+ years, the MIT Community Service Fund (CSF) has served as MIT’s “home team” for community service, collaboration, and partnership, advancing our commitment to create equity of opportunities and impact for our neighbors.

The CSF empowers students, staff, faculty, and retirees from across all MIT schools, Schwarzman College, and Lincoln Laboratory to carry out service initiatives by applying their leadership skills and creative problem-solving approaches to community needs. CSF also provides reliable financial support to local nonprofits with MIT volunteers.

Examples of CSF’s wide range of MIT-led service initiatives aimed at addressing equity include:

Education

• Introducing hundreds of students from local public schools to STEM activities, philosophy concepts, and pathways to careers
• Coaching a club for children with autism led by MIT student athletes, and MIT staff creating an adaptive rock-climbing session
• Mentoring middle-school and high-school students through a combination of academics and swimming at MIT

Food Security and Housing

• Establishing access to food security and nutritious meals
• Promoting community gardens as neighborhood hubs in underserved communities
• Connecting individuals and families to secure, stable, and affordable housing

What Recent CSF Grant Recipients Have to Say

• “Doing something for others with others was a great feeling.” MIT Mercy Initiative volunteer
• “What this leads to are opportunities for not only my students to succeed in the future, but for the students from the rest of Brockton and the rest of the urban schools in cities like ours to think that they can perform things that are possible.” Brockton High-School Aerospace Robotics Competition team member
• “CSV is grateful for the deep and meaningful partnership we have with departments across the MIT community.” Cambridge School Volunteers, CSF nonprofit recipient

MIT architecture graduate students developed community gardens as hubs for green infrastructure and food justice for underserved communities. 
Photo credit: Pop-Up Community Kitchens 
Top photo credit: Glen Cooper