Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MASSINC)

Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth operates two subsidiaries, CommonWealth Beacon and MassINC Polling Group, that produce news articles from around the commonwealth and polling services, respectively. ²

History

Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth was founded in 1996 by civic and business leaders to provide research, analysis, reporting, and civic engagement to the residents and businesses of Massachusetts. ¹ The goal of MassINC was to provide accurate, thorough, and unbiased data to inform policymaking and the public. ¹

Positions

The Policy Center is the main research focus of MassINC and focuses on five major areas of research: gateway cities, education, criminal justice, jobs and economic security, and transportation. ³ MassINC has three major initiatives with other groups: Gateway Cities Innovation Institute, Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, and the Next Generation Accountability Learning Community. ³ The Gateway Cities Institute works with small to mid-size regional cities to examine and provide guidance on policy matters. ⁴ The Criminal Justice Reform Coalition includes law enforcement, the judiciary, agency officials, and legislators to discuss possible reforms. ⁵ The Next Generation Accountability Learning Community examines opportunities and challenges at small to mid-size urban school districts. ⁶

Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth states it supports diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). ¹ MassINC’s research examines correlating topics among its various research including equitable growth among cities, equity in transportation, creating a diverse workforce, student achievement in schools, school funding, and empowering local cities. ⁷ MassINC provides diverse views on criminal justice focusing on rates of incarceration after criminal justice reform, diversity, and prison funding. ⁸

Subsidiaries

Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth runs subsidiaries including MassINC Polling Group that performs public opinion research for public, private, and other sector clients and includes a national client list. ⁹ MassINC Polling Group conducts focus groups and conducts polling in the areas of education, health, housing, transportation, energy, the climate, and politics. ²

MassINC runs the CommonWealth Beacon, an online news outlet that reports news from around the state as well as providing opinion pieces on various topics including politics, health care, education, and organized labor. ¹⁰

Funding

The Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth is funded by foundations, corporations, and individuals. ¹¹ Foundation sponsors include the Barr Foundation, Cummings Foundation, Boston Foundation, Eastern Bank Foundation, Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation, and the Knight Foundation. ¹¹ Corporate donors to MassINC include Northeastern University, Eastern Bank, MassMutual, Enterprise Bank, M&T Bank, State Street, HarborOne Bank, Rockland Trust, Trinity Financial, BlueHub Capital, and the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation. ¹¹

Financials

In 2022, the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth had net assets of $814,870. ¹² According to the organization’s tax returns, in 2022 MassINC recorded $2,390,769 in revenue and reported $2,619,749 in expenses. ¹² In 2021, MassINC raised $4,338,646 in revenue and reported $2,946,844 in expenses. ¹³

Leadership

Joe Kriesberg has been the CEO of the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth since 2023. ¹⁴ Kriesberg previously spent 10 years as president of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations. ¹⁵ Kriesberg also spent 13 years working for Massachusetts Citizens for Safe Energy and three years working for Public Citizen. ¹⁵ Since 2021, Kriesberg has contributed at least $925 to Democratic candidates. ¹⁶