Anna Faith Johnson Jones '54

Alumnae Achievement Awards 1994

Philanthropic Leader, Community Activist

Anna Faith Johnson Jones graduated from Wellesley in 1954 with a B.A. in music history and went on to receive her M.A. in musicology from Columbia University in 1956. Jones joined the Boston Foundation, one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the country, in 1974, serving first as assistant director and later associate director. In 1985 she was named president, becoming the first African-American woman to head a major community foundation.

During her tenure as president of the Boston Foundation, Jones diversified the Foundation’s staff and led several multi-year initiatives to break the cycle of urban poverty. Under her watch, the Foundation’s assets have grown from less than $100 million to over $700 million. When she stepped down from the position in 2001, Helen Spaulding, a Foundation chair, said, “We are profoundly grateful for the extraordinary vision and leadership that Anna Faith Jones brought to the Boston Foundation. Under her guidance, an institution that had been known more for its traditions than its innovations has become one of the most progressive community foundations in the nation. She will leave a legacy of accomplishment and we applaud her for it.”

In addition to her work with the Boston Foundation, Jones is a member of the Advisory Committee on Public Charities of the Office of the Attorney General, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Civic League, and Public Radio International. She is a trustee of the Boston Athenaeum, chair of the board of the Kettering Foundations, and the vice chair of the Northfield Mount Hermon School.