Jim Canales is poised to step down as president of the Barr Foundation later this year, capping off a decade leading the powerhouse philanthropic organization as it exploded in size and began operating in more public view.
Canales will soon become the first person to take over as chair of Barr’s board outside of the Hostetters, the Beacon Hill family whose $3.8 billion fortune funds the foundation. Barr will choose a new president before year’s end.
“We’ve made such great progress over the last decade that I’ve had the privilege of leading,” Canales said in an interview Friday. “I feel now that the foundation is in a great position of strength to attract a dynamic, talented leader who can help build on the solid foundation and take the institution to the next level of impact.”
An affable Californian, Canales grew Barr’s grantmaking from $55 million to $130 million a year since 2014 and upped its staff from 19 to 48 people. His tenure was marked by expanded investments in arts, education, and climate resiliency, as well as funds to support immigrant communities after the 2016 election, to bolster emergency response and vaccine outreach in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to advance racial equity — in and out of the nonprofit sphere. (Barr also supports the Globe’s Great Divide and Money, Power, and Inequality teams.)
When racial equity initiatives lost steam after 2020, Canales penned on op-ed in the Globe urging philanthropists to “redouble our commitments” and to recognize that “advancing racial justice does not result from a statement, a set of grants, or a funder initiative.”
During his tenure, Barr also played a key role in waterfront development around Boston Harbor by pushing to preserve public space on the coastline and protect it from flooding and storm surges to come.
In a statement, Mayor Michelle Wu said she is “deeply grateful for Jim’s leadership, his wisdom, and his unflinching devotion to making our city a more equitable place to live, work, and play.”
Many also credit Canales, 58, with bringing Barr — once known for its secretive operations — out of the shadows.
Founded in 1997, the foundation distributed money very quietly for its first 15 years, but changed its strategy when Canales started as president and became its first-ever trustee besides Amos and Barbara Hostetter. Barr now publishes its investments in a searchable database on its website, and Canales remained active in public life during the presidency. He helped write Boston’s first-ever cultural plan under former mayor Marty Walsh and serves on boards for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Boston Public Library.
Tax filings show that Barr held $2.6 billion in assets in 2023, the most recent data available.
Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, said the foundation has been the “model for effectiveness” under Canales, setting itself up for long-term success.
“They’ve supported nonprofits with the kind of multiyear and unrestricted support that allows them to be effective,” he added. “They bring a respect for knowledge that exists within the communities — they don’t come to it thinking that they have all the answers, and they understand the need to be in constructive dialogue with policy makers.”
Canales previously led the James Irvine Foundation in California from 1993 to 2014 and served on boards for Stanford University, the College Futures Foundation, KQED Public Broadcasting, and more.
In addition to his upcoming role on Barr’s board, he will devote “additional time to his existing responsibilities as a managing director of Pilot House Associates, the Hostetter’s family office,” according to a press release.
Canales’ presidency also overlapped with the expansion of the Barr board from two to nine people — six of whom are nonfamily members — since 2017. His ascension to chair of the board now coincides with Barbara Hostetter’s departure from the position, which she held for over a quarter-century.
In a new leader, Hostetter said, she and the foundation are searching for stability and ambition.
“We’re not looking for revolution. We’re not looking for someone to reorient us or reinvent us,” she added. “But we are looking for someone with humility, who will look at our program areas and look to deepen the work.”
Lee Pelton, president of The Boston Foundation and a Barr trustee, said he was glad Canales will stay close.
“He is enormously intelligent, a forward thinker, [and] extraordinarily sensitive to the issues that have emerged over the last several years. He is a dream come true for his staff,” Pelton said. “We will miss him as president. At the same time, we welcome him as the chair.”
Diti Kohli can be reached at diti.kohli@globe.com. Follow her @ditikohli_.