Massage Therapy Foundation Community Impact Awards Get a Refresh

 by Adrienne F. Asta, BA, LMT, May 1, 2026

Finding ways to expand access to qualified therapeutic massage practitioners has been a longstanding conversation within the massage therapy industry, and, increasingly, among allied health providers, community advocates and other stakeholders. When I reflect on my 25 years in this profession, the increased awareness our clients and the public have about the numerous positive benefits of massage is exhilarating.

Our clients assume a few privileges when they come to our offices—they are well enough to get themselves there and they can afford the time and cost of service. For too many people, however, the time of greatest need is also the time of least access.

Finances are stretched thin by medical bills from life-altering illness or injury, the aftermath of a natural disaster has left them scrambling for bare necessities, fleeing domestic violence makes them vulnerable and cautious, or living in isolation due to poverty, addiction, age-related disease or chronic pain, to name just a few life circumstances that can impede access to much-needed care.

In other words, the benefits of safe, compassionate touch is greatly magnified in times like these while at the same time actual access becomes increasingly difficult, if not impossible.

How Can the Massage Therapy Profession Bridge the Access Gap?

Challenges in funding, defining and providing appropriate/situation-specific care, and educating providers can all put the brakes on humanitarian work. How can massage therapists and industry leaders support those who need the important and foundational care massage provides but can’t afford it?

A wide range of underserved populations stand to benefit from the essential care that licensed massage therapists provide. Yet bringing therapeutic massage to disadvantaged communities remains a complex challenge.

Barriers such as limited funding, a lack of tailored training for working with specific populations, and inconsistent understanding of how to deliver appropriate, situation specific care continue to slow progress.

At the same time, many community members who could most benefit from massage may be unaware of its value or unsure how to access it. These realities raise an important question for our profession: how do we ensure that those who most need skilled, compassionate touch are not the ones left without it?

The Massage Therapy Foundation (MTF) was founded in 1990 by the American Massage Therapy Association with a mission to advance the knowledge and practice of massage therapy by supporting scientific research, education and community service.

The first MTF Community Service Awards were granted in 1993 and aimed to make massage therapy available to those facing barriers to access, including illness, injury, socioeconomic status or distance to care. The awards also hoped to demonstrate the value of therapeutic massage in real-world settings.

Over the past 33 years, MTF has awarded almost $650,000 to more than 140 projects bringing therapeutic massage to underserved communities in the United States and worldwide.

MTF-funded projects have brought therapeutic massage to children with cerebral palsy in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, orphans in Brazil and Uzbekistan, rural indigenous and urban poor people with diabetes in Mexico, breast cancer patients in Serbia and Kenya, tsunami survivors in Japan. These projects also included providing training to Aboriginal health workers in Australia.

US-based projects have provided massage to individuals left unhoused in the wake of hurricanes in the Northeast, those affected by California wildfires, including first responders, as well as cancer survivors, Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers, medically fragile children, people living with HIV/AIDs, survivors of human trafficking and torture, and many others.

Recipient organizations and those they serve report back enthusiastically, with personal, emotional stories about the impact of the care made possible by MTF funding.

I witnessed how deeply this program is needed in our communities as a reviewer and past Chair of MTF’s Community Service Award Proposal Review Committee. Each year, the committee reviews dozens of applications, applying a detailed rubric and group discussions to assess the potential impact, future sustainability, number of individuals served and other key factors for each proposal.

High value is placed on applications with broad beneficial impact beyond the individuals being served. For example, grants training massage therapists to work with special populations can enable newly trained individuals to make a continued difference long beyond the completion of the grant cycle.

Projects providing services to caregivers create a positive butterfly effect on both the patients and families of those they serve. Projects that teach self‑massage empower individuals to access the benefits of therapeutic touch even in situations where other forms of care aren’t feasible.

Proposals that incorporate a research component are particularly valued, as they gather data that demonstrates efficacy and drives long‑term growth and expansion.

The Community Service Awards Get a Big Boost

Each year, MTF has awarded projects up to $5,000 to four to five projects, a funding limit that was imposed more than 30 years ago. After discussing the right time to increase the award for almost a decade, I am thrilled to report that the MTF Board of Trustees has approved a higher award amount of $20,000 per project for up to two projects per grant cycle starting this year!

This critical change will enable awardees to keep up with increased costs and make a greater impact on the communities they serve. New data collection and quarterly reporting requirements will enable these grants to drive additional projects and long-term change, highlighting the importance of licensed massage professionals’ impact on the health of our communities.

“I am so excited about the future of the Community Service Awards! This year we approved a higher dollar amount award, enabling us to attract a larger and more diverse applicant pool. With this change, our monies will be able to help more people and hopefully provide additional data for research,” Dolly Wallace, LMT, BCTMB, and Chair of the MTF Community Service Award Proposal Review Committee, shares.