OVERVIEW: The New York Community Trust is a large community foundation with an active grantmaking program supporting nonprofits working in dozens of topic areas. Along with its competitive grants program, the trust houses hundreds of donor-advised funds (DAFs) and is active in New York’s philanthropic community. While New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County are geographic priorities, this funder makes grants nationally and internationally.
IP TAKE: More than a century into its existence, the New York Community Trust (NYCT) leaves almost no area untouched, with ten named programming focus areas, along with dozens of subareas and thousands of funds supporting its giving strategies. Areas of strong interest include K-12 education, housing and homelessness, civic engagement, the environment, and work and economic opportunity. (Read about this funder’s approach to homelessness in IP’s recent deep dive.) The NYCT holds the distinction of housing the first donor-advised fund (DAF) in the United States, opened in 1931. Today the trust continues to actively collaborate with the donor community. Inside Philanthropy writer Alyssa Ochs once wrote of the trust, “It’s hard to think of a community foundation with a longer, richer track record of playing well with others than the New York Community Trust. It’s long been an important hub of multi-funder collaborations in a city with a lot of foundations, and the pace of this activity has increased over time.”
This is a surprisingly accessible funder, though grantseekers will need to navigate the trust’s highly detailed website to determine if their program is a good fit. The Trust accepts proposals for its “competitive grants” on an ongoing basis through an online portal. Its grantees range from prestigious institutes and universities to small, neighborhood-based organizations. In addition to ongoing competitive grants, the Trust issues calls for LOIs and RFPs for specific programs, often supported by specific funds. This is an approachable and responsive funder that likes to communicate with potential and current grantees. This is an important funder to keep on one’s radar, particularly for nonprofits serving communities in New York City, Long Island, or Westchester County.
PROFILE: The New York Community Trust was formed in 1924, when 11 New York City banks banded together to “more effectively make grants from the charitable trusts they held.” Over the years, thousands of New Yorkers have made donations of all sizes to build “a permanent endowment to support the nonprofit organizations that make our city a vital and secure place in which to live and work.” With over $3 billion in assets, the New York Community Trust currently oversees more than 2,000 individual funds of varying degrees of specificity and runs donor-advised funds and competitive grantmaking programs for New York City, Long Island and Westchester County.
In addition to its place-based, competitive grant programs, the Trust also supports special initiatives via strategic grants and occasionally announces requests for proposals and other funding opportunities for specific issues. While a great majority of the fund’s grantmaking supports New York City area organizations, this funder also does grantmaking nationally and internationally, including through its donor-advised grants and its environmental grantmaking area. Funding interests vary by geographic region and generally include animal welfare, arts and culture, health and medical research, civic affairs and community development, gender equity and social justice, education and workforce development, the environment, programs for older adults, LGBTQ+ rights, disability rights, and capacity building for nonprofits.
Grants for K-12 and Early Childhood Education, Youth Development
The New York Community Trust supports education, at every level, across all three of its geographic interest areas:
- The New York City Education program supports the city’s public-school students and helps prepare them for college and the workforce. The program also funds childcare programs for children until age five.
- The Long Island Education program funds college readiness and workforce preparedness initiatives.
- The Westchester Education program primarily invests in early childhood education programs.
Recent grantees include the teacher development organization Teaching Matters, New Visions for Public Schools and the Fund for Public Schools, each of which received over $1 million in a recent year. Other grantees include the Westchester Children’s Association and multiple early education outreach programs at New York’s public libraries.
The trust also makes grants to a small number of educational institutions through its Youth Development programs in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County. Grantees include Futures and Options, Getting Out and Staying Out, Girls Incorporated of Long Island, Make the Road New York, and Junior Achievement of New York.
Grants for Workforce and Economic Development
Grants for work and economic opportunity stem from the New York City Jobs and Workforce Development program. The fund’s strategy in this area includes efforts to train and place job seekers in secure positions; remove barriers to employment for disabled, under-skilled or formerly incarcerated individuals; and to collaborate with employers of various sectors to create talent pipelines and ensure fair wages and safe working conditions.
- One recent grantee, JobsFirst NYC, used funding to run vocational education programs for unemployed and out-of-school young adults. Other grantees include Bernard Baruch College, the Workforce Professionals Training Institute and Invest in Skills NY, which coordinates industry investments in workforce development initiatives throughout the state.
- The New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County Youth Development programs make grants to nonprofit organizations that offer career readiness and skills development programs for young people. Grantees include GOOD for Girls, Little Flower Children and Family Services, Getting Out and Staying Out, and America On Tech to help prepare young people for jobs in the technology industry.
Grants for Public Health and Mental Health
The New York Community Trust makes grants for community healthcare and mental health through several different funding programs, which are different for each of the trust’s three geographic areas. The Trust has shifted its funding approach to programs focused on geographic areas. Funding remains mostly the same, but is now dispersed differently than in previous years:
- In New York City –
- The Health and Behavioral Health program focuses on interventions that reduce health disparities between low- and high-income communities, as well as the expansion of healthcare safety net services for uninsured and underinsured people. Specific areas of interest include preventative healthcare, effective treatment for diseases and lifestyle, nutrition and exercise programs.
- The Older Adults and People with Disabilities program supports organizations that provide essential services to older adults, children, and youth with disabilities, including visual, physical, and developmental disabilities.
- On Long Island –
- The Health program provides grants to groups that address disparities in health outcomes and increase access to healthcare for marginalized peoples and underserved communities.
- The Mental Health program aims to “improve the effectiveness, responsiveness, and accessibility of mental health services” for youth up to age 26.
- In Westchester County –
- The Health and Behavioral Health program funds organizations that “address health disparities by improving the effectiveness, responsiveness, and equity of health care for marginalized and underserved communities.”
- Recent grants have supported Cancer Care, Inc., which provides counseling, education and financial assistance to cancer patients in and around New York City, and New York City Health and Hospitals, which runs a broad range of healthcare centers, long term care facilities and home healthcare services.
- Other grantees include the Community Health Care Association of New York State, the National Council on Behavioral Health and Safe Horizon, a network of New York providers that support victims of physical and emotional abuse.
Grants for Disease Research
The New York Community Trust’s Biomedical Research NYC funding program aims to “help early- and mid-career researchers start projects and gather data needed to apply for larger government or private grants.” The trust names “cancer, heart disease, leprosy and incurable diseases” as specific areas of interest. Recent grantees include the Weill Cornell Medicine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Grants for Criminal Justice Reform
The trust’s New York City initiative lists support for organizations working to improve the city’s criminal justice system as one of its main focus areas.
- The Human Justice NYC program’s goal is “to promote a more effective and fair civil and criminal justice system through research and monitoring of practices and procedures in City courts, and advocacy to improve local court practices and procedures.”
- Current grantmaking aims to support legal nonprofits to adapt to changes in laws and policies and organizations involved in legal protection of New York City’s most vulnerable residents.
- Grants have also funded initiatives that “help low-income New Yorkers resolve legal problems and thereby improve their quality of life,” including legal issues involving housing, employment and education.
The trust also supports criminal justice reform via its youth development subprograms.
- The New York Youth Development program names “Changing New York’s juvenile and criminal justice systems to produce better outcomes for young people” as one of its priorities.
- The Long Island Youth Development program aims to “reduce school suspensions and incarceration.”
- The Westchester County Youth Development program supports organizations focused on working with young people who have been involved with the juvenile or criminal justice systems.
- Recent grantees include Volunteers of Legal Service, Bronx Legal Services, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, Urban Justice Center, and Youth Represent.
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
The New York Community Trust’s Civic Affairs NYC program seeks to encourage voting and civic participation, hold local and state governments accountable and promote civic literacy.
- Recent areas of specific interest have included voting reform, nonprofit journalism, the equitable and balanced distribution of information about candidates and legislation and civic education programs in neighborhoods with low levels of participation.
- One recent grantee, Community Votes, used funding to run informed voter campaigns in all five boroughs of New York City.
- Another recent grantee, the New York Civic Engagement Table, helps communities of color address issues racial and economic inequality in New York.
- Other grants have supported the Long Island Civic Engagement Fund and the Long Beach Latino Civic Association.
Grants for Housing, Human Services, and Community Development
The New York Community Trust makes grants to community development and human services organizations through several different programs, which also support nonprofits working to end homelessness and increase access to safe and affordable housing. Read IP’s deep-dive on funding for housing and homelessness here.
- In New York City –
- The Community Development program aims to preserve affordable housing and to maintain and expand transitional and emergency housing.
- The Human Services program seeks to support at-risk children and families in need, build the capacity of social services organizations and alleviate hunger, homelessness, and poverty.
- In Long Island –
- The Community Development program works to promote policies that preserve existing housing and develop new housing for low-to moderate-income families, cultivate employment opportunities for low-income residents, and support historically underserved small businesses and entrepreneurs.
- The Hunger program aims to reduce incidence of hunger and food insecurity on Long Island.
- In Westchester County –
- The Human Services program supports “programs that address basic human needs, including food and shelter, and programs that help individuals and families achieve greater long-term economic stability and self-sufficiency.”
- In a recent year, the trust supported Nazareth Housing, an organization that provides supportive housing to vulnerable New Yorkers, and Neighborhood Housing Services of Brooklyn, which works to preserve affordable housing and offers homeowner and financial education programs to residents. Grants have also gone to ERASE Racism, New York Communities Organizing Fund, Hillside Food Outreach, and Second Chance Foods.
Grants for Immigrants and Refugees
The New York Community Trust has demonstrated significant commitment to organizations that work with immigrants and refugees in New York City and beyond.
- Grantmaking has focused on legal assistance, advocacy, organizing and leadership development programs and is sourced from several different grantmaking programs and special initiatives.
- Past grantees include the Immigrant Justice Corps, which provides free counsel to recent immigrants and trains legal professionals in current immigration law, and New Immigrant Community Empowerment, a New York City organization that offers services, leadership development and community organizing programs to vulnerable immigrant workers.
- Other grants have gone to the New York Immigration Coalition.
Grants for LGBTQ, Women and Girls
The trust supports women and girls and LGBTQ causes through several of its grantmaking programs and special initiatives:
- The Gender Equity NYC program is the primary source of grants in this area. It funds efforts to develop leadership skills, promote economic mobility, provide services to those impacted by gender-based violence, and improve reproductive, maternal, and mental health care for women and the LGBTQ community.
- The Westchester Social Justice program supports community-based organizations that seek to address social injustice and promotes grassroots and community organizing.
- One grantee, the SAGE National LGBT Housing Initiative, was instrumental in the development of New York City’s first two affordable LGBT-friendly housing communities for the elderly. Other recent grantees include the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, New York Transgender Advocacy Group, and the LGBT Network.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Each of the trust’s three geographic interest areas operates its own arts and culture program:
- The Arts, Culture & Historic Preservation program in New York City is focused on increasing diversity in the arts, broadening access to artistic and cultural experiences, strengthening the capacity and management of arts groups that serve all five boroughs of the city, arts education and talent development and advocacy for the arts in local, state and federal policies and budgets.
- The Arts Long Island program seeks to promote diverse cultural experiences and “help arts organizations attract broader audiences and provide opportunities for artists from diverse backgrounds.”
- The Arts Westchester County program works to increase access to the arts for Westchester County residents and provide opportunities for artist professional development.
- Past grantees include the Queens Museum, NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, Chamber Music America, Flea Theater, Bushwick Starr, IndieSpace, Harlem School of the Arts, National Black Theatre, Dance/NYC, Urban Bush Women, and People’s Theatre Project.
- The trust also provides other funding opportunities for arts organizations through an annual Arts Capacity Building RFP and a fellowship through the Edward and Sally Van Lier Fellowship Program. The fund refines its areas of focus yearly.
Grants for Environmental Conservation and Climate Change
While the New York Community Trust’s Environment program traditionally supported climate change, toxic pollutants, and biodiversity conservation programs in New York City; however, it broadened its scope to regional, national and international projects in 1996, with the establishment of the Henry Phillip Kraft Family Memorial Fund.
- Within New York City the fund aims to help New York become “a climate-smart metropolis,” to improve community health through environmental intervention and to protect existing ecologies in the city. Recent areas of focus have included the reduction of air pollution, reducing the risk of exposure to toxic substances and the protection of wetlands and waterways. Grants have supported the Central Park Conservancy, the City Parks Foundation, the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance and the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund.
- The program’s national funding strategy includes support for efforts to mitigate and build resilience to climate change and to protect communities from harmful pollutants. A significant portion of the trust’s national conservation grants have remained in the Northeast, with grants going to the Clean Energy Group of Vermont, and the Connecticut Fund for the Environment.
- International funding is limited to only a few grants each year, focusing on improving global environmental health, protecting biodiversity and reducing greenhouse gasses. Grantees include the Environmental Defense Fund.
In addition to the program outlined above, the trust maintains two other environment programs, each dedicated to serving one of the funder’s other geographic interest areas.
- The Long Island Environment program works to “protect and preserve Long Island’s natural resources, healthy ecosystems, and public health.” Grants typically support sustainable land use, open space and farmland preservation efforts, protecting the region’s bodies of water, improving drinking water quality, preserve the island’s biological diversity, and slow climate change.
- The Westchester Environment program supports organizations that “promote more environmentally sustainable, resilient, and just communities,” including those that focus on climate change, biodiversity, conservation, and environmental impacts on public health.
Grants for Animals and Wildlife Conservation
The New York Community Trust’s Animal Welfare program focuses on the wellbeing and health of domestic animals in New York City, as well as the city’s native and migratory wildlife. Grantees include New York City Audubon, Bideawee, and Animal Care Centers of New York City, among others.
- Through its National and International Environment program, the trust funds organizations involved in the conservation and protection of wildlife and biodiversity.
- Recent grants have gone to the National Audubon Society and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Other Grant Opportunities
The New York Community Trust offers two grant opportunities to help nonprofits build capacity and develop professionally, the Technical Assistance NYC and the Technical Assistance Long Island programs.
Important Grant Details:
Through its more than 2,000 managed funds, the New York Community Trust awards almost $200 million in competitive grants each year. Most grants are awarded in amounts of up to $200,000, with an average grant size of about $10,000. The largest of the trust’s three grantmaking areas is its New York City program, from which grants for K-12 education in New York City are sourced.
- The New York Community Trust accepts proposals on an ongoing basis for its competitive grantmaking programs via its online system.
- Application guidelines are available on the website.
- The Trust tends to support project grants rather than general operating support.
- The Trust specifies a preference for projects that “promote change across a system or sector” as well as advocacy efforts that “articulate a set of specific goals and strategies to achieve them.”
- Materials are generally submitted through the trust’s application portal, and applicants are notified of decisions via email within a six-month time frame.
- The trust also posts information about RFPs for special projects on its grants portal and RFP page.
For general inquiries, see the contact page.
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