The New York Community Trust Grants

Project grants serving New York City. Supplied guidelines describe animal welfare, gender equity, technical assistance, and youth development funding. For nonprofits with budgets under $4 million, the Trust permits grantees, case by case, to use up to 25 percent of grants flexibly for organizational needs. Eligible applicants: Most competitive grants go to public charities or groups sponsored by a public charity.; Grantees or fiscal agents should have a board of at least four members, with no more than one paid board member.; For NYC applications, the Trust prefers at least five board members; all board members should be unrelated.; Individuals are not funded.; General operating support and routine operational expenses are not funded.; Capital and building campaigns are not funded.; Endowments are not funded.; Equipment is not funded.; Deficit financing is not funded.; Conferences and meetings are not funded.; Religious purposes are not funded.; The Trust generally does not support events.; The Trust generally does not support exhibitions.; The Trust generally does not support performances.; Grants are project-focused; ongoing projects are not funded.; Priority is given to projects that promote change across a system or sector.; Advocacy proposals should articulate specific goals and strategies.; Direct-service grants can test a promising program or support expansion of a proven program.; Proposed activities and outcomes are assessed for clarity and realism.; Proposals should explain the organization's qualifications, knowledge of the field, and relevant experience.; Projects seeking to reach a historically underserved population should have input or representation from that community.; The Trust considers whether the organization has stable governance and finances to support the project.; Applications must include a brief cover letter on organizational letterhead, signed by the paid staff head or designee, confirming organizational commitment to the project.; Applications must include a narrative proposal of no more than five numbered pages covering organizational background, mission, major activities, and credentials; the public-policy or systemic service-delivery problem; project goals, objectives, activities, beneficiaries, and intended policy, system, or service improvements; expected outcomes and measurement; and sustainability after Trust support ends.; Renewal narratives must describe progress made with earlier Trust support.; Applications must include an itemized budget reflecting the project's full costs, other pending or confirmed income, and in-kind contributions; all project-budget line items should be rounded up to the nearest thousand.; Applications must include the current year's annual operating budget. Arts and culture groups must also include actual income and expenses for the most recently completed fiscal year.; Applications must include a board-of-directors list with affiliations.; Project-budget expenses should be consistent with and necessary for the proposed activities. In most cases, budgets including salaries or salary portions for all agency staff will be construed as general operating support.; For universities, hospitals, academic medical centers, and affiliated nonprofit fiscal sponsors, overhead for grant administration may not exceed five percent of the total project budget. Costs of carrying out grant activities, including project-staff space, materials, supplies, and technology, are outside that limit and should be identified separately.; Projects are rarely supported for more than three years; renewal decisions consider prior progress and success and relevant contextual changes.; For gender-equity leadership projects, priority goes to projects with demonstrated expertise mobilizing girls and gender-expansive young people for social change, policy influence, and civic life; a well-articulated rationale for gender-specific programming; and service to at least three public schools or work outside school settings.; For gender-equity projects serving survivors of gender-based violence, priority goes to research and testing of new approaches for survivors and families, making discussion of gender-based violence more common and encouraging help-seeking, and advocacy for increased protections and resources.; Youth-development leadership funding especially targets organizations with a record of creating community programs or operating on at least three public-school campuses, engaging diverse young people, working with young people for at least three years, and creating roles for youth in public policy, racial equity, or meaningful community improvements.; Stand-alone college access and preparation programs are not funded under youth development.; Technical assistance funding includes service and umbrella organizations providing assistance to groups of nonprofits.; Animal-welfare capacity support targets local animal welfare nonprofits.; Competitive-grant interim and final …