Grants are given for one year at a time, and grantees must re-apply each year. In most cases we will fund for a total of three consecutive years: in the case of start-up organizations, we may fund for a total of five years. In any given year, therefore, more than two thirds of our grants are renewal grants.

Our grants range from $40,000 to $50,000.

The Foundation offers more than grant funds once a grant is approved. Program staff members make individual site visits to every program we fund, and are available for advice throughout the grant period. Through a group of experienced nonprofit providers, we offer extensive technical assistance in the form of workshops, training, and consultants.

Over the years, we have developed special small grants program available to current grantees.

They include:

Leadership Development Small Grants, to develop staff members’ leadership, particularly at the senior level.

Organizers' Expense Account Grants, for incidental expenses of community organizing, national travel to conferences, training, and retreats for joint strategizing.

Summer Employment for Youth in Community Organizing, for grants to cover ten-week internships in community organizing for young people ages 16 to 23.

Technical Assistance Grants, to help defray the cost of hand-on consulting help in areas such as public relations, fundraising, special events planning, technology.

Since 1979, the Foundation has sought ways to hear directly from the people we are funding. Regular meetings between our board and our grantees several times a year enable us to assess the state of the city and to hear how the Foundation's programs could be improved.

Site visits to New York City neighborhoods, where grantees do their work, are attended by trustees and grantees each year. Once every two years, the board shares a weekend with grantees in a board/grantee retreat. Suggestions at these meetings have resulted in the creation of a grants program for summer youth internships in community organizing, an extensive program of technical assistance, and our small grants programs.