Most of our competitive grants go to New York City public charities, or groups sponsored by one. In some cases, we support organizations headquartered outside New York City, but our environmental and social work education programs are national in scope. Grantees or fiscal agents should meet the governance and financial standards of the Better Business Bureau, including a board of directors with at least five members, and no more than one paid board member.
You may submit a proposal anytime. We build in a long lead time for review of proposals and preparation of grant recommendations, leading to five board meetings each year. Program officers weigh many considerations in preparing a group of grant recommendations and cannot promise that any proposal will be considered at a particular board meeting. The dates in the table below indicate when applicants can expect to hear from us about a decision on their grant application.
| Grant applications received by: | Decision notification sent no later than: |
| February 9, 2018 | October 12, 2018 |
| May 2, 2018 | December 12, 2018 |
| October 12, 2018 | April 10, 2019 |
If applying in response to one of our RFPs please follow its procedures and timelines.
Note to Arts Groups: If you are interested in applying for a grant to “strengthen the management of arts groups serving communities in the five boroughs,” please view the RFP for Small City-Based Nonprofit Arts & Cultural Groups to Build Capacity.
- A cover letter, on your letterhead, signed by your director.
- A copy of the Proposal Cover Sheet that you have submitted online.
- A proposal (no more than ten pages) that includes:
- Agency background (mission, major activities, and credentials for carrying out project)
- Project description: Brief statement of problem to be addressed
- Goals and objectives
- Who is served
- Project activities
- Expected outcome(s)
- Plan for measuring project results
- Project budget (expenses & income)
- For renewal requests, an update on progress made through prior grant
- Information about your organization
- Agency operating budget
- A list of the Board of Directors
- Latest audited financial statement, or if not available, the Form 990
- Affirmative action policy
- Note: Arts groups may submit cultural data project profiles in lieu of agency's latest audited financial statements and annual report. However, project budgets and current year agency operating budgets are still required.
We do not make grants to individuals and rarely for endowments, building campaigns, deficit financing, films, general operating support, or religious purposes.