“Throughout my 15 years as a Trust grantmaker, the boldest and most effective approaches to building a more equitable region have come from listening to local communities and the nonprofits that represent them.”
“Imagine a New York where exhaustion is the exception instead of the rule.
Everyone has time to pursue their passions, incomes meet the cost of living, public transit works for all, and caring for your family doesn’t break the bank.
It’s a tall order for a city where one in four of us lives below the poverty line and so many struggle to pay bills while juggling work, child care, and difficult commutes.
But this is the vision The Trust’s community advisors asked us to put our money behind. We assembled these advisors in 2025 by asking 10 of our grantees to each recommend one of their clients or members. The result was a group of New Yorkers—including community organizers, artists, journalists, and a city employee—who reflect the diversity and dedication that drive progress in our city.
Our first meeting with this group took place shortly after The Trust released our five-year strategic plan, which focuses, in part, on making it easier for nonprofits to work with us and inviting more community voices into our grantmaking. These voices, in turn, can help guide another key goal: moving more resources and power to communities that have historically been denied both.
Throughout my 15 years as a Trust grantmaker, the boldest and most effective approaches to building a more equitable region have come from listening to local communities and the nonprofits that represent them.
We’ve resourced parents who advocate for a more just and equitable child welfare system. Our grants have helped amplify the calls of formerly incarcerated New Yorkers organizing to reduce incarceration. And we’ve helped NYCHA residents push for needed repairs.
In addition to bringing more community voices into our grantmaking, we’re taking steps to make our grantmaking program more transparent and less burdensome for nonprofits—from the application process to the final reports.
In 2025, we introduced virtual Q&A sessions, open to all nonprofits, where our grantmakers meet with prospective grantees. During these conversations, we provide information on our eligibility criteria and funding priorities, and attendees can share feedback and updates.
As nonprofits gain the tools to develop stronger proposals, our grantmakers are able to bring the perspectives of nonprofit staff back to our internal conversations about building a more equitable region.
We recently participated in a nonprofit forum with Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, where we connected with over a hundred of the borough’s nonprofits and shared information about our work, history, and grant application process. This year, we will do the same on Staten Island, and we’re continuing to prioritize efforts like these to share our funding opportunities with more organizations.
Because if anything can help us reach the bold vision of our community advisors, which you’ll see reflected in our grantmaking throughout the year, it’s a nonprofit sector that’s empowered and heard.
