Search Through Homelessness Grants in New York City, New York in the U.S.

Charitable Contributions

Costco Wholesale’s primary charitable efforts specifically focus on programs supporting children, education, and health and human services in the communities where we do business. Throughout the year we receive a large number of requests from nonprofit organizations striving to make a positive impact, and we are thankful to be able to provide support to a variety of organizations and causes. While we would like to respond favorably to all requests, understandably, the needs are far greater than our allocated resources and we are unable to accommodate them all.

Warehouse Donations:

Warehouse donations are handled at the warehouse level - please consult your local warehouse for up-to-date information regarding their donations contacts and review process.

Grant Applications

If the request is under consideration, you may be contacted by staff for any additional information needed. Applications are reviewed within 4-6 weeks, and decisions are made based on several factors, including: type of program; identified community need not otherwise available; indication that evidenced based data will establish measurable results of intended outcomes; community collaboration; broad base of financial support; project budget and operating expenses.

Mission

The DanPaul Foundation will use its resources to help train teachers and parents in early childhood development, protect children from abuse and neglect, stimulate children's personal social responsibilities, and offer them opportunities for enrichment and growth.

The Foundation will also encourage children to be concerned and informed about the environment and the underprivileged, particularly with regard to clean air and water, and adequate housing and nutrition for all.

Beliefs

The DanPaul Foundation believes that children should have ample opportunities for enrichment in their lives, and thus strives to provide many different ways to enrich and expand children's minds through direct programs and monetary support to organizations doing similar work.

We have provided or currently provide grants related to the following program areas:

• Workshops, Conferences, + Seminars: We strive to offer educational workshops, conferences, and seminars for parents and teachers on topics related to early childhood development.
• Student Scholarships: We aim to help students attending post-secondary education institutions by providing need-based and academic scholarships.
• Scientific Endeavors: We desire to advance scientific endeavors which seek to improve the quality of life for everyone in the world.
• Clean Air + Water: We hope to pass on knowledge and practical life skills to youth regarding their personal responsibility to the environment, teaching them about issues surrounding clean air and water.
• Child Advocacy: We believe in protecting children from abuse and neglect and particularly love to support programs that provide education and assistance to children as well as organizations advocating or caring for vulnerable children.
• Homelessness: We want to encourage young people to take a personal interest in seeing that adequate housing and proper nutrition, especially for the underprivileged and homeless, are available.
• Poverty + Neglect: We seek to help those in poverty as well as educate youth about their responsibility to consider the underprivileged and take care of those most in need of life's basic essentials like adequate housing and proper nutrition.
• Refugee Enrichment: We wish to help refugee youth by supporting programs that provide them enrichment and help them transition to life in a new country.

The DanPaul Foundation provides grants to 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organizations as defined by the IRS. The Foundation is interested in providing funding to programs that directly serve the health, education, development, and welfare of the world's youth.

Grants range from a few hundred dollars up to $15,000 per calendar year.

Double-R Foundation Grants

The Double-R Foundation is a private, grant-making foundation that focuses its efforts on the enrichment of life in New York City.

The Foundation supports volunteer-based organizations that provide services to New York City Residents.

What we Do

We seek to enhance volunteer's efforts by:

• Sponsoring specific projects
• Contributing to nonprofit organizations' long-term stability

In the past, Double-R Foundation has supported programs in the following areas:

• Arts in New York City, particularly by new and developing artists, composers, dancers and performers
• City planning programs and organizations that enhance New York City's humanity and harmony with the natural world, including development of outdoor space, promotion of the intelligent use of materials, and educating the public and government about short and long term design alternatives
• Job training programs that link volunteer executives with young entrepreneurs;
• Legal services for the underprivileged provided by attorneys pro bono;
• Art and music instruction in after-school programs;
• Health care and health research;
• Animal-related services;
• Homeless shelters and related programs
• Youth-oriented legal support services promoting alternatives to incarceration in adult prisons and court systems.

Program goal

To ensure that New York City’s public schools provide all students with the opportunity to reach their full potential and to graduate prepared for college and work. The Trust will support projects that focus on system-wide improvements and reforms that advance equity, narrow the opportunity gap, and create safe and supportive learning environments. In addition, our Early Childhood grants program supports efforts to make high-quality child care for children ages 0-5 more accessible and affordable, including through organizing and advocacy.

Focus Area: Education

Grants are made to:

Expand opportunities and improve academic outcomes for students who are inadequately served by the city’s public schools for reasons such as poverty, race, disability, lack of English proficiency, and homelessness, with a focus on projects that can be adopted by numerous schools or at the district level. The Trust will support projects that:

• Demonstrate programs and instructional approaches that have the potential to meet the learning needs of underserved students, with support from school leadership and/or the Department of Education.
• Support the adoption of research-informed programs to increase foundational skills in the early and middle grades, such as higher-order reading skills and arithmetic.
• Equip educators to use data to monitor student progress and provide and track targeted interventions.
• Increase access to high-level coursework, Advanced Placement classes, college classes, and early college programs for low-income students of color.
• Expand emotional and social support as well as academic, college, and career advisement in schools with high numbers of underserved students.
• Increase retention of qualified teachers and leaders in high-poverty schools, including educators and leaders of color, through approaches including coaching, peer-to-peer learning, and communities of practice
• Ensure that all families and students have the necessary information and assistance to navigate the school choice process.
• Promote policy advocacy and organizing to ensure that local and state policies affecting the programming, personnel, budget, priorities, and leadership of the city’s public schools account for the needs of all students, particularly those who have historically been inadequately served.

Priority will be given to projects that:

• Promote the use of high-quality, culturally inclusive approaches and curricula as well as aligned professional growth opportunities for educators.
• Contribute to safe and supportive school environments and reduce reliance on suspensions and police intervention.
• Increase access to technology—including computers, broadband accounts, and the skills necessary for their use—for economically disadvantaged students.
• Help underserved students and families advocate for school policies that meet their needs.
• Collect and share data on the state of the system, service gaps, student and parent preferences, and the potential and actual impact of policy choices.
• We will support research projects that seek to answer practice and policy questions with implications for high-quality teaching and learning in the city’s public schools, with a focus on inquiries concerning underserved students.

Global Impact Cash Grants

Identifying and incubating innovative early-stage solutions. We identify, incubate, and develop innovative early-stage solutions with the highest potential for impact. Global Impact Cash Grants go to nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that address a significant social problem. We're looking for programs that fit within our investment sectors, focus on the underserved, and use technology to improve the reach and efficiency of services.

We accept applications year-round from eligible organizations. A brief Letter of Inquiry (LOI) is used to determine whether your organization will be invited to complete a full application. Please expand and carefully review each of the three sections below to learn more

Our priority social impact sectors

We focus on investing in innovative, tech-enabled solutions to the challenges and opportunities that matter most to communities in need, prioritizing four social impact sectors:

Cisco Crisis Response

Mobilizing to provide essentials to communities in need and those in crisis, including food, housing, secure connectivity, and disaster relief

By leveraging Cisco’s people, technology, financial resources, and strategic partnerships, we help strengthen community resilience and drive long-term recovery from crises.

Education

Supporting students, teachers, and schools by increasing engagement, building skills, promoting subject mastery, and expanding their capacity to thrive

Cisco is committed to inclusive access to digital skills training and supporting those who use technology to educate. Through programs like Cisco Networking Academy and social investments in education, we create new opportunities for individuals to thrive.

Economic Empowerment

Transforming communities through skill development, long-term career opportunities, entrepreneurship, and access to financial products and services

Strategic grants that unlock economic prosperity and growth for individuals and communities.

Climate Regeneration

Building an inclusive, regenerative, and resilient climate future through education, regenerative agriculture, conservation, protection, and clean energy solutions

Our efforts began in 2021, when the Cisco Foundation committed US$100 million over 10 years to fund nonprofit grants and impact investing in climate solutions. 

Mission

The mission of the Hearst Foundations is to identify and fund outstanding nonprofits to ensure that people of all backgrounds in the United States can build healthy, productive and satisfying lives. Through its grantmaking, the Hearst Foundations support well-established nonprofit organizations that address significant issues within their major areas of focus—culture, education, health and social service—and that primarily serve large demographic and/or geographic constituencies. In each area of funding, the Foundations seek to identify those organizations achieving truly differentiated results relative to other organizations making similar efforts for similar populations. The Foundations also look for evidence of sustainability beyond their support.

Whether providing a scholarship to a deserving student, supporting a rural health clinic or bringing artists into schools so children can see firsthand the beauty of the arts, the Foundations’ focus is consistent: to help those in need, those underserved and those underrepresented in society. Since the Foundations were formed in the 1940s, the scale and capabilities of the grant making have changed, but the mission has not.

Culture Grant

The Hearst Foundations fund cultural institutions that offer meaningful programs in the arts and sciences, prioritizing those that enable engagement by young people and create a lasting and measurable impact. The Foundations also fund select programs nurturing and developing artistic talent. Supported organizations include arts schools, ballets, museums, operas, performing arts centers, symphonies and theaters.

Funding Priorities in Culture

In the recent past, 25% of total funding has been allocated to Culture. Organizations with budgets over $10 million have received 60% of the funding in Culture.

The Hearst Foundations are only able to fund approximately 25% of all grant requests, of which about 80% is directed to prior grantees and about 20% is targeted toward new grantees.

Types of Support

Program, capital and, on a limited basis, general and endowment support

Program goal

To mitigate the effects of poverty, increase opportunity through effective services and public benefits, and reduce racial disparities.

Grants are made to:

Focus on early intervention and prevention to enable vulnerable children to grow up in stable families and succeed in school and life by:

• supporting a continuum of early childhood programs from birth to kindergarten;
• strengthening services for families with children at-risk of foster care placement and for youth already in care;
• reducing entry and re-entry into the homeless shelter system and increasing long-term housing stability; and
• increasing access to income supports and healthy, affordable food.

Expand proven and promising practices that help those in need lead productive lives by:

• supporting research, policy, and programs that direct resources to alleviate hunger, homelessness, and poverty; and to move individuals to stability and independence;
• advocating for wide-ranging, quality services that help poor individuals and families succeed.

Build the capacity of government agencies and nonprofits serving low-income New Yorkers by:

• supporting the coordination and integration of services across City agencies and service providers;
• training and supporting public and nonprofit human services workers; and
• advancing efforts that improve the funding, contracting, and support of human services agencies.

Read the background paper that informed this grantmaking strategy here.

The Labcorp Charitable Foundation

We believe every person deserves equitable care and education.

In 2020 Labcorp established a private charitable 501(c)(3) foundation to advance our desire to bring quality healthcare access to all by supporting education and our local communities. 

Common grant opportunities include:

• Supporting food pantries and meal programs
• Providing healthcare and patient services for underserved populations
• Encouraging STEM programming
• Advocating for healthy lifestyles through ongoing medical research and screening

PNC Foundation

Strengthening and enriching the lives of our neighbors in communities where we live and work.

Vision & Mission

For decades, we have provided resources to seed ideas, foster development initiatives and encourage leadership in nonprofit organizations where imagination and determination are at work enhancing people's lives everyday.

The PNC Foundation's priority is to form partnerships with community-based nonprofit organizations in order to enhance educational opportunities, with an emphasis on early childhood education, and to promote the growth of communities through economic development initiatives.

Foundation Grant

The PNC Foundation supports a variety of nonprofit organizations with a special emphasis on those that work to achieve sustainability and touch a diverse population, in particular, those that support early childhood education and/or economic development.

Education

The PNC Foundation supports educational programs for children and youth, particularly early childhood education initiatives that meet the criteria established through PNC Grow Up Great. Specifically, PNC Grow Up Great grants must:

• Support early education initiatives that benefit children from birth to age five; and
• Serve a majority of children (>50%) from low- to moderate-income families; and
• Adhere to all other standard PNC Foundation guidelines, as outlined on the PNC Foundation website, applicant eligibility quiz, as well as the Foundation policies and procedures; and
• Include one or a combination of the following:
  • direct services/programs for children in their classroom or community;
  • professional development/workforce development for early childhood educators;
  • family and/or community engagement in children’s early learning
• Additional considerations:
  • The grant focus should include math, science, reading, vocabulary development, the arts, financial education, or social/emotional development.
  • The grant recipient, or collaborative partner, should have early childhood education as an area of focus. If the organization’s focus is beyond birth to age five, the specific grant must be earmarked for birth to age five.
  • Incorporate opportunities for PNC volunteers in classroom or non-classroom-based activities.

Economic Development

Economic development organizations, including those which enhance the quality of life through neighborhood revitalization, cultural enrichment and human services are given support. Priority is given to community development initiatives that strategically promote the growth of low-and moderate-income communities and/or provide services to these communities.

• Affordable Housing
  • The PNC Foundation understands the critical need for affordable housing for low-and moderate-income individuals.
  • We are committed to providing support to nonprofit organizations that:
    • give counseling and services to help these individuals maintain their housing stock;
    • offer transitional housing units and programs; and/or
    • offer credit counseling assistance to individuals, helping them to prepare for homeownership.
• Community Development
  • Because small businesses are often critical components of community growth and help foster business development, the PNC Foundation provides support to nonprofit organizations that
    • offer technical assistance to, or loan programs for, small businesses located in low-and moderate-income areas or
    • support small businesses that employ low-and moderate-income individuals.
• Community Services
  • Support is given to social services organizations that benefit the health, education, quality of life or provide essential services for low-and moderate-income individuals and families.
  • The PNC Foundation supports job training programs and organizations that provide essential services for their families.
• Arts & Culture
  • Support is given for cultural enrichment programs benefitting the community.
• Revitalization & Stabilization of Low-and Moderate-Income Areas
  • The PNC Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that serve low-and moderate-income neighborhoods by improving living and working conditions.
  • Support is given to organizations that help stabilize communities, eliminate blight and attract and retain businesses and residents to the community.

Promising Futures

Our grants build promising futures by helping young people thrive; providing job training and placement; making our educational and justice systems work for everyone; alleviating hunger and homelessness; improving family and child welfare services; and advancing the practice of social work

Focus Area: Human Justice

Program goal: 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.

Grants are made to:

• Provide advocacy, information, and representation in emerging and/or urgent areas of civil law where other funding sources are limited, including:
• helping advocates and legal service nonprofits act quickly when laws and policies change; and
• supporting advocacy and individual, multi-plaintiff, or class-action litigation to protect New Yorkers’ civil rights and make law and public policy more responsive to the needs of the City’s most vulnerable residents.
• Identify effective ways to help low-income New Yorkers resolve legal problems and thereby improve their quality of life by:
• testing the effectiveness of different service delivery methods such as brief advice, technology, non-lawyers, and alternative courts;
• connecting legal help with other desired outcomes such as reducing homelessness and increasing employment and educational opportunities through program evaluation and collaboration with other social service providers; and
• building the capacity of legal-service nonprofits, individually and as a field, to track and communicate their results.

Promising Futures

Our grants build promising futures by helping young people prosper; providing job training and placement; making our educational and justice systems work for everyone; alleviating hunger and homelessness; improving family and child welfare services; and advancing the practice of social work. 

Focus Area: Jobs and Workforce Development

Program goal: to provide more opportunities for New York City job seekers to get trained for work and careers, while helping employers find a ready, willing, and able workforce.

Grants are made to:

• Develop employer-driven workforce partnerships that link nonprofits, institutions, and businesses in a particular economic sector (such as health care, technology, hospitality) or for a particular constituency or community that:
  • provides training, placement, and post-placement services; or
  • tests new approaches for helping those with serious barriers to employment (such as very low numeracy and literacy skills, no high school degree, ex-offenders, or mental or physical disabilities).
  • Expand the number of industry alliances or workforce intermediaries that provide education and training and improve industry hiring practices, working conditions, and opportunities for advancement.
  • Promote a stronger, more effective workforce development system of services for job seekers in New York City through partnerships with government and capacity building for workforce providers.
• Advocate for better jobs in particular sectors or through public policies by:
• working with employers in specific industries to increase the performance and pay of workers; and
• advancing public policy to ensure fair wages, working conditions, and business practices.

Promising Futures

Our grants build promising futures by helping young people thrive; providing job training and placement; making our educational and justice systems work for everyone; alleviating hunger and homelessness; improving family and child welfare services; and advancing the practice of social work. 

Focus Area: Youth Development

Program goal: to help young, low-income New Yorkers up to the age of 24 overcome obstacles and succeed in life and careers.

Grants are made to:

• Expand leadership opportunities for disadvantaged young people, especially through organizations that:
• have a record of creating programs in communities or operate in a minimum of three public school campuses;
• keep diverse groups of young people engaged;
• work with young people for at least three years; and
• create a role for young people to influence public policy, promote racial equity, or achieve meaningful community improvements.
• Expand or improve employer-driven youth workforce programs that:
• create career pathways in higher wage sectors (e.g. healthcare, technology, hospitality);
• expand internships for young people who are attending school, and those who are unemployed;
• help low-skilled youth get an education, and get job skills by providing training, placement, and post-placement services; and
• improve the City’s career and technical education system.
• Expand the capacity of youth development organizations by:
• supporting intermediaries that provide training, streamline services, improve industry hiring practices, or change public policies; or
• training staff that work with youth to use best practices in leadership development, employment, and nonprofit management.
• Promote policy reforms on issues that affect young people, such as:
• changing New York’s juvenile and criminal justice systems to produce better outcomes for young people; or
• creating better programs that engage and encourage employers to hire less-skilled youth of color.

Mission

Driven by a philanthropic calling to support marginalized communities throughout the world, the Semnani Family Foundation partners with on-the-ground organizations and leverages its resources in a cost-effective and efficient manner that delivers the maximum benefit.

History

Guided by his grandmother Maliheh’s example and teachings, Khosrow Semnani and his wife Ghazaleh established the Semnani Family Foundation in 1993. The foundation’s first grant was issued through CARE International to an orphanage in Romania that cared for newborns affected by HIV. Over the last few decades, the foundation has continued to build upon its mission to empower the disaffected, partnering with a variety of organizations in different countries who can make the greatest impact.

In addition to its global influence, the Semnani Family Foundation established roots within the state of Utah with the founding of Maliheh Free Clinic in 2005 to provide free healthcare to thousands of uninsured people in the Salt Lake City area.

Where We Work

The Semnani Family Foundation focuses primarily on promoting health, education, and disaster relief for marginalized communities all around the world. Driven by a clear mission to adapt and serve at the global level, we have leveraged our resources to make a meaningful impact in the following countries so far:

• Afghanistan
• Bosnia
• Colombia
• England
• Ethiopia
• Ghana
• Guatemala
• India
• Iran
• Kenya
• Madagascar
• Mali
• Mexico
• Pakistan
• Philippines
• Romania
• Somalia
• South Africa
• Tanzania
• Tonga
• Uganda
• United States
• Yemen

At the heart of the Foundation lies a fervent commitment to human welfare, always prioritizing health and the needs of society’s most vulnerable.

Our Program Areas

The Sills Family Foundation’s primary grants program intends to help children from low income families live up to their highest promise by concentrating on the following four areas:

Comprehensive Services to Families in Crisis- With a special focus on families impacted by incarceration

The Sills Family Foundation has a major focus on programs that support families impacted by the criminal justice system. We partner with programs that work to strengthen the parent/child bond during incarceration through facilitating transportation for prison visits, creating child-sensitive visiting areas in correctional facilities, providing parenting education classes to incarcerated parents, as well as supporting families through the re-entry period. This effort extends to addressing the inequities in the bail system, preventing juvenile detentions, and providing high quality legal services to low income populations.

In considering the rehabilitative opportunities so rarely provided to incarcerated individuals, the Foundation supports higher education and arts programming inside correctional facilities. The Foundation has begun to play a role in deepening policy makers and service providers’ capacity in this field. The Sills Family Foundation is proud to be a member of the NY Initiative for Children with Incarcerated Parents, as well as the New York Youth Justice Initiative.

Support to Underserved Communities- Through improved access to early education and reduction of neighborhood violence

Low income neighborhoods and schools experience a disproportionate amount of school suspensions, violence, arrests and damage to the community through involvement in the criminal justice system. We support programs that seek to intervene in this destructive cycle and help young people stay on the path to success.

Early education can make a world of difference in how a child goes on to succeed in school, work and life. This is especially true for children challenged by poverty, homelessness and other forms of trauma. Children who start kindergarten behind their peers may continue to face problems throughout school. Getting kids off to a good start is critical to their future.

We are committed to high-quality education experiences that help children live up to their highest potential. We want to improve chances for all children to succeed in life through access to education, early intervention and family supports such as mental health counseling and job skills classes for their parents.

Programs Supporting Immigrants, Refugees and Asylees

We believe all human beings have the right to pursue their dreams of building a better home for themselves and their families, and that newcomers to the US should have access to necessary legal, educational, and material needs.

Environmental Justice- With a focus on contaminants that harm the developing embryo, fetus and infant

Toxic chemicals are released into our environment every day. Children consume pollutants in their food, air and water, their toys, candy, even baby bottles. These hazards can cause serious health problems, ranging from asthma and cancer to brain impairment and behavioral problems. They take a greater toll on the most vulnerable: pregnant women, fetuses and children.

We want to protect families from lead, mercury and other toxic compounds. The foundation supports organizations that embrace the ideals of environmental justice and that protect against poor communities carrying a greater share of the toxic burden. We invest in programs that work to reduce pollutants in our air, water, food and homes so that the minds and bodies of our infants and children stay healthy and strong.

Arts and Culture- Arts education and other creative opportunities to support underserved populations

Arts and cultural activity can provide people of all ages important tools of self expression, can open paths to new forms of communication and can strengthen self esteem. We believe that high quality arts programming in schools, community centers and senior centers can be a powerful tool of social justice. The Foundation seeks to support culturally sensitive collaborations between teaching artists, educators and community leaders to bring the positive power of the arts to under-resourced schools and communities.

Funding Priorities

The Sills Family Foundation funds nonprofits that support early childhood education, environmental justice, arts and culture, and families in crisis, with a focus on families and communities impacted by the criminal justice justice system as well as refugees, migrants and asylees.

Funding Criteria

The organizations we invest in support families and communities to overcome obstacles created by poverty, racism and other forms of marginalization. The programs we support have passionate leaders, are community based and offer potential for systemic, sustained change, including the possibility of replication. We seek to fund organizations for whom our grantmaking capacity will make an impact.

Grant Making Budget

Most of our grants range from $10,000 to $25,000. The Foundation accepts applications for one-year grants only, with the possibility of renewal grants for extended periods. Many of our grants support general operating needs.

About Us

At Trinity Church, we believe that every person is created in the image of God and that our faith requires us to use our gifts to care for them. We help build neighborhoods, expand institutional capacity, and promote change-making legislation through strategic and interlocking efforts: direct services programming at Trinity Church, grantmaking and gifts, and advocacy.

What We Fund

Our grantmaking focuses on four strategic initiatives rooted in a love for New York City and a strong commitment to building an equitable society in which the allocation of resources, opportunities, and hardships are not determined by race. 

• Housing & Homelessness
• Racial Justice
• Mission Real Estate Development
• Leadership Development
• Neighborhood Support

Neighborhood Support

In 2023, Trinity's Neighborhood Support team launched a grants program to make deeper investments into the emotional well-being of our community.

Marginalized and under-resourced communities face multiple, intersecting oppressions — from systemic racism and policing to poverty, underfunded public schools, and violence — that create toxic stress. We now have a well-established body of research demonstrating the significant and deteriorating impact of toxic stress on health and well-being, especially for children and families deprived of safety nets.

This dynamic was exacerbated dramatically by the pandemic, and continues to worsen, with communities and families managing the consequences of toxic stress with minimal to no resources. Their struggle is compounded by the lack of recognition and funding for programs that support a holistic, multi-generational approach to mental health.

Our goal with this new grants program is to help begin to fill this gap in funding, particularly for programs that take a well-rounded approach to emotional well-being with a focus on children.     

We seek to co-develop — alongside each neighborhood in Lower Manhattan — the necessary supports that help strengthen our communities and yield overall child, family, and community well being.

Our Focus: The Emotionally Well Child

The emotional well-being of children is directly tied to the functioning of their community, schools, caregivers, and the families with which they live. When relationships are reliably responsible and supportive, they can actually buffer children from the adverse effects of other stressors. Reducing stressors affecting children requires addressing the stresses on their families. When children are emotionally well, they’re better able to:

• Reach emotional milestones
• Reach developmental milestones
• Learn healthy social skills
• Learn how to cope when problems arise
• Have a positive quality of life
• Function at home and in school

Our Strategy: Resourcing Whole-Family Models of Care

With this special initiative, Trinity's Neighborhood Support team is maintaining our commitment to Lower Manhattan, specifically communities that lie south of 14th Street.  Our vision is an emotionally well community, with a strategic focus on the emotional well-being of children, from prenatal development through age 21.

Our funding strategy was developed to lift up models of care that embrace whole families, delivered by organizations that know and work in the community and who center the community in finding solutions.  

The relationship between three factors — family income and resources, education, and employment — consistently emerged as a driver of family well-being. This causal loop is virtuous (i.e., the more resources you have right now, the more you will have in the future) to the families with enough resources, and vicious for families without adequate resources (i.e., the fewer resources you have right now, the less you and your children will have in the future).

To truly thrive, families need to:

• Be able to navigate systems related to education, social services, and healthcare
• Obtain affordable, quality childcare
• Have the space to build community and deepen relationships

In partnership with the Neighborhood Council, Trinity determined that the strategic focus of its Neighborhood Support Grantmaking would be for holistic programs that support the emotional well-being of the whole family and focus on prevention and early intervention.

Downtown Fund 

The Downtown Fund provides targeted support for nonprofit organizations serving the Lower Manhattan area, dedicated to advancing the well-being of children, families, and the community. Funding focuses on initiatives related to education, health, social capital, and economic empowerment. Gifts ranging from $500 to $10,000 are available.

Georgia-Pacific Foundation

Established in 1958, the Georgia-Pacific Foundation sets aside resources to improve life in the communities where we operate. We’ve worked with thousands of outstanding community-based programs, service projects and disaster relief efforts, focusing our investment in four areas we believe make the most impact:

• education
• entrepreneurship
• enrichment of community
• environment

Investment Priorities

• Aligns with GP’s mission and values
• Aligns with GP’s Four Focus Areas of giving: Education, Environment, Enrichment of Community and Entrepreneurship
• Serves communities where GP has manufacturing facilities
• Creates value by contributing to and positively impacting long term well-being and sustainability of GP communities

The Impact Fund awards recoverable grants to legal services nonprofits, private attorneys, and small law firms who seek to confront economic, environmental, racial, and social injustice. Since our founding in 1992, the Impact Fund has made more than 800 recoverable grants totaling more than $10 million for impact litigation. We award grants four times per year, most within the range of US$10,000 to US$50,000.

Social Justice

The Impact Fund provides grants and legal support to assist in human and civil rights cases. We have helped to change dozens of laws and win cases to improve the rights of thousands. The cases we are funding allege that:

• In Texas and North Carolina, incarcerated people with mental health disabilities are forced to remain in jail despite being found not guilty and unable to proceed with a criminal trial.
• In Orange County, California there are currently 13 gang injunctions under effect, which disproportionately affect young men of color.
• In Chicago, Illinois, the city’s homeless shelter program is inaccessible to people with disabilities.
• In Springfield, Oregon, the city and its police department used excessive force against Black Lives Matter protesters.
• In West Virginia, the state fails to protect children in foster care from abuse and neglect. 
• In Montana, voter suppression laws disadvantage young adults and give priority to gun owners.
• In Gary, Indiana, a gun manufacturer negligently marketed and distributed its guns, leading to an epidemic of gun violence in the city. 
• In Vancouver, British Columbia, the police perpetuate systemic discrimination against Indigenous people through bureaucratic measures.

Environmental Justice

The Impact Fund provides grants to support local litigation for environmental justice. These grants are for cases aiming to help people or communities who are affected by environmental harm or who lack access to basic environmental needs, such as clean water, clean air, adequate waste treatment, and green spaces. The cases we are funding allege that:

• In Centreville, Illinois, the city’s failure to maintain its sewer system has caused raw sewage to flood peoples’ homes, endangering the property and health of a predominantly Black community.
• In Fresno County, California, the California Department of Transportation approved a highway expansion project that would increase air pollution and traffic in one of the state’s most environmentally burdened communities.
• In downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the proposed expansion of a highway would divide the region's Black, Asian, and Latine neighborhoods and cause pollution and ill health.
• In North Dakota, the five-month closure of a highway in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests disproportionately affected the livelihoods and health of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe members.
• In Ontario, Canada, mercury contamination of the English-Wabigoon river system causes catastrophic environmental and health impacts for the Grassy Narrows First Nation.
• In Sacramento, California, the county government and Sacramento Area Sewer District violated the Clean Water Act by discharging raw sewage into nearby rivers.
• In the Eastern Coachella Valley in California, 1,900 residents of the Oasis Mobile Home Park suffer from arsenic-laced drinking water, wastewater contamination, and overcharging for utilities.

Economic Justice

The Impact Fund provides financial and other forms of support to cases fighting for economic justice. From workers' rights to consumer protection for vulnerable populations, impact litigation is a powerful tool to hold corporationss and the government accountable. The cases we are funding allege that:

• In Brooklyn, New York, a prominent mortgage lender engaged in predatory practices, leaving homeowners of color at risk of losing their homes. 
• In Washington, live-in caregivers are unconstitutionally excluded from the state’s wage-and-hour protections.
• In Ravalli County, Montana, the county has created a “modern-day debtors’ prison” by incarcerating people unable to afford pre-trial fees. 
• In San Diego, California, vehicle ordinances target unhoused vehicle owners even when no adequate housing alternative exists.
• In New York, a federal immigration detention facility is violating minimum wage and forced labor laws by forcing detainees to work for just a dollar a day. 
• In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the city and county destroy the property of unhoused individuals and conduct forced evictions from public spaces. 
• In Miami, Florida, insurance companies discriminate against a nonprofit community development corporation renting to tenants with Section 8 rental subsidies.

Our Mission

Our mission is to continue and further the philanthropic legacy of Gardner Cowles, Jr. and the Cowles family, which includes promotion of education, social justice, health, and the arts.

The Founder

The Cowles Charitable Trust was first established in 1948 by Gardner “Mike” Cowles, Jr. (1903-1985). Born into the Cowles publishing family of Des Moines, Iowa, Mike was the youngest of Gardner Cowles and Florence Call Cowles’ six children. A newspaper editor and publisher by trade, he was committed to his family’s traditions of responsible, public-spirited, and innovative journalism as well as philanthropy. 

The Cowles Charitable Trust supports the arts, education, the advancement of ethical journalism, medical and climate research.

The Home Depot Foundation

The Home Depot Foundation works to improve the homes and lives of U.S. veterans, train skilled tradespeople to fill the labor gap and support communities impacted by natural disasters. Since 2011, the Foundation has invested more than $550 million in veteran causes and improved more than 65,000 veteran homes and facilities. The Foundation has pledged to invest $750M in veteran causes by 2030 and $50 million in training the next generation of skilled tradespeople through the Path to Pro program.

The Foundation's Veteran Housing Grants Program awards grants to nonprofit organizations for the new construction or rehabilitation of permanent supportive housing for veterans. Awards typically range from $100,000 to $500,000.

About Us

At Trinity Church, we believe that every person is created in the image of God and that our faith requires us to use our gifts to care for them. We help build neighborhoods, expand institutional capacity, and promote change-making legislation through strategic and interlocking efforts: direct services programming at Trinity Church, grantmaking and gifts, and advocacy.

What We Fund

Our grantmaking focuses on four strategic initiatives rooted in a love for New York City and a strong commitment to building an equitable society in which the allocation of resources, opportunities, and hardships are not determined by race. 

• Housing & Homelessness
• Racial Justice
• Mission Real Estate Development
• Leadership Development
• Neighborhood Support (see Downtown Fund)

Leadership Development

We empower lay and ordained leaders serving the church, and the world, by providing opportunities to learn practical skills, deepen knowledge, and build supportive relationships to sustain healthy and impactful work in their communities. 

Addressing gaps in leadership education grounded in faith and values, we work in collaboration with existing institutions, including seminaries, schools of theology, and other diocesan or secular programs, to conceive and develop programs that expand training opportunities for seminarians, clergy, and leaders outside the church.  

Through our programs, leaders cultivate the faith-driven mindsets and hands-on skills they need to inspire and guide congregations, teams, organizations, and communities as they achieve common goals. 

Leadership Grants 

Trinity works with partners around the world to establish programs focused on specific areas of leadership development through three key approaches: 

• Leadership innovation in theological education 
  • Enhancing seminary offerings to provide practical leadership training 
• Innovative trainings for established leaders 
  • Equipping faith leaders in all vocations with the competencies necessary to serve in the modern world 
• Leadership training for all 
  • Sharing free resources through our Faith Leadership Campus digital platform 

Prospective grant applicants should keep the following priorities under consideration: 

• Applicants might be seminaries or divinity schools but might also be dioceses, church organizations, or other institutions offering non-degree programs of theological education focused on leadership development. 
• Proposals should advance innovation, taking new approaches to leadership development that develop practical skills, shaped by faith, for action in the world.
  • Examples of these skills might be (but aren’t limited to) strategy, conflict resolution, team building, congregational development, financial decision making, communications, community engagement, and others, all shaped and exercised through faith and values. 
• Proposals must link faith and theological education with mindsets or skills relevant to successful leadership of groups or institutions. 
• Proposals should produce resources that can be shared with a broad collaborative community interested in faith and leadership formation, preferably shared digitally. 
• Proposals should describe a project that has the potential for independent financial sustainability over time. 

Funding

Our grants vary in size but typically range between $80,000 and $350,000. The amount requested should correspond to a realistic assessment of the cost of the program or organizational need.

Grants terms vary in length from as short as six months to projects that take place over five years. 

Background

The Grants and Mission Investing (GMI) team at Trinity Church Wall Street uses the tools of philanthropy, our convening power, and our voice to advance Trinity’s mission goals.

Trinity Church has engaged in a strategic visioning process to clarify and articulate our core values and mission priorities. As a result of this process, Trinity’s grantmaking programs align with the church’s mission goal of building neighborhoods, leadership, and capacity.

Neighborhood

Trinity’s neighborhood is New York City — stretching from the sidewalks outside Trinity Church, Trinity Commons and St. Paul’s Chapel to all five boroughs, from members of our congregation to those who live and work in the city, to the millions of visitors we welcome each year. Guided by our core values, we believe that our neighborhood will thrive when we see an end to mass homelessness and mass incarceration. Through our grantmaking and other investments, we seek to realize positive alternatives for how New Yorkers can reach their potential and grow.

Housing and Homelessness Strategic Initiative - Break the Cycle of Mass Homelessness in New York 

Trinity Church Wall Street’s Housing and Homelessness Initiative seeks to break the cycle of mass homelessness and housing instability in New York City. This initiative advances Trinity’s mission priority to build up our neighborhood by advocating for New Yorkers who find themselves in shelters or who are on the brink of losing their housing. In addition to providing grants* and Program Related Investments, Trinity will use its voice and congregation to promote policy changes and solutions that address housing instability and homelessness.

Mass homelessness has reached an all-time high in New York City, with more than 60,000 people, including 22,000 children—over 25 percent of whom are under the age of five—sleeping in shelters each night, and an estimated 4,000 adults sleeping on the streets and in subways. With over 90 percent of people in the shelter system self-identifying as Black or Latino, there is no denying that homelessness disproportionally impacts communities of color. To address this issue, the Housing and Homelessness Initiative is working in close coordination with Trinity’s Racial Justice Initiative which is committed to dismantling racism by breaking the cycle of mass incarceration.

Areas of Focus

PREVENT: Trinity will promote housing stability, and prevent New Yorkers from falling into homelessness, by supporting the creation and preservation of extremely affordable housing.

Given the loss of affordable housing stock in the last decade and the paucity of housing affordable to extremely low-income New Yorkers, the development and preservation of such units is core to our strategy. Trinity’s aim is to help increase the pace of construction or preservation of extremely affordable units by 20 percent above the rate of recent years. Trinity will also explore ways to better identify and help at-risk New Yorkers from becoming homeless and combatting income-source discrimination that weakens the utility of rental subsidies.

Activities we will support will have the following goals:   

• Expand access to extremely affordable housing, including supportive housing by:
  • Providing bridge financing, down-payment assistance, and guarantees for affordable housing preservation and development
  • Building capacity for nonprofits to own and operate affordable housing
• Enable housed, but vulnerable, New Yorkers to stay in their homes by:
  • Funding research on predictors of homelessness
  • Supporting universal prevention activities to help vulnerable New Yorkers upstream
• Eradicate discriminatory housing practices and lower the barriers of entry into the housing market for communities of color, including justice-involved individuals and other vulnerable populations.

LEAD: Trinity will help end the cycle of mass homelessness for families.

  New York City’s band-aid approach to homelessness, which relies largely on shelter and hotel placements, has failed to reverse the growing crisis. Not surprisingly, while nearly all New Yorkers think more must be done to address homelessness, less than three in ten have hope for improvement. Trinity Church will focus on shifting the narrative towards hope and political commitment to effective solutions, spurring an ambitious, collaborative, public-private effort to stem the tide of family homelessness. Trinity will also invest in innovative financial models that provide near-term impact and the potential to scale up promising approaches. 

Activities we will support will have the following goals:   

• Identify clear, unifying solutions to addressing family homelessness and aligning champions behind a shared solution.
• Identify and implement solutions that break the cycle of generational homelessness with a focus on children and youth.
• Support innovative financing approaches to address homelessness that can be scaled.

LIBERATE: Trinity will help end homelessness for justice-involved New Yorkers.

  Central to the efforts to end mass incarceration and homelessness is the liberation of people leaving jail and prison. However, after serving their time, returning citizens often encounter barriers to finding employment, obtaining education and training, and securing housing. Trinity seeks to leverage our combined expertise in both the racial justice and housing and homelessness systems to support the holistic needs of returning citizens and center their voices in the movement to end mass incarceration. We will have a deep focus on increasing housing options for New Yorkers who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system.  

Activities we will support will have the following goals:   

• Expand supportive housing for justice-involved, complex-care homeless New Yorkers.
• Develop other housing options and services for re-entering New Yorkers.
• End the continuous punishment for poor people of color with criminal records related to housing, employment, and education.

What does this grant fund?

While Trinity offers both program grants and general operating support, we strongly encourage organizations that are seeking funding through the Housing and Homelessness Initiative to apply for program grants. 

Background

The Grants and Mission Investing (GMI) team at Trinity Church Wall Street uses the tools of philanthropy, our convening power, and our voice to advance Trinity’s mission goals.

Trinity Church has engaged in a strategic visioning process to clarify and articulate our core values and mission priorities. As a result of this process, Trinity’s grantmaking programs align with the church’s mission goal of building neighborhoods, leadership, and capacity.

Support Healthy Minds and Safe Communities

As a church, we are tasked with caring for the whole person—body, mind, and soul—and that means we must recognize and care for those who are ill. Faith communities can offer compassion, sanctuary, and community for those afflicted with mental illness.

As a church, we operate under the belief that every person is created in the image and likeness of God and has dignity, value, and worth, regardless of race, gender, class, or other human characteristics. 

Our collective safety rests on our ability to support vulnerable and marginalized members of our communities instead of punishment and incarceration.

New York City has led the nation in decarceration efforts, but far too many people remain behind bars, with a disproportionate number of people of color impacted.

Areas of Focus

Trinity’s Racial Justice Initiative will support efforts that fall within three areas of focus, as described below.

Lead:

Trinity will help advance a new, racially equitable justice system that centers community-based restorative and transformative approaches instead of incarceration.

Few people think the criminal legal system is fair, but we have yet to realize support for full-scale alternatives. Trinity seeks to build the infrastructure to scale both restorative and transformative approaches that are rooted in communities, respond to violence, and deliver justice. Trinity supports the communities most affected by violence, incarceration, and trauma, following the wisdom of residents who are best positioned to identify what is needed for safety and justice.

Activities we support under the Lead strategy have the following goals:

• Invest in the well-being and healthy minds of young people by supporting community-driven mental health and learning support for young people, including those in schools.
• Promote an affirmative vision for justice by engaging local faith leaders in media work to offer a healing, restorative safety/justice vision.
• Secure public investment to scale promising, non-punitive, approaches to end the cycle of trauma and violence.

Prevent:

Trinity will help end unnecessary pretrial detention and racial disparities.

Successful organizing and advocacy have produced legislative victories that ended cash bail for most misdemeanors, reformed discovery practices, and ended the practice of charging 16-year-olds as adults. Building on this momentum, Trinity seeks to ensure equitable implementation of these laws while sustaining the advocacy and organizing infrastructure to continue reducing incarceration rates in New York. We also will disrupt racially unjust pipelines into the criminal legal system by continuing to support the scaling of school-based restorative justice efforts while exploring ways to uncouple the growing links between immigration and criminal legal systems, and the criminalization of immigrants.

Activities we support under the Prevent strategy have the following goals:

• Safely reduce the jail population in New York City by support efforts to end cash bail and youth incarceration and hold implementing agencies accountable for racially equitable outcomes.
• Build and sustain positive school climates to ensure all students have access to social, emotional, and restorative approaches.
• Protect immigrants from criminalization to ensure that immigrant New Yorkers have meaningful access to due process and are protected from unnecessary detention and deportation.

Liberate:

Trinity will help end homelessness for justice-involved New Yorkers.

Central to the efforts to end mass incarceration and homelessness is the liberation of people leaving jail and prison. However, after serving their time, returning citizens often encounter barriers to finding employment, obtaining education and training, and securing housing. Trinity seeks to leverage our combined expertise in both the racial justice and housing and homelessness systems to support the holistic needs of returning citizens and center their voices in the movement to end mass incarceration. We will have a deep focus on increasing housing options for New Yorkers who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system.  

Activities we support under the Liberate strategy have the following goals:

• Expand housing options and mental health services for justice-involved New Yorkers.
• End the continuous punishment of poor people with criminal records as it relates to housing, employment, and education.

The Venable Foundation envisions that its philanthropic investments provide essential resources to nonprofit organizations in communities across the country. Guided by the belief that everyone has the right to equitable employment opportunities, healthcare, housing, food, and a vibrant cultural community, Venable grantees ensure that economically disadvantaged people are given the tools they need to thrive.

The average size of a Venable Foundation grant is approximately $10,000. First-time awardees are usually on the smaller end of the spectrum. It is up to the organization to determine what it feels is an appropriate request.

Funding Priorities

Grant support is provided to assist with general operations and projects. Currently, the Venable Foundation’s funding priorities include:

• Human Services
• Legal Services
• Education
• Workforce Development
• Youth Impact
• Health
• Environment
• Arts and Culture

You can learn more about each of these funding priorities below:

Human Services – The Foundation has a strong track record of supporting a breadth of essential human services, including programs that impact people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity, incarcerated and returning citizens, LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities, and those affected by domestic violence and housing insecurity.

Legal Services – We support the delivery of free or affordable legal services in our communities. Pro bono consulting and representation focus on a variety of issues, including domestic violence, housing, immigration, public benefits, and discrimination, among other areas. Legal service nonprofits providing “know your rights” training and other activities are also supported. The Foundation also supports training for youth and adults to ensure diversity and access to careers in the legal profession.

Education – The Foundation supports a wide array of early childhood, in-school, and out-of-school time initiatives that provide in-depth opportunities for learning and engagement to position children for success and level the playing field for economically disadvantaged youth.

Workforce Development – We believe that every individual deserves the opportunity to pursue gainful employment. Thus, we support organizations with the goal of developing the workforce of today and tomorrow. Successful programs recruit and train individuals and place them in relevant jobs so that they can earn a sustainable living wage for themselves and their families. Skill development is focused on low-income, underemployed, and unemployed community members, and on preparing youth for careers after their schooling is complete.

Youth Impact – The Foundation invests in services that impact children in each of our communities. These initiatives ensure economically disadvantaged youth are healthy and safe and have opportunities to thrive.

Health – The Foundation is committed to improving wellness and increasing access to care for economically disadvantaged individuals in the region. Successful organizations and programs work to eliminate barriers to healthcare for all ages and provide accessible and no-stigma testing for a variety of diseases. We support pediatric to geriatric services that address a variety of health concerns.

Environment – We support organizations involved in the preservation of our natural resources and those that are addressing natural or man-made disasters in our target regions. Programs educate communities and work for change on a variety of environmental issues, from wildfires to pollution.

Arts and Culture – The Foundation supports initiatives in the arts that promote deeper public engagement and build up the creative economy, with an emphasis on low-income and underserved communities.

Background

The number of single adults aged 65 and older in New York City’s primary shelter system has more than doubled in the last decade1. The City’s dearth of affordable housing options, coupled with challenges maintaining safe, accessible housing on fixed incomes, contribute to this increase in homelessness among older adults. The City’s shelter policies, which often mandate entry into—and prolonged stays in—overcrowded, mixed-age shelters before accessing assistance with permanent housing compound the problem.

Beyond those in shelters, many older New Yorkers face housing insecurity. More than 60 percent of the City’s older adult renters are rent-burdened, spending more than 30 percent of their incomes on rent2. The City has a severe shortage of affordable senior housing, with some waitlists exceeding 300,000 individuals and wait times averaging six years3. Finally, the City’s aging housing stock presents accessibility and safety challenges. A significant percentage of older adults report poor housing conditions and difficulty aging in place.

The New York Community Trust (The Trust) seeks proposals for innovative solutions to prevent homelessness among older adults and facilitate successful transitions from the shelter system into permanent affordable housing. 

Community Partnership Award

The Mutual of America Foundation Community Partnership Award recognizes outstanding nonprofit organizations in the United States that have shown exemplary leadership by facilitating partnerships with public, private or social sector leaders who are working together as equal partners, not as donors and recipients, to build a cohesive community that serves as a model for collaborating with others for the greater good.

Each year, the Mutual of America Foundation sponsors a national competition in which hundreds of organizations demonstrate the value of their partnership to the communities they serve, their ability to be replicated by others and their capacity to stimulate new approaches to addressing significant social issues.

Six organizations are selected by an independent committee to receive the Community Partnership Award.

• The Thomas J. Moran Award is given to the national award-winning program and includes $100,000 and a documentary video about the program.
• The Frances R. Hesselbein Award is given to a partnership that is addressing social challenges in more than one community, or which demonstrates the potential to be replicated in other communities. This recipient receives $75,000.
• Four other organizations are named Honorable Mention recipients for their programs, and each receives $50,000.

Since its inception in 1996, the Community Partnership Award has recognized 262 partnerships from cities and towns across America. Like so many of our clients working in the nonprofit community, Mutual of America is dedicated to having a direct, positive impact on society.

Regina Frankenberg directed that the remainder of her estate be used to establish a foundation to support organizations and programs that promote the care, conservation, treatment, well-being and prevention of cruelty to animals.

Funding Interests

Animal welfare, through two focus areas:

• Protecting endangered and threatened species by supporting conservation and research. Geographic priority given to national organizations, including U.S. organizations with international programs; and
• Reducing the homelessness, mistreatment and euthanasia of companion animals through adoption, training, spay/neuter and other programs by providing capacity building and infrastructure grants to organizations doing this work. 

Update: Beginning in 2025, the Frankenberg Foundation will begin a closed application process for animal conservation grants. Organizations that have previously received a grant from the Foundation are invited to submit a proposal provided they have a qualifying project that meets any other guidelines noted on this page. If your organization has not received a grant from the Foundation in the past and you have a project you would like to propose for support, send a short email detailing the project and include your most recent annual report. 

Corporate Contributions

Community involvement and corporate citizenship are an example of Insperity’s mission in action. We are committed to helping the communities where we live and work because together, we know we can make great things happen.

Grants

Philanthropic grants are a strong part of our community outreach and aid institutions needing financial support to meet important service goals.

Event Sponsorship

Fundraising events are an important part of nonprofit support. Insperity provides event sponsorships to approved charities to assist them in meeting their financial and community goals.