The Fund for New Citizens: Capacity-Building for Community-Based Immigrant Organizations
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The Fund for New Citizens, established in 1987, is a collaborative of foundations that assists immigrants and organizations working on their behalf in New York City. For twelve years, the Fund has made grants to immigrant organizations to build their organizational infrastructure and resolve administrative challenges. The capacity-building grants seek to strengthen individual groups and stabilize the City’s immigrant-led nonprofit infrastructure, thereby enhancing the ability of immigrant groups to advocate on behalf of their constituents and work together to address common concerns.
2015 Request for Proposals
This year, the Fund seeks to make capacity-building grants to community organizations with the following characteristics:
- Immigrant-led (i.e. a majority of its board of directors and staff are immigrants)
- Track record of helping immigrants participate in policy debates and benefit from new civic opportunities
- Commitment to advocacy and organizing activities. Groups that primarily provide direct services are eligible if they also conduct advocacy (e.g., community education, organizing, or policy advocacy)
- An annual budget between $200,000* and $1 million
- Adequate stability among staff and/or board to sustain the capacity-building project
- Work with other organizations on common concerns
*If you have a timely and critical project and would like to request an exception to the minimum budget, please contact the Fund for New Citizens at fundfornewcitizens@nyct-cfi.org. Organizations with annual budgets less than $200,000 may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Proposal Process
Organizations meeting the above criteria may apply for two-year grants of up to $55,000 ($35,000 the first year and $20,000 the second year) to support a well thought out capacity-building project that will sustain the organization in the short and long term. (In the past, the Fund accepted capacity-building proposals by invitation only. Please note: this is an open call.) Proposals will be reviewed on a competitive basis; we expect to award up to five two-year grants. Examples of capacity-building needs include, but are not limited to:
- Improvement of data management systems
- Strategies and technology for improving communication
- Improving financial management systems
- Implementing new and realistic fundraising methods (e.g. e-fundraising)
- Leadership and board development
- Mergers or consolidations with other non-profit and immigrant organizations
- Volunteer recruitment, training, and utilization planning
- Coordination of partnerships with faith-based groups, schools, and other government agencies
Grants will only be made for specific capacity-building projects; requests for programmatic or general support will not be considered. Groups that have received a capacity-building grant from the Fund in the past five years may not apply. Although organizations may apply for both capacity-building and community education and legal services (see separate RFP), the Fund will support only one (if any) of the proposed projects.
Organizations submitting a proposal MUST attend a capacity-building training by Community Resource Exchange on Thursday, May 14, 2015 from 10 am to 12 pm at The New York Community Trust, 909 Third Avenue, 22nd Floor, New York, New York 10022. If you plan to attend, please email fundfornewcitizens@nyct-cfi.org no later than Tuesday, May 12.
Visit this page for more information about the required application materials.
Submission
The narrative and project budget must be received by email to fundfornewcitizens@nyct-cfi.org on or before 4 pm on Thursday, May 28, 2015. The email should have the organization’s name in the subject line and the narrative and project budget should be attached to the email as a single PDF document. Hard copies of the full application, including the narrative, project budget, and all supporting materials, should be sent by first-class mail, postmarked no later than Friday, May 29, 2015, to:
Sheila Dinkins
Fund for New Citizens in The New York Community Trust
909 Third Avenue, 22nd Floor
New York, NY 10022
Grant applications submitted after the due dates will not be considered for funding. Questions about this Request for Proposals may be emailed to fundfornewcitizens@nyct-cfi.org; include your contact information. Grant awards will be announced in early summer 2015.