The NYC Green Relief & Recovery Fund responds to the most urgent needs facing the City’s parks and open spaces, while spurring policy-makers to address ongoing systemic challenges, and provide adequate funding to maintain and improve them.
Donor Name: City Parks Foundation (CPF)
State: New York
City: New York City
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/31/2023
Size of the Grant: $150,000
Grant Duration: 24 months
Details:
The NYC Green Relief & Recovery Fund was established in May 2020 as a pooled fund by a collective of national, family, and community foundations to support stewardship organizations that care for New York City’s parks and open spaces. The Fund is intended to respond to the most urgent needs facing the city’s parks and open spaces, while spurring policy-makers to address ongoing systemic challenges that prevent adequate funding for parks overall within the city’s operating budget. The Fund was launched in response to the efforts of the Parks and Open Space Partners – NYC coalition to raise awareness of the financial impacts of the pandemic on open spaces.
Priorities of the NYC Green Fund Systems Change Round:
The NYC Green Relief and Recovery Fund Systems Change round seeks to fund projects that address one or more of the key areas identified below.
- Support an interagency vision for open space that focuses on parks, public health, transportation infrastructure, climate resiliency, and equitable economic development.
- Highlight parks and open spaces as essential infrastructure and spur policy-makers to provide sufficient, stable maintenance and operations funding.
- Improve access to open space by identifying new locations or addressing impediments to public access.
- Address challenges in the construction process including capital reform and provision of a flexible procurement budget.
- Improve public-private partnerships, fostering more collaborative relationships by championing stewards and identifying ways to reduce bureaucratic barriers including contracting and procurement.
- Leverage partnerships and share resources to pursue state and federal funding.
- Develop and implement collaborative adaptation projects to prepare our parks and open spaces for climate change impacts now and in the future.
Amount and Types of Support
- The NYC Green Fund will distribute approximately 5-8 grants with an anticipated average grant size of $70,000 depending upon funding available. Grantees may request up to $150,000. Grant funds may be spent over a period of up to 24 months.
- Eligible expenses include project staff salaries, consultant fees, data collection and analysis, meetings, supplies, project-related travel, and other direct project expenses, including a limited amount of equipment essential to the project. Grant funds may not be used to support an organization’s overhead or facilities costs, to construct or renovate facilities, or as a substitute for funds currently being used to support similar activities.
Eligibility Criteria
- The 2022 NYC Green Fund System Change Round is open to solo applicants, coalitions, or collaborations of organizations based in New York City. The submitting applicant’s mission must be aligned with advancing parks and open space issues, and applicants must have a track record of collaboration. The submitting applicant should have a demonstrated history of managing funds from foundations or government and following both funder and nonprofit lobbying restrictions. Government agencies may be a project partner, but may not serve as submitting applicant.
- 2020 and 2021 NYC Green Fund Systems Change grantees slated to complete their project by March 2023 are eligible and should clarify how their proposed project builds upon or differs from the past project. 2021 NYC Green Fund Systems Change grantees will be required to share a narrative and budgetary update on their project for consideration.
- Examples of eligible applicants include:
- NYC open space-focused nonprofits
- Coalitions or collaborations of open space-focused organizations
- Organizations stewarding open spaces (including gardens, public plazas, water bodies, etc.) that are open to the public for the majority of the time.
Criteria
Funding decisions will be based on:
- Strategic alignment: The project aligns with at least one of the priorities as outlined. The submitting applicant’s mission aligns with the grant purpose.
- Innovation: The project should address key outstanding questions, have the potential to lead to a significant change, or test out new ideas and processes. Funding is intended to be catalytic and will prioritize work that would otherwise not be possible.
- Feasibility: The intended outcomes or results of the proposed project are feasible considering the activities and resources. The applicant is well-positioned to deliver intended results and objectives within the project timeline and has the relevant relationships and experience needed to execute the proposed project. Preparedness should be evident and show readiness.
- Equity & Community Served: The proposed project is serving a priority neighborhood identified by the Taskforce for Racial Inclusion and Equity and/or will help address systemic inequities. The proposed project should demonstrate an understanding of the historical and current structural and institutional barriers faced by underserved communities and communities of color in accessing open spaces and a commitment to advancing equity.
- Collaboration: The proposal should clearly demonstrate a purpose for working together, clarify roles and responsibilities, and accountability structures. The proposed project should be mutually beneficial, build the capacity of the partners, and offer the potential for continued collaboration post-grant period.
- Budget: The budget is reasonable considering the activities, outputs, scale of the proposed project, and the applicant’s annual operating budget. The request should not exceed 25% of the annual operating budget for solo applicants.
For more information, visit Green Relief & Recovery Fund.
