The New York Community Trust (The Trust) is acommunity foundation that servesNew York City's five boroughs,Long Island, andWestchester County. The Trust administers more than 2,200 charitable funds.
Established in 1924, The Trust is one of the nation's 10 largest community foundations with nearly $3.3 billion in assets.[1]
In partnership with its donors, The Trust distributes approximately $200 million in grants to nonprofits annually and during its first 100 years has awarded $5.7 billion to nonprofits.[2] It is led by Amy Freitag, who was named the organization's fourth president in 2022.[3]
The Trust was founded in 1920, when a group of New York banks came together to create a charitable trust that would support philanthropic activity in New York.[4] The Trust's first grant was awarded in 1924, when Rosebel G. Schiff gave $1,000 to establish a fund in memory of her principal atP.S. 9.[5]
The Westchester and Long Island Community Foundations were created as divisions of The Trust in 1975 and 1978, respectively. The Westchester and Long Island Community Foundation names were sunsetted to better reflect the organizational structure in 2024.[6]
In 1983, in the early years of theHIV/AIDS crisis, the foundation made the first grant for HIV research from a private institution. It then created the New York City AIDS Fund, which operated from 1989 to 2014.[7]
The Trust partnered with theUnited Way of New York City to create theSeptember 11th Fund in response to the attacks on the World Trade Center onSeptember 11, 2001. The Fund collected $534 million from more than two million donors and distributed a total of 559 grants.[8]
In March 2020, The Trust partnered withBloomberg Philanthropies,Carnegie Corporation of New York, and theFord Foundation to launch the NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund, which ultimately raised $110 million from 734 donors to support nonprofits impacted by theCovid-19 pandemic.[9]
In 2012, upon a request by New York State Attorney GeneralEric Schneiderman, The Trust allocated $45 million fromBrooke Astor's estate to improve literacy in New York City.[10][11]
In 2024, The Trust and theRobin Hood Foundation announced efforts to lead a philanthropic response to the influx of more than 200,000 migrants to New York City.[12]