In 2019, the Long Island Community Foundation, along with social justice organizations, launched the Good Neighbors Initiative (GNI). The mission of the initiative is to strengthen grassroots, intersectional power building, Long Island-wide. The community-based organizations involved in GNI are focused on building an inclusive participatory grantmaking model, as well as focusing on narrative change, and shifting power.

Designed in consultation with community partners, the Racial Equity Pooled fund was launched in 2020 to move resources to campaigns and coalitions working at the state-level for policy and regulatory reforms that would improve the lives of people of color who were disproportionately harmed by the effects of COVID-19. Today, the pooled fund is supporting state-wide infrastructure projects and local organizing in various regions of the State.

In 2021, Engage New York commissioned a landscape scan to understand the needs of organizers in the Hudson Valley. In 2022, we are working to develop a network of emerging organizers in the region to advance solutions identified by residents.

In 2018, Engage New York supported the development of an aligned funding strategy to support the Lead Free Kids New York Coalition. This Coalition is working to New York is a primary prevention state and eliminates lead poisoning exposure for our children. Beyond the grant, Engage New York is supporting various functions of the Coalition to expand its reach and influence.

An interactive map that visually represents the nonprofit infrastructure in New York. The goal of the map is to assist nonprofit leaders to find colleagues while breaking down siloes and barriers that exist between regions. The map highlights an organization’s mission, approach, and helps to visually represent coalition and campaign infrastructure. VIEW MAP

This body of work started in 2019 to help inform, connect, and mobilize funders to shift how philanthropy is resourcing organizing in rural communities.

Since 2019, we have been convening funders to learn and share information for foundation leaders concerned with the rise of white nationalism and hate crimes throughout New York State. This working group seeks to understand the issue, and aims to establish a plan of action for how philanthropy can work together to address it.

Since 2018, Engage New York has been supporting the work of the New York State Census Equity Fund, which brought together thirty-seven local, regional, and national foundations to mobilize $3.6 million to ensure a fair and full count of New Yorkers statewide in the 2020 census, and fair and representative redistricting. This is the first collaborative and pooled Fund of its kind to support a statewide project. The Fund is held at The New York Community Trust.

Self-assessment tool that enables foundations to evaluate their own grantmaking and provides best practices for moving resources to rural communities across the state.