The NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund was launched to support New York City-based social services and arts and cultural organizations that have been affected by the current coronavirus public health crisis.
The fund raised more than $110 million to provide grants and interest-free loans to small and midsize nonprofits to help them respond to emerging needs, cover losses associated with the disruption of their operations, and help them continue their critical work. The founding member foundations, companies, and individuals are building on their prior experience in local disaster recovery and funding, including 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy.
Recognizing best practice from past experience working through crises, this initiative will provide grants and no-interest loans for needs including:
- Unrestricted, flexible funding to support new and emergency needs, and meet community demands, particularly for service offerings outside normal operations required to respond to social distancing, isolation, and quarantine.
- Technology to support remote work and services—laptops and remote calling capacity (E.g., Zoom) for staff, securing staffing and training to fulfill their mission.
- Temporary staff support to cover for shortages caused by employees who are ill or may have to quarantine or stay home to care for family members or children during school closures.
- Equipment and supplies such as masks, hand sanitizer, gloves, and cleaning supplies.
- Additional cleaning services to augment in-house operations.
- Support to aid the loss of operational revenue from facility closings, canceled programs, events, etc.
To date, more than 1,300 donors gave financial assistance to 768 NYC-based organizations. It distributed more than $73 million in grants through The Trust and more than $37 million in no-interest loans through the Nonprofit Finance Fund.
Sources: The New York Community Trust and Ford Foundation
More information: https://www.nycommunitytrust.org/covid19/
