New York City Good Neighbor Committee

The New York City Good Neighbor Committee seeks to strengthen the Ford Foundation’s ties and support for local organizations working on issues related to the foundation’s mission. It also serves as an opportunity to provide Ford staff who are not grantmakers to experience the core work of the foundation. As part of this work, we seek to employ the Ford Foundation’s values and approaches to effective grantmaking practices by supporting our grantees through flexible support, approaching relationships with transparency and trust, and striving to keep burdens light.

Two Black youth work on computers and music equipment. One wears headphones and taps their hand on a piano keyboard.
Photo credit: ©Alexis Maryon/PYMCA

Funding Opportunities

Every year, the Good Neighbor Committee provides unrestricted funding to a small group of community-based organizations working locally in New York City in three focus areas:

  • Arts and Culture
  • Education
  • Human services

Within these areas, we prioritize funding for initiatives that reduce the barriers of inequality, create opportunity, and improve the overall quality of life and well-being of New York City communities.

Selection criteria

Due to our extremely limited budget and scope, the New York City Good Neighbor Committee can only consider funding for between 10-15 organizations every year. Grants vary between $30k-100k, typically last one year, and are generally unrestricted in nature.

To be eligible for funding, applicant organizations must:

  • Be based in New York City and primarily support local work within the five boroughs
  • Have 501(c)3 status or work with a fiscal sponsor who does
  • Work in one of the three priority thematic areas of the GNC
  • Not be a current grantee of other Ford Foundation programs
  • Be responsive and accountable to the communities they support

Organizations that do not fulfill these minimum criteria will not be considered for funding.

How to Apply

The NYC Good Neighbor Committee will accept applications for its 2026 open call from September 1, 2025, through September 30, 2025, at 5:00 PM EST. Applications must be submitted via the Google Form on this webpage.

2025 NYC GNC grantees

Organizations the NYC Good Neighbor Committee supported in the 2025 cycle include:

  • Court Appointed Special Advocates, Inc.
  • Girls Incorporated of New York City
  • Groove With Me
  • Hands On
  • The Wild Project
  • Translatinx Network
  • UnLocal, Inc
  • Visual AIDS for the Arts, Inc.
  • Youth Design Center, Inc.

Regional Committees

Over the years, other Ford Foundation regional offices in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have formed their own versions of the Good Neighbor Committee. These regional committees address the unique needs of neighbors in their communities. To learn more, contact each regional office directly.

If your organization is interested in starting its own Good Neighbor Committee, review Building Community Inside and Out with a Good Neighbor Committee, a GrantCraft publication.