New York Community Trust (Community Funds)

Although NYCT presents itself as a civic institution serving “all” New Yorkers, its grantmaking record and dedicated funds aligns it with left-of-center policy causes, including expanded access to abortion, LGBT advocacy, an expansionist immigration agenda, and left-of-center environmental groups. Its governing body, the Distribution Committee, includes members nominated by the mayor of New York City. ^{1  3  2}

NYCT credits itself with creating the first donor-advised fund (DAF) in 1931. Over the following century, the organization administered high-profile pooled funds responding to the AIDS epidemic, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and the COVID-19 pandemic. ¹

Background and History

The New York Community Trust was formed in 1924 by 11 New York-based trust banks as a community foundation, a pooled charitable vehicle modeled on the Cleveland Foundation, which had been established a decade earlier as the first such institution in the United States. Ralph Hayes, who had worked at the Cleveland Foundation, was recruited as NYCT’s first director in 1923 and worked in that role for 44 years. ¹

In 1931, NYCT created what it described as the first donor-advised fund, after donors William and Francoise Barstow asked to establish a permanent fund at the foundation while retaining the ability to recommend gifts to nonprofits of their choosing during their lifetimes. ¹

NYCT expanded through a series of large legacy bequests, opening a Westchester office in 1975 and a Long Island office in 1978. In 1983, it made its first grant for HIV research, and in 1989 it launched the New York City AIDS Fund with the National Community AIDS Partnership; the fund operated through 2014. In 1986, in response to the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act, NYCT created the Fund for New Citizens, which it said was intended to strengthen immigrant-led organizations, oppose what it described as punitive immigration laws, and promote expansionist immigration policies in general. ¹

Advocacy

The New York Community Trust publicly describes itself in nonpartisan, civic terms, saying that it serves to connect donors with nonprofit organizations in the New York City area. In practice, its own dedicated funds and its grant record have placed a substantial share of its giving behind left-of-center policy priorities. ^{2  1}

NYCT has operated internal funds oriented toward causes favored by the political left. Its Fund for New Citizens worked to defeat what it labeled “punitive” immigration enforcement and to advance an expansionist immigration policy at the city and state levels. Its gender-focused grantmaking, carried out through its Gender Equity NYC initiative, has funded reproductive-health services, abortion groups, and services for the LGBT community. Its environmental grantmaking, anchored by the Henry Kraft Memorial Fund, directed money to organizations working on climate change and related issues. ^{1  4}

Because NYCT was a community foundation whose grants were often recommended by individual donors, its aggregate grantmaking reflected the priorities of a largely left-of-center donor base and those of its own program staff. The organization’s governing Distribution Committee included members nominated by the mayor of New York City, giving city officials a formal role in a nominally private philanthropy. ^{1  3}

Activities

The New York Community Trust has directed grants to organizations that support abortion access. In 2024, it funded Planned Parenthood of Greater New York and other pro-abortion groups including the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the National Network of Abortion Funds, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Medical Students for Choice, the last of which had advocated for making abortion training a required part of American medical education. ⁵

NYCT was a long-standing funder of LGBT advocacy and services. It made the region’s first private grants responding to the AIDS epidemic, and its later grantmaking included support for organizations such as Gay Men’s Health Crisis. The organization also funded a project that used public landmark designations to memorialize sites associated with LGBT history in New York City. ^{5  6}

The organization funded liberal immigration advocacy through its Fund for New Citizens, which supported immigrant-led organizations, legal-services providers, and coalitions opposing stricter immigration enforcement. Its immigration-related grantees included the Immigrant Justice Corps, which it funded in 2024, and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees. ^{1  5}

NYCT’s environmental grantmaking supported left-wing environmental organizations. Through the Henry Kraft Memorial Fund and other vehicles, its grantees included Earthjustice, the Greenpeace Fund, 350.org, and the Conservation Fund. ^{7  5}

Beyond these fields, NYCT’s grantmaking reached nationally prominent left-wing organizations, including the Center for American Progress, one of the largest left-of-center think tanks in the United States; the Tides Center and Tides Foundation, which incubate and finance liberal advocacy projects; Oxfam America; and Democracy Now Productions, a left-wing news program. ⁵

NYCT also administered several large pooled response funds. In 2001, it joined with the United Way of New York City to create the September 11th Fund, which raised more than $500 million for victims, families, and affected businesses after the terrorist attacks. In March 2020, it launched the NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund, which raised more than $110 million and distributed grants and no-interest loans to nearly 800 New York City nonprofits. ¹

Leadership

As of May 2026, Carrie Trowbridge, the organization’s executive vice president and general counsel, was interim president of the New York Community Trust while the board conducted a search for the organization’s fifth president in its 102-year history. Trowbridge succeeded Amy Freitag, who announced on May 1, 2026 that she would step down after roughly four years leading the organization and would continue as a strategic advisor through June 30, 2026. ⁸