The New York Foundation was founded in 1909 after the unexpected death of Louis A Heinsheimer, a banker at Kuhn, Loeb, and Company. Heinsheimer bequeathed $1 million in his will to the various Jewish charities of New York but stipulated that they all be federated within a year after his death; after the charities chose not to federate, his brother, Alfred M. Heinsheimer, established the New York Foundation with the bequest. 1
Four prominent New York businessmen, Edward C. Henderson, Jacob H. Schiff, Isaac Seligman, and Paul M. Warburg (later a pivotal figure in the founding of the Federal Reserve) also played a vital role in its creation. All a part of a close-knit group of German-Jewish families who accumulated vast wealth in the banking business, each founder expressed hope that the Foundation would serve as charity for society and as a way to “distribute… resources for altruistic purposes, charitable, benevolent, educational, or otherwise, within the United States of America.” 1
Today, the New York Foundation is mainly focused on community organizing and advocacy, and works to support high-risk groups and to establish community-based groups in New York City. 2
In 2025, the New York Foundation partnered with the Trust Based Philanthropy Project through their “Meet the moment” initiative. This initiative seeks to bring its supporters together “in solidarity with nonprofits.” The group claims that the political climate could pose risks to nonprofits through reductions in funding, legal concerns, and lack of staff. 3
Grantmaking
New York Foundation has given $60,000 in financial backing to support efforts by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration to “organize black immigrations in Brooklyn and the Bronx around policing, mass incarceration, immigrant detention, and ending deportations.” 4
The New York Foundation provided $20,000 to Communities United for Police Reform, a left-of-center coalition that advocates for increased restrictions on New York City Police Department activities. Communities United for Police Reform opposes plans to hire more Metro Transit Authority police officers,5 pushes state legislation that would end marijuana prohibition,6 and supports the controversial7 New York bail law that reduced the ability of judges to impose pre-trial bonds. 8
New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), a left-of-center coalition that advocates for expansionist immigration policies, was provided $55,000 from the New York Foundation to advance the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that provided provisional legal status to certain illegal immigrants. Linda Sarsour, the controversial left-wing activist who has been criticized by Jonathan Greenblatt of the left-leaning Anti-Defamation League for her apparent anti-Semitism,9 sits on the NYIC board.
The New York Foundation provided $126,500 to the Riders Alliance. 4 The Riders Alliance advocates to make the New York subway system more reliable and affordable. In its advocacy, the Riders Alliance pushes for more service10 and infrastructure upgrades11 while at the same time demanding cheaper fares. 12
The Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a legal aid center that serves the transgender and gender non-conforming community of New York, received $40,000 from the New York Foundation to help eliminate the legal and systemic barriers that prevent low-income transgender people from fully participating in society. 4 The Sylvia Rivera Law Project has ongoing campaigns to stop healthcare providers from “misgendering” transgender patients,13 to force jails to provide menstrual products to transgender men,14 and to stop New York City from opening new jails. 15
The New York Foundation gave $66,505 to Young Advocates for Fair Education,4 a left-wing Jewish organization that seeks to secularize private Jewish religious yeshiva and cheder schools. The motives of this anti-Orthodox group have been labeled as anti-religious liberty and its tactics have been called “harassing.” 16
Associations with Controversial Muslim-American Groups
In an episode of its online web series “Speak Justice: Stories from Muslim, Arab, and South Asian Organizers,” the New York Foundation featured Afaf Nasher, executive director of the New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). 17 CAIR is a prominent Muslim advocacy organization that has been suspected of supporting political Islamist movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood. 18
In 2011, the New York Foundation held a listening tour in New York City’s Muslim community. Some of the participating mosques are affiliated with the Muslim American Society,19 an organization suspected of being the American affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood. 20 Muslim American Society denies association with the Brotherhood,21 though it has admitted that “Many immigrant organizations would likely have had some founders who had some involvement or even membership in the Ikhwan [Brotherhood].” 22
For the Neighborhoods First Fund to promote just and inclusive land use, housing, planning, and development policies and practices in NYC and the New York metropolitan region
$1,031,689
2024
Oak Foundation
To support the Neighborhoods First Fund, a funder collaborative administered by the New York Foundation that seeks to strengthen community-based organisations to participate in neighborhood planning, land use, housing, and community development decisions in New York.
To support the New York Foundation in providing emergency assistance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in America.
$999,999
2021
Oak Foundation
To continue to be part of the Neighborhoods First Fund, a funder collaborative administered by the New York Foundation. The Fund promotes equitable, inclusive, and accountable development in New York City, with a particular focus on neighbourhoods with high immigrant, and low wealth communities.
Youth Organizing & Culture Change Fund – a pilot program to increase funding and supports for youth organizing and cultural strategies across the country.
SUPPORT FOR HOUSING JUSTICE FOR ALL, A FISCALLY SPONSORED PROJECT OF VOCAL-NY.
$275,000
2023
NORTHWEST BRONX COMMUNITY AND CLERGY COALITION INC
TO SUPPORT THE ONGOING ENGAGEMENT OF OVER A DOZEN BRONX-BASED GROUPS AND THEIR HUNDREDS OF MEMBERS IN ADVANCING A 30-YEAR VISION FOR THE BRONX THAT CENTERS RACIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE.
$225,000
2021
Long Island Community Foundation
FOR THE GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD FUND, AN INITIATIVE THAT AIMS TO CREATE SYSTEMIC CHANGE THROUGHOUT THE REGION THROUGH PARTICIPATORY GRANT MAKING, LED BY REGIONAL EXPERTS.
$200,000
2024
NORTHWEST BRONX COMMUNITY AND CLERGY COALITION INC
TO SUPPORT ORGANIZING, OUTREACH AND ADVOCACY TO ITS 100+ MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS WORKING TO PREVENT EVICTIONS AND HOMELESSNESS AND TO PROVIDE RELIEF TO TENANTS, HOMEOWNERS, AND SMALL LANDLORDS IMPACTED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.
FOR A COALITION CAMPAIGN TO MOBILIZE A CITYWIDE NETWORK OF COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS TO CREATE A COMPREHENSIVE HOUSING BLUEPRINT FOR NEW YORK CITY, TO LIFT UP ITS FRAMEWORK, AND TO ADVOCATE FOR ITS IMPLEMENTATION BY A NEW MAYORAL ADMINISTRATION AND CITY COUNCIL.
FOR THE RIGHT TO A ROOF COALITION, A JOINT PROJECT OF MAKE THE ROAD NY AND THE ASSOCIATION FOR NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING DEVELOPMENT TO CREATE A HOUSING BLUEPRINT FOR NEW YORK.
TO ADVOCATE FOR REFORM OF PUBLIC HOUSING, ENGAGING INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS INCLUDING NYCS LARGEST LABOR UNIONS AND FAITH PARTNERS AS WELL AS BEING A KEY STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER OF THE STATEWIDE HOUSING JUSTICE FOR ALL COALITION.
TO MOBILIZE BLACK AND LATINX RESIDENTS TO PROVIDE ACTIVE INPUT INTO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NYCHA PRESERVATION TRUST, TO MONITOR THE IMPACT OF RAD CONVERSIONS ON BUILDING REPAIRS AND ON TENANT EVICTIONS, TO REMOVE HOUSING BARRIERS FACED BY PEOPLE WITH RECORDS OF CONVICTION, AND TO ORGANIZE TENANTS IN PRIVATELY OWNED HOUSING IN NORTHERN MANHATTAN.
GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT AND CAPACITY BUILDING FOR ONGOING INTERGENERATIONAL HOUSING JUSTICE ORGANIZING CAMPAIGNS IN QUEENS AND CHINATOWN IN LOWER MANHATTAN AS THEY SEEK TO DEEPEN ITS ARTS-INTEGRATED STRATEGIES.
$80,000
2023
DreamYard
TO EXPAND THE POLITICAL ARTS-BASED WORK HAPPENING WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION AND PARTNER SCHOOLS.
