The New York Foundation is a New York City-based grantmaking foundation that funds left-of-center advocacy organizations. Notable grant recipients include the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Communities United for Police Reform, and New York Immigration Coalition.

Background

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.” ²

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. 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. ¹⁰ The Riders Alliance advocates to make the New York subway system more reliable and affordable. In its advocacy, the Riders Alliance pushes for more service¹¹ and infrastructure upgrades¹² while at the same time demanding cheaper fares. ¹³

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. ¹⁴ The Sylvia Rivera Law Project has ongoing campaigns to stop healthcare providers from “misgendering” transgender patients,¹⁵ to force jails to provide menstrual products to transgender men,¹⁶ and to stop New York City from opening new jails. ¹⁷

The New York Foundation gave $66,505 to Young Advocates for Fair Education,¹⁸ 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.” ¹⁹

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). ²⁰ CAIR is a prominent Muslim advocacy organization that has been suspected of supporting political Islamist movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood. ²¹

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,²² an organization suspected of being the American affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood. ²³ Muslim American Society denies association with the Brotherhood,²⁴ 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].” ²⁵

1. Barboza, Steve. “Taking Risks That Matter.” New York Foundation. Accessed February 1, 2020. http://nyf.org/files/2019/08/100-Years-Taking-Risks-That-Matter.pdf
2. Barboza, Steve. “Taking Risks That Matter.” New York Foundation. Accessed February 1, 2020. http://nyf.org/files/2019/08/100-Years-Taking-Risks-That-Matter.pdf
3. “Strategies.” New York Foundation. Accessed February 1, 2020. http://nyf.org/key-strategies/
4. Internal Revenue Service. Form 990, New York Foundation. 2017. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2017/135/626/2017-135626345-1013a201-F.pdf
5. “Progressive Advocates Condemn Governor’s Plan for 500 New MTA Police Officers, Urge Investments in Transit Service Instead.” Communities United for Police Reform. Accessed February 1, 2020. https://www.changethenypd.org/releases/progressive-advocates-condemn-governors-plan-500-new-mta-police-officers-urge-investments
6. “Safer NY Act.” Communities United for Police Reform.” Accessed February 1, 2020. https://www.changethenypd.org/safer-ny
7. Latzer, Barry. “New York’s Bad Bail-Reform Law.” National Review. Accessed February 1, 2020. https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/01/new-york-state-bail-reform-law-wont-work/
8. “Chokeholds and Police Abusive Kept from the Public.” Communities United for Police Reform. Accessed February 1, 2020. https://www.changethenypd.org/medCia/chokeholds-and-police-abuse-kept-public
9. Greenblatt, Jonathan. Twitter Post. November 13, 2017, 5:15 PM. https://twitter.com/jgreenblattadl/status/930197380216918016?lang=en
10. Internal Revenue Service. Form 990, New York Foundation. 2017. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2017/135/626/2017-135626345-1013a201-F.pdf
11. “Bus Turnaround Campaign.” Riders Alliance. Accessed February 1, 2020. http://www.ridersny.org/bus-turnaround-campaign/
12. “Fix the Subway!.” Riders Alliance. Accessed February 1, 2020. http://www.ridersny.org/funding/
13. “Fight for #FairFares!.” Riders Alliance. Accessed February 1, 2020. http://www.ridersny.org/fairfares/
14. Internal Revenue Service. Form 990, New York Foundation. 2017. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2017/135/626/2017-135626345-1013a201-F.pdf
15. “What’s Up with Trans Healthcare?.” Sylvia Rivera Law Project. Accessed February 1, 2020. https://srlp.org/healthcare/
16. “Ensure Access to Menstrual Products for People in NYS Custody.” Sylvia Rivera Law Project. Accessed February 1, 2020. https://srlp.org/action/ensure-access-to-menstrual-products-for-people-in-nys-custody/
17. “Join the Movement of #NoNewJailsNYC.” Sylvia Rivera Law Project. Accessed February 1, 2020. https://srlp.org/join-the-movement-of-nonewjailsnyc/
18. Internal Revenue Service. Form 990, New York Foundation. 2017. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2017/135/626/2017-135626345-1013a201-F.pdf
19. Matthews, Karen. “Lawsuit over amendment shielding some Jewish schools tossed.” AP News. Accessed February 1, 2020. https://apnews.com/ab85f6b2aabc46498d0a6c94266bb1a6
20. “Speak Justice: Afaf Nasher, Council on American Islamic Relations – New York.” Vimeo. Accessed

    February 1, 2020. https://vimeo.com/349954325

21. “Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) – National Headquarters.” Clarion Project. Accessed February 1, 2020. https://clarionproject.org/council-islamic-relations-cair/
22. “New York’s Diverse Muslim Community.” New York Foundation. Accessed February 1, 2020. http://nyf.org/files/2019/08/NYF_Muslim_A.pdf
23. Lee, Martha. “Recent Conference Highlights Emboldened Islamism in America.” Daily Wire. Accessed February 1, 2020.

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/lee-baird-recent-conference-highlights-emboldened-martha-lee

24. “Frequently Asked Questions.” Muslim American Society. Accessed February 6, 2020. http://www.muslimamericansociety.org/faq/.
25. Gjelten, Tom. “Push To Name Muslim Brotherhood A Terrorist Group Worries U.S. Offshoots.” NPR. NPR, March 24, 2017. https://www.npr.org/2017/03/24/520299701/push-to-name-muslim-brotherhood-a-terrorist-group-worries-u-s-offshoots.