General Information

MISSION

To support programs and institutions that enrich the quality of life in New York City, with a particular focus on initiatives that help individuals, families, and communities benefit from the services and opportunities that will enable them to achieve their full potential.

VALUES

Several overarching values guide the Foundation's grantmaking: access, system-wide improvement, prevention and early intervention, self-sufficiency, the provision of high-quality services, and a focus on vulnerable populations.

• The Foundation seeks to increase meaningful access for New Yorkers to quality programs, institutions, and resources, both public and private.
• The Foundation is interested in encouraging system-wide improvement and change while at the same time maintaining its tradition of direct service and the opportunity to test models in action.
• The Foundation prefers to support preventive and early intervention strategies.
• The Foundation supports efforts that help New Yorkers build and preserve self-sufficiency.
• The Foundation encourages innovation and funds programs and organizations that offer high-quality services based on best practices in their field and that exercise systematic efforts to track credible and meaningful results.
• The Foundation has an interest in supporting programs that serve vulnerable populations, in particular disadvantaged children and youth, immigrants, and the elderly.

OPERATING PRINCIPLES

We define ourselves as investors and are interested in creating the highest possible levels of human gain for the grant dollars we have available. In that mode, we review proposals with the following questions in mind:

• What are the results from the project—meaning outcomes for participants—that provide the return on our investment?
• What are the chances those results will be achieved?
• Is this the best use of our money, given all alternatives before us?

The Foundation makes three types of investments:

1. Investments in Direct Service
   In this area we support programs and projects that create human gain for people in our areas of focus. Historically, most of the grants in our portfolio have fallen into this category.

2. Investments in Organizations
   At times we believe that making an investment in an organization so that it can achieve and sustain stronger gains for those served is the best investment we can make. In general, these investments are reserved for organizations with which we are already working.

3. Investments in Systems Change
   At times we believe that the most pressing need is to make an improvement in the larger context of factors and forces that affect programs and organizations. The Foundation will allocate limited grant dollars to strategic policy, advocacy, and applied research initiatives that advance the Foundation's grantmaking priorities.

In addition:

• The Foundation seeks to promote connections among organizations doing complementary work, including nonprofits, government agencies, and foundations, in order to advance best practices and build knowledge within a given field.
• The Foundation seeks to leverage its limited resources by investing in issues, programs, or initiatives that have the potential to attract other funding sources, both public and private.