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Funding Opportunities

Youth Service Improvement

Our Youth Service Improvement Grants (YSIG) share the goal of our research grants: improving the lives of youth. We focus on small to medium-size organizations that have already had some success, but lack the funds to make needed improvements.

The YSIG program is open to community-based organizations in the five boroughs of New York City that want to improve the quality of the services they offer to young people ages 8 to 25. The maximum award amount is $25,000.
Deadline
Grants are awarded in the spring and the fall. Applications for the fall 2010 cycle were due on April 29, 2010, and decisions made in August 2010.

Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for consideration, applicants must:
  • Have 501(c)(3) tax-exemption. If an applicant is separately incorporated but tax-exempt through a group ruling, the applicant should supply the IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter of its parent organization and documentation that it is part of the group. In this case, only the budget of the applicant will be considered under the YSIG eligibility guidelines. If the applicant is a sub-unit of a parent organization and is not separately incorporated, the parent organization's budget will be considered under the eligibility guidelines;
  • Provide services to youth located in the five boroughs of New York City;
  • Serve youth ages 8 to 25 years;
  • Serve youth directly (staff must have direct contact with youth at the point-of-service); and
  • Have an operating budget between $250,000 and $5.0 million. In the case of organizations that serve youth only, this is the total organizational budget. In the case of multipurpose organizations (i.e., those not exclusively focused on youth), the organizational operating budget must be less than $20 million, and the budget for services to youth (direct and indirect costs) must be between $250,000 and $5 million.

Interested in Applying?

The Foundation uses an online application system for all our funding programs. Application instructions and required forms are available in the How to Apply section, which can be accessed by clicking below. Please note, all applicants should read the most recent YSIG Guidelines before beginning any application.

YSIG Guidelines

We have updated the funding guidelines for our Youth Service Improvement Grants program. In the fall of 2009, we conducted a review of the program to identify how to make the application and review processes more efficient, and how to better help grantees implement their improvements successfully. As a result, we have streamlined the proposal, and are also narrowing the geographic focus of the program to the five boroughs of New York City in order to facilitate possible technical assistance activities.

Recent Grantees

When preparing your proposal, you may find it helpful to read brief descriptions of recently funded projects.
Resources

The Forum for Youth Investment compiles and updates these annotated lists of recent publications and other information in the youth field.