This Spring, we're mobilizing Brooklynites to aid asylum seekers as partners in the Welcome NYC initiative. Every dollar donated to our Immigrant Rights Fund now through April 30th will further community-led organizations’ ability to support new asylum seekers while providing essential programs and services to Brooklyn’s immigrant communities.

Thanks to the generosity of our community, we're closing in on our goal of raising $50,000 to fuel grassroots support for refugees—if you would like to partner with us, you can donate online or contact me directly to explore other ways to give.

We also have a long history of stewarding community resources for local emergency response efforts:

• In the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, we co-launched the NYC Haitian Community Hope and Healing Fund to support Haitian American New Yorkers affected by the earthquake, ultimately distributing $500,000 across New York City’s Haitian community. 

• Following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, we partnered with the Brooklyn Borough President and Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce to create the Brooklyn Recovery Fund to provide relief across the borough, ultimately deploying over $3.5 million to local organizations.

• In late 2016 we established our Immigrant Rights Fund in response to mounting uncertainty within Brooklyn’s immigrant communities and the creation of dangerous and exclusionary government policies; to date, we have distributed over $2 million in grants through this initiative.

• In March 2020, we launched our Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund to support immediate and longer-term response efforts across the borough, with an explicit focus on racial justice and centering communities of color. In the first phase of the Fund, we distributed $3.3 million to 246 frontline organizations in just 16 weeks during the early months of the pandemic, and in the Fund's second phase, we awarded a further $3 million for ongoing urgent needs, vaccine education and outreach, and long-term investments in community-led change.

Community foundations are widely viewed as one of the very best vehicles to help you and other donors provide financial support to relief efforts. As Brooklyn’s community foundation, we’re here to help connect you to giving options that are trustworthy and effective, whether that’s leveraging our connections to local communities in need of emergency support, or exploring your different options for charitable giving.

If you find yourself moved to give back in times of crisis, a Donor Advised Fund at the Foundation may be the ideal giving tool for you. You can easily set up your fund with a single tax-deductible donation of cash or stock, and then give at your own pace—and once you have an established fund, you’ll be able to support emergency response efforts at a moment’s notice. We work hand in hand with our dedicated fund holders to support the communities they love—and we would be honored to help you do the same.