How to Apply
Applications for the 2023-2024 Spark Prize are now closed.
Spark Prize 2023-2024 Timeline
- Monday, April 24, 2023: Spark Prize Grant Applications Released
- Tuesday, June 6, 2023 at 11AM: Application Clinic Webinar - Watch Here
- Wednesday, June 28, 2023 at 5PM: Applications Due
- October 2023: Finalists Announced
- October-November 2023: Finalists Interviews
- November 28, 2023: #BrooklynGives on Giving Tuesday
- January 2024: Five $100,000 Spark Prize Winners Announced
- March 2024: Spark Breakfast
Application Clinic Webinar
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 at 11AM
In this webinar, our Programs team reviewed the application process for the 2023-2024 Spark Prize. Watch here or below.
Grant Awards
Brooklyn Community Foundation believes in providing long-term investment and support to organizations that are doing transformative work in Brooklyn, particularly groups that have been under-resourced by traditional channels of philanthropy.
Each year, five nonprofits are selected to receive the $100,000 prize by the Spark Prize Committee of distinguished Brooklynites through a competitive application process. Twenty finalists for the Spark Prize each receive up to $5,000 in matching funds through our #BrooklynGives on Giving Tuesday campaign—celebrated each year on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving—to encourage local donors to support to their work.
Funding Criteria and Priority Considerations
In reviewing applications, we will give preference to organizations that:
- Use a racial justice lens in their work. Organizations consider race and its impact in designing programs, looking for solutions and defining success;
- Acknowledge intersecting oppressions. Organizations understand how multiple oppressions impact one another and the lives of the communities with whom they work;
- Prioritize the most marginalized. Organizations that work with communities who have interacted with the criminal justice system, homelessness, are LGBTQ+ or non-binary, identify as women, have a disability, represent communities of color or immigrant communities; and
- Work on the frontlines of issues. Organizations that are grassroots and doing work on the ground and at the community level.
Eligibile Organizations
To be eligible, organizations must meet each of the following requirements:
- Serve people and communities of Brooklyn
- Be in operation for longer than five years
- Can show a minimum organizational budget of $200,000 for most recent fiscal year
- Have a 501c3 letter or a memorandum of understanding (MOU) from a fiscal sponsor
- Have an active governing body (i.e., Board of Trustees, Advisory Board, etc.)
We encourage organizations that are not current Brooklyn Community Foundation grantees to apply, including those that applied for the Spark Prize in previous years (including finalists). Current Foundation grantees are also eligible to apply. Former winners are not eligible to apply.
Please note that we do not fund the following:
- Individuals
- Capital campaigns,
- Schools (public, private, or charter)
Partnership with Our Grantees
In addition to general operating support, the Foundation provides capacity building support in the following areas: racial justice, fundraising, strategic communications, board development, executive transition, financial management, advocacy, direct action, community organization, and leadership development.
How to Apply
Applications for the 2023-2024 Spark Prize are now closed. Late submissions will not be considered.
If you have any questions about these guidelines or the online application, please visit our FAQ page or reach out to us at kjohn@bcfny.org
