Every year, the New York City Council and individual councilmembers distribute millions of dollars in discretionary funds, mostly to community-based, non-profit organizations and programs in the five boroughs. In Fiscal Year (FY 2011), discretionary funding totaled $165 million, about twenty percent less than the $207 million in the previous fiscal year. Discretionary funding sponsored by individual councilmembers accounts for about $50 million of the $165 million. The organizations and programs that received funding in FY 2011 are listed in a searchable database.
To see who your councilmember allocated funds to in FY 2011, type his or her name in the box under "Council Member or 'Council' or the Borough" and click "Search." To see if a particular organization or program received funds from the City Council or from a councilmember, type its name (or part of its name) or a keyword in the box under "Organization Name or Source" and click "Search." Use the same box to search by source.
Search results show the name of the sponsoring councilmember, the amount of funding, what the funds will be used for, the name of the contracting city agency that's administering the funding, the status of the request, the organization's employer identification number (EIN), and the name and EIN of the corresponding fiscal conduit, if one is being used.
All organizations seeking discretionary funding from the City Council have to complete an application. Click here to see the application for FY 2011.
A request for funding by a specific councilmember has to be made directly to that councilmember. Organizations can also request funds related to Speaker initiatives and City-Wide initiatives.
Non-profits created in 2009 or 2010 can qualify for a total of no more than $15,000 and a maximum from each councilmember of $7,500. If the organization uses a fiscal conduit, the organization can qualify for a maximum of $10,000 and a minimum of $1,000.
An organization applying for discretionary funding that totals more than $10,000 must be pre-qualified by the city agency that would oversee the services the organization wants to provide. The Department of Youth & Community Development administers the prequalification process on behalf of the city, under the guidance of the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services. Many organizations have been pre-qualified.