OVERVIEW: The Trinity Church Wall Street has a social justice mission and awards grants to New York metropolitan area nonprofits to address racial equity and structural inequalities through neighborhood, leadership, and capacity funding.
FUNDING AREAS: Racial equity, housing and homelessness, structural inequality, neighborhoods, leadership, capacity building
IP TAKE: New York nonprofits do not have to have any existing affiliation with the Episcopal Church to be eligible for Trinity Church grants. Letters of inquiry should highlight how a nonprofit program promotes equity in New York City.
PROFILE: With a history dating back to 1696, Trinity Church Wall Street is an Episcopal parish that holds worship services at two historic churches in Lower Manhattan. As part of the church’s social justice mission, it awards grants in the New York metropolitan area and beyond. The church has been involved in social justice since it founded the Trinity Charity School in 1709. The church aims to “build generations of faithful leadership, to build up neighborhoods, and to build financial capacity for holy service in New York City and around the world.” Its Philanthropies team oversees its grantmaking efforts. Primary funding areas of interest are Housing and Homelessness, Racial Justice, Mission Real Estate Development, and Leadership Development. The church also has a Neighborhood Support initiative that focuses on Lower Manhattan.
The Trinity Church grantmaking program is one way of the various ways it fulfills its mission of serving others and doing God’s work in the world. These grants support racial justice, housing and homelessness, transformative leaders, and ministries in the New York metropolitan area and throughout the world.
The Housing and Homelessness program works “to address housing instability and homelessness in New York City by supporting not-for-profits, networks, and coalitions whose work falls within three areas of focus”: increasing access to affordable housing; identifying solutions to family and generational homelessness; and addressing the housing, employment and education needs of people leaving jail and prison.
The church’s Racial Justice program seeks to “advance racial justice by breaking the cycle of mass incarceration in New York City and beyond.” It supports efforts to promote community-based alternatives to incarceration and the criminal legal system. It also funds projects that address cash bail, the criminalization of immigrants, and police enforcement in schools. Finally, it supports organizations that work to increase positive housing outcomes for people in the criminal justice system.
Trinity’s Mission Real Estate Development program makes grants to “help [its] partners in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion build financial sustainability for ministry through the creative development of assets.” Grantmaking supports Anglican/Episcopal provinces, dioceses, and seminaries throughout Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia.
Leadership Development grantmaking seeks to “expand opportunities for seminarians, clergy, and laypeople of faith to strengthen their capacities as leaders through faith-driven leadership development.” The types of organizations these grants support is usually limited to seminaries, divinity schools, dioceses, Church organizations, or other institutions offering non-degree programs of theological education.
The church’s Neighborhood Support program focuses “on the wellbeing and resilience of the children, youth, parents, and residents in Lower Manhattan.” Support through this program takes the form of increased access to resources rather than distribution of funds. While some grants are made through this program, most community support looks to center on food assistance, outreach ministry, and free counseling services via Pace University’s Thomas J. McShane Center for Psychological Services.
In a recent grant cycle, the church gave $57 million in grants to organizations in New York, throughout the United States, and in the global Anglican Communion. In a previous cycle, it gave $47 million. Grantseekers can view a list of past grantees in the funder’s online database. While much of the church’s giving is centered on New York City, it also gives throughout the Episcopal Church and in the global Anglican Communion too.
Trinity Church accepts unsolicited grant applications from local nonprofits; however, applicants are encouraged to look over the What We Fund and FAQ webpages before applying. Grantseekers can find detailed application instructions within the online grants portal and send an email with general questions to philanthropies@trinitywallstreet.org. The church’s phone number is 212-602-0800.
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