Episcopal Charities offers two annual grant cycles: Basic Human Needs in the Fall, and Youth Opportunity Grants in the Spring.
In 2017, we began offering special grants, including Program Investment Grants for capacity building projects or new ministries, and Professional Development Grants for staff and volunteer training.
Check our eligibility requirements to see if your organization or project is eligible for a grant.
New applicants to Episcopal Charities or those who have not applied in the past three years are required to attend an online orientation session. Orientation sessions are offered monthly. For upcoming dates, click here. To register, click here.
BASIC HUMAN NEEDS
Basic Human Needs grants support parish-based human services programs that address the specific needs of diverse communities throughout the diocese, including:
Youth Opportunity Grants are awarded to parish-based outreach programs addressing the needs of children and youth in communities throughout the diocese, including:
Program Investment Grants support capacity building projects and new ministries in outreach programs affiliated with parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of New York, including:
Space upgrades
Equipment purchases
New staff positions
Seed money for new programs, with a special preference for collaborative projects
We are not currently accepting applications for Program Investment Grants.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Professional Development Grants assist programs to provide high-quality professional development training to staff and volunteers in the areas of:
Non-profit Management, including governance and human resources, volunteer management, financial management, fundraising and communications
Program Development, including advocacy, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation; and program specific trainings
At the behest of our Board of Directors, we respond to natural disasters or other emergencies affecting the New York area. For example, in 2012 we offered Hurricane Sandy rebuilding grants in communities devastated by Superstorm Sandy.
Each year in September, Episcopal Charities begins accepting applications for the Basic Human Needs grant cycle. The application deadline is the first Friday of October: Friday, October 4, 2019.
Applicants will be notified of decisions in late January. To see the list of programs receiving Basic Human Needs grants for 2018, click here.
Grants are disbursed in two payments, in March and September.
Basic Human Needs (BHN) grants support parish-based human services programs that address the specific needs of diverse communities throughout the diocese, including:
Community Kitchens and Food Pantries
Health and Wellness, including eldercare, addiction and recovery issues, homeless shelters and more
Skills-Building, including English as a second language classes, job skills training, re-entry assistance for the formerly incarcerated, and more.
Episcopal Charities awarded Basic Human Needs grants totaling $586,300 to 59 outreach programs in 2018. Click hereto see a map and list of our current grantees.
Check our eligibility requirements to see if your organization or project is eligible for a grant.
First time applicant? Register for a New Grantseekers Webinar.
Fill out an Intent to Apply formby midnight on Friday, September 13, 2019. We use an online application system. We will begin accepting applications in August of 2019.
Submit your 2020 BHN grant application by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 4, 2019.
SUBMITTING A GRANT APPLICATION
Applications must be received by 5:00 pm on Friday, October 4, 2019.
Grants must be submitted using our user-friendly, online application system. All necessary attachments should be uploaded through the online system. A return email will be sent automatically to confirm receipt. Please note that the system is not compatible with Internet Explorer – please use the latest versions of Firefox, Safari, or Chrome instead.
If you experience technical difficulties completing the application, or need additional assistance, email ecprograms@dioceseny.org or call 212-932-7354. We will respond within 1 business day.
If necessary, applicants may save a draft of their application and return to complete it. However, please note that access to the application will automatically shut off at 5:00pm on Friday, October 4, 2019. We will not be able to accept applications beyond that time.
APPLICATION ASSITANCE
Episcopal Charities requires that first-time applicants attend an orientation session. Register here. Topics covered include:
• Overview of our grant‐making process
• Eligibility
• Grant application walk‐through
• Grants Management
Our staff can arrange to review a draft of your application if submitted at least three weeks before the deadline. This review will help you revise the proposal, if needed, and submit a complete application. However, this staff review does not guarantee that your proposal will be funded.
Contact Emily Collie-Beard, Associate Director of Programs and Volunteers for assistance at or
We know how much you love your volunteers and how incredibly important they are to making your outreach program run! During this webinar, we will explore why volunteer appreciation is crucial, the connection of appreciation to retention, and creative and time-saving ways to show volunteers just how much you love them!
Thursday, February 13, 10 am – 1: pm, webinar only - Register
Sustainability Institute | Putting It All Together: How to Make the Mechanics of an Outreach Program Work
Managing volunteers, getting licensed, organizing participants, tracking your guests/clients, hiring a staff… so many things happen behind the scenes of a successful outreach program! Many have the passion to help people in their communities, but then become overwhelmed by everything that has to happen well before a single guest comes through the door. This workshop will help to answer basic questions about Human Recourses, basic volunteer management, keeping track of volunteer hours, ordering food for events… the list goes on and on. We will be talking all things logistics at this workshop, so bring your questions, and we will be there to help discover the answers!
Wednesday, April 1, 10 am – 1: pm, Manhattan | Episcopal Charities - Register
Saturday, April 4, 10 am – 1: pm, Poughkeepsie | Christ Church - Register
Sustainability Institute for Youth Programs | A Day in the Life of a Community Youth Program
Do you have a summer camp or after-school program for youth? Do you get overwhelmed with their energy? Are you looking for ways of filling up their time? Come and join us for a VERY interactive workshop on how to engage with kids of all ages. We will discuss basic classroom management, learn games and activities, and share some of our “best” ideas on how to make a kid's time at your program a great one. You will be invited to ACTIVELY participate in many ways at this workshop! If you have an after school or summer camp staff that you want to bring with you, please do; ALL are welcomed!
Saturday, May 30, 10 am – 1: pm, Poughkeepsie | St. Paul's Church - Register
Saturday, June 13, 10 am – 1: pm, The Bronx | St. Ann's Church - Register
We offer a series of professional development workshops for parish-based and parish-supported outreach programs in the Episcopal Diocese of New York. These sessions provide a forum in which to network, ask questions, gain valuable resources, and learn from experts in the field – all with the goal of increasing program sustainability. Clergy, program directors, and volunteers are all invited to participate.
Programs receiving Episcopal Charities’ grants are required to attend at least two workshops per year. The annual schedule includes both webinars and in-person trainings. In-person workshops are held in Poughkeepsie as well as Manhattan.
Our network of volunteers, donors, programs and parishes ensures that our neighbors can count on a helping hand. Every day of the week, nearly every hour of the day, an Episcopal Charities outreach program is providing support, education and nourishment to people in need across the Diocese.
Thank you to the thousands of caring volunteers who invested time in their communities and served our neighbors in 2017.
In 2017, 205 people — clergy, staff and volunteers working in our programs — took part in free professional-development training through our Sustainability Institute Workshops.
OUR PROGRAMS SERVE YOUNG AND OLD THROUGH EDUCATION, NOURISHMENT, AND SKILLS BUILDING
Your support helped more than 3,400 childrenplay, learn, and create at our camps and after-school programs.
In 2017, our feeding programs provided over9.2 million mealsto New Yorkers in need.
Episcopal Charities outreach programscollectively serve more than one million New Yorkerseach year through 81 parishes in 10 New York State counties.
WE CONTINUE TO GROW
Thanks to your generosity, funding provided to programs has increased by $84,170, or 10% over the past two years.
Since 2016, the average grant amount has increased by 14%.
Episcopal Charities funded 9 new programs in 2017.
Since initiating our capacity-building grant stream in 2016, we have given 17 Program Investment Grants.
