Over our 25 years, the donor collaborative that is behind the Change Capital Fund has seen the critical role of community-based organizations in low-income communities. They have proven to be adaptive, resilient agents, responding to and advocating for the communities they serve, in good times and troubled times.

When our donor collaborative started in 1996 as the Neighborhood 2000 Fund, nonprofit community development corporations were considered developers of last resort. Formed by community residents, they restored thousands of units affordable, rental housing and revitalized neighborhoods in an era of widespread disinvestment. Today, most (79%) of City subsidy ($1.76 billion) for new housing production goes to for-profit developers and the housing being built with these subsidies is often beyond the means of the city’s low-income residents.

Amidst widespread fear of displacement and in a scorching hot real estate market, many BIPOC communities are organizing to gain control of real estate. They are working together to organize, inventory potential development sites, and acquire and develop property for community benefit and under resident direction and control.

During our four-year cycle which began January 2023, Change Capital Fund (CCF)’s support is adding momentum to  these efforts by providing funding and technical assistance to nonprofits organizing to control and operate community assets for community purpose. Projects are being defined by community members’ priorities for permanently and deeply affordable housing, community facilities, and/or economic development projects/businesses. The projects will be owned as community land trusts; commercial community land trusts; limited equity coops; worker coops; and/or community investment trusts.

Our funder collaborative of corporate and foundation donors, intermediaries and the City, has stayed together for over 25 years, renaming in 2000, as the Neighborhood Opportunities Fund and then as the Change Capital Fund in 2014. We have invested over $30 million in over 35 community-based organizations in consecutive four-year cycles. Our relatively large, long-term and flexible grants have helped grantees take on multi-year projects and strengthened their reach and impact in increasing the supply of affordable housing, increasing economic opportunity and mobility and advocating for people whose voices are often least heard.

In CCF’s past two cycles, eight grantees received funding of over $200,000 per year to build their performance management capacity, that is, to use their program data to improve their programs. Their increased capacity has enabled grantees to increase impact and scale up effective programming.

CCF understands that community-based nonprofit organizations need multi-year, flexible funding to realize their promise. CCF is proud to be a pillar of community development in New York City, and grateful for the tireless efforts of our grantees to increase racial and economic equity and make their communities places of opportunity for their residents.