Opinion: Funding just got easier for NYC’s small and local nonprofits

To serve our 8.5 million New Yorkers, New York City government makes some big investments. We procure contractors to build sustainable and resilient infrastructure projects, like the $1.45 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency Project.  We procure school supplies for our one million students and much-needed housing to serve the people who call this city home.

But we also support small, local organizations that have a big impact. Every year, through a process called discretionary funding, your City Council members and borough presidents allocate funds to nonprofit organizations like local soccer teams, senior meal-delivery services, and workforce development programs.

These nonprofits don’t need to go through the competitive procurement system to qualify for discretionary funding, which makes sense – most of these organizations receive relatively small sums, like $10,000. But until now, our city’s procurement system has required them to jump through the same hoops that our major construction vendors go through before they can have their contract registered by the City Comptroller and can start receiving money.  

That’s changing this week.  

We’re going to start treating these payments like what they are – grants – and stop treating them like contracts.  

The Discretionary Grant Pilot will replace the traditional contracting process with direct grant agreements for a group of nonprofits receiving $25,000 or less in discretionary funding. These contracts have historically taken over a year to be registered and paid.   

Under this new grant model, we are removing 13 burdensome steps from the process. Instead of waiting a year for their first payment, about 100 eligible nonprofits will now receive 100 percent of their funding within weeks of signing their grant agreement. 

This reform builds on the Adams administration’s promise and strong record of action: we launched a multi-year discretionary contract initiative – a reform that saves providers over nine months of contracting process time after the first year. We’ve achieved an 88% on-time submission rate for registrations and delivered 50% of advance payments for standard human service contracts in Fiscal Year 2026, preventing a new backlog of city contracts.

We want to thank Mayor Eric Adams, Speaker Adrienne Adams, and our City Council partners for working with us to make this pilot a reality. Their collaboration has been essential in moving this forward. 

We also want to extend our deepest gratitude to every nonprofit leader, case worker, volunteer, and team member.  Your commitment to New Yorkers is inspiring and we want to do everything we can to help you help New Yorkers.