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Until recently, New York City’s community foundation was branded as NYCT. It had been that way since Franklin Roosevelt was president, and over some 80 years, the name lost its distinctiveness as a thicket of acronyms took root in the city’s growing complexity. Was NYCT shorthand for New York City Transit? Was it an interstate bank serving New York and Connecticut?
The foundation last year returned to its original name — the New York Community Trust. But the move aimed to do more than just clear the kudzu of confusion. It’s the jumpstart to a yearslong effort to shed perceptions of privilege and elitism that often cling to foundations and set them apart from average Americans.
The rebrand — which includes a new visual identity — aims to signal that the foundation is part of the communities it serves across eight counties, says president Amy Freitag. If the foundation can earn the trust of both Trump-voting firefighters of Staten Island and liberal doyennes on the Upper East Side, it can unite New Yorkers in their fierce pride in the city to get behind efforts for the common good.
The opportunity is one that many community foundations can seize, says Freitag, who joined the trust in 2022 after eight years at the family foundation of the late J.M. Kaplan, founder of Welch’s Grape Juice company. “I genuinely believe this kind of philanthropy is built for this moment in America.”
The trust is developing a new strategic plan that will focus the organization on work to show up in communities across the city’s boroughs, listen to residents, and respond to local needs. It won’t be easy. The trust’s more than $3 billion in assets make it one of the wealthiest foundations in America at a time when 69 percent of Americans believe the “political and economic elite don’t care about hard-working people.” Also, big philanthropy is under fire from anti-elite forces.
It doesn’t help that the more than 12 million residents of the region — two-thirds of all state residents — are a fractious bunch with strong opinions. “New Yorkers are people of strong opinion,” Freitag says. “And they’re going to voice those opinions, right?”
The trust has long backed the congestion pricing that took effect for Manhattan drivers in January, and that riles some of its donors, Freitag notes. But the foundation can remind New Yorkers that they share a deep pride in the city and can unite behind efforts to make it a better place. “There are things that people will rally around,” she says. “Everybody cares about a hungry kid. That’s just not acceptable. What are we doing about that?”
The changes at the trust aren’t going unnoticed. The foundation has been engaging more with communities for at least a decade, says Gisele Castro, CEO of exalt, which works with youth in the criminal justice system, “and that is accelerating.”
“I can feel it,” Castro adds. “This is a shift that is noticed and welcomed” in the city.
Here are three ways the foundation has moved to change how it’s perceived:
A lively new look. New York Community Trust was established by 11 banks, but it broke sharply with its monied past in its rebrand, which was completed last year. In the trust’s logo, a font that resembles hand-writing spells out the words “New York Community,” which Freitag says “is meant to make us feel like people, not a bank.”
A line that resembles an artist’s doodling loops across website and publication pages filled with vibrant colors. “We feel like that’s more reflective of the joy of philanthropy” and suggests that “we can be a little playful,” Freitag says.
Invite people to help make decisions. As part of its centennial celebration last fall, the trust asked New Yorkers to choose how to direct $3 million of its discretionary funds. Its Our Votes, Our Vision, Our Community campaign invited New Yorkers to select three of seven causes to receive $1 million each in grants.
The trust spread the word via its events and social media as well as places like libraries, where New Yorkers routinely gather. Information was printed in the city’s 10 official languages with the teaser: “How would you give away $3 million to help your community?”
Ultimately, the trust tallied nearly 1,300 votes, with affordable housing, mental and behavioral health, and nonprofit resilience emerging as the winners. Despite the relatively small turnout, Freitag said the campaign contributed to an uptick in traffic to its social media and website — the foundation’s following on LinkedIn and Instagram grew by 50 percent. And Freitag also got a coveted guest spot on the Brian Leher Show, an iconic New York public-media broadcast.
“It had much bigger play than that 1,300 number really indicates,” she says.
Listening, not boasting. During its centennial celebration, the trust eschewed the chest-thumping that typically accompanies milestones. Instead, it hosted celebrations featuring local artists, performers, and leaders from a half-dozen communities as well as panel discussions about topics including the arts, food insecurity, and youth incarceration.
“It really was about community as opposed to all their achievements,” Castro says. “That was palpable.”
The foundation hosted the events outside Manhattan in each of the four other boroughs and Westchester County — choosing places where it makes grants but isn’t always visible, Freitag says. “It means the world when you show up and you get close to people and really ask them their thoughts.”
The invitation to work together on community issues has to be made through such interactions, she adds. “You can’t really do that from just a high platform sitting in Manhattan. If you care about Staten Island, you better be on Staten Island. If you care about Queens, you’ve got to go to Queens.”
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