The New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) is dedicated to improving the health of all New Yorkers, with a particular focus on historically marginalized communities such as people of color. The foundation prioritizes three main strategic areas: Primary Care, Healthy Food, Healthy Lives, and Veterans’ Health. In addition to these focus areas, NYHealth offers responsive grantmaking through the Special Projects Fund, which provides one-time, nonrenewable funding for projects that address critical and emerging healthcare and public health issues outside of the foundation's three primary strategic areas.
The Special Projects Fund aims to support projects that have the potential to improve health on local, regional, or statewide levels. It seeks organizations that propose initiatives with strong prospects for replication, scalability, or influence on policy and systems change. As the healthcare landscape evolves, especially with changing federal policies, the Special Projects Fund is designed to respond to these shifts by funding timely and evidence-based projects that address new and emerging health challenges.
To apply for funding from the Special Projects Fund, applicants must first complete a letter of inquiry (LOI) through NYHealth’s applicant portal. Specific deadlines for the LOI are provided below. After reviewing all LOIs, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal. NYHealth staff will notify these applicants with detailed submission instructions. Importantly, all communications regarding updates and notifications will come from noreply@salesforce.com, and applicants are encouraged to check their junk/spam folders to avoid missing important messages.
The deadlines for the Special Projects Fund are as follows: the LOI is due by March 4, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. Once the LOI deadline has passed, selected applicants will be notified in April 2025 regarding whether they are invited to submit a full proposal. The full proposal for invited applicants is due by May 15, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. Final award decisions will be made in September 2025.
For more detailed information on the application process, applicants are advised to consult the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section available through the foundation’s portal. Any programmatic questions should be directed to specialprojectsfund@nyhealthfoundation.org, while technical issues with the online portal can be addressed to the Grants Management department at gm@nyhealthfoundation.org.
