Behind The Scenes Of How We’re Building The Next Generation Of Brooklyn Givers

Brooklyn Org is pleased to share our new white paper, The Foundation of Our Future, which documents our distinctive, community-led philanthropic model and reflects more than 15 years of work building and refining an approach rooted in Brooklyn’s neighborhoods. It traces our history, growth, and evolution—from our visionary founding to the bold direction we’re charting now—and codifies our model for community-led philanthropy at a moment when local leadership has never been more essential.

The Report Covers:

• From the Ground Up: Brooklyn Org’s origins and evolution, and why a borough as influential as Brooklyn needs a philanthropic model built by and for its communities.

• The Opportunity & the Challenge: How Brooklyn’s economic and cultural growth has outpaced community investment—and why closing that gap matters.

• A Big Idea for Brooklyn: Our participatory, resident-driven model that centers neighborhood priorities and shared decision-making.

• Listening as Strategy: How sustained community listening translates into action through participatory grantmaking, microgrants, and place-based investment.

• Local Change in Action: Case studies that bring the model to life through Brooklyn Org partners and grantees across safety, mental health, justice, youth development, and more.

• Building a National Movement: How Brooklyn Org offers a replicable example of what’s possible when neighbors back neighbors.

• Meeting the Moment: The Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn campaign and our response to shrinking public funding and rising community needs.
• What’s Next for Community Philanthropy: A forward-looking vision for deepening community power and shaping the future of place-based philanthropy.

Executive Summary

Brooklyn Org (BKO) is redefining community philanthropy with a democratic, resident‑led model that aligns resources, skills, and power with neighborhood priorities. With an organizational transformation and rebranding launched in 2023, BKO is answering a funding gap that has persisted even as Brooklyn’s economy, wealth, population, and cultural influence have surged.

Through year-round engagement programs, including neighborhood listening events, community forums with elected officials, participatory grantmaking, and nonprofit capacity building, BKO translates community voice into community investment. BKO is the connective tissue of Brooklyn’s nonprofit ecosystem, supporting community changemakers through block-by-block funding programs and through high-profile, boroughwide vehicles like the annual Brooklyn Org Spark Prize. With the federal pullback from funding essential services, Brooklyn Org’s transformative model of mobilizing neighbors, businesses and donors to forge local solutions for local problems demonstrates how a reinvigorated community foundation model can meet the challenges of the next century.