BK Reader: Brooklyn Community Foundation is Now ‘Brooklyn Org’

Published in: BK Reader

The Brooklyn Community Foundation has gotten a makeover!

On Oct. 12, the Brooklyn Community Foundation, Brooklyn’s largest philanthropic arm for equity, justice and change in the borough, announced its transition to “Brooklyn Org.”

The official re-launch of the philanthropy organization– along with its updated mission and new platform, brooklyn.org– took place at the annual Brooklyn Changemakers Ball at Weylin in Williamsburg on Thursday.

During the ball, the foundation — which is a champion of Brooklyn’s nonprofits and provides them with significant funding and resources — shared that the rebranding is part of its new strategic plan to focus on its commitment to racial justice, which the foundation has decided is the most pressing issue in Brooklyn.

The foundation’s leaders announced this to a room of donors, community members and more than 50 leaders from local nonprofits, including Weeksville Heritage Center, Ifetayo and The Brooklyn Rescue Mission. During the ball, donors raised more than $1 million to assist the Brooklyn Org’s efforts to expand Brooklyn nonprofits.

“The foundation has been doing amazing work for the whole 14 years that it has existed,” Dr. Jocelynne Rainey, president and CEO of Brooklyn Org told BK Reader. “So many lives have been touched by the foundation that we didn’t want it to feel like we were throwing out the old and bringing in something completely new, but we wanted to make sure that the name reflected who we are and who we want to be and how we want to expand our work.”