Brooklyn Community Foundation Is Now Brooklyn Org

New name, brand, and website – brooklyn.org – is designed to mobilize a broad movement of champions for Brooklyn through Brooklyn Org’s unique, community-centered approach

Today Brooklyn Community Foundation announced that it has adopted a new name – BROOKLYN ORG – and is launching a new platform at brooklyn.org designed to mobilize the people and resources required to achieve its vision for a fair and just Brooklyn. Brooklyn Org (BKO) reimagines the community foundation model to become a more inclusive and engaging partner for all Brooklynites and backers of social change.

“We are working to evolve local philanthropy to create an organization that is accessible, inviting, and driven by the community, and Brooklyn Org reflects those ambitions,” said Dr. Jocelynne Rainey, President and CEO of Brooklyn Org. “Brooklyn Org demystifies the work of our community foundation and conveys our focus on rallying resources for Brooklyn, from Brooklyn, in order to exponentially build the strength and capacity of the nonprofits that serve our communities to make Brooklyn a beacon of possibility.”

Inspired by the organization’s new online home at Brooklyn.org, and designed to target a new generation of emerging Brooklyn givers and a new wave of Brooklyn residents, the Brooklyn Org name signals that it is a gateway for learning about the vast, innovative, and deeply underfunded Brooklyn nonprofit sector. Despite being home to 30% of the City’s population and 30% of the City’s nonprofits, Brooklyn organizations receive just 7.6 percent of charitable funding.

Brooklyn Org was founded in 2009 as Brooklyn Community Foundation, to be the first public foundation dedicated to New York City’s largest borough, leveraging increased development and a growing population to encourage greater investment in the borough’s nonprofit community. Since then, Brooklyn Org has moved $100M+ to nonprofits through strategic grantmaking and Donor Advised Funds. Brooklyn Org has also built a reputation among community foundations globally for advancing new models for participatory grantmaking and community engagement, and organizing community action for Racial Justice, COVID-19, and Immigrant Rights.

Acknowledging that the fundamental challenge it was established to address remains, Brooklyn Org relaunches with a new strategic plan and a call to action for every Brooklynite to join this new and growing movement of champions for Brooklyn – to exponentially increase its ability to address inequity and injustice across the borough. By mobilizing an untapped base of new champions for Brooklyn, Brooklyn Org aims to rapidly expand the funding and resources it provides to the Brooklyn nonprofit community aimed at urgent needs and systemic challenges.

“Brooklyn Community Foundation has grown tremendously over the past 15 years and been an important institution for our borough, but we know that for a community of our size, we should be doing much more—and that starts with getting far more Brooklynites engaged,” said Harsha Marti, Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of Brooklyn Org. “Our new identity helps people connect instantly with our mission. Brooklyn Org is the place where those who live in and love Brooklyn can come together to support Brooklyn.”

“Freeing ourselves from the old, outdated expectations of philanthropy allows Brooklyn Org to distinguish itself as an organization working with Brooklyn for Brooklyn, centered on helping the borough’s residents to support each other,” said Nicole Gueron, Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of Brooklyn Org. “Brooklyn Org aims to democratize philanthropy and give every Brooklynite a seat at the table.”

Brooklyn Org’s website at Brooklyn.org is a hub for understanding the challenges communities are facing and pooling resources to support vital local nonprofits. The website tells the stories of nonprofits changemakers working in the borough and offers visitors an opportunity to make an impact by supporting those organizations through Brooklyn Org memberships, merchandise, and more. Brooklyn.org will also offer nonprofits one simplified entry point to apply for funding, and allows nonprofits to apply for funding at any time.

Brooklyn Org also expands opportunities for Brooklynites to create Donor Advised Funds and to consult with the Brooklyn Org team to understand how they can use their tax advantageous funds to support nonprofits across Brooklyn and beyond, while their fund fees directly support Brooklyn Org’s mission.

The Brooklyn Org brand was created pro bono by Brooklyn-based creative agency Mother and design studio Mother Design. Images of how the new Brooklyn Org brand will appear in social media and other settings are available here. Mother is also creating an advertising campaign, based on the call to action, “For the Love of Brooklyn,” to introduce Brooklynites to Brooklyn Org. The campaign, which will debut this fall, will highlight how easy it is to support local philanthropy on brooklyn.org.

“This organization has been influential in empowering social justice initiatives that benefit the local communities. Being based in Brooklyn ourselves, we’re honored to have worked with the now Brooklyn.org for the rebrand of its next chapter,” said Danielle Horanieh, Managing Director, Mother Design. “Our designs capture the spirit of Brooklyn and provide the organization with a fresh visual identity that matches their dynamism and all the impactful work they do day in and day out.”

Brooklyn Org will be publicly unveiled this evening at the Brooklyn Changemakers Ball at Weylin in Williamsburg, which aims to raise over $1 million to propel the organization’s expanded grantmaking to Brooklyn nonprofits. Hosted by comedians Ana Gasteyer and Phoebe Robinson, the Ball is both a celebration and a powerful call to action highlighting Brooklyn Org’s mission for Brooklyn. The 2023 Changemakers Ball honorees are Congressman Hakeem Jeffries and Gabriel Schwartz and Jolie Curtsinger Schwartz.

About Brooklyn Org

Brooklyn Org is a champion for Brooklyn. We celebrate Brooklyn’s brilliance and resilience, its incomparable culture and uncompromising grit – and we demand more for our communities.

We are a new model for community philanthropy. Building on the “big idea” born 15 years ago as Brooklyn Community Foundation, we are bringing together Brooklynites, Brooklyn backers, businesses, and broader believers in equity and justice to make Brooklyn a beacon for the world.

We are a platform for galvanizing giving. We are here to ensure that ideas are met with resources, challenges are met with solutions, and inequality is met with justice.

Learn more at brooklyn.org.