The New York Council of Nonprofits (NYCON) helps New York’s nonprofits build their capacity for growth and community impact and serves as a powerful policy and advocacy voice for the state’s nonprofit sector. NYCON has highlighted the contributions nonprofit organizations make toward the social and economic health of our communities for more than ninety years.
As a longtime partner of the Dyson Foundation in supporting and building the capacity of nonprofits in the Mid-Hudson Valley, NYCON was the recipient of an early 2020 program support grant to provide technical assistance to organizations anticipating and experiencing significant operational challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Initial data gathered by two surveys of the region’s nonprofits highlighted the administrative, financial, and programmatic strain organizations were encountering in the wake of the pandemic. The technical assistance “time bank” funded by this grant served to provide immediate and responsive triage support to regional organizations while reducing barriers to accessing technical assistance. Mid-Hudson Valley organizations tapped NYCON’s expertise via webinars and one-on-one consultation on priority areas including organizational and financial assessments, human resource issues, timely federal stimulus guidance, adapting fundraising strategy, planning support, governance engagement, restructuring, diversity/equity/inclusion, policy development, and more. More broadly, this grant facilitated increased awareness of and connection to NYCON as the state’s leading nonprofit support and consulting resource.
As the Hudson Valley’s philanthropic organizations came together to coordinate a response to the needs of our communities and the organizations on the front lines through the Hudson Valley Funders Network, several additional funding organizations established technical assistance funds with NYCON as well, expanding the resources and reach of their critical capacity building services.