Introducing Trinity Church Wall Street Philanthropies
Earlier this month, Trinity Church Wall Street announced $15 million in grants to 100 grantees to support their work. It’s an honor for us to engage with nonprofit and church partners in New York City and across the Anglican Communion to advance justice and do good.
The grants in our neighborhood of New York City will support organizations that are working for racial and social justice through breaking the cycles of mass incarceration and mass homelessness. As our city re-opens, Trinity’s local philanthropy will focus on a resilient and equitable recovery for all. COVID-19 magnified the inequities in our city and now we must ensure we rebuild in transformational ways.
The grants to our partners in the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion will advance a church that is building more just communities through investments in both place and people. We are investing in sustainable financial capacity for churches, and leaders who will advance social impact in their communities.
We are also announcing an important change in how Trinity talks about our grant-making work. Going forward, we will be using the name Trinity Church Wall Street Philanthropies. This new name for what was previously known as the Grants & Mission Investing team reflects Trinity’s growing scope, scale, and ambition to do more good in our community, city, and church communion.
We have seen significant growth in our grant-making over the last three years: from $10 million and 75 grants in 2018 to $34 million and 191 grants in 2020. We also developed our four strategic initiatives: Housing & Homelessness, Racial Justice, Leadership Development, and Mission Real Estate Development. We are using multiple philanthropic tools in addition to grants: loans, guarantees, and other forms of impact investing; providing affordable housing; and advancing advocacy campaigns.
We hope this name change to Trinity Church Wall Street Philanthropies will make our work more accessible, as we want to reach a broader and more diverse range of applicants for each of our initiatives. And to advance our goals, we are looking to do more collaborative work with other philanthropic funders. We hope this new name makes clearer the opportunity to partner with Trinity.
Our Christian principles tell us that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the gifts we’ve been given. That’s why we champion justice and equity through our public advocacy, neighborhood outreach, and financial resources. We believe that adopting the name Trinity Church Wall Street Philanthropies will better describe the work we do to advance racial justice, end mass incarceration and mass homelessness, and build leadership and capacity in the church. There is a lot of work to be done.