What is a Neighborhood Business Grant?

A Neighborhood Business Grant is a microgrant given out to New York small business owners by CitizensNYC. CitizensNYC awards microgrants of up to $5,000 for initiatives your small business undertakes to positively impact your community.

Who is eligible to apply for a Neighborhood Business Grant?

Applicants must meet the following criteria to be considered for a Neighborhood Business Grant:

• Their business must be located in one of New York City’s five boroughs.

• Their business has been operating for at least two years.

• They must have 10 or fewer employees.

• They must be profit-generating.

• They must be able to provide proof of business, such as bank statements, tax documents and POS terminal statements.

As long as you meet the above criteria, we want to hear about your ideas for improving New York.

How do we evaluate applications?

We score applications based on a number of areas, including: Need, Relevance, Urgency, and Quality of Life Impact. For more details about our scoring criteria and what each of these areas means, you can reference our evaluation criteria at the bottom of this page.

What is the timeline for applying for a Neighborhood Business Grant?

For 2025 grantmaking, CitizensNYC is moving to a two-grant cycle model to more rapidly respond and provide funding for your project ideas. 

1st Grant Cycle

• Grant Applications Open: November 4, 2024

• Application Deadline: February 7, 2025

• Grant Decisions Announced: April 2025

2nd Grant Cycle

• Grants Open: May 5, 2025

• Application Deadline: July 25, 2025

• Grant Decisions Announced: September 2025

Applicants who are awarded grants through the first cycle are ineligible to apply again during the second cycle. Applicants for the first cycle who did not receive an award are welcome to submit an updated application for the second cycle. 

I have other questions. Where can I find more information?

We’re here to help! 

We encourage you to join us for one of our information sessions, or for online office hours, where our team will be available to discuss any questions or concerns you have about these grants, your application, and your project idea.

If you are unable to attend an info session or office hours, or if you have any other questions, you can email: businessgrants@citizensnyc.org.

You can reference our evaluation criteria here, download a copy of the application here, and view a sample application here.

The Neighborhood Business Grant program is made possible by our philanthropic partners, including the generous leadership support of the Wells Fargo Foundation and Trinity Church Wall Street Philanthropies.