Robin Hood is New York City’s largest poverty-fighting organization, dedicated to finding, fueling, and creating impactful and scalable solutions to lift families out of poverty. Partnering with over 300 nonprofits, it supports a diverse range of services including food, housing, education, legal services, and workforce development across all five boroughs. With a strategic grantmaking approach, Robin Hood focuses on initiating and developing long-term projects and partnerships for maximum impact.
Robin Hood's grant program operates with a mission to support the most effective poverty-fighting programs in New York City, focusing on pioneering programs that can serve as demonstration models. The grantmaking philosophy is rigorous and metrics-driven, aimed at identifying and expanding successful initiatives while discontinuing support for those with weak performance. Funding areas include early childhood and youth, education, jobs and economic security, and survival. Proposals are received on a rolling basis, with a due diligence process that may stretch the funding decision timeline up to a year. Robin Hood values long-term impacts and seeks to invest in programs that have the potential to be replicated in other cities, ensuring that each dollar spent contributes meaningfully to poverty alleviation.