The Mayor’s Office of Contract Services (MOCS), Mayor’s Office of Nonprofit Services (MONS), and City Council are excited to share a new pilot initiative aimed at streamlining the City’s discretionary funding process and accelerating payments to nonprofits.

Launching in Fall 2025, the Discretionary Grant Pilot will offer an alternative to traditional contracting with direct grant agreements for eligible awardees—eliminating steps from the current process. This new approach, long advocated for by our nonprofit partners, will allow qualified nonprofits to receive 100% of their cleared Council-allocated funds within weeks of signing a grant agreement.

Who qualifies?

Nonprofits may be eligible to participate in the pilot if they:

• Were awarded a total of $25,000 or less in City Council discretionary funding for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26),
• Do not have a multi-year discretionary contract in the PASSPort system, and
• Are being funded for the first time through one of the participating pilot agencies:
  • Department of Youth & Community Development (DYCD)
  • Department for the Aging (NYC Aging)
  • Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS)
  • Department of Small Business Services (SBS) 

City Council, MOCS, and the contracting agencies have selected organizations to participate in the FY26 pilot based on existing allocations. Awardees should begin by completing any outstanding procedural requirements for clearance as soon as possible. If your organization is eligible to participate in this initiative, you’ll hear from us soon about next steps.