State Security Grants
New York State Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NYSNSGP)
The New York State
Due Date: Approximately May
Agency Award Amount: up to two $250,000 grant projects
Predicted Available Funding: $35,000,000 - 60,000,000
The purpose of the NYSNSGP is to provide funding support for physical security enhancements and other security-related activities to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk for violent attacks and hate crimes due to ideology, beliefs, or mission. The NYSNSGP seeks to integrate the preparedness activities of nonprofit organizations with broader state and local preparedness efforts. The NYSNSGP also promotes emergency preparedness coordination and collaboration activities between public and private community representatives as well as state and local government agencies.
In order to apply for this grant, each organization must be prequalified in the NY Statewide Financial System. This process can take some time, so it is advised to start as soon as possible.
Preparation: Check if you’re still prequalified. Special warning re SFS/Prequalification: The financial submissions to SFS must be regularly updated. If your organization is already prequalified, we advise you to check the expiration date and to update your documents, if necessary, as soon as possible.
Steps Required for the New York State Security Grant
Vulnerability Risk Assessment
A Vulnerability Risk Assessment can be carried out by a police department official or by a private security firm. The police department reviews are free but not necessarily as complete or customized as those done by a private firm. The private security firm’s fee is often worth the cost as the Vulnerability Risk Assessment is an important part of this competitive grant submission.
Security Grant Committee
Assemble a Security Grant Committee of 3 to 5 individuals with key management or financial roles at the agency. These Security Grant Committee members should ideally have project management experience, financial oversight experience and a history of working with contractors and security personnel.
NYS SFS Registration
New York nonprofits must be registered and prequalified on the NY Statewide Financial System platform. This is a time-consuming process and requires the gathering of official agency documents to submit as well as the answering of questions about agency policies. More details here. When this process is completed, the nonprofit is "Prequalified" and can apply for the Nonprofit Security Grant.
If you are a nonprofit agency outside of New York State, this registration is not required, though your state may or may not have its own registration requirements.
Item List
The Security Grant Committee of your agency, in consultation with the board needs to select a list of items to apply for that totals $200,000. These budget costs are estimates and actual bids will be needed AFTER you are approved for the funding. The budget item costs need to be reasonable estimates to be included in the application.
Writing Grant Application
The grant application needs to be written and follow the recommendations provided in the Vulnerability Risk Assessment. This grant application is a narrative answering various questions about the agency, its mission and activities and what about the agency puts it at risk of a terrorist or hate crimes attack.
Police Reports
Any incidents of attack or threat at the nonprofit need to be documented and a police report should be filed. The records should be kept in order to be included with the grant application.
This is a competitive grant, and the application is scored. Applicants who have never received an award are granted bonus points in the scoring of the application.