We seek to help people at a critical moment with a need triggered by an emergency. Our hope is that this assistance will make a difference in someone’s life with lasting impact.
The primary way that we offer assistance is by making grants to social service and other organizations (including colleges), whose staff then applies strict criteria and distributes grants averaging approximately $1,000. It is important that the organizations that receive our grant offer additional support services.
We focus on programs that work directly with individuals one-on-one. The majority of our Helping Hands grants go toward rent, particularly needed in the primary areas where we fund – New York City, Boston, and Palm Beach County – where there is not enough affordable housing. We also help with expenses such as utilities, transportation, moving, furniture, or clothing that an individual is temporarily unable to pay for because of an unexpected hardship.
We may make a limited number of grants to programs that connect individuals to additional community resources.
Sanctuary for Families is New York’s leading service provider and advocate for survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking, and related forms of gender violence, helping them on their journeys from immediate safety and survivor, to stability, to long-term sufficiency. Gerstner Philanthropies supports Sanctuary’s Emergency Assistance Fund, which helps victims of abuse and their families in times of crisis by providing emergency cash grants for stable housing and other urgent needs. Support from Gerstner Philanthropies has expanded to include funding for Sanctuary’s Economic Empowerment Program (EEP), a career readiness and technology training program that helps participants break the cycle of poverty, homelessness, and abuse by attaining stable, higher paying employment to support themselves and their families. To learn more, please see www.sanctuaryforfamilies.org.
Grants listed below may be from the Gerstner Family Foundation or another Gerstner family philanthropic vehicle. Amounts may reflect cumulative annual grants or multi-year grants. To see annual amounts, please see listings of grants paid each year.
Lake Worth, FL | Visit Website
To support the Housing Stabilization Program.
$1,962,500
New York and Westchester, NY | Visit Website
To support the emergency cash grant/loan program to prevent homelessness in New York, NY.
$1,962,500
To support the emergency cash grant/loan program to prevent homelessness in Westchester County, NY.
$632,500
New York, NY | Visit Website
To support the emergency cash grant program.
$970,000
To support the First Step Job Training Program.
$225,000
Boston, MA | Visit Website
To support the emergency cash grant program.
$1,200,000
To support the holiday meals program.
$12.240
New York, NY | Visit Website
To support the emergency cash grant program.
$937,500
New York, NY | Visit Website
To support the emergency cash grant program.
$2,050,000
New York, NY | Visit Website
To support the emergency cash grant program.
$600,000
Bronx, NY | Visit Website
To support the emergency cash grant program.
$895,000
New York, NY | Visit Website
To fund the Emergency Client Assistance Program.
$2,308,750
To support the Child Advocacy Centers.
$10,000
New York, NY | Visit Website
To support the emergency cash grant program.
$955,000
To support the Economic Empowerment Program.
$225,000
New York State
To support student emergency funds at several colleges and universities across New York State.
$934,732
Fort Pierce, FL | Visit Website
To support the mobile food pantry program and SNAP outreach.
$638,750
To support the workforce development program.
$100,000
New York, NY | Visit Website
To support the eviction prevention program across sixteen settlement houses.
$2,040,625
Ken received an emergency housing grant from Queens Community House in September 2019. At the time, he was without stable work and struggling to pay his rent. Now he reports that he remains stably housed in the same apartment and has a full-time job as a recruiter with a non-profit organization in Manhattan. He said that he is up to date on his rent and is making enough money to put some away for a “rainy day”, thankful to still have his job despite the pandemic. He is grateful for the rental assistance Queens Community House was able to give him.