Below is information about the Council’s Discretionary Funding Process and our office’s procedures for requests for Fiscal Year 2027. Please read this page thoroughly. 

The City Council has a discretionary funding process, and each individual member can fund services, programs, and infrastructure projects for their district. The two forms of discretionary funding are expense funding and capital funding.

• Expense funding is discretionary funding that supports programs and services.
• Capital funding is discretionary funding that supports physical infrastructure projects.

Please note that these funds are not grants. You must be able to spend the money up front, and you will be reimbursed by the City. Before you apply for discretionary funding, we encourage organizations, especially first-time applicants, to attend a workshop with the Non-Profit Help Desk to fully understand the expectations and process of discretionary funding. You can register for a workshop here.

Discretionary Funding Applications 

To apply, you must fill out an application through the City Council. 

For Expense Funding Application and Deadlines 

The expense funding application for Fiscal Year 2027 can be found here. The deadline is Wednesday, February 18th, 2026, at 6:00 PM. 

For Capital Funding Application and Deadlines 

The capital funding application can be found here. 

Deadline for projects requesting both Borough President funding and Council funding:

February 19 – All applications must be submitted by 5:00 PM.

Deadline for projects requesting only City Council funding: 

March 19 – All applications must be submitted by 5:00 PM.

For Cultural Organizations Requesting Capital Funding
For cultural organizations interested in applying, additional information and application materials are available through the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) online portal:
DCLA Cultural Funding Website: https://www.nyc.gov/dcla (please replace with specific link if different)

Cultural Capital Funding Eligibility
Cultural Capital Funding is available for:

• Members of the Cultural Institutions Group (CIG), and
• Cultural nonprofits based in New York City that have received at least one baseline Cultural Development Fund (CDF) recommendation through the DCLA Program Services Unit in fiscal years 2023, 2024, or 2025.

District 36 Budget Request Process

NOTE: Due to capacity, we are not taking any discretionary funding meetings. In lieu of a meeting, we are asking organizations to send in the following: 

If you were funded by our office in Fiscal Year 2026: please send over a one-pager with information on: 

1. How FY26 funding was used in District 36
2. Your organization’s funding ask for FY27 
3. How you plan to partner with our office for FY27

If you were not funded by our office in Fiscal Year 2026: please send over a one-pager with information on: 

1. How your organization serves District 36 (please be specific and provide statistics where possible) 
2. Your organization’s funding ask for FY27 
3. How you plan to partner with our office for FY27

Our office will reach out to organizations if we have further questions or need more details. Our office does not require a supplemental form.

For any questions or concerns, please reach out to May Vutrapongvatana at 718-919-0740 or at mvutrapongvatana@council.nyc.gov. For technical issues with the City Council application, please email discretionary@council.nyc.gov.