New York’s Bloomberg Announces Measures to Help Nonprofit Groups

Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, today announced a package of measures to help the city’s nonprofit groups weather the recession, including efforts to streamline government procedures, expand loan programs, and help groups save energy costs.

“As nonprofits face increasing challenges due to the economic downturn, it’s critical that the city take concrete steps to strengthen the sector and help it thrive,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a news release.

The mayor announced at a public forum at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service that the city would:

• Set up a program to help nonprofit groups save money by “group purchasing” goods and services, starting with information technology next summer, followed by insurance by the end of the year.

• Lead an evaluation of energy use by nonprofit groups and use the findings to develop energy-efficiency strategies.

• Speed up the process under which nonprofit groups demonstrate that they comply with charities regulation.

• Propose increasing a bridge-loan fund that helps charities under contract with the city cover short-term cash-flow problems — from $8-million to $20-million during the next two fiscal years.

• Introduce a standard human-services contract for multiple city agencies to reduce red tape.

• Offer referrals to nonprofit groups that contact the city’s “311” online and phone service on issues like where to get help developing a strategic plan or managing financial resources.

• Create an “executive director hotline” to allow nonprofit leaders to get strategic advice from senior members of Community Resource Exchange, a nonprofit consulting firm.

• Create a program through the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York that will pair business executives with nonprofit executive directors for two years to work on innovative solutions to nonprofit business challenges. The program, Greater NY, is available to any group that receives money from the city. The philanthropists Blair and Cheryl Cohen Effron and Gretchen and Jamie Rubin are helping to pay for the program.

The mayor noted that almost 500,000 people work at nonprofit groups in New York. “Whether by training people for jobs, providing access to arts and culture or building affordable housing, the nonprofit sector is a vital part of the city and our economy,” he said.