NBCUniversal gives $2.5 million in unrestricted grants to 80 small nonprofits in 11 TV markets
The company's television stations named this year's Local Impact Grants winners on Sept. 23, five to eight in each market. The program is open only to nonprofits with total expenses between $100,000 and $1 million.
New York. Comcast NBCUniversal and NBCUniversal Local, the company's local media division, said on Sept. 23 that they have awarded $2.5 million in unrestricted grants to 80 nonprofits through the 2026 NBCUniversal Local Impact Grants. The recipients serve the 11 markets where NBC and Telemundo own stations: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, Boston, Washington, the San Francisco Bay Area, South Florida, San Diego and Hartford, Conn.
The round was announced in March, and applications ran from March 24 to April 24. It is the program's ninth year, and the company says it has now reached 695 nonprofits since 2018.
How the money was split
The stations named their own winners, five to eight in each market. The Bay Area stations set aside $227,272 in March, and the New York and Washington grants add up to the same sum, one eleventh of the total. In the Washington area, seven nonprofits received from $13,272 for Shout Mouse Press, which runs writing workshops and publishes books by young people, to $50,000 for the Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf & Hard of Hearing Persons. In New York, five received $37,272 to $50,000, among them Open Style Lab, which works to make accessibility the standard of good design, and Concrete Safaris, an outdoor education program for young people in East Harlem.
The grants are general operating money in three categories: youth education and empowerment; next generation storytellers, for programs that open careers in communications, arts, news, sports and entertainment to young people and new talent; and community engagement, such as volunteering and civic programs.
Who could apply
Applicants had to be 501(c)(3) nonprofits at least a year old, with total expenses between $100,000 and $1 million, revenue above $100,000 and the address on their Form 990 inside one of the 11 markets. A grant may not exceed 30% of an organization's expenses. Fiscally sponsored groups could apply through their sponsors. Schools and their foundations, religious, political and labor groups and 501(c)(4) organizations were excluded, as were organizations that had received $10,000 or more a year from the company or its stations in any of the past three years, or any Comcast NBCUniversal grant from 2024 to 2026.
Judging ran in three rounds, according to the program's questions and answers: a first review picked finalists, and panels at the local stations then chose the winners, weighing each organization's soundness, examples of its impact and its financial need. Only one grant is made per tax ID number across all markets.
“Nonprofits are essential partners in driving progress across local communities, and the unrestricted support that we’re providing gives them the flexibility to direct resources where they’ll make the greatest difference.”
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