Every year, Brooklyn Org — the borough’s community foundation — selects five nonprofit organizations doing transformative work for Brooklynites and hands each of them $100,000 with no strings attached. This year’s winners, announced in January 2026 and celebrated at the Brooklyn Org Spark Breakfast on March 3 at Barclays Center, represent the kind of ground-level heroism that rarely makes the evening news but changes people’s lives in every borough block.

“This year’s Brooklyn Org Spark Prize winners reflect the ingenuity and determination to overcome every challenging moment that define what makes Brooklyn great,” said Jocelynne Rainey, president and CEO of Brooklyn Org.

The five organizations — Asiyah Women’s Center, Black Trans Femmes in the Arts (BTFA), the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), The B.R.O. Experience Foundation, and YVote — each receive unrestricted general operating support, giving them the flexibility to serve their communities and grow in whatever direction is most needed. The prize is presented by NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.

Meet the 2026 Spark Prize Winners

Asiyah Women’s Center was started seven years ago when founder Dania Darwish used personal savings to rent a single apartment as a refuge for survivors of domestic violence. Today the organization serves more than 35 women and their children at four locations in Brooklyn, providing emergency shelter, legal support, counseling, economic empowerment, and culturally sensitive care tailored to Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian communities. The $100,000 grant will help fund more housing and a permanent wellness center. “When we started Asiyah Women’s Center seven years ago, we used our savings to rent a single apartment to give women survivors of domestic violence a safe space,” Darwish said. “The Brooklyn Org Spark Prize will help us start to build more housing and a permanent wellness center for women in Brooklyn.”

Black Trans Femmes in the Arts (BTFA) is building what its founder calls infrastructure for Black trans femme artists to own the means of production and care. Through residencies, emergency grants, free studio space, ballroom events, and a YouTube series, BTFA supports both the creative lives and material needs of its artists. Founder Jordyn Jay said the prize will grow BTFA Studios into a “full-scale production hub” so artists can “make work, make history and make a living.”

Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.) was founded in Brooklyn in 2019 and challenges the expansion of discriminatory surveillance technology — from facial recognition tools to broader systems that disproportionately affect communities of color. Executive Director Michelle Dahl said the funding will allow S.T.O.P. to scale its community digital safety trainings and strategic litigation, “helping Brooklyn communities protect privacy, increase government transparency, and limit the NYPD’s use of invasive technology.”

The B.R.O. Experience Foundation serves Black and Latino young men in Bed-Stuy, Brownsville, and Bushwick through trauma-informed mentorship, summer camps, rites of passage programs, and fatherhood workshops. Founder Barry Cooper said the prize will help the organization “reach more than 2,000 young men each year, expand our BRO Space Wellness Center, and launch our digital bewellbro.org.”

YVote was founded in Brooklyn in 2017 by young people frustrated with low civic engagement among their peers. The organization works in high schools across the borough to turn that frustration into action through voter registration drives, participatory budgeting campaigns, and school-based civic clubs. Executive Director Randy Frazer said the prize will help fund expanded clubs and new internships “so Brooklyn teens can shape policy, run campaigns and vote with power.”

A Prize Built for the Moment

Brooklyn Org launched the Spark Prize in 2016 and has since invested more than $5 million in local nonprofits. The power of the award lies in its design: by providing unrestricted general operating support, it respects the expertise of the organizations receiving it. They know their communities better than any funder does. No-strings-attached money gives them the freedom to act on that knowledge.

In a moment of federal funding cuts and mounting pressure on community organizations across the country, that flexibility matters even more than usual. Brooklyn Org funds more than 100 organizations annually across the borough, and its Spark Prize represents its highest-profile recognition of standout work.

For Brooklynites who want to support this network, the Brooklyn Org Changemakers Ball is coming in October. Donor and volunteer opportunities are available year-round at brooklyn.org.

Also worth knowing: the broader CitizensNYC Community Leaders Grant — which we covered today in our Manhattan Beat — is available to grassroots Brooklyn groups as well, offering microgrants of up to $5,000 for community-building projects with a July 27 deadline.

For more on what’s happening across Brooklyn, see our recent piece on the Brighton Beach rezoning proposal and what it means for the neighborhood.

What You Need to Know

• Brooklyn Org’s 2026 Spark Prize awarded $100,000 each to five Brooklyn nonprofits
• Winners: Asiyah Women’s Center, Black Trans Femmes in the Arts, S.T.O.P., The B.R.O. Experience Foundation, and YVote
• The Spark Prize has invested over $5 million in local nonprofits since 2016
• Brooklyn Org funds more than 100 organizations annually across the borough
• Learn more and support the mission at brooklyn.org
• The Changemakers Ball — Brooklyn Org’s annual fundraiser — is coming in October