Opportunity Overview
Open now. The New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) is accepting Letters of Inquiry for its 2027 Special Projects Fund. The fund provides one-time, nonrenewable support for timely, evidence-based projects addressing important and emerging health care and public health issues outside NYHealth’s three strategic priority areas: Primary Care; Healthy Food, Healthy Lives; and Veterans’ Health. NYHealth emphasizes projects with strong potential for replication, scaling, and/or regional or statewide policy and systems impact.
Funding and Deadline
Funding requests may range from $50,000 to $200,000. Special Projects Fund projects typically run approximately 12 to 36 months, with duration commensurate with the proposed work. The Letter of Inquiry is due October 15, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. The official RFP and LOI instructions reviewed by Atlas do not label a time zone, so Atlas does not infer one. Invited full proposals are due January 25, 2027 at 1:00 p.m., with award or declination notification expected in June 2027.
Eligibility
The controlling RFP states that an applicant may be a nonprofit organization with a 501(c)(3) IRS designation or a for-profit organization. The project must align with NYHealth’s mission and focus on improving the health of New Yorkers who have been historically marginalized. Competitive projects should include a credible evaluation plan, applicant readiness and relevant experience, collaboration and meaningful community input, replication potential, sustainability beyond the one-time grant, and a clear case for why the project represents a special opportunity for NYHealth funding.
Projects focused on Primary Care, Healthy Food Healthy Lives, or Veterans’ Health are ineligible under this RFP. NYHealth also excludes ongoing services similar to normal organizational activities, core support and organizational infrastructure, backfilling lost public funding, health information technology system purchases or upgrades including electronic medical records and other equipment, biomedical research, lobbying, and capital expenses. NYHealth’s FAQ further identifies health care equipment as ineligible. Administrative overhead is permitted up to 15%.
Match and Cost Share
No mandatory match or cost-share requirement is stated in the current 2027 Special Projects Fund RFP or LOI instructions reviewed by Atlas. Applicants should recheck the live portal and any updated Foundation guidance before submission.
Application and Required Information
All applicants must first submit an LOI through NYHealth’s online grantee portal. The LOI instructions require organizational and contact information, including the head of the organization and a finance/payment contact; legal name, EIN, address, organization type, website, organizational description, annual operating budget, year established, and number of employees; project title, requested amount, project timeframe, populations served, geographic scope, project topic and strategy, and narrative sections addressing need, project activities, goals, measurement, reach, budget, project design and management, and sustainability.
No attachments may be included with the LOI. Letters of support are not accepted at the LOI stage. References are not required initially, although NYHealth may request them. Narrative fields are plain text, and applicants must click Submit in the portal to finalize the application. Selected applicants are invited by e-mail to complete the full proposal stage.
Atlas Fit Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 92/100. This is a substantial, authoritative statewide health and public-health funding opportunity with a clear $50,000 to $200,000 request range, a defined two-stage application process, and explicit support for timely projects with systems-change potential.
N9+ Fit Score: 0/100. The RFP expressly excludes projects involving purchase, installation, or upgrade of health information technology systems and other equipment, and the Foundation FAQ expressly excludes health care equipment. Atlas therefore does not position the Nonagon N9+ device and platform as a funded cost under this opportunity.
QC Healthcare / Dr. Miltie Fit: 20/100 conditional. A limited partner or contracted-services role could exist only within an otherwise eligible, applicant-led, time-limited project outside the excluded Primary Care priority area and other prohibited categories. No direct-vendor opportunity is established and no fit should be forced.
Submission Control
Applicants should verify all organization-controlled facts in the live NYHealth portal, select only an eligible project outside the three excluded priority areas, exclude prohibited equipment and capital costs, complete the LOI fields without attachments, and submit before the October 15, 2026 1:00 p.m. deadline. The Foundation states that an LOI cannot be revised after the deadline.
Programmatic contact: specialprojectsfund@nyhealthfoundation.org
Portal and grants-management support: gm@nyhealthfoundation.org
Official sources: NYHealth 2027 Special Projects Fund; 2027 Special Projects Fund RFP; 2027 LOI Instructions.