Foundation Ann Unterberg, chairman: Lincoln Center Education, Monmouth Medical Center Foundation Consulting board members Charlynn Goins, former director: Fannie Mae, AXA Financial, The Mainstay Funds Robert M. Kaufman, partner, Proskauer Rose LLP; Vice Chairman Emeritus, the New York Community Trust Roger J. Maldonado, partner, Smith Gambrell & Russell, LLP Anne Moore, M.D., professor of clinical medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine; NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital Anne Sidamon-Eristoff, chairwoman emerita, American Museum of Natural History Jason H. Wright, principal, Geer Mountain Holdings, LLC History The New York Community Trust was founded in 1924 by 11 banks to more effectively make grants from the charitable trusts they held. The first fund in the trust was established by Rosebel G. Schiff, who gave $1,000 to create the Theresa E. Bernholz Fund. Schiff asked that the prize go to a girl from P.S. 9 who “earned the highest respect of her teachers.” In 1931, with the help of electrical engineer and philanthropist William S. Barstow and his wife, Francoise Barstow, The trust established the nation's first donor-advised fund. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, The trust focused all available discretionary funds on helping the unemployed. In 1957, The trust installed the first of 309 "Landmarks of New York" plaques, which are still visible today on architecturally and historically important buildings all over the city. The Westchester and Long Island Community Foundations were founded by the trust in 1975 and 1978, respectively. In 1983, in the early years of the AIDS crisis, the foundation made the first grant for HIV research from a private institution. It then created the New York City AIDS Fund, which operated from 1989 to 2014. In the wake of the terrorist attacks in 2001, The trust and the United Way of New York City created the September 11th Fund, which distributed more than $528 million to victims, families, and affected communities. Businesses and nonprofits received grants to help rebuild and revitalize lower Manhattan. The trust also made early grants to plan the High Line, convert Governors Island into a public park, create the Brooklyn Greenway, and garner public support for an overhaul of St. Mary's Park in the Bronx. Program areas The trust's grants affect many facets of city life, including: Fight Poverty: Trust grantmaking tackles the systemic causes of poverty, as well as homelessness, barriers to employment, and income inequality. It also improves the field of social work and funds efforts to