Pcsb Community Foundation

PCSB Community Foundation is the corporate-affiliated giving vehicle of PCSB Bank (Putnam County Savings Bank), founded in 2017 and based in Poughquag/Yorktown Heights, NY. With roughly $5.3M in assets, it operates as a broad, high-volume small-grants funder rather than a large-check institutional funder: the internal data shows 208 grants totaling $714,401 (average $3,435), and the foundation's own typical-grant profile lists a median of $2,400 across a $100-$25,000 range. This means PCSB spreads its giving across many organizations rather than concentrating on a handful of flagship partners — no single recipient in the top-50 grantee list exceeds $28,780 in cumulative giving (Covecare Center, two grants), and most repeat grantees receive $5,000-$15,000 per year, generally split across two smaller gifts rather than one large one. First-time applicants should treat PCSB as a reliable, mid-size community funder for general operating or program support rather than a source for major capital campaigns. There is no formal LOI-to-full-proposal pipeline; the process is a single online "Grant Request" form with no separate site-visit stage typically required before a first award. Because the board is small (five directors/officers, all uncompensated, led by Board Chair Joseph D. Roberto and Secretary Clifford S. Weber), decisions likely move faster than at larger foundations, but personal visibility matters — 199 of 208 grantees (96%) are New York organizations, and virtually all are concentrated in the Lower Hudson Valley (Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess counties), PCSB Bank's branch footprint. Organizations outside that immediate service area are unlikely to be funded regardless of program quality; the foundation explicitly restricts awards to "market areas encompassed by the community." Given the bank affiliation, cultivating a banking relationship or board-level introduction (branch manager, bank officer) can meaningfully improve reception, since PCSB functions partly as a community-relations extension of the bank's local franchise. Repeat funding is common (many top grantees show grant_count of 2), suggesting the foundation rewards organizations that reapply and maintain the relationship year over year rather than one-off asks.

Total giving has fluctuated in a fairly narrow band over the past five reported fiscal years: $509,778 (FY2019), $283,671 (FY2020, pandemic-year dip), $385,114 (FY2021), $374,100 (FY2022), and $393,161 (FY2023), with FY2024 total giving not yet reported but total assets holding steady at $5,294,712. Net investment income has been volatile and appears to drive year-to-year revenue swings independent of grantmaking capacity (from $60,026 in FY2020 to $1,875,610 in FY2022), meaning the foundation's payout has stayed relatively disciplined even in strong market years rather than scaling up with windfalls. Within the internal grantee dataset (208 grants, $714,401 total, average $3,435), the largest single recipients are Covecare Center ($28,780/2 grants), Putnam Hospital Center Foundation ($25,000/1 grant), and Innovative Charitable Initiatives Inc ($25,000/1 grant) — all at or near the foundation's stated $25,000 ceiling. The bulk of giving, however, clusters well below that: roughly two-thirds of the top-50 grantees received $5,000-$15,000 in cumulative support, and dozens of smaller grants fall under $5,000. Geographically, 199 of 208 grants (96%) went to New York organizations, with single-digit exceptions in Georgia (2), Missouri (2), Connecticut (1), Washington DC (1), Texas (1), Virginia (1), and Wisconsin (1) — likely national organizations with local Hudson Valley chapters (e.g., March of Dimes, American Heart Association, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation) rather than a genuine out-of-region priority. By purpose, essentially all logged grants in the dataset are tagged simply "CHARITABLE SUPPORT," reflecting the foundation's four stated categories (Education, Health & Human Services, Youth Programs, Affordable Housing) rather than a more granular program-area breakdown; human-services and youth-serving organizations (Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon, YMCA branches, Make-A-Wish Hudson Valley, Yonkers Partners in Education) dominate the recipient list, suggesting Health & Human Services and Youth Programs receive more grants in practice than Affordable Housing, for which no clear grantee appears in the top 50.

PCSB sits in a cluster of private foundations with nearly identical asset bases (~$5.29M-$5.30M), which is common among small family or corporate foundations built around a single seed gift rather than ongoing large-scale fundraising. What distinguishes PCSB from this peer set is transparency and accessibility: none of the five peer foundations lists a public website with an open application process (three have no listed website at all), while PCSB publishes an online grant-request form, an FAQ, and accepts unsolicited applications year-round — a meaningfully lower barrier to entry than the typical closed, relationship-only small family foundation. For grant seekers, this makes PCSB a comparatively easy "first ask" among similarly-sized funders, though its per-grant ceiling ($25,000) and geographic restriction to the Lower Hudson Valley limit it to a supplemental rather than anchor funding source.

PCSB Community Foundation's own News and Grantees pages are marked "Coming Soon" as of this research (August 2026), so there is no dated, foundation-published announcement to report for 2025-2026 — a notable gap for a funder of this size and suggests the foundation under-invests in public communications relative to its grantmaking volume. Third-party 990-derived aggregators (Instrumentl, Zeffy) show 2025 activity of roughly $348,175 disbursed across approximately 130 awards, consistent with the foundation's multi-year giving pattern of $280K-$510K annually and confirming the foundation remained active and did not pause grantmaking. The foundation's own website features grant-presentation imagery with organizations including the Youth Shelter Program of Westchester and Covecare Center (formerly CoverCare), both of which also appear as top recipients in the internal grantee data, indicating these are established, multi-year relationships rather than one-time gifts. Leadership has been stable: Joseph D. Roberto serves as Board Chair/President, with Clifford S. Weber as Secretary and Dominick Petramale as Treasurer — the same slate of directors appears across the available filings with no reported turnover. Because the foundation does not issue press releases or maintain an active news feed, grant seekers should not expect to find breaking announcements of new initiatives; the more reliable signal of current activity is the rolling addition of grantee names to its (currently unpopulated) online grantee directory once that page goes live.

Apply directly through the online Grant Request Form at pcsbcommunityfoundation.org/grant/ — there is no LOI stage and no separate portal login; applications are submitted and reviewed as single documents. Critically, the form cannot be saved as a draft, so prepare your written request, budget, and required attachments (complete project/program budget, current annual operating budget, current board of directors list, current audited financial report, and IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter) in a separate document first, then complete the online form in one sitting to avoid losing work. There is no fixed annual deadline — the foundation accepts applications on a rolling basis year-round — but the FAQ states applicants should generally expect a response within 8-10 weeks, and the foundation asks organizations not to submit more than one request per quarter. Given the median award of $2,400 and a hard ceiling around $25,000, right-size the ask: requesting $2,500-$10,000 for a clearly-scoped program or general operating need is well within the foundation's typical pattern, while requests near or above $25,000 should be reserved for organizations with an existing track record with PCSB (like Covecare Center, funded twice for a $28,780 combined total). The single biggest eligibility filter is geography — funding is restricted to organizations serving PCSB Bank's Lower Hudson Valley market area (Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess counties); applicants outside this footprint are very unlikely to be funded regardless of mission fit, so lead with a clear statement of local service area in the first paragraph. The foundation explicitly will not fund political organizations/candidates, sectarian activities, or individual endeavors other than scholarships, and its own board members, directors, and employees (and affiliates) are barred from receiving grants — avoid any framing that could read as benefiting an insider. Because PCSB is bank-affiliated, a warm introduction through a local PCSB Bank branch manager or commercial banking officer — or simply banking with PCSB — can help a first-time applicant get noticed in a review process run by a five-person, all-volunteer board without dedicated program staff. Since the foundation has no active news or PR channel of its own, offer photo opportunities, quotes, or social tags at the time of any award — the foundation's own homepage relies on grantee-provided imagery to show impact, so being an easy, camera-ready partner is a soft advantage in future renewal cycles.