GiveBetter x New York City

Transportation Alternatives

Street-safety advocacy, research, organizing and crash-family support

Research time: ~4 min on GPT-6 Astra Light
  • Research — reviewed programs, finances and impact evidence.

Updated: 2026-09-14

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Summary

What do they do? Transportation Alternatives organizes for safer walking, cycling and transit across New York City. This report includes its entire recipient, including Families for Safe Streets, research, membership and events. Our weak-confidence estimate is about $71.4 million per 10 MSA-resident QALYs for a finite street-injury pathway, with other portfolio health unpriced.

Why we’re interested in this organization:

  • Current campaigns connect donations to identifiable street-design decisions.

  • Original audits and tax reconciliations recover separately netted event costs.

  • The injury mechanism is more direct than assigning health value to petitions or cycling counts.

Our main reservations:

  • No evidence identifies how many additional corridor improvements an ordinary gift causes.

  • The DOT injury association is not a randomized estimate of future campaigns.

  • Public construction costs, travel changes and other portfolio effects may materially change total social value.

What do you get for your dollar? $71.4M per better life: ten additional quality-adjusted life years in New York City. Whole Transportation Alternatives recognized annual expense charged to a conditional, finite street-injury health component for MSA residents. Other portfolio effects and unrecognized volunteer/public implementation resources are not fully priced; public implementation is tested separately. This is not measured unrestricted whole-portfolio return or a lower bound..

Additional corridor-equivalent years -> avoided fatal and nonfatal severe injuries -> finite discounted health.

1. What do they do?

Transportation Alternatives Inc., EIN 51-0186015, combines advocacy, organizing, research, membership and events. Families for Safe Streets is inside this recipient, not a second charity credited independently. Current work includes Central Harlem protected lanes, connected Brooklyn and Queens networks, speed-limit implementation and transit access. An ordinary gift supports this mixed portfolio, not a guaranteed lane project. Current campaigns Central Harlem proposal

2. Monitoring and information sharing

Measure additional or accelerated implementation, collision risk and finite health, rather than campaign participation. NYC DOT reports an 18.1% reduction in deaths and serious injuries where protected designs were installed. The available announcement does not establish a randomized causal contrast; selection of dangerous corridors, regression to the mean and concurrent changes matter. Our central transfer multiplier halves that association. The 31st Street example reports 26 people killed or severely injured during 2021–2025, giving 5.2 annual events as a deliberately explicit high-risk corridor anchor, not a representative mean for TA's campaigns. DOT risk and design evidence

A useful recipient disclosure would list proposed, unsuccessful and implemented campaigns, prior city commitments, implementation dates, funding constraints and matched safety trends. Citywide improvements or income-group trends cannot identify TA's contribution. DOT equity analysis

3. Qualitative assessment

Protected street design has a plausible injury pathway, while public agencies retain legal, engineering and spending authority. Existing city projects, elected officials, other advocates and community demand remain in the counterfactual. Current Central Harlem organizing demonstrates an active opportunity, not a measured probability of success. The model represents four corridor-equivalent opportunities over an annual portfolio cycle, not four observed additional projects or credit for 31st Street itself.

The denominator includes only residents of the official 22-county New York–Newark–Jersey City MSA. A 95% resident share of the modeled injury benefit is an explicit judgment: city streets also serve tourists and commuters from outside this MSA. All five city boroughs are within scope; headquarters location alone is not the allocation method.

4. What do you get for your dollar?

The conditional street-injury estimate is about $71.4 million per 10 MSA-resident QALYs (0.7264 QALYs against $5,186,682 annual recipient cost).

The numerical estimate prices one street-injury pathway using the entire recipient's latest annual recognized cost. It does not estimate total portfolio return or prove a lower bound. Four conditional corridor equivalents, 5.2 baseline serious/fatal events per year, an 18.1% association and a 50% transfer factor are combined with a 25% incremental coalition effect, 30% TA share and 50% donation-response factor. All four causal factors are subjective, not source-calibrated probabilities. Benefits last five years, discounted 3%, after which the modeled incremental difference stops.

Fatal events are 10% of modeled severe/fatal events by judgment. Each avoided fatality receives a maximum 20-year survival horizon with 0.8 utility, 2% annual competing hazard and 3% discounting; a nonfatal severe injury receives 1.5 finite discounted QALYs by judgment. These are transparent valuation priors, not observed TA patient outcomes. Physical activity, air quality, accessibility, crash-family support and adverse transport effects remain unpriced.

A separate stress case adds $2 million per donor-attributable corridor equivalent for public implementation resources. This is an illustrative opportunity-cost assumption, not a construction quote. It is applied to N*p*a*b once, not all city projects. Zero implementation, complete donor substitution and negative net health are retained. The ordinary-gift interpretation assumes proportional response around the recipient's current scale, not an offer to buy a whole annual portfolio.

Model, assumptions and sensitivity

Whole recipient annual recognized gross expense; one partial-health pathway, not full portfolio. Public implementation and unrecognized volunteers excluded except sensitivity.

Official 22-county MSA residents only; g=.95 subjective injury-beneficiary residency, not population share or five-borough geography substitution.

A=sum(j=1..T)1.03^-j; D=u*(1-exp(-(ln(1.03)+m)*L))/(ln(1.03)+m); q=f*D+(1-f)*s; Qall=N*B*r*t*p*a*b*A*q-h; QNYC=g*Qall; price10=10*C/QNYC when positive.

N
4 conditional corridor equivalents (judgment). Explicit conditional modeling prior, not calibrated empirical input. [campaigns] [harlem]
B
5.2 fatal/severe events per corridor-year (judgment). 5.2 derives from observed 26/5 on 31st Street; transfer to the modeled campaign portfolio is judgment. [dot]
r
0.181 dimensionless or annual rate as formula defines (observed). DOT-reported design association, not causal certainty. [dot]
t
0.5 dimensionless or annual rate as formula defines (judgment). Explicit conditional modeling prior, not calibrated empirical input. [campaigns] [harlem]
p
0.25 dimensionless or annual rate as formula defines (judgment). Explicit conditional modeling prior, not calibrated empirical input. [campaigns] [harlem]
a
0.3 dimensionless or annual rate as formula defines (judgment). Explicit conditional modeling prior, not calibrated empirical input. [campaigns] [harlem]
b
0.5 dimensionless or annual rate as formula defines (judgment). Explicit conditional modeling prior, not calibrated empirical input. [campaigns] [harlem]
T
5 benefit years (judgment). Explicit conditional modeling prior, not calibrated empirical input. [campaigns] [harlem]
g
0.95 dimensionless or annual rate as formula defines (judgment). Explicit conditional modeling prior, not calibrated empirical input. [campaigns] [harlem]
f
0.1 dimensionless or annual rate as formula defines (judgment). Explicit conditional modeling prior, not calibrated empirical input. [campaigns] [harlem]
u
0.8 dimensionless or annual rate as formula defines (judgment). Explicit conditional modeling prior, not calibrated empirical input. [campaigns] [harlem]
m
0.02 dimensionless or annual rate as formula defines (judgment). Explicit conditional modeling prior, not calibrated empirical input. [campaigns] [harlem]
L
20 maximum survival years (judgment). Explicit conditional modeling prior, not calibrated empirical input. [campaigns] [harlem]
s
1.5 discounted QALYs per severe nonfatal injury (judgment). Explicit conditional modeling prior, not calibrated empirical input. [campaigns] [harlem]
h
0 all-population QALYs lost (judgment). Explicit conditional modeling prior, not calibrated empirical input. [campaigns] [harlem]
C
5186682 USD/year (observed). FY2025 audited gross expense, return plus event costs. [audit25] [schedule2025]

Conditional street-injury pathway: Cost: $5.2M; New York City QALYs: 0.726373797455503; all-population QALYs: 0.7646039973215821. {"N":4,"B":5.2,"r":0.181,"t":0.5,"p":0.25,"a":0.3,"b":0.5,"T":5,"g":0.95,"f":0.1,"u":0.8,"m":0.02,"L":20,"s":1.5,"h":0,"C":5186682}

Low additional advocacy yield: Cost: $5.2M; New York City QALYs: 0.00008460502915871137; all-population QALYs: 0.00009400558795412375. {"N":1,"B":2,"r":0.1,"t":0.25,"p":0.1,"a":0.1,"b":0.1,"T":2,"g":0.9,"f":0.05,"u":0.8,"m":0.02,"L":20,"s":0.5,"h":0,"C":5186682}

Broad favorable policy scenario: Cost: $5.2M; New York City QALYs: 48.55681447768482; all-population QALYs: 49.047287351196786. {"N":8,"B":5.2,"r":0.181,"t":1,"p":0.5,"a":0.5,"b":0.75,"T":10,"g":0.99,"f":0.15,"u":0.8,"m":0.02,"L":20,"s":3,"h":0,"C":5186682}

No incremental implementation: Cost: $5.2M; New York City QALYs: 0; all-population QALYs: 0. {"N":4,"B":5.2,"r":0.181,"t":0.5,"p":0,"a":0.3,"b":0.5,"T":5,"g":0.95,"f":0.1,"u":0.8,"m":0.02,"L":20,"s":1.5,"h":0,"C":5186682}

Displaced or harmful street changes: Cost: $5.2M; New York City QALYs: -0.2375; all-population QALYs: -0.25. {"N":4,"B":5.2,"r":0.181,"t":0.5,"p":0,"a":0.3,"b":0.5,"T":5,"g":0.95,"f":0.1,"u":0.8,"m":0.02,"L":20,"s":1.5,"h":0.25,"C":5186682}

Illustrative induced public implementation cost: Cost: $5.5M; New York City QALYs: 0.726373797455503; all-population QALYs: 0.7646039973215821. {"N":4,"B":5.2,"r":0.181,"t":0.5,"p":0.25,"a":0.3,"b":0.5,"T":5,"g":0.95,"f":0.1,"u":0.8,"m":0.02,"L":20,"s":1.5,"h":0,"C":5486682}

Counterfactual: Existing city plans, appropriations, other coalitions and replacement donations continue. Only additional or accelerated corridor-equivalent years receive credit; no historical completion receives a new gift's credit.

Attribution: p is incremental coalition effect, a TA's distinct share, b donation response. Each applied once. No independent credit to Families for Safe Streets or overlapping Open Plans work.

Very weak-confidence conditional partial-health estimate; judgment-heavy, not a statistically estimated portfolio return. Scenarios are possibilities, not confidence bounds.

Sensitivity

  • Implementation yield, causal share and gift response multiply: a zero in any one eliminates modeled benefit.
  • Favorable ten-year implementation assumptions yield about $1.1 million per ten MSA QALYs; this is a joint judgment scenario, not a confidence bound.
  • Adding attributed public construction costs increases the central price; other transport benefits and harms remain unpriced.

Unresolved inputs

  • Donation-responsive additional or accelerated corridor projects versus prior city commitments.
  • Matched injury trends, corridor severity mix and MSA residency.
  • Net public and volunteer resources and wider transport health effects.

5. Funding and previous grants

March-ending audited expenses are $4,447,542 in FY2023, $5,135,283 in FY2024 and $5,186,682 in FY2025. Each reconciles to the original Form 990 expense plus separately netted fundraising costs of $67,853, $141,953 and $83,095 respectively. No additional donated-service adjustment is reported in Schedule D. Investment income is net and the audit does not itemize a further investment-management fee; unrecognized volunteer opportunity costs remain outside this measured series. FY2025 audit FY2024/2023 audit

FY2025 support and revenue were $4,335,312 and ending net assets $3,270,676, of which $523,106 were restricted. The unrestricted decline was $426,460; the full $851,370 decline is not an unrestricted cash need. The board designated $1 million as a stability reserve. These facts support asking about capacity but do not identify gift additionality. The directory's displayed FY2025 period conflicts with the original audit: the report uses the year ended March 31, 2025, not March 2026. Financial directory Donation route

Expense appendix: FY2025 recognized costs comprise $4,317,855 program services, $371,200 management/general and $497,627 fundraising. The comparable three-year recognized mean is $4,923,169. This is a gross recipient accounting series, not all public or volunteer opportunity cost. Schedule D, rather than the audit event-note subtotal alone, establishes the $67,853/$141,953/$83,095 tax-return reconciliations.

Annual expenses

Organization-level spending, including programs, administration and fundraising. The research list averages three comparable, consecutive full fiscal years when available.

  • FY 2023: $4.4M; Transportation Alternatives Inc., EIN 51-0186015, 12-month period, March-ending accrual recognized gross recipient expense including separately netted fundraising costs.. Source
  • FY 2024: $5.1M; Transportation Alternatives Inc., EIN 51-0186015, 12-month period, March-ending accrual recognized gross recipient expense including separately netted fundraising costs.. Source
  • FY 2025: $5.2M; Transportation Alternatives Inc., EIN 51-0186015, 12-month period, March-ending accrual recognized gross recipient expense including separately netted fundraising costs.. Source

6. Sources

  1. FY2025 audited statements. Transportation Alternatives. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  2. FY2024 audit with FY2023 comparative. Transportation Alternatives. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  3. FY2023 original Form 990. Transportation Alternatives / IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  4. FY2023 original Schedule D reconciliation. Transportation Alternatives / IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  5. FY2024 original Form 990. Transportation Alternatives / IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  6. FY2024 original Schedule D reconciliation. Transportation Alternatives / IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  7. FY2025 original Form 990. Transportation Alternatives / IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  8. FY2025 original Schedule D reconciliation. Transportation Alternatives / IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  9. Financial-document directory. Transportation Alternatives. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  10. Current citywide campaign portfolio. Transportation Alternatives. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  11. Central Harlem Bikeway campaign. Transportation Alternatives. Published: 2026-03-23; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  12. 31st Street safety redesign and local risk baseline. NYC DOT. Published: 2026-04-16; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  13. Vision Zero equity and street safety report announcement. NYC DOT. Published: 2025-01-15; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  14. Official donation route. Transportation Alternatives. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.