Berklee’s Neighborhood Improvement Committee (NIC) may be taking a more prominent role in the Fenway’s civic fabric in the coming years, with a pilot grant program distributing thousands of dollars to local organizations.

The NIC has thus far been a relatively low profile body, a product of community mitigation agreements by Berklee College of Music. The school’s most recent institutional master plan (IMP), however, gave the panel a more substantial budget to fund Fenway groups directly.

Traditionally more of an organizational committee, the most recent meeting of the NIC on June 26 announced $50,000 to be awarded over two years to nonprofits serving the Fenway. Much of the grant process isn’t set in stone yet, but if it proves popular, that funding could be expanded and entrenched in the ten-year IMP currently in the works for next year.

The city gave final approval to the program in March, and the NIC expects to begin taking applicants in the coming weeks. The July start will be broadcast via the NIC’s email list, which is open to the public.

There’s no rush to apply. Organizers say they want to give prospective awardees plenty of time and will be accepting submissions for several months. A final decision will come sometime after the summer.

“The hope of this money is that we can see if this is the form that works for Berklee’s community support. We had a lot of conversations with the Boston Planning and Development Agency and others about that, and this pilot is the result,” said Kaitlin Passafaro, Berklee’s chief of staff and vice president of community and government relations.

Qualification requirements are also relatively broad. If a program is active within the Fenway, publicly accessible without charge, and “provides a public benefit or serves a public need,” it qualifies.

The money will be awarded to multiple recipients, although the NIC hasn’t specified what the parameters will be to decide who gets how much funding. More details will likely emerge once submissions open in July.

“I’m with the Friends of Ramler Park and we’re probably going to apply,” said Kathleen McBride. “We have music and concerts, we host some other events and would be open to doing more. We’ve also got maintenance costs, the upkeep for public lawns is significant for us volunteer groups.”

While the grant is a step toward more concrete impact in the Fenway, the NIC’s bread and butter remains what it’s been historically, making connections and giving community groups a chance to coordinate and touch base. The bulk of its June 26 meeting was still dedicated toward those functions. There is another capital project from Berklee worth noting. The substantial renovation of 12 Hemenway into student housing was a large part of why Berklee opted for a short two-year IMP this time around and is continuing apace. Workers began replacing the building’s windows, walls and elevator in January and hope to complete the 116-bed project this fall.