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Date: Tuesday, May 23
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Location
The Palace at Somerset Park
 333 Davidson Ave, Somerset, NJ

The Council of New Jersey Grantmakers is pleased to present our 2023 Conference for the Social Sector on May 23, 2023. The conference theme will focus on our initiative: Doing Good Better, a partnership between the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers and the New Jersey Center for Nonprofits. This long-term initiative aims to shift the culture of the New Jersey philanthropic and nonprofit ecosystem by encouraging funders, nonprofits, and government to create shared power rooted in collaboration, mutual trust, and respect.

The 2023 Spring Conference for the Social Sector: Doing Good Better will explore how funders and nonprofits can address philanthropy’s power imbalances, rethink traditional grantmaking practices to better serve New Jersey communities, and position equity as a driving force. For many years, but particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, and the heightened outcry for racial equity and social justice, funders have been urged to embrace more flexibility and transparency in their grantmaking. Practices such as general operating support, simplified application and reporting procedures, multi-year funding and others have been shown to level the power imbalance, advance greater equity, strengthen partnerships between funders and their nonprofit partners, and thereby improve community impact. The conference will present strategies and tools including trust-based philanthropy, participatory grantmaking, power redistribution, and others that we can all employ to inform and realign processes, systems, and culture in the social sector. Join foundation, philanthropic, government, and nonprofit colleagues to learn about and leverage these tools. Together, we will discover and strategize how we collectively can "do good better”.

NJToday interview featuring CNJG President Nina Stack.

Philanthropists are increasingly willing to support direct cash assistance. Foundations and individual donors have supported a range of emergency cash relief for various crises throughout the years, and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the greater Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia region has been no exception. Private philanthropy is also working with the current wave of government-sponsored cash assistance pilots. This virtual convening highlighted Urban’s findings on philanthropic support and gathered speakers including Kevin Callaghan, our Newark Philanthropic Liaison, to reflect on the implications and future of philanthropic efforts aimed at transferring cash directly to individuals.

Welcome Remarks
Sarah Rosen Wartell, President, Urban Institute @swartell

Research Presentations
Benjamin Soskis, Senior Research Associate, Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, Urban Institute @BenSoskis
Sonia Torres Rodríguez, Research Assistant, Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center, Urban Institute @urbaninstitute
Fay Walker, Research Analyst, Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center, Urban Institute @faycwalker

Panelists
Mary Bogle, Principal Research Associate, Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center, Urban Institute @MaryMBogle
Kevin Callaghan, Newark Philanthropic Liaison, Council of New Jersey Grantmakers and Office of Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka @CNJG
Nisha G. Patel, Creative Catalyst, Powered by Shakti @heynisha
Paula Sammons, Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation @WK_Kellogg_Fdn
Tonia Wellons, Chief Executive Officer, Greater Washington Community Foundation @ToniaWellons
Shena Ashley, Vice President, Nonprofits and Philanthropy, Urban Institute (moderator) @shenarashley

This weekly funder briefing webinar series welcomed New Jersey-based grantmakers along with national funders and provided an opportunity for grantmakers to hear from a wide range of nonprofit experts. This series started on March 13, 2025, less than a month after the first executive order was issued and continued through April 24, 2025. The recordings of each are below.

Immigration Webinar

Health Webinar

Environment Webinar

Education Webinar

Housing Webinar

Media & Journalism Webinar

Arts Webinar

Who We Are

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The Council of New Jersey Grantmakers is a community of practice for philanthropic professionals who are dedicated to improving New Jersey’s communities. As the center for philanthropy in the state, CNJG supports the philanthropic sector through shared learning, collaborative and trusting relationships within philanthropy and with nonprofit partners, thought leadership, and advocacy efforts. Since 1990 when CNJG became a project under the Community Foundation of New Jersey, then an independent 501(c)3 organization in 1997, CNJG operates on the principle that philanthropy is more effective through connection, collaboration, information exchange, and continuing education.

By joining CNJG as a member, your philanthropy is connected to dozens of other philanthropic organizations across the state, and you support the work that, in turn, benefits you and the entire philanthropic sector.

Access the myriad of benefits that CNJG membership provides.

How to Join

Joining CNJG is simple. Just complete and submit the appropriate application for your organization:

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Soon after you submit the completed application, CNJG will review it, and then email you an invoice from which you can use to submit your membership payment by EFT, check, credit card (CNJG adds a 3% fee for credit card membership payments.

Though subject to the board’s approval, we typically activate membership within 2-3 working days, and you’ll become a member with full access to the unique value CNJG provides. See all of the benefits of CNJG membership under our Member Benefits page.

The membership period begins January 1st and runs through December 31. Organizations joining after July 1 will have their first year dues prorated. Organizations who choose to do so may calculate their membership dues by using an average of their annual grantmaking over the past three years. Some members choose to make all or a portion of their dues in the form of a grant. For tax purposes, all dues in excess of $770 may be reasonably reported as a grant.

CNJG reserves the right to determine an organization’s eligibility for membership.

Membership Criteria

All members must meet the following membership criteria:

“The Council provides a network where I can tap into colleagues who may have valuable experience with an issue, grantee or vendor.  In addition, Council research can prove extremely useful for any number of decisions, large or small.”
-Etta Denk, Senior Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility, Bank of America

1. A prospective member’s core interest in joining CNJG is a desire to improve the quality of its own grantmaking and to work with other members to improve the field of grantmaking and support the people, communities and nonprofits of New Jersey.


2. The primary function of a prospective member is making charitable grants. Exceptions to this policy include federated funds, public foundations and Associate members.


3. It is expected that the substantial amount of the organization’s activities should be centered on grantmaking. For corporate giving programs, the term “organization” refers to the corporate giving unit, not the entire corporation. Exceptions to this standard, noted above, include public foundations, private operating foundations, Federated Funds, individual members, and Associate members.


4. The prospective member’s grant distributions are made primarily on a discretionary basis to multiple (two or more) nonprofit organizations that are not subsidiary or otherwise directly related to the prospective member. No more than 60% of the grants given should be directed to one organization (including subsidiaries).


5. Organizations applying for membership must complete and submit the appropriate membership application form (above).


6. Each member adheres to our non-solicitation policy (below).

Membership Policies

1. The annual membership period is from January 1 to December 31. After July, we pro-rate new memberships for the remainder of the year.


2. Grantmaking member dues for 2025 are based on an organization’s total annual grantmaking. Please calculate your dues using either option:
   Your 2024 giving, or
   An average of the past three years of giving (2022, 2023, and 2024)


3. Organizations headquartered or based within New Jersey base their dues on the organization’s total giving. Organizations headquartered outside of New Jersey base their dues on their giving in New Jersey only.


4. Dues for government agencies are based on a percentage (0.2%) of the Agency/Division administrative allocation/budget. If the agency does not have an administrative budget, dues will be based on the level of grants made each year (see dues structure below).


5. For foundations that are sunsetting, dues are based on 5% of the assets, rather than the annual grantmaking. Board minutes confirming the decision to sunset are required when joining.


6. For United Way organizations that give grants, please base dues on your discretionary grantmaking only. Do not include your pass-through dollars.


7. For Community Foundations, please base dues on all your grantmaking, including donor advised funds. Your DAF holders are most welcome to attend our programs as members. Please do not, however, include any nonprofit endowment funds that you might manage.


8. Memberships are considered lapsed if, by July 1 of the membership year, CNJG has not received a pledge to pay.


9. If a non-member grantmaker attends three events/meetings, CNJG expects them to join the organization.


10. CNJG’s Board of Trustees retains final discretion on all matters concerning membership. If you are unsure of your organization’s eligibility, please contact CNJG.

Membership Categories

Grantmaking organizations eligible for CNJG membership include:

• Community Foundations: A community foundation is a tax-exempt, nonprofit, autonomous, publicly supported, philanthropic institution composed primarily of permanent funds established by many separate donors for the long-term diverse, charitable benefit of the residents of a defined geographic area. Community foundations provide an array of services to donors who wish to establish endowed and non-endowed funds without incurring the administrative and legal costs of starting independent foundations. A community foundation’s donor-advised funds are included in the membership, and any and all of the fundholders are invited to participate in CNJG programs and services. Because the community foundation has the established relationship with its fundholders, CNJG relies on the community foundation to invite its fundholders to participate in CNJG programs and services.
• Corporate Foundations: A corporate (company-sponsored) foundation is a private foundation that derives its grantmaking funds primarily from the contributions of a profit-making business. The company-sponsored foundation often maintains close ties with the donor company, but it is a separate, legal organization, sometimes with its own endowment, and is subject to the same rules and regulations as other private foundations.
• Corporate Giving Programs: A corporate giving (direct giving) program is a grantmaking program established and administered within a profit-making company. Gifts or grants go directly to charitable organizations from the corporation. Corporate giving programs do not have a separate endowment; their expense is planned as part of the company's annual budgeting process and usually is funded with pre-tax income. Generally, staff that operate the corporate giving program are the main users of CNJG programs and services.
• Donor Advised Funds: A fund may be classified as donor advised if it has at least three characteristics: (1) a donor or person appointed or designated by the donor has, or reasonably expects to have, advisory privileges with respect to the fund’s distributions or investments, (2) the fund is separately identified by reference to contributions of the donor(s), and (3) the fund is owned and controlled by a sponsoring organization, such as a community foundation. A fund possessing these characteristics may be exempt from the donor advised fund classification if it grants to one single public charity or government unit or if the fund meets certain requirements applicable to scholarship funds. Typically, Donor Advised Funds are held at a community foundation, or a commercial entity, which may have a membership with CNJG already. Should a fund want to receive communications directly from CNJG without the intervention of the community foundation or commercial entity, please contact CNJG. Donor Advised Fund members are reminded that CNJG membership cannot be paid from the DAF, and must come from a different account, according to IRS regulations.
• Family Foundations: A foundation whose funds are derived from members of a single family. At least one family member must continue to serve as an officer or board member of the foundation and they or their relatives play a significant role in governing and/or managing the foundation throughout its life. Most family foundations concentrate their giving locally, in their communities. “Family Foundation,” however, is not a legal term.
• Federated Funds: A centralized campaign, most commonly a United Way organization, whereby an organization raises money for its member agencies. These annual workplace giving campaigns raise millions of dollars for distribution to local, state, and national nonprofit organizations.
• Giving Circles: A collaborative philanthropy in which individual donors pool their money and other resources, and decide together how and where to give them away. In New Jersey, many giving circles are a component fund of a community foundation, which may have a CNJG membership already.
• Government Grantmakers: A government agency that provides grants to 501(c)(3) organizations. Note: dues for Government Grantmakers are calculated differently: dues are based on a percentage (0.2%) of the Agency/Division administrative allocation/budget. If the agency does not have an administrative budget, dues will be based on the level of grants made each year (see standard dues structure on the membership application).
• Independent Foundations: An individual usually founds these private foundations, sometimes by bequest. Sometimes individuals or groups of people, such as family members, form a foundation while the donors are still living. Many large independent foundations are no longer governed by members of the original donor's family, but are run by boards made up of community, business and academic leaders. They are occasionally termed “nonoperating” because they do not run their own programs.
• Private Operating Foundations: Private operating foundations derive their annual budget from an endowment or from a sole donor or some other reliable source of income for which the foundation does not need to fundraise or solicit. If, however, a private operating foundation primary function is to be a fundraising arm for a nonprofit, and does not support two or more unrelated external organizations, similar to supporting foundations, it is not eligible for membership with CNJG.
• Public Foundations: Also known as public grantmaking charities. Public foundations, along with community foundations, are recognized as public charities by the IRS. Although they may provide direct charitable services to the public and receive donations from the public as other nonprofits do, their primary focus is on grantmaking. To qualify for CNJG membership, a public foundation must spend the substantial amount of time and effort on grantmaking and no more than 60% of its grants should be directed to one organization.
• Family Offices with Philanthropic Advisors: Not a formally-created foundation, but an office that should do, at least, half of the following:
  1. Help the principals to develop their grantmaking priorities
  2. Develop strategies for specific grantmaking program areas
  3. Craft or manage grant application procedures
  4. Research and/or forge relationships with prospective grantees
  5. Manage relationships with existing grantees
  6. Coordinate the grant evaluation process, including the creation of proposal dockets for board review
  7. Manage the disbursement of funds to grantees
  8. Develop and coordinate evaluation of grant outcomes
• Philanthropic Individuals committed to sustained, strategic philanthropy and who are giving more than $20,000 annually to a variety of nonprofit organizations.

Non-grantmaking entities that support grantmaking can join as Associate Members of CNJG. The following are eligible for CNJG Associate Membership:

• Philanthropic Advisors: Consultants engaged to advise individuals or companies on their grantmaking, and who are not working on an on-going basis for a specific foundation or family office, can join as a single individual. If a firm is interested in joining, thereby paying for all advisors to join, please contact CNJG to discuss. Philanthropic Advisors must conform to CNJG’s non-solicitation policy.
• Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs): Private financial institutions that are fully dedicated to delivering responsible, affordable lending to help low-income, low-wealth, and other disadvantaged people and communities join the economic mainstream. CDFIs that have any size of grantmaking portfolio should join as a Grantmaker member as a public Grantmaker. CDFIs that do not have a grantmaking portfolio, but are giving low-interest loans or making an impact through such vehicles can join as an Associate member.

Organizations that are typically not eligible for membership are:

• Supporting Foundations: A supporting organization is a section 501(c)(3) organization that qualifies as a public charity (and not a private foundation) because it has a close relationship with another publicly supported section 501(c)(3) organization. Most often, these are hospital or university foundations. A supporting foundation acting as the fundraising arm for the hospital or university, is not eligible for membership because it does not meet the Council’s membership criteria to provide charitable support to two or more unrelated external organizations on an annual basis.
• 501(c)3 Nonprofit Organizations: Nonprofit organizations that are seeking funds are not eligible to join. If however, within their scope of work there is a grantmaking component (most often a regranting organization) without a formal and separate foundation create, please contact CNJG to discuss eligibility.

Non-Solicitation Policy

CNJG strives to create a community of practice characterized by mutual respect and trust for philanthropy of all shapes and sizes to connect with each other thereby improving grantmaking in New Jersey.

In order to foster a safe, brave, and collegial place where members can share best practices and lessons learned, no fundraising is allowed at CNJG events. Collaborative grantmaking, however, is encouraged.

By joining CNJG, members agree to the following non-solicitation policy:

• Soliciting funds, contracts, and consulting clients is strictly prohibited at all CNJG events (with the exception of sponsors and exhibitors for our signature events) and on our digital listservs and platforms.
• For organizations that both raise funds and make grants, your participation in CNJG activities is as a grantmaker only. Staff whose functions are primarily fundraising (e.g., development staff) within institutions that are both grantseeking and grantmaking are not eligible for participation in CNJG activities, with the exception of our Spring Conference/Colloquium for the Social Sector.
• Contact information on CNJG’s Member Directory and other lists is for networking purposes only. Please do not add contact information to your mailing list without an individual’s explicit permission. Please do not use email addresses, phone numbers, or other contact information for soliciting funds, business, or contracts. Please do not forward other members' contact information to grantseekers without their permission.
• CNJG reserves the right to restrict the participation of individuals or organizations whose behavior contravenes the letter or spirit of our non-solicitation policy.

Membership Dues

Membership dues for grantmaking members follow the schedule below. Please refer to the Membership Policies section for additional specific guidelines for dues calculations.

Membership dues for Associate Members:
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI’s) without grantmaking portfolios dues are $1,630 for the organization. A CDFI that has a grantmaking portfolio should base dues on that grantmaking portfolio according to the dues schedule above. As with our grantmaking members that are both grant seekers and grantmakers, please do not include any fundraising staff as part of the membership. For clarifications, please contact CNJG.

Dues for an individual philanthropic advisor are $1,630. If a firm is interested in joining to have more than one advisor on staff join, please contact CNJG to discuss.

Leadership Gifts

Some members include an additional gift to help cover the costs of CNJG’s operations. Membership dues cover about 40% of our operations. These welcomed and unrestricted funds help underwrite the many programs and services that CNJG provides to our members and the philanthropic sector.
 

Sponsorships

In addition to membership, CNJG offers companies and foundations the opportunity to sponsor events, programs, and services. Please contact Theresa Jacks for more information.

For any other questions or to learn more about CNJG membership, contact Craig Weinrich.

The long, hard work of advancing racial equity is deeply personal work for everyone involved in it. In this video, United Philanthropy Forum members and colleagues share some deeply moving stories of the role that racial equity plays in their personal lives. This is the third video in a three-part Forum video series on racial equity. Our goal with these videos is to spark continued thinking and conversations that will lead to action in our field to reduce inequities based on race and ethnicity. The Forum is grateful to everyone in the video for being willing to share their personal journeys on working to eliminate all disparities based on race and ethnicity.

Click here to view a version of this video with captions

The CNJG board is comprised of 20 leaders who come from CNJG member organizations and are elected by the CNJG membership. Each board member provides guidance and leadership to CNJG by serving up to two 3-year terms.

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Back Row: Andy Fraizer, Christine Healey, Lucy Vandenberg, Patricia Hartpence, Aaron Turner, Craig Drinkard, Catherine Wilson, Margarethe Laurenzi, Tammy Rice Herman, and Paul DiLorenzo
Front Row: Priti Mehta, Melissa Litwin, Justin Kiczek, Kate Barrett, Theresa Jacks (CNJG), Marcy Felsenfeld, Jasmyne Beckford, and Jeremy Grunin
Not Pictured: Kortney Swanson Davis, Maisha Simmons, and Maria Spina.

CNJG Board Members  

Craig Drinkard, Chair, Victoria Foundation

Justin Kiczek, 1^st Vice Chair, F. M. Kirby Foundation

Christine Healey, 2^nd Vice Chair, The Healey Education Foundation, Inc.

Catherine Wilson, Treasurer, United Way of Greater Newark

Kortney Swanson Davis, Secretary, Forman S. Acton Educational Foundation

Kate Barrett, The Campbell’s Foundation

Jasmyne Beckford, The Prudential Foundation

Paul DiLorenzo, Salem Health and Wellness Foundation

Marcy Felsenfeld, The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey

Andy Fraizer, Community Foundation of South Jersey

Jeremy Grunin, Grunin Foundation

Patricia Hartpence, NJM Insurance Group

Tammy Rice Herman, New Jersey State Council on the Arts

Margarethe Laurenzi, Maher Charitable Foundation

Melissa Litwin, The Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation

Priti Mehta, Investors Foundation

Maisha Simmons, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Maria Spina, PSEG Foundation

Aaron Turner, Community Foundation of New Jersey

Lucy Vandenberg, Schumann Fund for New Jersey

Theresa Jacks, President & CEO, Council of New Jersey Grantmakers – ex officio

The Board of Trustees are supported by the work of 8 different committees.

Based sardonically on Masterpiece Theatre, Structural Racism Theater introduces the viewer to concrete examples of structural racism and implicit bias in an edgy, social media-friendly way. In "Darkness in Emerald City," we look at the relationship between implicit bias and institutional racism.

Watch the video