Opening Plenary
How Philanthropy Can Do Good Better
This plenary aims to frame the day around the Doing Good Better joint initiative of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers and the New Jersey Center for Nonprofits, whose goal is to take action against the power imbalances and racial inequities in philanthropy, nonprofits and government. The panelists, each representing a different type of foundation, have exercised in the recent past different ways that they have changed their funding practices to align with Trust Based Philanthropy principles. This is not a traditional funder panel talking about who and what they fund, but rather, how funders have changed their grantmaking practices to lessen burdens on nonprofits.
Tanuja Dehne
Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
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Craig Drinkard
Victoria Foundation |
Jeremy Grunin
Grunin Foundation
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Samantha Plotino
The Provident Bank Foundation
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Theresa Jacks
Council of New Jersey Grantmakers
Moderator
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Morning Breakout Sessions
Re-Defining Capacity Building: Meeting Nonprofits Where They Are
BIPOC-led and serving nonprofits are vital lifelines of economic recovery and the health of communities of color. Many were forced to shut their doors in recent years due to decades of chronic underfunding - compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. This unveiled the need for philanthropy to adapt more equitable approaches to building organizational capacity. Since then, multiple channels have emerged to strengthen BIPOC-led nonprofits and facilitate the application of trust-based principles. Through targeted infrastructure support, peer to peer learning,coaching, trust-based principles and more, grantmakers can provide community leaders with resources & space to work on the urgent issues that matter. In this session, grantmakers will share learnings on their unique approaches to supporting the capacity needs of BIPOC-led nonprofits across New Jersey.
Beyond Nonprofit Burnout: How Funders and Nonprofits Can Create Sustainable Jobs
The nonprofit sector is in trouble, with high turnover and unfilled jobs weakening many organizations' ability to fulfill their missions. The culprit: poor quality jobs, with low pay, long hours, poor internal communication, race and gender inequities, and other unsustainable conditions. Funders bear some of the responsibility for the prevalence of burnout jobs.
The Staffing the Mission project of Class Action has co-created a Sustainable Jobs toolkit with detailed recommendations for funders and for nonprofit managers to improve staff jobs.
In this interactive workshop, participants will share experiences with burnout nonprofit jobs, learn about the toolkit’s recommendations to alleviate burnout, and formulate action steps that they can take to improve their own organizations’ practices.
Betsy Leondar-Wright
Staffing the Mission |
Developing Trust Through Finances
Nonprofit and foundations executives constantly deal with financial statements and returns, even if we don’t always completely understand what they mean. Financial statements, 990s, and 990-PF’s: they all offer a wealth of information for both nonprofits and philanthropy. It is helpful to know where to look and how to interpret these numbers. Yet, this skill is often overlooked and largely assumed that we all know how to read these statements and returns. As we look to deepen philanthropic and nonprofit partnerships, simplify the reporting and application process, and build trust, we should all feel comfortable with these documents to have meaningful conversations, and be mutually accountable.
Join this panel discussion that offers what donors and funders look for in the audited financial statements and the tax returns, how to make sense of the responses to each section, a refresher on the IRS requirements, and more. We’ll devote special attention to key narrative sections of the audited financial document and what you should expect to see in the free-form Schedule O. The panel will also discuss the sections funders often use for analysis: the Statement of Functional Expenses, and the year-over-year financial comparisons in the first-page summary section. Lastly, we’ll touch on areas where you might find common red flags.
Lovepreet K. Buttar
The Mercadien Group |
Richard A. Ribeiro
Turrell Fund |
Elizabeth B. Wagner
Bryn Mawr Trust |
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Participatory Grantmaking in Action: Lessons Learned
Participatory Grantmaking is the practice of ceding grantmaking power to community members and constituencies most impacted by inequities and most proximate to the solutions. In practice it means placing affected communities at the center of grantmaking by giving them the power to decide who and what to fund. The New Jersey Birth Equity Funders Alliance’s (NJBEFA) first charge in its development was to assemble a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to steward a $500,000 Community Fund. The Community Advisory Committee is composed of (1) community members who are most affected by disparities in maternal and infant health and (2) organizational leaders that represent the needs of BIPOC mothers and infants affected by disparities in maternal and infant health. A community participatory process was agreed upon to design this fund.
The CAC stewarding of this fund has been a success, generating deep lessons and providing ongoing development for each individual involved as they understand community engagement and power dynamics from different levels. Achieving birth equity means understanding our own limitations and knowledge and how these influence our decisions.
We hope that by sharing the lessons learned --- including the great, the good, and the areas that need improving-- we can help influence participatory grantmaking and advance more trust-based philanthropy.
Cecile Edwards
NJ Birth Equity Education Alliance |
Melissa Litwin
Henry & Marilyn Taub Foundation |
Kashieka Phillips
New Jersey Birth Equity Funders Alliance |
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Luncheon Plenary
Trust Based Philanthropy: The Collective Work of Funders and Nonprofits in Advancing Culture Change
CNJG welcomes Shaady Salehi, Executive Director of the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project who will outline the underlying values of a trust-based approach, and how this ties into our collective responsibility in advancing a sectorwide culture wherein our work reflects the needs and dreams of communities.
Shaady Salehi
Trust-Based Philanthropy Project |
Afternoon Breakout Sessions
Demographics via Candid: Movement building to advance equity for the social sector
Comprehensive and public demographic data is vital to our sector’s work on racial equity. But duplicate requests for this information increase the burden on nonprofits and take time away from their missions. A new initiative, Demographics via Candid, empowers nonprofits to share their data, one time, where it can be accessed by funders, PSOs, nonprofit associations, researchers, and others.
Cesar Del Valle
Candid |
Catalina Spinel
Candid |
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Dismantling Capital Campaigns: Imagining a New Way Forward
Capital projects have typically been driven by expensive campaigns that put wealthy donors at the top of the funding pyramid. How can nonprofits and funders partner together to address historic disinvestment that has resulted in decaying facilities that often leave BIPOC communities utilizing inferior, and often unhealthy, community spaces. Join The Nonprofit Professionals of Color Collective and the Institute of Music for Children (IMC), a youth-centered arts education organization, to delve into the inequities of capital campaigns and imagine a new way forward. Earlier this year, IMC and the Turrell Fund invited a group from around New Jersey to start this discussion, one that has continued to evolve since. Learn about their findings, unique approach, suggestions for both funders and nonprofits, and consider how organizations historically excluded from big gifts can access resources outside of the typical capital campaign structure.
Tyneisha K. Gibbs
Nonprofit Professionals of Color Collective
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Victoria Marie “Vicki” Fernandez
Nonprofit Professionals of Color Collective
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Jennifer North
The Institute for Music for Children
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Alysia Souder
The Institute for Music for Children
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Government Funding and Trust Based Philanthropy
Government funding is quite different than most private philanthropy as they operate under different rules, structures, and laws. But that doesn’t mean government funding cannot be trust-based or find ways to share power. Hear from current and former government executives about how they are applying trust-based philanthropy principles to their funding, some of the challenges they face, and how nonprofits can advocate for change.
Ruche Gadre
New Jersey Economic Development Authority |
Eddie LaPorte
Office of Faith-Based Initiatives |
Allison Tratner
New Jersey State Council on the Arts |
Charlie Venti
Inventive Strategies |
Doug Schoenberger
New Jersey Center for Nonprofits
Moderator |
New Jersey Nonprofits: Trends and Outlook
Learn about the overall state of New Jersey’s nonprofit community, featuring highlights of the New Jersey Center for Nonprofits’ annual nonprofit survey report, New Jersey Nonprofits 2023: Trends and Outlook, released in March 2023.
Gain new insights about how the nonprofit sector fared in 2022, outlook for the coming year, and the implications of current and emerging trends on the ability of organizations to provide and/or fund needed programs and services. Hear also about updates on legislative proposed bills that directly affect your nonprofit or philanthropic organization, and how you can support and advocate for these issues. This information can aid in your organization’s planning efforts throughout the year, and aid in your communications with other funders, other nonprofits, policy makers, and even the media.
Linda Czipo
New Jersey Center for Nonprofits
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