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The role of corporate philanthropy is at a pivotal point as executive, employee, and customer expectations shift and stakeholders increasingly expect businesses to value and invest in societal welfare. In this rapidly evolving environment, there is opportunity for corporate foundations to reevaluate traditional approaches to grant making, social responsibility, and engagement with counterpart organizations.

The life sciences and health care industry provides an exceptionally compelling illustration of macrophilanthropic trends and possibilities. Although all industries can constructively transform existing corporate philanthropy models, the life sciences and health care ecosystem is experiencing dramatic increases in consumer engagement, perceived social responsibility, and global attention that make more thoughtful, strategic philanthropic investment especially urgent. In this paper, they examine the current health ecosystem, evolving stakeholder expectations, the unique position of life sciences and health care foundations to effect critical change,and alternative engagement models with demonstrated track records of success on an international scale.

In anticipation of Columbia Bank’s acquisition of Freehold Bank – scheduled for Saturday, the bank and its foundation awarded grants to 18 organizations totaling more than $100,000.

The funds will be used to support food insecurity, housing initiatives, medical aid and community development within the Freehold area.

Thomas Kemly, the head of the bank and the foundation, said the bank was excited to make the donations – and to acquire Freehold Bank.

“Columbia Bank is thrilled to welcome Freehold Bank to its family,” he said. “Both organizations share a commitment to excellent customer service, superior products and to giving back. Through this acquisition, we’ll introduce new branches and ATM locations with added products and services, paired with the same friendly faces from both teams.”

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts held a public meeting on December 13th, during which 22 New Jersey organizations received grants through the Council’s new Creative Aging Initiative grant program. Senior centers, libraries, and arts organizations will provide customized arts experiences for people aged 55 and older, helping to enhance overall wellness, build community, and diminish issues of isolation.

With a focus on lifelong learning in the arts, the Creative Aging Initiative grants will provide $10,000 to a variety of New Jersey nonprofits engaging in creative aging work. Each of this year’s grant recipients will provide two (2) eight-day residencies for New Jersey seniors – at no cost to the participants. This new program was built upon the success of a Creative Aging pilot project the Council concluded earlier this year.

Speaking on the importance of this new grant program, the Council’s Program Officer for Arts Education & Lifelong Learning, Samantha Clarke, said: “Arts education and lifelong learning have been longstanding priorities at the State Arts Council. We look forward to providing new opportunities to reach older adults through the Creative Aging Initiative grant, and we’re especially excited to be working with both arts organizations and community-based organizations in this important work.”

JWF-NJ is pleased to announce that it has awarded five large grants in its 2023-24 Spring Grants Cycle:

$25K to the Barat Foundation for Creation Nation Girls in Tech – a Newark-based project to teach girls engineering and utilization of 3D printers, arts and entrepreneurship skills; $17K to Girls Helping Girls. Period. for Period Equity and Sustainability – a project to introduce the use of menstrual cups to women and girls and provide necessary hygiene products; $25K to KinderSmile for Perinatal Health and Wellness Program at KinderSmile Community Oral Health Center Bloomfield – a project to provide free dental care to perinatal and postpartum women and educate them in the importance of oral health; $25K to Montclair State Foundation’s Global Center on Human Trafficking for The Possibilities Program—Building Human Trafficking Survivor Leadership – a project that gathers teen victims of trafficking for workshops on self-sufficiency, college and career-readiness; and $25K to Sharsheret for Customized Breast Cancer and Ovarian Cancer Quality of Life Kits – a project that provides free, customizable support kits to women facing cancer.

CNJG is helping track philanthropy’s response to the coronavirus pandemic by continuing our “Get on the Map” Campaign partnership with Candid who has launched a new coronavirus map in response to funders requests.

It is critical to be transparent and share this information with other funders to help inform your philanthropy in the coming weeks and months. The information gathered will be publicly available and updated daily at candid.org/coronavirus. Knowing where money is going and how, and having the latest information from organizations, facilitates thoughtful collaboration and decision-making in times of crisis.

You can see a list of grants meant to benefit New Jersey, or
A link to highlight grantmaking by funders in New Jersey.

You can also use different filters to, for example, see grantmaking by funders in Bergen County.

They are also working on making their response funds page filterable by geographic area served. A list of the current New Jersey response funds is available here.

As you can see from any of these “live” maps, the information they have collected is not complete, and this is where we need YOUR help!

Please visit our Share Your Giving Data webpage for information about how to share your data.

If you have any questions on how to submit your data, about the map, or how to include your response fund, please contact Craig Weinrich, CNJG’s Director of Member Services. Thank you in advance for your assistance in getting a more complete picture of New Jersey’s philanthropic response to COVID-19.

CNJG provides this information free to the philanthropic community. If you are not a CNJG member, please join so you can take full advantage of the many benefits of membership and help underwrite the cost of services like this.

CNJG’s Finance and Investment Affinity Group exists to keep foundation executives informed as they manage the investment of their corpus. Growth of foundation assets and the active exchange of sound investment strategies is the focus of each program.

As stewards of your organization’s assets, you’ve likely had discussions at the Board level regarding the merits of incorporating Values-Based Investing (“VBI”) approaches into the investment program. As the industry has evolved, VBI incorporates Socially Responsible Investing, Environmental Social & Governance (“ESG”), and Impact Investing. While the opportunity and investment thesis for capturing VBI attributes are well articulated across the industry, a cautious and thoughtful approach is warranted. VBI should not be “one size fits all”; rather, a customized opportunity exists to reflect your organization’s values across the investment portfolio. Further, given the meteoric rise of VBI across the investment industry, there are a plethora of products that claim to incorporate responsible principles; however, a closer examination may raise doubts about the value-add being provided, especially on a net of fees basis. Lastly, certain VBI arenas such as ESG have unfortunately become a hot-button political issue, with both ends of the spectrum equating ESG investing with other political agendas. When considering the appropriateness of VBI for your organization, we believe it is important for the Board to have a clear understanding of the opportunities and challenges involved.

Agenda
8:30 a.m. - Breakfast
9:00 a.m. - Program begins
10:00 a.m. - Meeting concludes

Cost: $35 for CNJG Members; $70 for Non Member Grantmakers (includes full breakfast)

Let’s look back on 2024 and ahead to 2025. Our guest speaker will share an insight on philanthropic trends and what might be on the horizon as the New Year progresses. We would like to have a candid discussion about how we envision we might shift gears and perhaps see programs sunset or create new ones, share budget impacts or maybe creative responses to address the needs of those served by the nonprofits we support. We hope you will join us for our journey.

Cost: Free for CNJG Members; $75 for Non Member Grantmakers
This program is only open to staff and trustees from grantmaking organizations.

Elizabeth A. Barnette is a Managing Director and Senior Philanthropic Strategist with the National Consulting and Advisory Practice at Bank of America Private Bank. In this role, Elizabeth provides customized consulting to endowment and foundation clients’ boards of directors and senior leaders in areas including mission advancement, leadership development, nonprofit governance, and board dynamics. Elizabeth has over 25 years of experience working with nonprofits. Prior to joining the National Consulting and Advisory Practice, Elizabeth was a National Fiduciary Philanthropic Manager at Bank of America Private Bank, managing a team of philanthropic professionals who provided planned giving, administrative, and fiduciary oversight services to more than 500 nonprofit clients including colleges and universities, churches and other religious organizations, community foundations, hospital systems, and arts and culture organizations. Elizabeth has specialized expertise in planned giving, sub fund accounting, donor advised fund administration, and board governance.