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Today, we are excited to announce that the Dodge Foundation’s latest cycle of grants provides support to over 30 organizations focused on addressing the root cause and repair of structural racism and inequity across New Jersey. These organizations are working on everything from building power among immigrant communities to advocating for housing and environmental justice.
We have been honored to partner with our Imagine a New Way grantees over the last few years, including those we supported in our first grantmaking cycle in 2023. In addition to those we are announcing today, we have been able to fund organizations that have already mobilized meaningful change for communities across the state. Just last week, advocates stood at Perth Amboy’s ferry port where slave ships docked from Africa in the 1700s. During a Juneteenth celebration, our partner, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, launched the New Jersey Reparations Council to measure slavery’s impact, to determine how to repair the damage, and to repay the generations who suffered. The Council will establish nine committees to examine the wealth gap, disparities in health and incarceration, school segregation and more.
The announcement of the new Council builds on the important impacts of NJISJ over the last few years. In 2021, NJISJ was part of a coalition that secured $8.4 million in state funds to create “restorative justice hubs” in Camden, Newark, Paterson, and Trenton, offering services for young people returning from incarceration. Other Imagine a New Way partners have also had tremendous impact – just last year, our grantee partners at Salvation and Social Justice successfully advocated to require, for the first time, New Jersey police officers to be licensed — as doctors and lawyers are — and set rules for decertifying officers who engage in misconduct.
Kearny Bank said Wednesday that it gifted $590,385 in 2024 to charities in New Jersey and New York. The donations were made through the KearnyBank Foundation and went to community, education, housing, and quality of life organizations.
Kearny Bank’s 2024 contributions were: $272,885 to community; $142,885 to education; $92,500 to quality of life; and $80,000 to housing.
During 2024, the largest single donation was to Junior Achievement of New Jersey, which received $65,000. In addition, the 55 Kip Center of Rutherford received $50,000. Also included among recipients was the Essex County chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women, which received $18,000. The Robeson Classic High School Football All-Star Game and HABcore, Inc. each received $15,000, while $12,000 was contributed to the Student/Partner Alliance.
“We’re delighted that our success enables us to donate to a range of programs and organizations that help communities in which we conduct business,” says Craig Montanaro, Kearny Bank president and CEO. “Our company has been committed to charitable giving since it was founded in the 19th century and we continue seeking ways to enhance people’s lives.”
At our 2025 Annual Meeting on June 12th, our members gathered to award $191,000 to six organizations that serve our region. The grand total our members have awarded to 27 local organizations since 2018 is now $1,411,360. We thank everyone who attended or supported our collective giving circle in any number of ways throughout the year!
Kessler Foundation said Wednesday that in 2022 it approved approximately $1 million in grants to support initiatives that promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace.
The majority of the funding was allocated into two categories: Signature Employment Grants and Community Employment Grants. The remaining funds were awarded to Foundation Directed Grants, Special Initiative Grants and Emergency Relief Grants.
“In our society, work often defines who we are, and how we are perceived by others,” Elaine Katz, senior vice president for grants and communications at Kessler Foundation, said. “Because participating in the workplace has many benefits, both tangible and intangible, Kessler Foundation focuses its grantmaking on expanding employment opportunities for people with disabilities, and addresses employment outcomes through its rehabilitation research.”
The Trenton Arts Fund at the Princeton Area Community Foundation has awarded $29,550 in grants to seven local arts, culture and history nonprofits, in particular their programs that support Trenton’s young people.
“We are thrilled to help fund these arts organizations and programs in this city that means so much to us,” said John Hatch, who created the Trenton Arts Fund in 2018 with his husband, David Henderson. “Trenton has a rich cultural history, and the arts are flourishing in Trenton. With this round of grants, we are supporting Trenton’s tradition of creativity, and especially programs that support our young residents.”
Grants were made at the recommendation of the Trenton Arts Fund Grants Committee, whose members are local residents with a background in the arts.
The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation in Morristown, New Jersey, has announced grants totaling more than $2.4 million.
The foundation's final grants of 2020 include awards in support of COVID-19 relief and response efforts, as well as to organizations working to improve and/or advance the arts, education, the environment, and community development. Recipients of COVID-related grants include the Community Foundation of New Jersey, which was awarded $200,000 for its New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund; Clinton Hill Community Action, which will receive $25,000 in support of efforts to use the arts to engage residents who have been isolated during the pandemic; the Newark Arts Council, which will receive $50,000 in support of its Creative Catalyst Fund; and the Cave Canem Foundation, which was awarded $10,000 for COVID-19 relief and in support of 2020 Dodge Poetry Festival programming.
The foundation also awarded sixteen grants totaling $785,500 through its Education program area, twenty-two grants totaling $778,000 through its Environment program area, six grants totaling $171,000 through its Informed Communities program, and grants totaling $255,000 through its Technical Assistance and other program areas. In 2020, the foundation committed $10.8 million in support of efforts to build a more equitable New Jersey.
"The dual crises of racial injustice and the global pandemic accelerated the foundation's imperative to Imagine A New Way and commitment to transform our work and the construct of philanthropy itself," said Dodge Foundation president and CEO Tanuja Dehne. "We are grateful to our partners, our community, and networks and friends as we use our collective influence and power to amplify, multiply, and activate the voices of many."
The Fund for Women and Girls (FWG) at the Princeton Area Community Foundation has awarded $215,000 in grants, including support for five local nonprofits that are working to help new mothers, mothers in recovery, single parents, families with young children and children who have been removed from their homes.
More than 20 years ago, the FWG was created as a fund of the Community Foundation to focus its funding on organizations that work to improve the lives of vulnerable women and children in the region. With a philosophy of collective philanthropy, members donate to the Fund, and then meet annually to recommend grants to support nonprofits aligned with the fund’s goals.
“These nonprofits are doing incredibly important work in our communities, and this funding will make a meaningful difference in the lives of women and children,” said Carolyn Sanderson, Chair of The Fund. “Thanks to the generosity of our members, we have awarded more than $1 million in grants to more than two dozen nonprofits over the last six years. We can do so much more together than any of us can do individually.”
In Q4 2021, our foundation awarded 17 grants totaling over $6.4 million dollars. Of these, three grants were new, while nine were renewals.
Our Q4 grantmaking aligns with our updated funding model, which focuses our work on identifying and fueling the scale of cost-effective programs and solutions that accelerate improvement in key academic and socioemotional outcomes for all children. Inspired by venture philanthropy, the model puts an emphasis on grantmaking and strategic support that unlock innovation, evidence, and growth.
Below we highlight just some of the many direct impact and ecosystem organizations we’re proud to support this quarter as we conclude our 2021 grantmaking.
The New Jersey Civic Information Consortium (NJCIC) is pleased to announce over $1 million granted to 12 news and information organizations across the state. This announcement comes on the heels of a major victory for local news: New Jersey lawmakers and Governor Phil Murphy recently approved a $2.5 million investment for the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium in the FY26 State budget — ensuring our support for trusted, community-rooted journalism continues into the next fiscal year.
These renewal grants support important work in newsrooms and civic media outlets already making a difference — from amplifying underrepresented voices to training the next generation of media professionals. Together, these projects serve a diverse range of communities, addressing information gaps and creating lasting infrastructure for local reporting, media training, and civic leadership.
“By supporting these grantees for another year, we’re investing in long-term impact,” said Chris Dagget, Board Chair and Interim Executive Director of the Consortium. “The organizations in this group are already embedded in the communities they serve. With this support, they’ll be able to deepen that work.”
The Community Foundation of South Jersey announced Friday 42 recipients of Round 6 grants from its COVID-19 Response Fund.
The Haddonfield-based philanthropy organization said 41 nonprofits were awarded $210,000, to fund organizations serving Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean and Salem counties negatively affected by the pandemic and related economic difficulties. To date, 153 grants totaling more than $1.068 million have been distributed. .
“Our community partners and the families they serve have had to adapt during the pandemic, and they continue to navigate their work through the ongoing health crisis,” said CFSJ Executive Director Andy Fraizer. “The first five rounds of grants were focused on organizations serving high-need, vulnerable populations in areas such as housing, health and education. While a number of those organizations are represented in Round 6, we are also providing help to smaller arts and culture organizations who are still working to recover from this crisis as they adjust to operating in a new normal.”.
“Even as New Jersey has reopened and more and more residents have answered the call to get vaccinated, the effects of the pandemic continue to hamper nonprofits throughout the region,” said Wanda Hardy, chairperson of the foundation’s Community Leadership and Engagement Committee. “As we look to the future, we will continue to work with engaged and generous donors throughout our service area, as well as determined nonprofit partners, as the region moves from crisis relief to long-term recovery.”
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) today announced plans to award grants totaling $17.5 million to 30 nonprofit organizations through Phase 3 of its successful Sustain & Serve NJ program. Sustain & Serve NJ provides eligible entities with grants to support the purchase of meals from New Jersey restaurants that have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 and the distribution of those meals at no cost to recipients. The additional $17.5 million in awards announced today brings total program funding to $52.5 million.
Sustain & Serve NJ launched during the pandemic as a $2 million pilot program to boost restaurants impacted by COVID and has grown into an over $50 million program that continues to bring much-needed food to people across New Jersey. Since February 2021, Sustain & Serve NJ has already supported the purchase of more than 3.5 million meals from over 400 restaurants in all 21 counties with grants totaling $35 million.
Phase 3 of Sustain & Serve NJ is funded by $10 million allocated by Governor Phil Murphy from the federal American Rescue Plan and approximately $7.5 million in State funding. Funding from this latest phase is expected to support the purchase of an additional 1.5 million meals.
“Sustain & Serve NJ has become a national model for addressing food insecurity, supporting small businesses that are the heartbeat of our downtowns, and providing funding to the nonprofit entities that deliver vital services,” said Acting Governor Sheila Y. Oliver. “Combatting hunger remains a top priority and it is more critical than ever that nonprofits have the resources they need to feed the people within their communities.”
The New Jersey State Council on the Arts held its first public meeting of 2023 on February 28, where nearly $2 million was awarded to 140 New Jersey artists through the Council’s Individual Artist Fellowship program.
The Fellowships are competitive awards to New Jersey artists in 12 rotating disciplines granted solely on independent peer panel assessment of work samples. The anonymous process is focused on artistic quality, and awards may be used to help artists produce new work and advance their careers. New Jersey artists applied for awards this year in the categories of choreography, crafts, music composition, photography, playwriting/screenwriting, poetry, and sculpture. This program is carried out in partnership with Mid Atlantic Arts.
At the Council’s Annual Meeting last July, the Council voted to authorize an unprecedented investment of $2 million in the Individual Artist Fellowship program. Through that commitment of funding, this year’s Fellowship cohort is the largest one the Council has added to its distinguished list of Fellows in over 30 years. In order to further support the increased number of artists applying to the program, the Council developed a new level of awards in addition to the Fellowship Award. For the first time, the Council announced Finalist Awards. The Finalists Awards are given to those applicants who scored highly, but just below the cutoff to receive a Fellowship.
A coalition of six major journalism funders have announced commitments totaling $36.5 million in emergency grants to public media stations at risk of closure following federal funding cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
The grantmakers include Pivotal Ventures, as well as the John S. and James L. Knight, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur, Robert Wood Johnson, Schmidt Family, and Ford foundations. The commitment includes $26.5 million in support for the Public Media Bridge Fund, a philanthropic effort managed by Public Media Company and developed with seed funding from the Schmidt Family Foundation.
In addition to supporting the fund, the MacArthur Foundation is committing $10 million in direct support to public media stations, programs, and organizations. The collaboration is accompanied by an open call to other funders to support local public media; if stations close or scale back, millions of Americans will lose access to free, reliable local news, educational content, cultural programming, and emergency alerts.