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We are pleased to share CNJG’s 2021 Newark Philanthropic Liaison Report to the Field. First established in 2007, the Liaison office represents one of the nation’s first formal partnerships between a city and the philanthropic community. The initiative began as a partnership between the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers in collaboration with then Mayor Cory A. Booker. We are proud this unique partnership has continued with Mayor Ras J. Baraka and his administration.

This report provides a brief summary of the substantial activities and impact the Office of the Newark Philanthropic Liaison facilitated throughout 2021. The strategy of collective impact is thriving throughout Newark thanks in large part to the work of the Liaison, and the funding community’s support of and robust engagement with the Office of the Mayor and anchor institutions across the city continue to reap positive outcomes. The Office of the Newark Philanthropic Liaison is supported by: Bank of America, Burke Foundation, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Maher Charitable Foundation, The Prudential Foundation, Schumann Foundation for New Jersey, Turrell Fund, Victoria Foundation, and the longtime support of the Nicholson Foundation which sunset in late 2021.

Novartis benchmarked Employee Crisis Programs, and asked fellow corporate funders via the corporate funders listserve to answer the questions below.

1. If you have an Employee Crisis Program, what is the name
2. Do you manage the program internally or thru a 3rd party?  If you use a 3rd party, can you share their name/website and any good/bad experiences.
3. Do you only support disasters or other hardships as well?
4. What is the average percentage of your employees that apply for aid?
5. What is your minimum and maximum funding?
6. What is the average amount of aid?
7. Do you provide aid directly to the employee and/or vendors?
8. Do you allow employees to donate to your fund?  If so, how do you promote awareness and what is the employee donation participation rate?  Do you match these donations?
9. Where does the program reside (CSR, Foundation, HR)?
10. Please share guidelines and applications, if possible.
11. Please share any other insights.

The Lumina Foundation has announced a second cohort of communities - including Newark, NJ - to participate in an initiative to increase the number of local residents who hold postsecondary credentials. The partnership with Lumina will provide support and technical assistance for a new consortium, the Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC), which has set as its goal that 25% of Newark residents will have high quality college degrees and credentials by 2025. In 2011, local funders discovered a dearth of philanthropic investments in college access and success. "We recognized that, even among the Newark students who were getting into college, there were huge dropout rates before students completed their first year" said Jeremy Johnson, Newark Philanthropic Liaison and Co-chair of the Newark City of Learning Collaborative. "Lumina's support of the Collaborative will help us figure out the barriers, address interventions, and build a robust collective of partners to share data, measure success, and provide feedback for mid-course corrections along the way," said Dale Anglin, Victoria Foundation Program Officer and also Co-chair of the Newark City of Learning Collaborative. Newark funders working through the Newark Philanthropic Liaison initiative have been instrumental in moving the NCLC forward.

We are witnessing an unprecedented transfer of wealth from one generation to the next. Historically, people lived their entire lives close to their birthplace and as wealth passed from one generation to the next, most stayed in the same community. This is no longer true, and once the wealth leaves our communities, it may never return. The Transfer of Wealth study provides a research-based estimate of your region’s assets – homes, businesses, investments – that will transfer between generations within the next 10 and 40/50 years. This wealth when combined with active donor or legislative engagement, makes available charitable giving and enhances philanthropic investing opportunities to improve the quality of life for our communities into the future. Join Ben Winchester, a Rural Sociologist with the University of Minnesota Extension to learn more about trends in transfer of wealth research across the country.

COST: Free and open to all funders.

This program is made possible by support from the following Philanthropy Support Organizations: Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, Florida Philanthropic Network, Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania, Maryland Philanthropy Network, North Carolina Network of Grantmakers, NY Funders Alliance, Philanthropy Network of Greater Philadelphia, Philanthropy West Virginia, Wisconsin Philanthropy Network.

In 2007, CNJG brought together the state's philanthropic sector to leverage its collective resources, knowledge, and expertise for the good of New Jersey’s citizens. All told, 39 funders throughout New Jersey leveraged more than $100,000 with a match of $300,000 from the State in support of the Civic Justice Corps. The program sought to embrace court-involved and formerly incarcerated youth who complete extensive service projects in their own neighborhoods, while also attending classes to obtain their GED. New Jersey Together was in place for two years in three pilot cities.

Get on the map and give smarter

Get on the Map is an exciting data-sharing initiative designed to dramatically improve the quality and availability of giving data for our region. Using this tool to put your grantmaking in context will provide valuable insights that can transform your giving.

Knowing how other foundations or corporations are funding in a certain geographic area or with a specific nonprofit can make everyone’s work more effective.

Imagine real-time answers to questions like:

• How are others serving at-risk youth?
• Are organizations in our region receiving enough capacity building support?
• Who else funds economic development in our rural communities?

Through a partnership with Candid (formerly the Foundation Center) and the United Philanthropy Forum, Get on the Map enables CNJG members to see the scope of their grantmaking, find natural funding partners, and gain deeper understanding of New Jersey’s philanthropic landscape.

Watch the short video below to learn how easy it is to Get on the Map! 

It starts with sharing your giving data

Your data will power valuable resources for your organization and our region, including access to the CNJG Foundation Funding Map, a special interactive searchable mapping platform, engineered by Candid.

When you share your data, you control your story. No one knows your grantmaking better than you. Tell your story, your way is good for the sector because better information benefits everyone. Join the community of funders sharing their data to ensure the field is acting on the best possible information. Share Now!

Self-Paced Training for Funders on Using Candid

Candid has also launched a new, free self-paced course for funders: Funding Smarter: Using Candid Tools to Inform and Share Your Foundation’s Work. The course is meant to help funders use Candid’s mapping, data, and knowledge tools to better identify funding peers, potential grantee partners, identify funding connections and gaps, and learn from knowledge other funders have already shared. It also highlights the value of sharing data with Candid.