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I Am Trenton Community Foundation is proud to announce awarding $135,000 total through the recent “Making Trenton Even Better” grant program to community champions transforming vacant lots, encouraging art and artists, teaching new skills and providing compassionate support with respect and dignity.

“These community groups will make a real impact across our city and we are excited to support their work,” said IAT Co-President Marelyn Rivera. “Our community faces challenges together, and working together we make Trenton even better.”

Grant Committee Chair Regina Podhorin-Zilinski noted that more than 100 applications were received – and many worthwhile projects were not able to be funded. “This was our most generous grant round ever – with more funding and more applicants than ever before,” she said. “Our only regret is that many good ideas did not receive support – this time.”

The Provident Bank Foundation announced the recipients of its inaugural Empowerment Grant cycle.

PBF’s Board of Directors has approved 41 multi-year grants totaling $515,000 in funding annually to support the missions of nonprofit organizations in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Empowerment Grants range from $5,000 to $20,000 per grant and will be automatically renewed at the same level in 2026.

Projects funded by these grants align with PBF’s priority areas of education, human services, and workforce development, and their corresponding areas of interest that include community colleges, vocational programs, special education services, housing assistance, food security, health-care access for uninsured and underinsured individuals, youth mental health, job training, employment supports, and reentry programs.

“This is the first year of our Empowerment Grant program, which emerged from The Provident Bank Foundation’s recent strategic revisioning process focused on advancing equity and inclusion,” says Samantha Plotino, vice president and executive director of The Provident Bank Foundation.

CNJG is pleased to re-convene the South Jersey Funders Consortium for a lunch meeting at the Green Olive in Bridgeton. Join your fellow South Jersey funders for lunch and a round-robin discussion on what your organization is funding and any new initiatives you are introducing.

Any funder located in or funding in the eight southern counties of New Jersey is welcome to attend (Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem, Cumberland, Cape May, Atlantic, and Ocean). Although Camden city is located in South Jersey, and because we already have a Camden funders affinity group, the topics of discussion of the South Jersey Funders Consortium should focus on south Jersey, outside of the city of Camden.

Cost: $35 for CNJG Members; $75 for Non Member Grantmakers
This program is open to all funders.

Please note: As there is no sponsor for this lunch, we are charging a small registration fee to cover the costs of lunch. This way, at the restaurant, we will only need one check, and be considerate for our server(s).

We have a sponsor for the first meeting of 2026, and CNJG would welcome more sponsors for additional meetings of this group next year.

Please contact Craig if you are interested in underwriting the costs of the lunch.

The New Jersey Cultural Trust has approved $1,001,964 in grants to 37 nonprofit history and humanities organizations across 14 counties, the largest total awarded in a single funding round in the program’s history.

The grants were approved during a November public virtual meeting of the Cultural Trust Board. With this round, the Trust has awarded more than $12.4 million for institutional stabilization and historic preservation projects since Fiscal Year 2004.

The Fiscal Year 2026 Institutional and Financial Stabilization Grants for History and Humanities Organizations were recommended by the New Jersey Historical Commission. Funding will support cash reserves, technology upgrades, capital equipment purchases, staff development, and strategic planning projects.

“As history and humanities organizations across New Jersey prepare to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary, these investments in institutional stability and capacity are especially vital,” said Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, who oversees the Cultural Trust as secretary of state. “These grants increase the ability of our state’s cultural community to promote civic engagement, expand economic vitality, and engage diverse audiences in 2026 and beyond.”

Grantmakers occupy a powerful space of privilege in the social change sector. As such, they have a unique opportunity—and responsibility—to work proactively toward equity and inclusivity. Increasingly, grantmaking institutions are challenging themselves to live their values through their grantmaking practices.

For philanthropy to advance equity in all communities, especially low-income communities and communities of color, it needs to be able to understand the demographics of the organizations being funded (and declined), the people being served, and the communities impacted. That data should be used to assess practices and drive decision making.

PEAK Grantmaking is working to better understand and build the capacity of grantmakers for collecting and utilizing demographic data as part of their grantmaking. 

The effects of COVID-19 continue to be felt all around New Jersey. In order to dig deeper into the impact of the pandemic on certain communities and stay connected during this difficult time, CNJG worked with our affinity group chairs and other members to develop programming that supplemented our COVID-19 Funders Briefing Series and Newark COVID-19 Series. These virtual affinity and interest group meetings were designed for colleagues to update each other on coronavirus response efforts, hear about the greatest needs in their funding area, and share what they have learned. CNJG members can access the recordings of these past meetings to hear what was said.

In their most recent round of funding, the Dodge Foundation made two major, multimillion-dollar grants to projects focused on power building and economic resilience. These grants, to the Racial Justice Alignment Group of Black, Indigenous, and Brown leaders and the Paterson “One Square Mile” initiative from Montclair State University, strengthen our work towards a just and equitable New Jersey. In addition to these grants, we provided support to 27 additional organizations, representing our purposeful efforts to support partners and institutions contributing to the vibrancy of our state.

The Jewish Women’s Foundation of New Jersey (JWF-NJ), recently awarded $125,000 in grants to five local organizations that will put the money to work benefitting women and girls across the region.

“Each of these grants for 2024-25 represents our dedication to the Jewish value of ‘Tikkun Olam’ (repairing our world) and to fostering environments where all women can thrive,” Greenwood said.

The foundation said the round of grant funding is part of an ongoing effort to make a difference in the lives of women and girls by “addressing their unique challenges through philanthropy.”