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Strategic asset allocation is arguably one of the most important, yet least advanced, aspects of investing. The Investment Strategy Group (ISG) in the Goldman Sachs Investment Management Division has developed a new approach to strategic asset allocation, which leverages the idea that long-term investment returns derive from multiple distinct sources called “return-generating factors.” This multi-factor approach is designed to help investors better understand the key sources of long-term return across asset classes and to increase the precision of long-term risk and return estimates. It also provides investors with a new way to think about portfolio diversification, allowing them to focus not only on diversification across asset classes but also
on diversification across the underlying sources of return.

The Culture Funders Affinity Group and the Health Funders Affinity Group are pleased to collaborate on this meeting. During the meeting, we will delve into critical questions on the topic - can the arts really improve wellness, what can funders learn from existing statewide models and what is needed to further this work? Globally, the field of arts and health is well-established with healthcare systems strategically positioning the arts to support wellness and wellbeing. In the US, many states are establishing Arts and Health programming to intentionally leverage art experiences as mitigation, intervention, and even as preventative care. In New Jersey, vibrant cross-sector partnerships have resulted in innovative programming and dynamic models to increase arts access and participation while expanding the traditional bounds of health and wellbeing. Bringing together voices from both the nonprofit and funding communities, this panel explores what’s working and envisions what’s possible as partners break down silos to build a stronger, healthier New Jersey through the art. Join us for an enlightening conversation. Light refreshments will be served.

Panelists
Jennifer Kastle-Goudy, Associate Director of The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey
Alyson Maier Lokuta, AVP, Arts & Well-Being, New Jersey Performing Arts Center
Morgan Yacoe, Director of the George Family Center for Healing Arts, Rowan University.

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

Andrew Binger is the Program Officer for Community Partnerships at the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. In his role, Andrew manages the Local Arts Program, a $6 million partnership that provides state dollars to each of New Jersey’s 21 counties via a designated county arts agency (CAA). CAAs use these dollars to support their own local arts development programs and to provide regrants to local, grassroots organizations in their respective counties. In addition to managing this extensive grant program, Andrew plays a vital role in the Council’s emergency preparedness efforts and co-leads the agency’s arts and health initiatives. Andrew represents the Council in various cross-sector collaborations, including the NJ Department of Transportation’s Transit Village Task Force, Revolution NJ, and Performing Arts Readiness, to name a few. With a strong commitment to fostering cultural vitality, Andrew continues to make a significant impact in the local arts landscape. Andrew currently serves on the board of the New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund, Just Say It, and the steering committee for the Creating Healthy Communities convening. He is also pursuing a Master of Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary. Through his work, Andrew amplifies voices historically denied opportunity, fostering a more equitable, inclusive, and vibrant society.

Jennifer Kastle-Goudy is an Associate Director for The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, the charitable giving arm of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. She represents the Foundation in southern New Jersey and is responsible for cultivating strategic relationships with charitable organizations and identifying grant-making opportunities to advance the Foundation’s mission, which is to support organizations that make New Jersey healthier. A graduate of Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Jennifer acquired a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising and Graphic Design. She serves on the Advisory Board for the Salvation Army Kroc Center in Camden and Chair’s their Community Relations and Development Committee. Jennifer also serves on the Community Advisory Committee for Jewish Family Service of Atlantic County. Jennifer is a resident of Audubon, New Jersey where she lives with her children Reagan and Jack.

Aly Maier Lokuta, MA (she/her) is the Assistant Vice President of Arts & Well-Being at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), where she leads innovative programming, research, and education at the intersection of arts and health, serving communities in Newark and New Jersey. A multidisciplinary artist, Aly stays well through creating visual art and writing. You can learn more about NJPAC Arts & Well-Being at www.njpac.org/well and about Aly’s art and consulting work at www.alysonmaier.com.

Morgan Yacoe (BFA, Virginia Commonwealth University; MFA, University of Florida) is the inaugural director of the George Family Center for Healing Arts at Rowan University, where she conducts research, education, and community initiatives at the intersection of arts and health. At the Center, she leads programs such as ArtWise Rx, Rowan’s arts prescribing initiative, GlassArt for Military Wellness, and multiple artist in residence programs within Rowan-Virtua Medicine. She also directs the Healing Arts Research Lab and is advancing new academic pathways, including the Healing Arts Area of Distinction for medical students at Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine and a Certificate of Undergraduate Study in Healing Arts. With 15 years of experience in the field, Yacoe is an interdisciplinary artist, sculptor by training, and researcher who develops innovative medical training tools and collaborative art projects designed to enhance wellness, health, empathy, enhance observation, and strengthen cultural competency in healthcare. She has presented nationally, published in peer reviewed medical journals, and secured competitive funding, including the NIH Behavioral Research Prize and multiple foundation grants supporting community-based, educational, and veteran mental health initiatives.

BOOKS
Julia Hotz, The Connection Cure
Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross, Your Brain on Art
Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide
NeuroArts Blueprint

RESEARCH/DATA
Americans for the Arts
·  Arts and Well-Being Info Fact Sheet
·  Improving Our Nation’s Health Through the Arts
Arts Ed Newark: 5-Year Report on Community-Led Healing-Centered Engagement
White Papers: Arts in Health in Long-Term Care, Arts in Health in Social Domain, Arts in Health in Hospitals
Arts, Culture, and Social Prescribing in the US (23 Case Studies)
Music and Mind Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness
WHO 2019 Report
UF Epi Arts Lab Results Table
NJPAC Arts & Well-Being

Upcoming Event: Creating Healthy Communities Conference

Independent Sector, in partnership with Edelman Data & Intelligence, is releasing this second annual report of survey findings that explore the nuances of trust in American nonprofit and philanthropic organizations.

The Trustees of The Fund for New Jersey awarded $920,000 in grants to 11 nonprofit organizations at their second quarterly Board meeting of 2022. Grants were awarded to organizations in the areas of democracy, racial justice, climate change, and the environment.

Kiki Jamieson, President of The Fund for New Jersey, stated, “We are pleased to continue investing in organizations advocating for fairer representation of communities of color, organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union NJ, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund, and the League of Women Voters of NJ continue to be strong advocates of inclusive policies that enhance our democracy, increase civic engagement and promote social and economic justice.”

In our most recent funding rounds, the Dodge Foundation made more than $5.4 million in grants to nonprofit organizations supporting the arts, education, environment, informed communities, sector capacity building, and new Imagine a New Way and Momentum Fund grantees.

In our Imagine a New Way and Momentum Fund grantmaking, we have been investing in and taking guidance from networks, movements, organizations, and leaders who are closest to the harms of injustice; who have been historically excluded from investment and opportunity; and who are working to address the root cause and repair of structural racism and inequity in their work.

These grantee partners lead organizations and initiatives that strategically build power; dismantle systems of injustice; and strengthen economic resilience through narrative change, movement building and organizing, policy advocacy, and sector capacity building.

This national study examines the adoption of Community-Centric Fundraising (CCF) practices across U.S. nonprofit organizations. Proposed in 2019, CCF is a set of principles developed by people of color to align fundraising with movements for race, equity, and social justice. Based on survey responses from 283 organizations and in-depth interviews with 14 fundraising professionals, the research revealed both promising developments and persistent challenges in transforming established fundraising approaches.