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A working glossary of terms to help shape a common language for work in Community Capacity. This glossary is intended to help promote philanthropy's roles in building community capacity by defining core concepts and closely related terms.
Sample board committee descriptions, including roles and responsibilities of committee members
This self-assessment/reflection tool is intended for foundations and funders committed to or interested in Doing Good Better. Doing Good Better is inspired by, and builds on, years of nonprofit and community advocacy, the principles of “Trust Based Philanthropy,” and numerous other resources. We hope this tool will open up the opportunity for dialogue and reflection with your board, staff and funded agencies. Your response can serve as a baseline for future measurement of your organization’s progress towards Doing Good Better, stronger philanthropic/nonprofit partnerships, and heightened community impact.
This assessment is intended as a self-reflection tool, rather than a recommendation for any specific policy within a particular funding institution. It has four sections, one for each Doing Good Better goal. For most funders, a single individual in grantmaking or senior leadership will be able to complete the full assessment; others may need additional support from other departments to respond. While filling out the assessment, we encourage you to consider how self-reporting bias may show up in your answers. Also, notice where a question challenges you and get curious about why.
To make the most of this tool, we recommend that you first review and consider the Doing Good Better goals before starting this assessment. We also encourage your board and staff to go through the goals as you reflect on your responses.
• Goal 1: Center Equity
• Goal 2: Provide Flexible Funding
• Goal 3: Provide Reliable Funding
• Goal 4: Reduce Paperwork Burden
DOWNLOAD THE SELF-ASSESSMENT TOOL
This new report from CNJG and partners examines the response of foundations, corporations, and other institutional donors to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. Numbering nearly 600, these funders have so far committed more than $380 million for relief, recovery and building efforts. The hard data and reflective observations in the report contribute to the growing body of knowledge that helps foundations and corporations be strategic and effective with their giving when disaster strikes.
Two years after the historic storm, Philanthropy & Hurricane Sandy: A Report on the Foundation & Corporate Response breaks down the allocation of dollars contributed thus far and offers perspective on the role of private giving in disaster response and lessons to be taken from this one. The report was published by the Foundation Center in partnership with the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers and Philanthropy New York, and with support from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.
“Throughout the past two years, our exceptional nonprofit and funder community has taken on challenges they never imagined,” said Nina Stack, president of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers. “These organizations continue to develop innovative solutions that other communities will learn from and build upon in future disasters.”
In addition to the report’s numerous funders, CNJG wishes to thank the PSEG Foundation for supporting this project.
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.
Philanthropic organizations of all shapes and sizes are well positioned to support Communities for a Lifetime (CfaL). This issue brief explores four roles for philanthropy in advancing CfaL work.
In this briefing, Bob Kim, Executive Director, Education Law Center, will address need for systemic litigation and legal services, research, and data collection. He will also contextualize the current environment by discussing broader trends affecting education, such as privatization, lack of trust in government, and culture wars. Robert Morrison, CEO, Quadrant Research, will address the federal government's limited role in public education, with ultimate authority residing at the local district level and the need for funders to understand these trends and their implications for New Jersey's education system. Moderated by Brandon McCoy, President and CEO, Fund for New Jersey, this discussion will address the biggest challenges faced, lessons from historical efforts, and gaps in education policy and advocacy.
Robert Kim, Esq. is the Executive Director of Education Law Center, a legal advocacy organization dedicated to advancing and protecting public education and the rights of public school students nationwide. In 2020, he served as a member of the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition Team. From 2011 through 2016, he served in the Obama Administration as deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, which enforces federal civil rights laws in K-12 and postsecondary institutions nationwide. Earlier in his career, Kim served as a senior policy analyst at the National Education Association and as a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. His most recent publications include Education and the Law, 6th ed. (West Academic Publishing, 2024) and Elevating Equity and Justice: Ten U.S. Supreme Court Cases Every Teacher Should Know (Heinemann, 2020).
Robert B. Morrison, CEO of Quadrant Researc, is a nationally renowned leader in arts and music education, recognized for his pioneering research, influential advocacy, and transformative policy initiatives. As founder and CEO of Quadrant Research—the nation’s leading arts education data analytics and market research firm—Morrison has driven groundbreaking advancements in expanding access to music and arts programs across the United States. Morrison played a pivotal role in establishing New Jersey as a national model. He founded and directed Arts Ed NJ, New Jersey’s statewide arts education policy group, and spearheaded initiatives that led to the state being the first in the country to include arts education in annual school reporting. In Arkansas, his collaboration with the governor helped mandate music and arts programs for all public school students, a policy later adopted by Louisiana.
Brandon McKoy, President and CEO of Fund for New Jersey, is an established leader in public policy analysis and advocacy statewide and nationally. Prior to his current position, he worked as the Vice President for State Partnerships and Co-Leader of the State Fiscal Policy Division at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C. At New Jersey Policy Perspective, McCoy held several roles over the course of seven years, first as a State Policy Fellow through the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ program, next as a Policy Analyst, and then as Director of Government and Public Affairs, before assuming leadership of the organization as NJPP’s President from 2019 through late 2021. Throughout those years, he researched and promoted a variety of issues including the minimum wage, paid sick leave, equitable taxation, public budget processes, the legalization and regulation of cannabis, and much more.
Cost: Free for CNJG Members; $75 for Non Member Grantmakers
This program is only open to staff and trustees from grantmaking organizations.
Programs in this Series:
March 13: Making Sense of Federal Policy: Understanding What it Means for NJ: Immigration
March 20: Making Sense of Federal Policy: Understanding What it Means for NJ: Health
March 27: Making Sense of Federal Policy: Understanding What it Means for NJ: Environment
April 3: Making Sense of Federal Policy: Understanding What it Means for NJ: Education
April 10: Making Sense of Federal Policy: Understanding What it Means for NJ: Housing
April 17: Making Sense of Federal Policy: Understanding What it Means for NJ: Media & Journalism
April 24: Making Sense of Federal Policy: Understanding What it Means for NJ: Arts
Webinar Video
Education Law Center: Trump 2.0 Federal Revenue Tool - Track how federal funding (Title I, IDEA, etc.) cuts would affect NJ
United States Department of Education Letter: Consider how the current federal guidance against DEI may represent an incursion into state responsibility and autonomy over school operations and curriculum
This paper explores community democracy as a cultural choice and a potential organizing system for philanthropy using stories that demonstrate its principles and practices, primarily growing from the experience of northern California communities. This experience offers a framework of principles and a beginning set of conclusions about how philanthropy can develop productive partnerships from the perspective of a place-based, community democracy.