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Home ownership remains a central pillar to the American dream. For most Americans, home equity encompasses the lion’s share of their wealth. Yet, housing is becoming increasingly inaccessible and out of reach. Median sales prices across the country have outpaced income growth. Demand for housing far outweighs supply. Costs are out of range for many. Contemporary mortgage markets still exclude more than half of Black American households from homeownership. The importance of homeownership in building wealth coupled with the oppressive legacy of racial exclusion point to the need for systemic policy change.

Together, we will:

• Hear market-specific strategies to lower entry barriers and create more equity and affordability through housing policy
• Discuss the role of philanthropy to identify, support, and educate for housing affordability and equity

Speakers:
Christie Stewart, Chief Initiative Officer, Center for Housing Opportunity (CT)
Marcel Negret, Senior Planner, Regional Plan Association 
Staci Berger, President and CEO of Housing & Community Development Network of New Jersey
Julian St. Patrick Clayton, Deputy Director of Policy and Research, Center for NYC Neighborhoods

Moderator:
Julian Pierce, Director, Economic Opportunity, Fairfield County’s Community Foundation

Cost: Free for CNJG Members and Non Member Grantmakers

Articles of Interest
Webinar recording
Renter Empowerment and Neighborhood Tools (RENT) for Health Equity
New York Neighbors Coalition
NYC Community Land Initiative and CLT Map
Reimagining Financial Resources for Affordable Housing Development in Fairfield County, CT in 2020
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Fiscal Recovery Funds
Who Owns Newark? Rutgers-Newark Study Finds Troubling Rise in Corporate Buying of City Homes | Rutgers University-Newark
Connecticut Housing Accessibility and Affordability (urban.org)
Fairfield County Housing Accessibility and Affordability (urban.org)
The Fourth Regional Plan - The Fourth Regional Plan (fourthplan.org)
Housing Segregation is a Choice
Be My Neighbor: Untapped Housing Solutions: ADUs and Conversions
Be My Neighbor in Fairfield County: Untapped Housing Solutions: ADUs and Conversions

Impact Investing Bootcamp: Fundamentals for Driving Sustainable Philanthropy in New Jersey is a 3-part series introducing CNJG members to impact investing. The series will take place from March to May 2024.

The Council on Foundation defines impact investing as “any investment activity that intends to generate positive social and financial returns. Whether called impact investing, mission investing, social investing, social-impact investing, mission-related investing, program-related investing, or sustainable and responsible investing, the practice focuses on activating new financial resources to solve social and environmental problems.”

Impact investing as a tool can generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside financial returns. By attending this series you will:

• Learn the fundamentals of how to create a more sustainable model of philanthropy through impact investing tools.
• Hear from experienced practitioners.
• Learn how to successfully integrate grantmaking and investment resources.
• Participate in interactive discussions with local peers.
• Hear examples of investments made in New Jersey and nationally.
• Attend a site visit to see impact investing in action.
• Receive a copy of the book “Impact Investing: The Practical Guide” by John Duong.

Session 2: This session will feature a site visit to Hinchliffe Stadium to highlight the project and explore local case studies of NJ foundations implementing impact investment strategies. Grantmakers will have the opportunity to tour the project site, hear from nonprofit partners and participants, ask questions, and learn directly from those involved.

COST: Free for CNJG Members
Registrants must attend all three sessions of the series.
Space Limited. No more than two people per organization can register.

Additional Session Information:
Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm - Session 1: In this full day workshop John Duong, founder and CEO of Kind Capital, will lead a dynamic and intensely focused full day of learning, knowledge-building, and exchange. The curriculum will include baseline information, the fundamentals of impact investment, methods and models, and opportunities for peer to peer and small group discussion and dialogue. A light breakfast and lunch is included.

Thursday, May 16, Time TBD - Session 3: This virtual session will focus on setting the groundwork for New Jersey philanthropy to explore additional shared learning and co-investment opportunities. The discussion will be led by John Duong, Kind Capital.

Speaker:
Mr. Duong has been an investment banker at JP Morgan Chase, was founding Managing Director of Lumina Impact Ventures with Luminia, and was Program and Portfolio Officer with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. John holds an executive MBA with a concentration in management and entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School of Management.

This CNJG program is sponsored by: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Victoria Foundation and presented by Kind Capital.

Resources
The Impact Principles website
Planet Tracker website - Reports for climate focused investors
Catalyzing Finance for Racial Equity
RPA Impact Investing Handbook
Impact Investing: A Primer for Family Foundaitons
What Can Foundations Do to Foster Community Investment?
The Role of Impact Capital in Advancing Racial Equity
Impact Capital for Racial Equity: Investing with Intention and Measuring Impact
Emerging Sources of Community Investment Capital and Strategies to Direct it at Scale
Mapping the Journey to Impact Investing
Roadmap for the Future of Impact Investing: Reshaping Financial Markets
Community Foundation Field Guide to Impact Investing
Essentials of Impact Investing
Endowments & Investing
Place-Based Impact Investing: Three Briefs for Practitioners

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Multi-year Grants

Affirmation: Multi-year funds provided both reliability and breathing room for nonprofits.

Making fundamental and long-lasting change comes with the promise of reliable investments. Longer grant terms create an environment where collaborative partnerships can flourish, and trust and transparency break down power dynamics. The result is that nonprofits have the “breathing room” and financial stability to focus activities where they are most needed.

Although many funders award grants to the same nonprofits year after year, they often require submission of annual applications that request information they already have and are complex and needlessly lengthy. These processes can heighten mutual distrust. From a practical standpoint, multi-year awards reduce paperwork for both funder and nonprofit and open communication channels promoting shared goals, mutual trust, and increased overall impact.

Activities
• For funders that historically award repeat annual grants to the same nonprofit partners, shift from an annual grant/proposal cycle to a long-term, multi-year commitment with an annual outcomes/progress report in lieu of a full application.
• Tailor grant terms to suit grantee timelines and needs (negotiated outcomes and milestones).
• If data collection is required solely to meet a funder’s compliance requirements, the funder should assume this responsibility or provide sufficient funding and/or capacity for the nonprofit to meet the requirement.

Short-term Outcomes
• The number of funders making multi-year grants increases by 50% over the previous years.

Long-term Outcomes
• More funders convert an annual application process for repeat grantee partners to a multi-year commitment with an annual outcomes report at the most, instead of full proposals each year.
• Funders assume responsibility for data collection or provide sufficient funding and/or capacity for the nonprofit to meet the requirement.
• Grant terms are suited to grantee timelines and needs (negotiated outcomes and milestones).

How to Begin Doing Good Better on Reliability

Learning opportunities
• What barriers keep funders from making long-term commitments to repeat grantee partners? Are any of these barriers legal?
• What are the minimum data requirements for funders to collect from repeat grantee partners?

Pre-Work
• Address the barriers to awarding multi-year grants through tested tools.
• Learn about how multi-year grants strengthen grantee partners and improve philanthropic, nonprofit, and community impact.
• Research mechanisms funders can use to meet legal compliance requirements while gaining trust in their grantee partners.

I can’t believe October began last weekend. I honestly don’t know where the time goes. Before you know it, the new year will be here.

Before that, I’m looking forward to our annual gathering of members – the CNJG 2023 Annual Meeting & Holiday Gathering.

On Thursday, December 14, over 150 Council members and special guests will gather at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Edison to celebrate the holiday season, welcome new CNJG members, convene a brief business meeting to elect new trustees, feature a dynamic discussion related to the vital work of philanthropy, and provide an excellent opportunity to connect with your colleagues and friends – both old and new.

This year’s overall theme is Philanthropic Collaboratives: Driving Impact and Opportunity.

Together we’ll explore the collaborative process, surface opportunities and challenges, and uncover how to create sustainable partnerships for lasting impact. We’re thrilled to have FSG lead the morning workshop, Tools for Funder Collaboration. The morning workshop will share real life examples of how funders have actively engaged in collaborative efforts, used data for continuous learning, and ensured momentum and buy-in among partners.

Thank you to the Signature Programs Committee, led by co-chairs Christine Healey, President of the Healey Education Foundation, and Atiya Weiss, Executive Director of the Burke Foundation, for their commitment to bring this important topic to CNJG members. The 2023 - 2025 Strategic Plan uplifts collaborations as a way to create more value for member-organizations and the social sector, and catalyze other partnerships in support of all our communities.

The Annual Meeting is the one time per year when many CNJG members come together in one place, at one time, to convene, connect, and celebrate together. And as the “annual meeting of members,” I invite you to consider sponsorship of the event. Even if you’ve never sponsored this gathering before, this is an excellent opportunity to support our work, while also increasing visibility for your own organization and philanthropic efforts. We have a number of outstanding sponsorship opportunities for this event - all outlined here.

We hope you’ll consider supporting the Annual Meeting this year with a sponsorship.

Please call me at (609) 414-7110 extension 805, or email me if you need more information or require an online application to secure your sponsorship. We can also customize a sponsorship package for you.

Thank you to our sponsors to date – we could not do this without you: Signature Sponsor – Prudential, and Contributing Sponsors - Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Devils Youth Foundation.

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at the CNJG Annual Meeting & Holiday Gathering. In the meantime, happy fall.

With all good wishes,

Theresa Jacks, President and CEO
Council of New Jersey Grantmakers

United Philanthropy Forum is committed to advancing racial equity in philanthropy. We provide space for our members to connect, learn and share together on how to effectively address racial equity in their work as philanthropy-serving organizations (PSOs), and works to share our members’ learnings with the broader philanthropy field. As part of these efforts, we are pleased to share case stories from our members about their racial equity work.

Case Story

Funders Together to End Homelessness: A Racial Equity Learning Journey

Funders Together to End Homelessness began its racial equity journey in 2016. Its case story explains how the PSO named racial equity in its strategic plan and embarked on a learning journey together with its board, staff, and members to normalize the conversation about structural and historic racism and how it contributes to disparities in the homelessness system. The story also describes how Funders Together created a two-year community of practice, called Foundations for Racial Equity (FRE), that has been a critical part of its journey, and how its codified its racial equity work through the creation of its Commitment to Racial Equity. 

Read Funders Together’s Case Story

Listen to Funders Together’s CEO Amanda Misiko Andere talk about her organization’s racial equity journey on an episode of the ForumNation podcast. 

Case Story

Southeastern Council of Foundations: An Experiential Racial Equity Journey

In early 2018, the Southeastern Council of Foundations (SECF) along with its board undertook a racial equity learning journey in order to develop an Equity Framework that would describe and define SECF’s character, what it stood for, and what its leaders were willing to fight for. The decision to develop the Equity Framework was the culmination of years of work. SECF’s case story explains how the organization used data to inform the development of its Equity Framework, created an Equity Task Force to lead the effort of developing a Framework, and engaged board, staff and Task Force members in a racial equity learning journey. 

Read SECF’s Case Story

Listen to SECF’s President & CEO Janine talk about her organization’s racial equity journey on an episode of the ForumNation podcast. 

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Theresa Jacks, President and CEO
Council of New Jersey Grantmakers

There is a plurality of definitions of the term systems change, each contextualized within different cultures and purposes. Doing Good Better embraces systems change as an inter-sector process that addresses complex social problems nonprofits and funders confront with collective action centered on equity, mutual respect, and resilience. Systems change refers to changing the parts and their relationships within a system with the understanding that this change will have ripple effects. As grantmakers, we need to create an environment that enables grantee effectiveness, so they can deliver on their mission. Systems change in philanthropy focuses on structures, policies and processes, resources, values, power, mindsets and, infrastructure that is illustrated in three iterative phases. In time, we hope that the application of this model will result in collective impact and a more resilient social sector for all of New Jersey.

The first phase is structural (operational) change, which involves funders adopting new policies, practices, and resource flows. The second phase is characterized by new relationships and connections that emerge from structural change eschewing old power dynamic practices. Finally, the third phase is transformative change, which occurs when change becomes rooted in organizational culture and mores. We cannot underestimate the length of time and learning at each stage. Achieving transformative change can be a long journey, but it is a learning journey. One grantmaker stated, “One change led to another and another, like dominos. I started to see what people meant by systemic change. New energy and excitement surged among us as hope grew and the cloudy vision of what we wanted became clearer and clearer.”

Although the figure below displays the six developmental stages as linear and distinct, change is unlikely to follow a linear path. Any change in a system will seldom stay fixed at one of these stages but rather will shift back and forth from one stage to another on the path toward the ideal state. We believe just one organization can’t shift the conditions that hold problems in place; we all must share the same perspectives and move the sector together and simultaneously. We call for all of those involved in the sector to work together to build a better and more equitable nonprofit and philanthropy system for all New Jerseyans.

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       Graphic comes from “The Water of Systems Change” by John Kania, Mark Kramer, and Peter Senge.

Doing Good Better, a partnership of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers and the New Jersey Center for Nonprofits, is a community of funders and nonprofits taking action against the power imbalances and racial inequities in philanthropy, nonprofits, and government.

We are pleased to share Strengthening Philanthropy in Newark - Report to the Field 2015 from the Office of the Newark Philanthropic Liaison. 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 continues with Mayor Ras Baraka and his new administration.

This report provides a brief summary of some of the substantial activities and impact the Office of the Newark Philanthropic Liaison facilitated throughout 2015. 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, The Foundation for Newark’s Future, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The MCJ Amelior Foundation, The Nicholson Foundation, Panasonic Corporation of North America, The Prudential Foundation, Schumann Foundation for New Jersey, Turrell Fund, Victoria Foundation, and PSEG Foundation providing in-kind support and meeting space.

Feeding America estimates that an additional 17.1 million Americans may go hungry due to the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak. Join us to explore how COVID-19 is exacerbating food insecurity in New Jersey and how philanthropy can support solutions that reduce hunger in the wake of this crisis. Cathy McCann, Chair Emeritus of NJ VOAD and former COO of the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, will open up the program with an overview of the issue, what food insecurity looks like during this particular disaster, and long-term needs that will need to be addressed during recovery.

We’ll then hear from Carlos Rodriguez, CEO of the Community Food Bank of New Jersey. Carlos will present what he is seeing on the ground, challenges that local food banks and pantries are experiencing, and how philanthropy can help to combat food insecurity in the short, mid, and long-term phases of this crisis.

To close out the webinar, Adele LaTourette, Director of Hunger Free New Jersey, will outline state and federal responses to increased need during COVID-19, share advocacy efforts to address food insecurity issues, and offer solutions to help spur change.

Cost: Free for CNJG Members and NonMember Grantmakers
This program is only open to staff and trustees from grantmaking organizations.

Webinar Video