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The New Jersey Bankers Association’s Charitable Foundation recently announced it will donate $50,000 to the veterans’ programs at four New Jersey colleges: Fairleigh Dickinson University, Monmouth University, Rider University and Rutgers University.
The donations will be awarded in January.
“The New Jersey banking industry has always made giving back, and supporting our local institutions, a priority,” NJBankers CEO John McWeeney said. “Our ongoing support of these valuable programs allows us to recognize those men and women who have volunteered to protect our country in the armed forces.”
Dates & Times
Tuesday, November 9 - 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday, November 10 - 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, November 16 - 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
CEOs, executive directors, CFOs, trustees, investment committee members, and finance managers of foundations and endowed nonprofits gathered together over three afternoons of learning and discussion during CNJG’s 2021 Investment Forum for Foundations and Endowments.
Attendees heard from leading asset managers, financial service institutions, professional advisors and practitioners who shared best practices and valuable insights focused on successful endowment management. Pointed, strategic, and masterful keynote speeches and educational workshop sessions explored a wide range of timely and useful topics, such as impact and ESG investing, gift acceptance policies, alternative investments, governance and due diligence, and so much more.
Sustainable philanthropy thrives on careful and skillful stewardship of the corpus. This signature event grew out of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers’ Finance and Investment Affinity Group convenings, which have long offered CFO’s, investment committee members, board chairs and others with oversight of their endowment, exposure to a wide range of representatives, as well as thoughtful expertise and perspectives from the investment community.
Access Whova until May 16, 2022!
Registrants can access all three plenary sessions and 11 concurrent sessions on Whova for six months after the event, until May 16, 2022. You can log in with the same email and password you used to access the event. Visit Whova.
For questions, please contact Anna D'Elia, Manager of Programs and Learning.
In response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other Black individuals, we have seen a call to end systemic racism, police brutality, and injustice. To explore philanthropy's role in fighting against racism and injustice, CNJG is sharing information about upcoming programs that we and our Philanthropy-Serving Organizations are presenting and other resources below. While some programs or resources have been organized in direct response to recent protests and calls for action, all are part of a longer conversation on racism in our country and within our sector. As CNJG weaves equity into all of our work, we look forward to continuing these conversations with you.
We realize this is not a comprehensive list, and we are posting items that CNJG staff sees, which is not nearly enough. We ask that our members, especially those who are black and brown, to help us find articles written by, resources created by, and programs led by people of color. Share those resources by emailing us. This page is just a part of our work in equity. We created this page as one starting point for New Jersey’s philanthropic community to engage in conversations, do background reading, attend programs, learn, and take action.
For those members interested in continuing the conversations, we invite you to join our Racial Equity listserve, by emailing Craig Weinrich. On that listserve, members can share information, resources, and opportunities that are helpful to the funding community.
Visit these Websites
Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) Resource Directory
This Supporting API Communities Resource Directory was developed to mobilize the philanthropic sector towards meaningful action in the midst of heightened violence and hate targeting Asian American communities.
Participatory Grantmaking
A curated list of resources and articles from Candid on the movement of participatory grantmaking that engages the community in the grantmaking process.
The Power of Asset Framing: A Conversation with Trabian Shorters
This blog post by the Skillman Foundation contains a series of short videos by Trabian Shorters, founder and CEO of BMe Community, who describes shifts in narrative that all philanthropy should consider.
Putting Racism on the Table
This site created by the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers is the inspiration for CNJG’s Race, Racism and the Ramifications for Philanthropy Series.
Race to Lead Series
A site with reports and surveys on the racial leadership gap in the nonprofit sector.
Stanford Social Innovation Review
The Struggle to Overcome Racism, a list of resources to help leaders of social change and activists.
Trust-Based Philanthropy Project
A peer-to-peer learning and advocacy initiative to make philanthropy more based on trust.
Right Size Applications; Simplify Reporting
Affirmation: Paperwork hinders us all.
Duplicative or complex proposal and reporting requirements divert time and resources for both nonprofits and philanthropy, needlessly burdens nonprofit partners and siphons scarce resources away from where they are most needed. Funders can lessen the burden on grantee partners by streamlining the application and reporting processes, especially for repeat grantee partners; decreasing the required data to only the most necessary for decision-making; taking on some of the burden of data collection by gathering data from central repositories such as Candid (formerly GuideStar) and the IRS; and retain and use data already collected from repeat grantees. Funders should require updated information such as annual budget, staffing, board member changes, etc., in their grant applications only when the nonprofit is the only source for this information. Collaborate with other local funders and agree to common GOS application questions and budget templates; streamline tools through technology and offer innovative ways for organizations to apply for and report out on grants; limit written requirements to information that is relevant to the request, and which moves the needle on critical social issues.
Activities
• Reduce rigidity and increase the flexibility of what nonprofits must submit for their applications in creative, egalitarian, and less burdensome ways.
• All funders right-size their application and report requirements relative to the grant amount.
• Shift from reports to conversations or other lower time-intensive means.
• Develop agreed-upon common questions for use across the philanthropy sector for general operating support grant applications.
• Explore the efficacy of using common applications for general operating support grants.
• Change site visits for compliance to goals of learning.
• Consider developing a central data repository for New Jersey nonprofits and funders, where applicants can submit and update basic information once a year, and funders can access the necessary information.
Outcomes
• 75% of funders begin to reduce the size of applications and reports relative to the size of the grant.
• 75% of funders shift from reports to conversations or other lower time-intensive means, like site visits geared to learning and relationship building.
• 50% of funders making general operating support grants accept creative, egalitarian, less burdensome applications including other funders proposals.
• Nonprofits have increased capacity to dedicate time to other activities and efforts.
How to Begin Doing Good Better on Reducing Burden
Learning opportunities
• For funders who do not right-size their applications, what are the barriers to reducing paperwork?
• Who is making the decisions about the application and reporting requirements, and how can they be reached to encourage change? How can we involve more board members of funders in this effort?
• For funders who require reports, determine what is “nice to have” vs. what is needed and used and consider eliminating the rest; what are expeditious ways to collect data including accepting other funders’ reports?
• Which funders who make multi-year grants require a full application for the first year and updates for subsequent years?
Pre-Work
• For funders who already report tailoring their applications, consider how to further simplify processes for grantees; share these practices with other colleagues in philanthropy.
• Learn how information is collected without burdening the applicant.
• Review and implement recommendations already provided by nonprofit networks and philanthropy-serving organizations for concrete examples such as centralized document repositories; allowing nonprofit partners to re-use other proposals and reports; holding check-in meetings in lieu of written reports; and other helpful practices.
• Seek promising practices of funders who use site visits as opportunities to build trust and understand the programs and organizations they support instead of as compliance reviews.
Notes:
See, for example, SMU DataArts (formerly the Cultural Data Project), https://culturaldata.org, a nationwide research and data repository for the arts and cultural community. DataArts serves as a collector and clearinghouse for a wide array of data, which funders can access instead of requiring nonprofits to provide it separately.
CNJG affinity and interest groups provide a valued forum through which New Jersey grantmakers can connect, exchange information, and learn from experts in a wide range of fields and sectors. Members with a focus on a particular geography or issue meet on a regular basis and are self-organized. For additional information or to discuss forming a new group, contact Chanika Svetvilas.
Camden Funders Affinity Group
Camden Funders Affinity Group provides a valued forum for grantmakers working in Camden to connect and exchange information and to hear from stakeholders working in benefit of Camden.
Culture Funders Affinity Group
The Culture Funders Affinity Group includes private and public grantmakers working in the arts and humanities across New Jersey. It aims to maximize the leadership potential and grantmaking abilities of those interested in developing a strong and thriving arts community in New Jersey.
Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy Affinity Group
The Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy Affinity Group’s mission is to nurture, develop and support professionals in the philanthropic sector across all departments/roles within foundations. Programming for the Emerging Leaders group is geared towards early and mid-career professionals and will serve as: a professional learning community for emerging professionals working in diverse positions; an opportunity for professional development and individual capacity-building that will lead to institutional change within the member organizations; and as a critical partner in the creation of a pipeline into senior/executive leadership in NJ philanthropy.
Environmental Grantmakers Affinity Group
The Environmental Grantmakers Affinity Group formed in 2007 to provide a network and sounding board for environmental grantmakers who share an interest in: (1) insuring a healthy environment for all residents of the Garden State; (2) preserving, restoring and regenerating natural resources, including air, water, land, energy resources, as well as native flora and fauna; and (3) encouraging solution-based responses to resource challenges, wiser use of resources, and sustainable practices at individual, public agency small business and corporate levels.
Finance & Investment Affinity Group
The Finance & Investment Affinity Group brings together grantmakers of all types and sizes to discuss financial market trends and to exchange strategies to help ensure the greatest endowment growth. At each meeting, the latest market performance reports and commentaries are also discussed.
Funders for NJ Education Affinity Group
The Funders for NJ Education Affinity Group connects those making grants in support of education and provides interested members with insights into current initiatives, research findings, and best practices. Past topics of discussion have included analyses of school funding, innovative educational programming, measuring teacher effectiveness and youth development programs and have included roundtable discussions of emerging trends and key issues.
Funders for Strong and Thriving Communities Affinity Group
The Funders for Strong and Thriving Communities Affinity Group is an intrastate, inter-disciplinary network of public and private investors interested in enhancing the quality-of-life of the residents that live within New Jersey communities, through place-based investment or philanthropy. The group aims to draw upon and leverage the knowledge of public and private sector experts in the field of community development; including affordable housing, economic development, job creation, neighborhood building, and services to children and families.
Health Funders Affinity Group
The Health Funders Affinity Group is a collaborative network of grantmakers dedicated to advancing a holistic and intersectional view of health across New Jersey. This group provides a platform to exchange grantmaking strategies, funding priorities, best practices, and valuable insights while fostering collaboration to address health-related challenges and opportunities across diverse populations and life stages.
New Jersey Corporate Philanthropy Network Affinity Group
The New Jersey Corporate Philanthropy Network Affinity Group convenes corporate funders whose giving footprint includes New Jersey. Meetings cover such topics as current and emerging trends in strategic philanthropy, the business case for Corporate Social Responsibility, marketing/branding, sponsorships, employee matching gifts, employee engagement/volunteerism, and more. Best practices are shared and opportunities for collaboration are offered. A traditional Round Robin, where current burning issues/questions are discussed closes out the meetings. We hope you will join us at an upcoming event.
Newark Funders Affinity Group
The Newark Funders Affinity Group began in 2010 as a result of the convening work of CNJG’s Newark Philanthropic Liaison. As of May 20th, 2025, the Newark Education Funder Affinity Group merged with the Newark Funders Affinity Group to ensure alignment and coordination among funders dedicated to the city. The group meets quarterly hearing from elected officials, senior government and educational leaders, members of the nonprofit community, and local civic stewards to better understand Newark's emerging needs and opportunities, all with the goal of leveraging grantmaking for greater impact.
Paterson Funders Affinity Group
The Paterson Funders Affinity Group helps facilitate awareness of work by nonprofits and funders in Paterson, foster collaboration, and improve the lives of Paterson residents. Past meetings have focused on information regarding funder projects in the city, including some new grants made and lessons learned on ongoing projects in the areas of education, health and nutrition, arts and culture, and civics.
Trenton Area & Mercer County Funders Affinity Group
The Trenton Area & Mercer County Funders Affinity Group’s goal is to explore the most pressing needs and issues in the Trenton and Mercer County region and to uncover ways to leverage resources and develop solutions to this community’s greatest concerns. Past meetings have included roundtable discussions on the unique needs of the Trenton area and guest speakers that highlighted the dynamic interrelationship between the City of Trenton and the State of New Jersey.
CNJG’s 2024 Affinity Group co-chairs (name/affinity group):
Front row: Sharnita Johnson/Culture Funders; Leslie Walker/Camden Funders; Bill Leavens/Environmental Grantmakers; Julia Stoumbos/Paterson Funders; Chanika Svetvilas/CNJG’s Manager of Programs and Learning
Back rows: Theresa Jacks/CNJG’s President and CEO; Kevin Callaghan/CNJG’s Newark Philanthropic Liaison; Shakirat Odunsi/CNJG’s Manager of Communications; Julie Holland/Paterson Funders; Katherine Nunnally/Trenton Area and Mercer County Funders; Jasmyne Beckford/Newark Funders; Monica Hall/Emerging Leaders; Erik Estrada/Camden Funders; Jessica Nugent/Health & Aging Funders; Sharif Braxton/Health & Aging Funders; Liz Crowley/Environmental Grantmakers
Not pictured: Tammy Herman/Culture Funders; Alana Vega/Emerging Leaders; Rich Riberio/Finance & Investment; Paul Stierhoff/Finance & Investment; Jessica McKenzie/Newark Education Funders; Pat Hartpence/NJ Corporate Philanthropy Network; Etta Denk/NJ Corporate Philanthropy Network; Kortney Swanson Davis/ Education Funders; Melissa Litwin/Education Funders
Current Vacancies (as of 4/2024): Trenton & Mercer County Funders (1); Strong & Thriving Communities Funders (2); Newark Funders (2)
Kevin Callaghan, CNJG’s Newark Philanthropic Liaison, along with the city of Newark, have coordinated a philanthropic response to helping the residents of Newark with their water. This two-page overview offers suggestions for how philanthropy can assist with short-term and long-term needs. To help support the efforts, please contact Kevin.
To stay up-to-date on their efforts, visit the Newark Water Challenge area of our website.
The Office of the Newark Philanthropic Liaison (NPL) —an innovative collaboration between the city of Newark and the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers (CNJG) —is tasked with harnessing interest, fostering greater effectiveness, and attracting resources toward policy and programmatic areas that affect and improve the lives of Newark’s residents. Supported by a dedicated cohort of funders through CNJG, the office is non-partisan and based in the Mayor’s Office in Newark City Hall. The Liaison represents one of the nation's first formal partnerships between a city and the philanthropic community, and has become a national model for public-private alliances. At its core, the role has three main functions:
- Connect – Align citywide initiatives and bring together cross-sector partners for collective action.
- Convene – Foster strong partnerships with regional and national philanthropic leaders and support Newark and New Jersey funder collaboration through funder affinity groups.
- Leverage – Identify and maximize public and private resources for City priorities.
As Newark is at a pivotal time in its growth and development, the Office of Newark Philanthropic Liaison is focused on a number of big issues including equitable economic development in our neighborhoods, educational equity, employment, serving the needs of our immigrant and other vulnerable communities, housing for the homeless, and expanding broadband and health services. Now more than ever, we need collaboration and partnerships. These issues are too big for any one person or entity to solve alone.
The Newark Philanthropic Liaison project is supported by Bank of America, the Burke Foundation, the Community Foundation of New Jersey, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Maher Charitable Foundation, the MCJ Amelior Foundation, The Prudential Foundation, Schumann Fund for New Jersey, Turrell Fund, and the Victoria Foundation. While the Nicholson Foundation sunset in late 2021, we acknowledge and thank the foundation for its long-term support of the initiative.
We also acknowledge the City of Newark for its commitment to collaborating with the position and elevating the voice of philanthropy. A special thank you to the Community Foundation of New Jersey, which facilitates and manages grant funds for many of our partnerships.
These links and materials are presented as guides to help facilitate foundations and government agencies seeking partnerships or engagements to support mutual goals.
Council on Foundations’ Public-Philanthropic Partnership Initiative
Risks and Rewards of Partnerships an article from Let's Talk Philanthropy
The Essentials for Collaboration Between Foundations and Government from the Council on Foundations
What's the right relationship between philanthropy and government? results from a GrantCraft Study
Working with Government: Guidance for Grantmakers a guide from GrantCraft
CNJG’s Newark Philanthropic Liaison, Kevin Callaghan, organized a series of webinars for our Newark Funders Affinity Group and other funders to know the specific challenges of New Jersey’s largest city responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Guest speakers included, Mayor Ras Baraka, Newark Public Schools Superintendent Roger Leon, consulting firm McKinsey & Co., and Catherine Wilson, CEO of United Way of Greater Newark.
Learn how to support a disability-inclusive COVID-19 response.
COVID-19 disproportionately threatens the physical, financial, and emotional health of people with disabilities. Individuals with pre-existing health issues are at greater risk of contracting the coronavirus, many in the disability community still lack access to healthcare, and -- according to the National Trends in Disability report from the Kessler Foundation and University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability -- nearly one million working-age people with disabilities lost their jobs.
In this webinar, we’ll hear from Elaine E. Katz, MS, CCC/SLP, Senior Vice President Grants and Communication at the Kessler Foundation and Audrey Winkler, Executive Director of JESPY House.
Speakers will explore:
· Unique challenges facing people with disabilities during COVID-19.
· How philanthropy can support workforce opportunities for people with disabilities.
· Efforts to address ableism and create more inclusive policies and practices, on a national and local level.
For a truly equitable recovery that centers the experience of people facing multiple forms of systemic discrimination, we must address the ableism embedded in our systems, institutions, and culture. Join us for this important conversation on how your organization can address ableism in your fight for social justice, and support a more disability-inclusive response to COVID-19.
Cost: Free for CNJG Grantmakers. $50 for Non Member Grantmakers
Webinar Video
Facing Our Future was a landmark initiative looking at the systemic, long term fiscal challenges facing all levels of government in New Jersey. It grew out of a 2010 briefing CNJG held for members that outlined how a Governor’s budget is annually crafted. CNJG leadership worked with members to convene a group of enthusiastic former government leaders. Their collective experience crossed party lines, and many of them had served multiple New Jersey governors. This Leadership Group included 4 former Attorney Generals, 3, former Commissioners, 2 former State Treasurers, a former Director of the State Senate and a former Chief Justice of the NJ Supreme Court, in addition to leading New Jersey researchers.
Facing Our Future became an independent, bipartisan effort under the auspices of CNJG. It has produced 3 different reports that centered on the same theme.
Sample disaster preparedness and recovery plans for foundations.
During 2023, CNJG gathered benefits information from our members to generate our 2023 New Jersey Philanthropy Benefits & Salary Summary Report. Members tell us that this report is one of the most important and effective benchmarking tools for our field. A statistically significant number of members completed our Benefits Report. We are grateful to those that completed the survey, which is a major investment of time, to help us gather this useful data.
The report consists of two sections:
CNJG Benefits Survey
CNJG and our members want specific data about the benefits offered to their employees, board, and more. Therefore, CNJG created our triennial Benefits Survey that gathered this comprehensive data specific to New Jersey’s grantmaking community.
For the second time in this survey’s history, we asked for board and staff demographic data. As more attention is focused on racial equity in our work, it is helpful to benchmark this data in graphical form. We hope it sparks conversation at your organization.
Council on Foundations (CoF) Salary Survey
The salary survey was administered by our partners, the Council on Foundations. This annual nationwide effort by CoF (with the assistance of other Philanthropy-Serving Organizations across the country) benchmarks the salaries of employees at foundations, corporate giving programs, and other philanthropic organizations. CNJG encourages any and all members to complete this survey each year.
Salary information from CoF presents national, mid-Atlantic, and New Jersey data for over 40 staff positions. Salary ranges are only given for positions with five or more reporting organizations. To report on more New Jersey salary data, we hope more members will complete this annual survey.
CNJG reminds our members and other foundations across New Jersey to complete both surveys when they are available – CoF’s is EVERY YEAR, and CNJG’s is every three years. The more data we and CoF can gather, the better and more accurate the results will be for the philanthropic community both in the state and nationally.
Download the 2023 New Jersey Philanthropy Benefits & Salary Survey Summary Report here. You must be a member of CNJG and logged in to access the report.
CNJG's past Summary Reports may be found on our website:
2020 New Jersey Philanthropy Benefits & Salary Survey Summary Report, released in January 2021
2017 New Jersey Foundation Benefits & Salary Summary Report, released in September 2017
2014 New Jersey Foundation Benefits & Salary Summary Report, released in February 2015
2011 Mid-Atlantic Foundation Benefits & Salary Summary Report, released in June 2012