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Date: Wednesday, June 18
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Location
The Palace at Somerset Park
 333 Davidson Ave, Somerset, NJ

CNJG’s 2025 Conference for the Social Sector—Stronger Together: Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, features recognized thought leaders, national and regional experts, and community leaders for a full day of connection, shared exploration, thoughtful discussion, and side-by-side learning with philanthropic and nonprofit colleagues.

This year's conference will examine how funders and nonprofits can work together to address and increase civic engagement, focusing on several key areas, including advocacy, local media, participatory budgeting, guaranteed income, public-private partnerships, the arts, and youth education through the lens of civic participation.

Civic engagement is about more than voting or elections. As our colleagues at Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE) define it:
“Civic engagement is the process of helping people be active participants in building and strengthening their communities, whether defined as a place or a shared identity or interest. It’s a spectrum of ways people can participate in self-governance, from interactions with government to voluntary associations, and everything in between.”

The opportunity for local communities to convene, learn together, and form partnerships can lead to meaningful action and increased public participation. Let’s explore how philanthropy can impact the social sector by buttressing these connections.

CNJG represents over 130 of NJ’s leading philanthropic organizations – foundations, corporations, and donors. Each year, we present a large-format meeting to include nonprofit partners to discuss big picture topics fostering learning and dialogue between funders and nonprofits.

Conference Photos

On March 9th, 2023, the City of Newark unveiled a Harriet Tubman monument in the newly re-named Harriet Tubman Square. The Newark Philanthropic Liaison played a key role on the monument project team for two years, ensuring that funds were available to make the vision of the Mayor and community a reality. We are proud to be a grantee of the Mellon Foundation’s Monuments Project, and appreciate the significant philanthropic support of Audible, Inc. and the partnership of the Newark Museum of Art, Rutgers University – Newark, and the Newark Public Library. In addition to foundation partnerships, the NPL’s office designed and led a “Buy a Brick” campaign raised nearly $40,000 from almost 200 individual donors.

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A Monument to Harriet Tubman Replaces a Columbus Statue in Newark Newark Unveils Harriet Tubman Monument Honoring Underground Railroad Conductor