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Seeking ways to maximize the social and economic returns of their place-based impact investments, foundations, CDFIs, private investors, and others are turning to collaboration. To support these efforts and facilitate lesson sharing, the Urban Institute and Mission Investors Exchange have produced a set of three practitioner briefs designed to focus on elements of place-based impact investing that have surfaced in research and conversations with practitioners as opportunities for knowledge exchange: building strong ecosystems, mapping opportunities and capacities, and deploying capital on the ground together through impact investing collaborations. Each brief presents the concept, highlights practitioner examples, and elevates lessons from the field.
Effecting social change in a rapidly changing political environment and an increasingly interconnected world requires foundations to adopt a learning orientation. Without continuous learning, grantmakers—and thus boards and trustees—are unaware about what is working where, with whom, and why, as well as what changes or refinements are needed in order to achieve the grantmakers’ desired results.
Researched and written in collaboration with GEO, this toolkit provides a fresh set of resources for grantmaker CEOs, evaluation staff, and senior leaders to use to engage their boards and trustees in conversations about the importance of strategic learning in their decision-making and deliberation processes.
In a 2013 survey, funders were asked about the biggest transparency challenges they faced. The highest response was “not enough clarity around practical steps for being transparent.” This guide from GrantCraft & Glasspockets is helping foundations open up with clear action steps. Opening Up: Demystifying Funder Transparency explores how transparency can strengthen credibility, improve grantee relationships, facilitate greater collaboration, increase public trust, reduce duplication of effort, and build communities of shared learning. It is organized into five topical chapters so that you can focus on exploring one approach to transparency at a time.
The Emergent Fund, Funders for Justice, and Funders for LGBTQ Issues present this webinar which features Mickaela Bradford, Malachi Garza, Ola Osaze, and Monserrat Padilla and moderated by Aldita Amaru Gallardo, Soros Equality Fellow.
Philanthropy has the opportunity to invest in trans/queer communities of color who are transforming pain into power. This is an opportunity to join trans and queer resource mobilizers for this conversation with movement funders in public and private foundations who are committed to building trans power. Learn more about the Action for Transformation Fund and how philanthropy can be in alignment with trans/queer communities of color in a sustainable way.
The New Jersey Council for the Humanities (NJCH) is pleased to announce that we have awarded $402,514 in grant funding to 33 organizations across the state for Spring 2022. These awards cap off a banner grant cycle which saw the largest-ever response to an NJCH call for applications, with 83 Letters of Intent submitted earlier this year. The high demand for funding reflects both the robust activity of the cultural sector and the need for ongoing support in that sector, as we emerge from the COVID-related challenges of the last few years.
The grantees’ projects reflect the creativity, excellence, and lifelong learning that public humanities programming contributes to New Jersey’s cultural and civic life. NJCH’s awards include Incubation Grants, which help organizations plan, research, develop, and prototype public humanities projects and events; Action Grants, which help organizations implement a wide array of humanities-based projects, including public programs, exhibitions, installations, tours, and discussion groups; and Seed Funding, a brand-new award type that recognizes promising applicants from the Action and Incubation award pools and supports them in building greater capacity to do high-impact public humanities projects.
“From telling underrepresented stories to exploring new modes of audience engagement as we emerge from the pandemic, the new grantees’ projects speak to the astonishing breadth and depth of public humanities work in the state,” said NJCH Executive Director Carin Berkowitz. “NJCH’s grantmaking not only highlights those who are already doing exemplary work in the field, but also supports those organizations and communities that traditionally have less access to the public humanities. This approach ensures that New Jersey’s cultural sector will continue to thrive—now and well into the future.”
The 2023 New Jersey Philanthropy Benefits & Salary Summary Report provides a valuable benchmarking resource for CNJG members on the benefits offered to employees and trustees and salaries for employees. Developed and compiled exclusively for CNJG members, the report presents comprehensive benefits data specific to New Jersey's grantmaking community, alongside data from the Council on Foundations' annual salary survey. Produced every three years, this benchmarking report is a highly anticipated and valued benefit of your CNJG membership.
The first section, 2023 CNJG Benefits Summary Report, includes benefits data for the 2023 calendar year and covers employment numbers, leave benefits, insurance benefits, and more. Within this section, we are pleased to also present demographic data on the board and staff of those that responded. Thank you to the members that completed our benefits survey earlier this year enabling us to produce this report.
The second section, 2023 Grantmaker Salary Tables: National, Mid-Atlantic and New Jersey provides data on compensation across a wide range of positions and grantmaking entities. Thank you to the CNJG members that completed the Council on Foundations’ annual survey on salaries that enabled us to produce this section of the report. Thank you to the Council on Foundations for compiling and sharing this data with us for free to use our report.
Wells Fargo is making good on its promise to help underserved communities.
On Monday, the bank announced it is giving a grant of $1 million to the Trenton Regional Business Assistance Corp. and a grant of $500,000 to the Camden-based Cooperative Business Assistance Corp. The grants are part of the Wells Fargo Open for Business Fund, which was created last year.
The organizations will use the grants to provide low-interest loans to small businesses that — for a variety of reasons — lacked the access to such capital.
Tomas Porturas, vice president of social impact and sustainability, said Wells Fargo hopes the funding will help underserved small businesses in Trenton and South Jersey stay open and preserve jobs through short- and long-term COVID-19 resiliency efforts. It also will expand microlending activities and programming for diverse business owners.
“Wells Fargo’s Open for Business Fund is another avenue of support and enlists the expertise of our CDFI partners to urgently help diverse South Jersey entrepreneurs recover and preserve the jobs they provide in their communities,” he said. “The funding will provide much-needed access to capital with increased equity in resources and technical assistance for local businesses, which are the backbone of our local economies and neighborhoods.”
As part of its ongoing commitment to students, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) awarded eight scholarships to students attending colleges across the nation.
The assessment and research organization, presented more than $80,000 in scholarships to students this year through two of its scholarship programs, ETS CARES Scholarship and the Trenton Central High Scholarship. The Trenton Central High scholarships are renewable up to four years, assuming the students maintain a 3.0 GPA.
"We are so proud to support you on this journey--your future matters to us," ETS President and CEO Amit Sevak told the students at an awards ceremony held in their honor on July 14. "These scholarships are part of our commitment to give back, especially here in our state of New Jersey. I also want to recognize the ETS staff because without their incredible generosity, these scholarships and our other work in the community would not be possible."
NJM Insurance Group said it recently made a $100,000 donation to benefit hunger relief efforts across the mid-Atlantic region.
The monies are part of the West Trenton-based firm’s yearlong commitment to supporting communities, which now totals more than $2 million in donations in 2022.
NJM’s support of communities is rooted in a culture of purpose-driven service. The company directs charitable contributions toward organizations that support arts and culture, health, community assistance, safety and financial literacy. Other areas of focus include education and enrichment and revitalization programs such as those offered by social service organizations and food banks.
“NJM is a service organization working on behalf of our policyholders and the communities in which they live and work,” Mitch Livingston, NJM CEO and president, stated. “We partner with nonprofits and organizations dedicated to delivering needed resources that can positively impact lives, and we are privileged to support these causes throughout the region.”
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Tuesday announced the recipients of the 2022 Creative Catalyst Fund awards. A total of 114 grants will be awarded to individual artists and artists’ collectives, with an average award of $3,200; and 34 grants will be awarded to small and midsized arts organizations with an average award of $10,100.
Baraka created the fund in January 2020 as a multiyear initiative providing the local community of artists and small and midsized arts organizations up to $1 million annually for at least three years. The fund has awarded a total of $2.35 million in grants in its first three years. Grantees use the funds to help pay for operating costs, space rentals, staff, programming costs, supplies and equipment, and COVID-related expenses.
“Newark has a long history as a center of the arts, and our administration has supported the arts in word and deed, creating great works like the second-longest public mural on the East Coast. We are proud, privileged and humbled to write a new chapter by supporting this year’s grantees. Their works will define the voice and talent of a new generation of Newark artists for our present and future,” Baraka said.