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With a resounding endorsement, The Westfield Foundation recently voted in three new board members: Toni Janota, Michael Moye and Dr. Cheryl Lundy Swift, all of Westfield. At the same time, the organization recognized the service of outgoing members: Tim Boyle, Stan Gersch and Rich Elbert.
“We express our deepest appreciation for the invaluable contributions of Tim Stan and Rich and their unwavering commitment during their tenure!" said outgoing president Larry Darrow.
Our new board members had the privilege of witnessing our Q2 grants meeting in early May where we funded over $100,000 to community programs. Some notable grants this quarter: providing a new mode of transportation for the Westfield Community Center, renovation funds for The Our House Foundation’s New Providence Day Program site, and continued support for the Presbyterian Church of Westfield’s mission to supplement local in-need families with nutrient-dense food.
New Jersey’s housing, land use, and education policies are at a turning point. Decisions made today will shape how we grow, where we live, and how we prepare the next generation. The Fund for New Jersey and the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs welcome policy experts, community leaders, policymakers, and residents to Princeton University for the fourth and final Crossroads NJ Conversation on these critical issues. The discussion will focus on how today’s challenges can be addressed through thoughtful policy and community-driven action.
FEATURED SPEAKERS
Peggy Bailey, Executive Vice President for Policy and Program Development, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Staci Berger, President and CEO, Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey
Dr. Jesselly De La Cruz, DSW, LCSW, Executive Director, Latino Action Network Foundation
Adam M. Gordon, Esq., Executive Director, Fair Share Housing Center
Robert Kim, Esq., Executive Director, Education Law Center
Cost: This event is free to attend and open to all, but space is limited.
On-site parking is available. Light refreshments will be served.
The Tepper Foundation in Short Hills, New Jersey, has announced an $8.75 million commitment to Jewish Federations of North America in support of interfaith bridge-building and on-site security for Jewish early childhood, day camp, and afterschool programs.
Awarded through the foundation’s Security Fund, the funding will support more than 100 federations across 39 U.S. states and Canada. The grants will bolster increased security personnel and augment efforts to strengthen local community relations and vital interfaith and intergroup projects. The most recent gift brings the Security Fund’s total commitment to Jewish Federations to nearly $18 million across 2024-25.
“The Security Fund is continuing to provide a critical service for Jewish spaces across the United States, and the Jewish Federations play a key role in helping more families feel safe,” said Tepper Foundation CEO Randi Tepper. “While most Jewish organizations have existing funds dedicated to security, many institutions have had to pull money from other budget lines to meet increased security needs. We want to ensure these organizations can not only provide security but continue their missions serving local families.”
For 20 years, The Nicholson Foundation worked to advance meaningful change in safety net service systems in New Jersey. Its grantmaking journey is described in Changing Systems, Changing Lives: Reflecting on 20 Years. Through stories and related text, the book showed how a small family foundation could take six guiding themes and put them into action through grants and partner support. In the process, the Foundation collaborated to spur real systems change that benefitted individuals, families, and communities. A recent scholarly paper built on that work, helping to make the Foundation’s approach broadly accessible to researchers, academics, and philanthropists. “A Framework for Creating Systems Change,” by Drs. William Brown and Wynn Rosser published in The Foundation Review, presents a new model for systems change. Five of the model’s seven components reflect themes in Changing Systems, Changing Lives. The sixth component slightly shifts the emphasis of the Foundation’s “Engaging with Government” theme, and the seventh highlights the Foundation’s overall approach by including performance measurement as a distinct and separate component of the model.
Download or order a free hard copy of The Nicholson Foundation book, "Changing Systems, Changing Lives"
Read Brown W, Rosser W. "A Framework for Creating Systems Change". The Foundation Review, 2023;15(4):50-6.
This work is a joint project of Bridgespan Social Impact, the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), PolicyLink, and CapEQ.
Since the social unrest over racial injustice in the summer of 2020, philanthropists, corporations, and impact investors across the United States pledged to invest billions of dollars to advance racial equity. However, recent scrutiny of those commitments reveals that the majority of those dollars remain on the sidelines.
A common hypothesis for the shortfall is the lack of investable “shovel-ready” opportunities. But Bridgespan Social Impact has formally and informally advised organizations seeking to invest for racial equity over the years, and found that hypothesis to be patently untrue. To make the case, Bridgespan is publishing this list of racial-equity funds that emerged from our experience, at the request of multiple funds and potential investors, and alongside the launch of a new racial-equity theme in the IRIS+ family of impact measurement and management guides. It comprises more than 160 funds that explicitly seek to improve the livelihoods of individuals who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and their communities. And we’re not done yet.
What is racial-equity investing?
In putting together this list, we chose to characterize “racial-equity investing” as directing capital toward creating equitable opportunities for BIPOC individuals and communities. That often requires shifting decision-making power and redefining risk so that capital flows more freely in service of those opportunities.
Sourcing these funds, we uncovered dozens of creative financing vehicles aimed at building power, creating economic opportunity, and improving livelihoods for communities of color.
CNJG’s listserves facilitate ongoing group e-mail discussions among subscribed members. Members can share information and expertise, ask questions, and gather opinions of colleagues across the network. Listserves also enable members to get the most up-to-date information on related programs being offered throughout the field.
These listserves can be a great resource if members participate on a regular basis. You can use the listserves to:
- Pose a question to the group.
- Discuss and brainstorm issues related to New Jersey grantmaking.
- Request assistance on a specific topic, problem or issue.
- Alert members about time-sensitive or other helpful information.
Members are automatically included in relevant listserves based on their member profiles. You can begin using the listserves to communicate with your colleagues as soon as you’d like. Please refer to the Listserves’ Membership Policies page for access to the direct email address of each listserve, information on using the listserves, and the directories of who is subscribed to each list.
CNJG now offers 25 listserves.
- Bergen Funders
- Camden Funders
- Community Foundation CEO’s (this list connects to a national listserve for Community Foundation CEO’s)
- CNJG Member CEO's
- CNJG Member CFO’s and Finance Managers
- CNJG Member Communications Staff
- COVID-19 Funders
- Culture Funders
- Corporate Funders
- Disaster Response Funders
- Education Funders
- Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy
- Environmental Funders
- Family Funders
- Food Funders
- Health Funders
- Monmouth & Ocean Roundtable of Funders
- Newark Funders
- New Jersey Census Funders
- Paterson Funders
- Racial Equity Funders
- South Jersey Funders
- STEAM Funders
- Strong and Thriving NJ Community Funders
- Trenton Area Funders
If you would like to join, opt out, have questions, comments or concerns about the listserve, please contact Craig Weinrich at (609) 414-7110 x802.
The 2017 New Jersey Foundation Benefits & Salary Report provides a valuable benchmarking resource. Developed and compiled for Council members exclusively, 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 few years, this benchmarking report is a highly valued benefit of your membership in the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers.
The first section, 2017 Benefits Summary Report, includes benefits data for the 2017 calendar year and covers employment, leave benefits, insurance benefits, and more. The second section, 2016 Grantmaker Salary Tables: New Jersey, Mid-Atlantic and National Data provides data on compensation across a wide range of positions and grantmaking entities.
Nina Stack has dreamed of being a philanthropist since long before she could probably even spell the word.
As a child, Stack would fantasize about working for the United Nations. She loved "trick-or-treating for UNICEF," and the idea that she could help children who lived in such horrible conditions was profound, Stack said. "To me, naively perhaps, the UN meant there would be no more war and children wouldn’t die of starvation," she said. "In many ways, collecting donations in that little orange box was my first experience with philanthropy."
Stack loved those early experiences. Today she continues to reach out to help others. Stack is president of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers (CNJG), which she has led since 2005. The statewide association serves as a network, advocate and resource for more than 100 foundations in New Jersey.
On this webinar, Newark funders discussed the childcare practice and policy during COVID-19 and heard front line observations on matters of mental health and domestic violence.
Speakers:
Ceil Zalkind, President and CEO, Advocates for Children of New Jersey
Beverly Lynn, CEO, Programs for Parents
Maria Ortiz, Executive Director, Student Life, Newark Board of Education
LaKeesha Eure, Director, Shani Baraka Women’s Resource Center and Chair, Newark Anti-Violence Coalition
Webinar Video