Site Search

The Princeton Area Community Foundation awarded about $2 million in Community Impact and COVID-19 Relief & Recovery Fund grants to local nonprofits.

More than 60 organizations working on a broad variety of needs in the community, including arts education, community building, education, food insecurity, health, supporting senior citizens and other vulnerable populations, and youth development received this funding, made possible by generous community contributions.

Funding was mainly unrestricted, giving organizations an opportunity to address the challenges of economic uncertainty due to the pandemic and inflation. Unrestricted grants in this round provide the flexibility organizations need to use the funding where it is most needed, which will help them build financial and programmatic resiliency.

“These nonprofits are doing impactful work in region, helping the most vulnerable among us,” Jeffrey Vega, CEO and president of the Community Foundation, said. “We are able to award these grants thanks to generous donors who have created funds over the last 30 years to support our community grantmaking and leadership.”

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts held its first public meeting of 2023 on February 28, where nearly $2 million was awarded to 140 New Jersey artists through the Council’s Individual Artist Fellowship program.

The Fellowships are competitive awards to New Jersey artists in 12 rotating disciplines granted solely on independent peer panel assessment of work samples. The anonymous process is focused on artistic quality, and awards may be used to help artists produce new work and advance their careers. New Jersey artists applied for awards this year in the categories of choreography, crafts, music composition, photography, playwriting/screenwriting, poetry, and sculpture. This program is carried out in partnership with Mid Atlantic Arts.

At the Council’s Annual Meeting last July, the Council voted to authorize an unprecedented investment of $2 million in the Individual Artist Fellowship program. Through that commitment of funding, this year’s Fellowship cohort is the largest one the Council has added to its distinguished list of Fellows in over 30 years. In order to further support the increased number of artists applying to the program, the Council developed a new level of awards in addition to the Fellowship Award. For the first time, the Council announced Finalist Awards. The Finalists Awards are given to those applicants who scored highly, but just below the cutoff to receive a Fellowship.

The Iselin-based Provident Bank Foundation recently announced its Major Grant recipients for its second cycle of 2023. The foundation awarded $410,000 in total to 35 nonprofit organizations within the foundation’s three priority funding areas: Community Enrichment, Education and Health, and Youth and Families.

Major Grants awarded during this cycle range from $10,000 to $20,000 per grant and will provide funding for organizations across New Jersey and Pennsylvania communities served by Provident Bank. They will be automatically renewed and funded again in 2024 as the Provident Bank Foundation embarks on a full-scale operational refresh in the new year.

“The recipients of our second cycle of 2023 Major Grants are fantastic examples of how investing in our communities can transform the lives of those who need it most,” Samantha Plotino, the executive director of the Provident Bank Foundation, said. “The Provident Bank Foundation team is looking forward to seeing how these grants will be used to enrich and widen the capabilities of the organizations that receive them.”

The Fund for Women and Girls (FWG) at the Princeton Area Community Foundation has awarded $215,000 in grants, including support for five local nonprofits that are working to help new mothers, mothers in recovery, single parents, families with young children and children who have been removed from their homes.

More than 20 years ago, the FWG was created as a fund of the Community Foundation to focus its funding on organizations that work to improve the lives of vulnerable women and children in the region. With a philosophy of collective philanthropy, members donate to the Fund, and then meet annually to recommend grants to support nonprofits aligned with the fund’s goals.

“These nonprofits are doing incredibly important work in our communities, and this funding will make a meaningful difference in the lives of women and children,” said Carolyn Sanderson, Chair of The Fund. “Thanks to the generosity of our members, we have awarded more than $1 million in grants to more than two dozen nonprofits over the last six years. We can do so much more together than any of us can do individually.”