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The Executive Director is an employee of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Metrowest. In this role, they lead the Grotta Fund’s grantmaking, strategic initiatives, and partnerships to advance its mission. The Executive Director guides the Advisory Council’s priorities, monitors emerging issues affecting older adults, builds collaborative relationships, and supports advocacy aligned with policy and program opportunities in New Jersey.

The F. M. Kirby Foundation Board of Directors announced 249 grants totaling $14,354,050 were made in 2022 to nonprofit organizations working to foster self-reliance and create strong, healthy communities. Over half of these organizations have been partners of the Foundation for over 20 years, in keeping with the Foundation’s philosophy of long-term investments in effective programs.

The Foundation’s 2022 grantmaking included increased contributions to nonprofit organizations in the arts and humanities, education, health, human services, environment and animals, public affairs, and religion. Over 100 grants totaling more than $5.2 million were awarded to New Jersey-based nonprofit organizations working to make a direct impact on people’s lives throughout the state, 60 of which (totaling $3.1 million) supported work in Morris County, the Foundation’s home county. Additional grants totaling over $9 million supported organizations in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, regions connected to Kirby family members, as well as national nonprofits largely based in Washington, D.C. and New York City.

Reflecting on a year of grantmaking supporting both consistent community partners and exciting new initiatives, Executive Director Justin Kiczek stated, “The F. M. Kirby Foundation was founded more than 90 years ago by Fred Morgan Kirby, an entrepreneur. The values that led to his success have informed this organization and its grantmaking since its founding. We are proud of the ways in which we supported, in 2022, the entrepreneurs, innovators, and problem-solvers who are fostering strong and healthy communities. On a local level, our grantmaking this year supported organizations like Rising Tide Capital, based in Jersey City, NJ, in their mission to transform lives and communities through entrepreneurship. On the other hand, we continued to promote national and global social entrepreneurship through the F. M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Social Impact, administered by the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. We remain committed to funding the next generation of Fred Morgan Kirbys, who are inspired to use their entrepreneurial vision to tackle the significant challenges of our era.”

This publication from Grantmakers for Effective Organizations offers a framework for thinking about how to measure progress and results in place-based and community change initiatives. 

At a recent Ocean & Monmouth Funders Roundtable, the group discussed all of the different databases and lists of nonprofits available to philanthropy to be able to research new and different nonprofits.

Nonprofit Finance Fund's Annual Survey chronicles the challenges facing the nonprofit sector and calls out some of the targeted investments we can start to agree on as a society to salvage the investment we have collectively made in our social infrastructure. We believe that a coordinated intervention now will not only better prepare us for inevitable future economic crises; it can lead to a happier, healthier community for us all.

This advocacy and civic engagement toolkit is designed for community and public foundations that want to educate and encourage their grantees about getting involved in civic and policy activities to increase organizational capacity and impact. While its primary focus is on the grantmaking activity of these foundations, the toolkit also addresses rules and guidance for policy involvement by foundation officials acting on behalf of their foundations.