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Join funders for a discussion on the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund.

First Lady Tammy Murphy launched the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund (NJPRF), hosted by the Community Foundation of New Jersey, to fight against the ongoing pandemic by directing funds to local organizations providing “on the ground” services to our state’s most vulnerable populations.

On this webinar, we will hear from Executive Director of NJPRF, Josh Weinreich and President of the Community Foundation of New Jersey, Hans Dekker. Together, they will discuss how funds are being collected and distributed, how NJPRF will help fill gaps in services across the state, and the importance of coordinated efforts between government and the private sector.

The various funds being set up by New Jersey foundations and philanthropic leaders can help ensure funding is directed to areas of greatest need, encourage greater collaboration among grantmaking, nonprofit, and government partners, and create a stronger, more resilient state. Register now to hear about how the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund is providing essential support for our communities.

Cost: Free for CNJG Members and Nonmember Grantmakers
This program is open to Grantmakers only.

Webinar Video

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, through its philanthropic arm, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, issued $555,000 in grants to 15 non-profit organizations for health, cultural programs and disaster relief throughout New Jersey during the third quarter of 2021.

The Foundation’s mission is to support organizations that make New Jersey healthier.

A total of $50,000 in disaster relief grants was awarded to the following organizations to support designated FEMA disaster areas and fill the gaps in the response effort:

• $25,000 to Community FoodBank of New Jersey
• $25,000 to ReNew Jersey: Ida Relief

Other grants issued in the third quarter include:

AtlantiCare Foundation, through the Community Foundation of New Jersey, in Morristown, received a $50,000 grant to support the Atlantic City Patient Transportation project, which provides free, easily accessible and reliable transportation for low-income patients in Atlantic City, using the health system’s services.

Diabetes Foundation, in Hackensack, received a $30,000 grant to support Improving Health Outcomes through Education and Guidance, a prevention and education program provided in English and Spanish, for patients with pre-diabetes and diabetes.

Food Bank of South Jersey, in Pennsauken, received a $25,000 grant to support Prevent T2, an evidence-based intervention for seniors designed to delay and/or prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes.

Garden State Equality Education Fund, in Asbury Park, received a $25,000 grant to support the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Self-Healing Community Model, which addresses the impact of trauma and ACEs on mental and physical health among LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities in Camden.

George Street Playhouse, in New Brunswick, received a $75,000 grant to support the production of Anytown, a musical drama for students in grades 7-12, focusing on the challenges and consequences of opioid abuse and its impact on teens and families.

Greater Newark Health Care Coalition, in West Orange, received a $50,000 grant to support the Greater Newark Community Health Worker (CHW) Learning Collaborative, a project that promotes the growth, leadership and interconnections of CHWs in the Greater Newark region through monthly meetings, resource sharing and training.

Hopeworks ‘N Camden, in Camden, received a $20,000 grant to support Returning Stronger, which is focused on the development of a youth-built, youth-focused, easy-to-access website, to help young people find relevant mental health resources.

Mercer Council on Alcoholism & Drug Addiction, in Trenton, received a $20,000 grant to support the Community Oriented Recovery Effort (CORE), a pilot project to create and promote a larger, more inclusive space for those in the recovery community in Trenton and the surrounding area.

Millhill Child and Family Development Corporation, in Trenton, received a $20,000 grant to support Eat Right, Keep Moving, an obesity education and prevention program that aims to build a Culture of Health within the communities that Millhill serves.

Newark Boys Chorus School, in Newark, received a $40,000 grant to support the school’s music and concert touring programs, as well as academic initiatives.

The Newark Museum of Art, in Newark, received a $100,000 grant to support The Horizon Foundation Community Days, which occur once a month and provide free diverse programming for all ages.

Saint Vincent Academy, in Newark, received a $25,000 grant to support the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey Leadership Promise Scholarship, which provides one four-year scholarship to a Greater Newark-area student.

St. Benedict’s Preparatory School, in Newark, received a $25,000 grant to support the Steven Grossman Student Counseling Center, which provides students with mental health education, resources and services.

In 2001, the Schumann Fund for New Jersey and 10 private and corporate foundations agreed to collaborate on the multi-year Newark Lighthouse Initiative. The Initiative, led by two state nonprofit partners, the Association for Children of New Jersey and New Jersey Community Capital, had program and policy goals: to help three Newark-based early childhood programs move from good to exemplary, and to identify policy changes that would be necessary to enable other early-childhood programs to engage in similar efforts.

Funders over the initiative’s six-year life included the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Schumann Fund for New Jersey, Prudential Foundation, Lucent Technologies Foundation, Bank of America, Grable Foundation, Sagner Family Fund, Victoria Foundation, Toys “R” Us Children’s Fund, Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, BEA Foundation, United Way of Essex and West Hudson, MCJ Foundation, and Rosie’s For All Kids Foundation. Many funders agreed to make multi-year grants or to consider proposals for renewal of support over the life of the project.

The money was used first to support a needs assessment for each center, and then to help the centers attract and retain the most qualified teachers, implement the best teaching methods, and obtain or renovate to improve facilities. A portion of the funds was set aside for an independent evaluation of the initiative. The three centers chosen – Friendly Fuld Neighborhood Child Care, Ironbound Children’s Center, and Vailsburg Child Development Center – already had strong programs and recognized leadership. The funders believed that the extra support would enable them to improve the quality of their programs, serve as exemplars for other programs in the city, and provide teachers and parents tangible evidence of what quality looks like.

The Schumann Fund participated in the collaborative for a number of reasons. First, we understood the value of high-quality early-childhood education to children’s later success in school and in the workforce. We knew that many of the community-based programs in Newark had been operating for years with insufficient resources. We viewed the Abbott decision, which requires that the state’s 31 poorest school districts make “high-quality, well-planned preschool” available to every three-and four-year-old in those districts, as an opportunity to expand access to preschool and improve it significantly. We recognized that our investment in quality improvement could be sustained by the operating funds that the state and districts were providing to the preschool programs.

Second, each collaborating funder brought different strengths: knowledge of early-childhood policy and evaluation, expertise in community economic development, and long-term commitment to community service organizations in Newark. Third, we believed that by working together, we could more effectively use our finite resources. We could make it possible for grantees to focus on quality improvement rather than raising monies from separate funders. Participating grantmakers helped to develop the project’s framework and encouraged their colleagues to consider supporting it. Finally, we believed that by modeling collaboration among ourselves, we could encourage greater collaboration among our grantees.

There were challenges, of course. Each grantmaker had different guidelines, reporting requirements, and timetables and processes for reviewing proposals. Some were able to make multi-year grants; others were not. Several changed their guidelines or operating approach during the course of the project and were not able to continue funding it for the entire six years. During its initial phase, some elements of the original proposal changed, including the evaluation process and timeline. It took longer for the project to get off the ground than we originally anticipated. But ultimately, the trust that was established between all of the involved parties enabled us to approve the changes in the operations and timeline.

The Lighthouse project achieved its original goals of supporting quality improvements in all of the participating programs. The Association for Children of New Jersey and New Jersey Community Capital provided excellent technical assistance and planning support and identified obstacles to quality improvement that needed to be addressed through policy advocacy. In addition, the directors of two of the three programs have become effective leaders in Newark’s early-childhood community, and have presented their experiences with this project to national audiences.

This effort required us to commit time and expertise, in addition to money. It takes more effort to collaborate than it does to work in our conventional way, but it is worth it. We came away with a new appreciation for the work of our grantees; an understanding of the need for flexibility amid changing conditions on the ground; and the satisfaction – backed up by a dynamic evaluation – that our efforts contributed to tangible improvements in life-opportunities for the children and families that the centers serve.

Would we do it again? We are. This year, several New Jersey funders joined with six nonprofits, including three community organizing groups, to respond to a national request for proposal for support of education organizing. We were awarded the grant, the only statewide effort of the four that were awarded. We anticipate that the effort will engage parents and community members in local and statewide efforts to improve schools. And, we have brought national attention and national money to our work.

Americares has announced a $2 million grant from Johnson & Johnson to launch a three-year program aimed at strengthening the resilience of more than 100 safety-net health clinics in areas where climate change disproportionately affects the health of vulnerable communities.

The Climate Health Equity for Community Clinics Program is a collaborative effort between Americares, the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Johnson & Johnson, and healthcare providers at participating free clinics and community health centers, which will design tailored interventions that meet the needs of under-resourced and overworked staff. By improving clinic operations and health resilience, the program aims to protect patients’ health during heat waves, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and other climate-related emergencies.

According to Americares, more than 90 percent of free clinic and community health center patients qualify as low income, and more than half identify as racial and ethnic minorities. The World Health Organization has declared climate change the single biggest threat to humanity—putting clean air, safe drinking water, secure housing, and food supplies at risk—and projects climate change will cause an additional 250,000 global deaths annually from 2030 to 2050, largely due to malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey (HFNJ) is pleased to announce that it has awarded $1,116,928 to eight New Jersey non-profit organizations in the second quarter of 2022.

The two largest awards given this quarter are a $222,383 grant to the Jewish Community Housing Corporation to support the renovation and expansion of their Lester Senior Housing Medical Suite, and a $193,923 award to Caldwell University to upgrade the equipment, staff capacity, and professional training opportunities at their School of Nursing.

Nearly all the other grants awarded in this cycle address behavioral health – highlighting the urgent need for treatment laid bare by the “second pandemic” of mental health concerns exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The requests The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey received this quarter demonstrate that nonprofit organizations in greater Newark and the Jewish Greater MetroWest community have an urgent need for qualified mental health clinicians to help them address their communities’ increasing and ever-more complex health needs,” said Michael Schmidt, Executive Director and CEO of the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey. “We are particularly pleased to support several organizations serving children, whose mental health has been particularly impacted throughout the pandemic by school closures and loss of learning time, loss of routines, social isolation, and family stress.”

Nineteen local organizations have been awarded a total of more than $326,000 in grants by The Summit Foundations. The recipients represent nonprofit organizations providing vital food, shelter, education, arts, culture, and health services.

The awards were approved as part of The Summit Foundation’s June grant cycle.

The Summit Foundation fosters philanthropy by identifying local needs and offering donors flexible ways to make a difference in the lives of their neighbors. Since 2010, it has awarded nearly $6.9 million through 502 competitive grants to tax-exempt organizations that serve our area.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) today announced plans to award grants totaling $17.5 million to 30 nonprofit organizations through Phase 3 of its successful Sustain & Serve NJ program. Sustain & Serve NJ provides eligible entities with grants to support the purchase of meals from New Jersey restaurants that have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 and the distribution of those meals at no cost to recipients. The additional $17.5 million in awards announced today brings total program funding to $52.5 million.

Sustain & Serve NJ launched during the pandemic as a $2 million pilot program to boost restaurants impacted by COVID and has grown into an over $50 million program that continues to bring much-needed food to people across New Jersey. Since February 2021, Sustain & Serve NJ has already supported the purchase of more than 3.5 million meals from over 400 restaurants in all 21 counties with grants totaling $35 million.

Phase 3 of Sustain & Serve NJ is funded by $10 million allocated by Governor Phil Murphy from the federal American Rescue Plan and approximately $7.5 million in State funding. Funding from this latest phase is expected to support the purchase of an additional 1.5 million meals.

“Sustain & Serve NJ has become a national model for addressing food insecurity, supporting small businesses that are the heartbeat of our downtowns, and providing funding to the nonprofit entities that deliver vital services,” said Acting Governor Sheila Y. Oliver. “Combatting hunger remains a top priority and it is more critical than ever that nonprofits have the resources they need to feed the people within their communities.”

Bank of America announced Wednesday that it has made more than $1.5 million in grants to 28 New Jersey nonprofits to help drive economic opportunity for individuals and families.

The grants focus on workforce development and education to help individuals chart a path to employment and better economic futures, as well as basic needs fundamental to building lifelong stability, such as access to food.

While New Jersey’s economy is recovering from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state still trails the nation in terms of employment and job creation. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, New Jersey’s unemployment rate is 4.1%, compared with the national average of 3.6%.

Employment is a key driver of economic mobility in New Jersey.

Bank of America New Jersey President Alberto Garofalo said that is why the bank is focused on building pathways to employment by supporting a range of workforce development and educational opportunities that will help vulnerable individuals and families stabilize and advance.

“We’ve chosen to partner with nonprofits that address the most critical issues facing New Jersey, including workforce development, food insecurity and economic and social progress,” he said. “Our philanthropic investment in these organizations helps us deploy capital locally, where it will have the most impact and build sustainable communities.”

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.”