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The New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund recently awarded $664,500 in grants to 30 nonprofits statewide.
Since its founding in 2020, the fund has awarded more than $7.4 million to more than 200 organizations across New Jersey. The fund, hosted by the Princeton Area Community Foundation, aims to offer critical grant dollars for many of the state’s smaller nonprofit organizations in the arts, culture and historical sectors.
The most recent grants were awarded in two phases. Eleven nonprofits received grants from the Fund for the first time, and for the first time, one round of grants was dedicated to history organizations.
Sharnita Johnson, VP of strategy, impact and communications at the Victoria Foundation and co-chair of the fund, explained it this way.
“The New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund directly addresses disparities in funding that were present before the pandemic and have increased in its aftermath,” she said. “The smaller cultural organizations supported by the New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund serve multiple functions in their communities. They are important anchors central to community wellbeing and quality of life in the areas they serve.”
The Provident Bank Foundation on Monday announced the Major Grant recipients for its first cycle of 2023. The foundation awarded $291,000 of total funding to 26 nonprofit organizations within the foundation’s three priority areas of Community Enrichment, Education and Health, and Youth and Families.
Major Grants awarded in this cycle range from $7,500 to $20,000 per grant and will provide funding for organizations across New Jersey, New York 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 the 2023 Major Grants exemplify how quality of life in our communities can be improved in ways that create real and life-changing transformations,” Samantha Plotino, executive director of the Provident Bank Foundation, said. “We’re very excited to see the positive effects that these grants will have on the organizations that receive them.”
The Princeton Area Community Foundation has awarded a total of $250,000 in grants to local nonprofits for summer initiatives that reach children and teens, including many whose families would not otherwise have access to affordable, high-quality programs when school is not in session.
The grants, funded through the Community Foundation’s Community Impact program, will support 26 summer programs that provide a wide variety of ac
tivities for young people, including arts instruction, academic enrichment, social-emotional learning opportunities, swimming and sports lessons. Many programs also provide transportation and meals. Some initiatives include bilingual instruction. Some are geared toward populations that may be difficult to reach, such as tweens and teens.
For many families, summer programs serve as safety nets that help working parents. But for many families, the programs are often out of reach, because of affordability or accessibility.
“Summer programs help reduce learning loss and provide much needed support for many working families who otherwise would not be able to enroll their children in quality, summer activities during the summer months,” Nelida Valentin, Community Foundation vice president of grants and programs, said. “These grants help nonprofit partners sustain terrific initiatives that serve some of our most vulnerable children, particularly teens and tweens in this region. We also want to thank our generous donors, whose support of our Community Impact grants program helps make these grants possible.”
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, through its philanthropic arm, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, issued $1,171,000 in grants to 26 non-profit organization throughout New Jersey, for the second round of grants in 2023.
CNJG’s Finance and Investment Affinity Group exists to keep foundation executives informed as they manage the investment of their corpus. Growth of foundation assets and the active exchange of sound investment strategies is the focus of each program.
As stewards of your organization’s assets, you’ve likely had discussions at the Board level regarding the merits of incorporating Values-Based Investing (“VBI”) approaches into the investment program. As the industry has evolved, VBI incorporates Socially Responsible Investing, Environmental Social & Governance (“ESG”), and Impact Investing. While the opportunity and investment thesis for capturing VBI attributes are well articulated across the industry, a cautious and thoughtful approach is warranted. VBI should not be “one size fits all”; rather, a customized opportunity exists to reflect your organization’s values across the investment portfolio. Further, given the meteoric rise of VBI across the investment industry, there are a plethora of products that claim to incorporate responsible principles; however, a closer examination may raise doubts about the value-add being provided, especially on a net of fees basis. Lastly, certain VBI arenas such as ESG have unfortunately become a hot-button political issue, with both ends of the spectrum equating ESG investing with other political agendas. When considering the appropriateness of VBI for your organization, we believe it is important for the Board to have a clear understanding of the opportunities and challenges involved.
Agenda
8:30 a.m. - Breakfast
9:00 a.m. - Program begins
10:00 a.m. - Meeting concludes
Cost: $35 for CNJG Members; $70 for Non Member Grantmakers (includes full breakfast)
Prudential Financial has awarded “microgrants” to 54 nonprofits and individuals throughout the city to help them continue their effort to address community issues and improve quality of life for people and families.
Prudential, headquartered in Newark, recently distributed $280,000 from a $500,000 Community Grants Program, launched in March. Prudential partnered with the Community Foundation of New Jersey to administer and distribute the microgrants.
“We know a strong city is built on strong neighborhoods and we understand that those closest to the challenges in our community are best positioned to solve them,” said Lata Reddy, senior vice president with Prudential Financial and chair of The Prudential Foundation.
Maryland Philanthropy Network presents a toolkit on Community Centric Fundraising. CCF is a movement aspiring to transform fundraising and philanthropy so that they are co-grounded in racial and economic justice. CCF invites fundraisers and funders to examine the problematic philosophies and practices.
Join us to discuss the CCF principles, what they ask of funders, and how they are impacting the sector. Participants will learn about colleagues implementing some of the principles and will discuss the range of ways funders can be supportive of these principles as a way to demonstrate anti-racist values.
Speakers:
Dani Faulkner, Chief Development Officer, Baltimore Corps and a Community Centric Fundraising Global Council
Dannielle Sturgeon, Director of Development, Baltimore Corps
Cost: Free for CNJG Members and Non Member Grantmakers
As we know, COVID-19 had a significant impact on student academic achievement. School districts across the state and country are working to accelerate student learning with a particular focus on literacy. Join us for our next Newark Education Funder meeting as we explore how funders can support a community approach to literacy, including the recently released Ten Point Literacy Plan. We will hone in on statewide and local data with the support of a recent study published by JerseyCAN, and then discuss how we can collaborate with grantees on systems that complement the traditional K-12 school day, particularly early literacy and support for reading at home, after-school and community programs, and collaborations with institutions like the Newark Public Library.
Panelists:
Paula White, Executive Director, JerseyCAN
Christian Zabriskie, Director, Newark Public Library
Nayibe Capellan, CEO, Programs for Parents
Catherine Wilson, President and CEO, United Way of Greater Newark
Cost: Free for CNJG Members; $50 for Non Member Grantmakers.
The Grunin Foundation, in partnership with CNJG, invites you to join the next Monmouth & Ocean County funder roundtable. The conversation will continue around what we can to do together to move to action and create greater impact in our communities.
The roundtable will be held from 10:00am - 12:00pm with an optional lunch following, from 12:00pm - 1:00pm. To help with planning, please indicate during the registration process if you will be staying for the lunch.
Cost: Free for CNJG Members and Non Member Grantmakers
This program is open to grantmakers only and is geared towards those who fund in Monmouth & Ocean Counties.
Any and all staff and/or trustees from new CNJG members and any new staff and trustees of veteran CNJG members are invited to this Zoom meeting to meet fellow new members, hear about each other’s funding strategies, and learn about the programs and services CNJG offers. This is a great chance to meet fellow funders in a casual, yet professional setting, and build your network within the CNJG network.
There is no cost to attend for CNJG members.
If you have any questions about who can or should attend, please contact Craig Weinrich, Director of Member Services at 609-414-7110 x802.
The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey (HFNJ) is pleased to announce that it has awarded $2,802,521 to twenty New Jersey nonprofit organizations in its third quarter grant cycle of 2023. The total includes renewal funding for 15 projects that had previously been awarded grants from HFNJ, and first-time funding for five new projects.
The projects reflect the many diverse areas in which HFNJ works to fulfill its mission of improving the health and well-being of individuals in Newark and its environs and the Jewish community of Greater MetroWest, NJ. Programs providing vision care for children; dental care for veterans; care for individuals experiencing homelessness; the provision of healthy foods; and more will be supported by the grants awarded this quarter.
The Health and Environmental Funders Network (HEFN) and Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) invite you to join an informal conversation to learn from funder peers who are practicing participatory grantmaking (PG). We’ll begin with a brief overview of PG, and how this practice can be used to center equity and justice as we shift away from extractive grantmaking practices. We’ll then hear from a few HEFN and SAFSF members who are implementing different models of PG in their grantmaking.
If you’re new to the concept of participatory grantmaking, this webinar is a great opportunity to see examples of it in action. If you’re familiar with participatory grantmaking (or working to implement these practices in your own world), this is a chance to dive deeper into others’ practices for learnings and insight. Time will be reserved in the agenda for discussions in smaller groups and, as you might expect, the call will be participatory!
Speakers:
Amanda Tello, St. Louis Environmental Justice Fund
Shavaun Evans, Food and Farm Communications Fund
Mark Muller, Regenerative Agriculture Foundation
Resources
Zoom Recording
Webinar slides
Deciding Together Shifting Power and Resources Through Participatory Grantmaking
Amanda Tello’s communal agreements
PG Learning Community Summary
The Westfield Foundation recently held its most recent Board Meeting and awarded grants totaling over $40,000 to several local organizations, including two new grantees.
Pediatric Health Center at Trinitas Hospital: The Westfield Foundation supported this project by providing child-sized tables, chairs, and books in both English and Spanish. These resources will enhance the environment for young patients and their families at the Pediatric Health Center.
JCC (Jewish Community Center): The Foundation awarded a grant to the JCC from its Wagner-Hoffart fund, which is dedicated to supporting the Senior Citizen Community. The grant is aimed at facilitating a Musical Exploration series, ensuring that the JCC can continue to offer enriching programming to its members.
In addition to the ongoing partnerships with these established community organizations, two new grantees were introduced.
The New Jersey Historic Trust, an affiliate of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), today approved a total of $14,038,043 in grant recommendations from the Preserve New Jersey Historic Preservation Fund to save and promote historic sites throughout the state. Seventy-one preservation planning, municipal, county, and regional planning, heritage tourism, and capital projects are included in this year’s list of recommendations.
“As the state’s leading voice for historic preservation, the Trust has consistently advanced historic guardianship in New Jersey for the benefit of future generations through education, stewardship, and financial investment programs that protect our traditions and strengthen our communities,” said DCA Acting Commissioner Jacquelyn A. Suárez. “This investment in historic resources will help to preserve New Jersey’s history for generations to come.”
Nonprofit funder GreenLight Fund Greater Newark today announced its first investment selection, bringing the EMS Corps program to Greater Newark. EMS Corps is a proven workforce development initiative that provides participants with a five-month paid stipend, emergency medical technician (EMT) job training, youth development, mentoring and job placement, ultimately improving health outcomes and supporting sustainable career pathways. In Newark, 40 young people will go through the program annually.
GreenLight Greater Newark’s investment in the EMS Corps program was informed by a year-long selection process conducted in partnership with the local Selection Advisory Council (SAC), a diverse group of 36 talented residents, leaders and experts from various fields. Through the process, GreenLight Greater Newark identified workforce development for young people as a critical need in the community and, after searching the country, EMS Corps was selected based on their proven track record addressing this need.
“During our Community Conversations tour last summer, we listened to the concerns of community members, nonprofit leaders, and key stakeholders and learned about the urgent need to create more workforce development opportunities for our young people,” said GreenLight Greater Newark Executive Director Tish Johnson-Jones. “In response to this need, we selected EMS Corps as we believe their evidence-based training, mentoring and job placement program will help open doors for our young people and empower the next generation to make a difference in a career field that has been historically unattainable for them.”
This year, GivingTuesday, a global generosity movement, is Tuesday, November 28. While this annual traditional is best known for highlighting charitable organizations’ missions and elevating individual giving, how can corporate philanthropy leverage these types of giving days and partnerships to engage in and promote greater impact? We’ll hear from Woodrow Rosenbaum, Chief Data Officer, GivingTuesday, who will share the history and evolution of this special day, as well as giving trends from a national perspective.
As Chief Data Officer, Rosenbaum has been instrumental in shaping the global generosity movement and has spearheaded ground-breaking research and analysis of individual giving behaviors. He leads the GivingTuesday Data Commons, bringing together a coalition of more than 300 collaborators coordinated through eight working groups as well as data teams in 50 countries to understand the drivers and impacts of generosity to inspire more giving of all types. Woodrow brings expertise in moving markets and transforming audiences from passive participants to active and vocal ambassadors. He is founder and CEO of With Intent, an international consumer marketing agency, a member of the Generosity Commission Research Task Force, serves as board chair for Global Impact Canada, and is a Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School.
Following the presentation and Q & A, we’ll have dedicated time for corporate funders to hear from one another, share programs and projects, and learn from one another. We encourage every attendee to participate in this discussion.
Webinar Video
I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing summer. For many, summer offers a time to move at a slower pace, and perhaps take some time for reflection and recharging. I hope you were able to do some of that at least during your official “away-from-the-office” vacation time.
As summer wanes and we come back to our offices, Governance Committee co-chairs, Craig Drinkard and Justin Kiczek, have extended an invitation – if you are interested in serving on the CNJG Board of Trustees, or know someone who would make a good trustee, please complete the application form, and email it to Office Manager Dana Schwartz, along with a brief biography, no later than September 13, 2023. Read Craig and Justin’s full letter.
The Board will present a slate of candidates to CNJG members at the annual meeting of members. Please save the date - the CNJG Annual Meeting & Holiday Gathering is on Thursday, December 14 at the Crowne Plaza Edison. Registration will be available soon.
In reviewing the nominations for board service, the Governance Committee considers participation and engagement in at least one CNJG committee, and/or serving as co-chair of a Council affinity group. Standing committees of the board include Audit, Finance, Governance, Member Engagement, Leadership and Policy, Racial Equity, Signature Programs, and Strategic Plan Implementation. Most committees meet at least twice a year. Committees focus on a specific issue or task, and ensures the board’s overall work is divided into manageable tasks. Committee participation is open to all CNJG members. If you are interested in learning more and/or serving on a committee, please let me know. Committee work allows you to expand your personal network and build relationships with colleagues, demonstrate and develop your own leadership, and gain new knowledge and skills that you might not regularly use in your day-to-day role. You’ll also be contributing to the success and future of CNJG, as well as helping to move forward the 2023 - 2025 Strategic Plan.
If you are already chairing a committee or affinity group, or serving on a committee – thank you for your leadership! We’re so grateful for your dedication and support. If you are interested in joining a committee, please reach out to me. Thank you!
Welcome back from the summer – I hope to see you at an upcoming CNJG program, and at the CNJG 2023 Annual Meeting & Holiday Gathering on December 14.
Sincerely,
Theresa Jacks, President and CEO
Council of New Jersey Grantmakers
I can’t believe October began last weekend. I honestly don’t know where the time goes. Before you know it, the new year will be here.
Before that, I’m looking forward to our annual gathering of members – the CNJG 2023 Annual Meeting & Holiday Gathering.
On Thursday, December 14, over 150 Council members and special guests will gather at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Edison to celebrate the holiday season, welcome new CNJG members, convene a brief business meeting to elect new trustees, feature a dynamic discussion related to the vital work of philanthropy, and provide an excellent opportunity to connect with your colleagues and friends – both old and new.
This year’s overall theme is Philanthropic Collaboratives: Driving Impact and Opportunity.
Together we’ll explore the collaborative process, surface opportunities and challenges, and uncover how to create sustainable partnerships for lasting impact. We’re thrilled to have FSG lead the morning workshop, Tools for Funder Collaboration. The morning workshop will share real life examples of how funders have actively engaged in collaborative efforts, used data for continuous learning, and ensured momentum and buy-in among partners.
Thank you to the Signature Programs Committee, led by co-chairs Christine Healey, President of the Healey Education Foundation, and Atiya Weiss, Executive Director of the Burke Foundation, for their commitment to bring this important topic to CNJG members. The 2023 - 2025 Strategic Plan uplifts collaborations as a way to create more value for member-organizations and the social sector, and catalyze other partnerships in support of all our communities.
The Annual Meeting is the one time per year when many CNJG members come together in one place, at one time, to convene, connect, and celebrate together. And as the “annual meeting of members,” I invite you to consider sponsorship of the event. Even if you’ve never sponsored this gathering before, this is an excellent opportunity to support our work, while also increasing visibility for your own organization and philanthropic efforts. We have a number of outstanding sponsorship opportunities for this event - all outlined here.
We hope you’ll consider supporting the Annual Meeting this year with a sponsorship.
Please call me at (609) 414-7110 extension 805, or email me if you need more information or require an online application to secure your sponsorship. We can also customize a sponsorship package for you.
Thank you to our sponsors to date – we could not do this without you: Signature Sponsor – Prudential, and Contributing Sponsors - Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Devils Youth Foundation.
We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at the CNJG Annual Meeting & Holiday Gathering. In the meantime, happy fall.
With all good wishes,
Theresa Jacks, President and CEO
Council of New Jersey Grantmakers
The rising cost of housing, a limitation on supply of affordable housing stock, and economic shocks and disruptions have led to an increase in homelessness across the United States. Over this time period, the City of Newark has made strides in fostering collaborative and innovative approaches to housing the unhoused. In December, the City released a strategic plan to end chronic homelessness, the first plan of its kind in some time. Specifically, its vision states that “Newark will strive to end chronic homelessness for all individuals over the next three years through collaboration, prevention, and housing.” The vision goes on to state that when it [homelessness] cannot be prevented, it will be a rare, brief, and nonrecurring experience.”
We hope that you will join us as we hear from leaders of this collaborative effort as they discuss how they are working toward their shared vision.
Panelists:
Luis Ulerio, Newark Homelessness Czar, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Homeless Services
Jim Pelliccio, Chair of the City of Newark Commission on the Homeless and President and CEO of Port Newark
Evan Weiss, President and CEO, Newark Alliance
Cost: Free for CNJG Members; $50 for Non Member Grantmakers.
Any and all staff and/or trustees from new CNJG members and any new staff or trustees of veteran CNJG members are invited to this in-person meeting prior to the Annual Meeting and Holiday Luncheon Pre-Meeting Workshop to meet fellow new members and a few CNJG staff, hear about each other’s funding strategies, and learn about the programs and services CNJG offers. This is a great chance to meet fellow funders in a casual, yet professional setting, and build your personal network within the CNJG network. You’ll see these familiar faces throughout the rest of the day’s events..
Registration for CNJG’s Annual Meeting and Holiday Luncheon is separate from the New Member Orientation. Please register here for the Annual Meeting and Holiday Luncheon.
There is no cost to attend for CNJG members. A light breakfast, and coffee, tea, beverages will be available.
If you have any questions about who can or should attend, please contact Craig Weinrich, Director of Member Services at 609-414-7110 x802.