It’s a tagline from a 1990s ad campaign everyone knows: “We don’t make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.” It was by the chemical giant BASF, a company largely unknown to the public, which wanted to remind everyone how important they were to modern life.
What BASF does for consumer and industrial products, community foundations do for communities. You may have heard of the grants they distribute to local nonprofits. But the other work you may know about may be even more profound.
This week, Nov. 12-18, the U.S. honors the work of more than 900 community foundations through National Community Foundation Week. New Jersey has a small number of these organizations, from the statewide Community Foundation of New Jersey to hyperlocal foundations that serve individual towns. Our organization, the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, serves the eight northern counties of the state in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Union and Warren.
Every community foundation works to make life better for the people in the community or the region it serves. We connect people who care with causes that matter. Typically, this means working with generous donors to open and maintain donor-advised funds or giving circles. These tax-deductible charitable vehicles can provide a more effective and efficient way for individuals, families and businesses to support worthy causes. (Running your own foundation is often expensive and time-consuming.) Community foundations vet the organizations, which might get grants, and they typically place the funds in conservative investment accounts — so donors can see the funds they create gain value, tax free.
Since 1998, NNJCF has distributed more than $1.1 million in grants and scholarships in North Jersey, including more than $500,000 to help nonprofit organizations support their communities
during COVID-19. Through these funds, and in several other ways, we have supported dozens of nonprofit organizations around an eight-county region.
Today, many community foundations are more than just a “warehouse of funds.” They are thought leaders, bringing leaders from across communities and sectors to address critical issues in their communities, or helping local nonprofits build their capacity to do good, better. Some conduct valuable research to guide policymakers and other leaders who want to help their communities.
But as we like to say in our field: “When you’ve seen one community foundation, you’ve seen one community foundation.” Everyone does things a little differently. South Jersey Community Foundation has collaborated with community leaders and residents in six communities to help their communities be stronger and more resilient. Princeton Area Community Foundation conducts reports on children’s well-being, which can be used by policymakers to help families in their towns and counties.
The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation takes a very hands-on approach to communities: we’ve produced more than 30 public art installations and experiences in Bergen County, got a rain garden installed in Hackensack, and built a resident-led group focused on reducing flooding and promoting environmental justice in Hackensack. And now we’re leading I.C. New Jersey, a massive regional effort to promote local economic development, advance shared prosperity, and promote cultural entrepreneurship by leveraging New Jersey’s distinct heritage with innovation, industry and cultural diversity.
One thing community foundations have in common is all our work is made possible by generous donors. Unlike family or corporate foundations, which tend to start with large endowments from a single source, community foundations rely on a wide variety of individuals, families, corporations, and even other foundations, which understand that together, they can do a lot more than they could alone.
As you think about who you will support in the giving season, please think about donating to a community foundation in your area. It’s a great investment in your community.
Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP, is the Executive Director of the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Hackensack, working with local governments, school districts, businesses, non-profit organizations, and citizen groups to improve community life.
For further information about the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, contact Leonardo Vazquez at [email protected] or 201-568-5608, x2.
