Author Archives: Mike

Seven Questions to Ask Yourself Before Creating a Scholarship Fund

A version of this article appeared in Financial Advisor Magazine on May 4, 2018. For many New Jerseyans, creating a scholarship fund is an effective way to establish a philanthropic legacy and provide meaningful support to students, customized to reflect the donors’ interests, fields of study and institutions they care about most.…

Olsen Scholar Demonstrates Relentless Compassion

April 13, 2018 Karen Therrien was not your typical high school student. “Her classmates [would] speak of her in awed, hushed tones – not from fear but from authentic respect and admiration,” her guidance counselor wrote in 2016. And it wasn’t just because she maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average all four years of high school.…

Impact Jersey Coast Announces Three Grants of $112,000 Each

April 11, 2018 Impact 100 Jersey Coast, a women’s philanthropic group that collectively funds high-impact grants to qualified nonprofits in Monmouth County, has announced they will award three grants, each for $112,000 in 2018. Since its inception in 2015, the organization has awarded $391,000 in grants to projects from 180 Turning Lives Around, the Mental Health Association of Monmouth County, and Covenant House New Jersey.…

Impact 100 Garden State Announces $300,000 in Grants

April 9, 2018 Impact 100 Garden State, a six-year-old local women’s philanthropic organization, has announced that in November, 2018, it will award three $100,000 grants to nonprofit organizations that serve residents of Morris, Somerset, Passaic and Sussex Counties. Nonprofit applicants must apply in one of five areas—arts and culture; children and families; education; environment, preservation and recreation; and health and wellness.…

Consider a gift to the Scholarship Opportunity Fund

March 26, 2018 Less than ten percent of Newark residents have a bachelor’s degree. Roughly a third have a high school diploma or equivalent. Of course, these low levels of formal education don’t mean Newark’s residents are any less creative, determined, or resilient – but it does mean that their window for upward mobility is closing.…

Senate Passes Bill to Penalize Websites for Sex Trafficking

March 22, 2018 Our friends and partners in the New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking have worked long and hard in support of legislation to penalize those who have enabled the exponential growth of human trafficking in the United States – and just yesterday, they won.…

Op-Ed: Charitable Deduction Would Help New Jersey Nonprofits

March 19, 2018 Hans Dekker in NJ Spotlight We have a long and rich history of philanthropic giving, but new data shows New Jersey falling to last place among wealthy states for giving While a state income tax deduction for charitable giving has long been a good idea for New Jersey, last year’s changes in federal tax laws make it all the more urgent.…

The Impact of Impact

Below are remarks from Margarethe Laurenzi, the Community Foundation’s Director of Leadership Grantmaking & Engagement, at Bell Works’ International Women’s Day forum on March 8, 2018.   I’m delighted to be here with you on International Women’s Day to celebrate the impact that women are having across the globe.…