Local Partnerships

Implementing statewide philanthropic solutions

Since the 1970s, CFNJ has collaborated with fundholders to respond to pressing issues with solutions. Our name has become synonymous with best practices in philanthropic giving, community organizing, and nonprofit management. 

Some recent examples include:

• Community Foundation of South Jersey
  Our affiliate, the Community Foundation of South Jersey (CFSJ), is the philanthropic home for the South Jersey region. CFSJ helps local people and organizations turn their ideas for good into action in the region’s eight counties. Each South Jersey county and town is vital, full of possibilities, and stoked with assets to mobilize for good. CFSJ connects resources, relationships, and purpose to strengthen South Jersey for today and forever.

• Equity Ahora NJ
  New Jersey Health Initiatives (NJHI) invested $100 million to advance health equity across our state for over 35 years. In a strategic refresh, CFNJ, CFSJ, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation partnered to co-create a reimagined NJHI. Now known as Equity Ahora NJ, the initiative is creating a more equitable New Jersey by investing in community-led groups and networks — rooted in racial equity and centered on systems change.

• EQUIP New Jersey
  As an intermediary initiative, EQUIP New Jersey aims to strengthen the ecosystem of organizations working to advance justice across the state. Members of the advocacy and racial justice fields have shaped the initiative’s design, priorities, and vision. With their continued support and input, EQUIP New Jersey will pilot new ways of decision-making through distributed leadership and empowerment of those most impacted.

• Press Forward Initiative
  In 2024, we partnered with the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium to house the New Jersey chapter of the Press Forward initiative in order to advance local news and civic engagement across the Garden State. The consortium plans to invest more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms, close longstanding gaps in journalism coverage, advance public policy that expands access to local news, and scale the infrastructure that the sector needs to thrive.

Learn more: Donor-Driven Solutions | Creative Collaborations | Amplified Impact