Supporting safe havens for survivors and their petsKaren Lindemann had a deep, abiding love for her companions. She had a 150-pound dog who was devoted to her and nursed Quinn, a rescue cat, back to health after she became ill with feline leukemia.
This love inspired Karen to connect with the team at 180 Turning Lives Around, a nonprofit in Monmouth County, and to support the first refuge for both domestic violence survivors and their pets in the state. Years later, she partnered with CFNJ in designing a legacy fund that ensures more DV survivors have a safe place to recover with their companions by their side across New Jersey.
One great example of giving creatively involves, of all things, Fleet Week and Broadway shows. The ingenuity of one of our fundholders led us to collaborate in gifting Broadway and Off-Broadway tickets to service members who visit New York City during Fleet Week in May.
We collaborated with the Theatre Development Fund (TDF), a not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts, to distribute 2,700 tickets to members of the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard — along with Blue Star Families — from 2023 to 2024. In 2025, TDF distributed 1,300 Broadway tickets to service members.
Driving change at the community levelCFNJ’s collaboration with corporations like Prudential Financial, Inc., offers a unique way to drive change at the community level — with flexibility and ease — by streamlining processes and grantmaking procedures through
the Prudential Community Grants Program.
Local changemakers and leaders often have the solutions to support their neighborhoods, but they typically lack access to financial resources. The microgrants offered through Prudential’s program have the potential to make neighborhoods more stable, while empowering residents to lead the transformations they want to see in their communities.
We are proud to host this program, among other collaborative projects with the company, and support local nonprofits and individuals whose work contributes to the vibrancy of their communities.
A Gift to Philip Roth’s beloved hometown library“As a boy growing up in Newark, I assumed the books in the public library belonged to the public. This idea of communal ownership had as much to do with civilizing me as any idea in the books themselves.” — Philip Roth
At Mr. Roth’s request, the Community Foundation stewards his bequest to the Newark Public Library (NPL).
Those who knew him say the American literary icon was grateful for his childhood in Weequahic, as well as his second “home” at the library. So, it made sense that Mr. Roth left his entire personal collection of 7,000 volumes and books to NPL after he died. The library ensures that his legacy supports services, programming, book acquisitions, and maintenance for the Philip Roth Personal Library located on the second floor.
Visitors can read handwritten notes in his personal books or take a look at a writing table, standing desk, and more that are arranged to replicate his office where he wrote.
We are proud to steward Roth’s gift to the city that raised him.
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