Yesterday, my organization convened a meeting of our Arts Funders Affinity Group. We were really fortunate to hear a fascinating, fact-filled presentation from Robert Morrison, founder of Quadrant Arts Education Research. There were two points he made that I can’t stop thinking about. The first is research that has come out of Florida tracking student outcomes. For the first time, there is longitudinal data illustrating the profound impact that access to the arts in school has on student performance. Included in this research is a subset considering just the outcomes for students receiving free or reduced lunches. The results are significant and profound. Considering the cumulative GPA, for students receiving 4 or more credits in the arts it was over 3.1. If they were receiving 2.5 to 3 credits, the GPA was 2.9. Looking at dropout rates, for students with 4 or more credits the rate is less than 6%. For those with no arts credits, it climbs to over 25%. Overall student performance improves dramatically when the arts are incorporated into the curriculum.

The second bit of research I found really interesting was that Arizona, which overall comes in quite low in providing access to arts education, scored the highest in dance education. This was fascinating to me. For a state whose overall arts education programming in elementary and secondary schools is so weak, it was surprising that its strongest showing is in the dance curriculum. I would have assumed music or visual art was where they focused what limited resources they have. It turns out that the focus on dance is due to a strategic partnership between three universities in the state to promote dance in the schools. This seems like a model that could be shared successfully.

These two points – the research on improved student performance and the substantive dance curriculum – prompted me to start connecting the dots for the members of CNJG. For instance, my first question was whether there was any research into how this infusion of dance might affect obesity rates for the children.

The Arts Funders affinity group is one of eight affinity groups that CNJG manages for the grantmaking community. Others groups are centered on Camden, Education, Environment, Issues in Aging, Newark, Strong & Thriving Communities, and Finance & Investment. In addition, we have a subgroup of our Newark Funders focused on just education in the city. And there is an emerging group of Early Childhood Education funders coming together. I also fully expect that in the next few months we’ll see the launch of a funders group centered on health.

Foundations are probably the most independent institutions in our country. While this independence enables a great many things – including the freedom to support the causes they care about in flexible, strategic ways – it can also leave foundation staff and trustees quite isolated. We have so little time (or brain space) to look out beyond our immediate priorities these days that professional development or networking with colleagues can seem like a luxury. For a grantmaker focused on health or education or the environment, it can be a hard choice to give up a morning for a meeting with arts funders. This is where CNJG comes in…our sweet spot. Helping grantmakers get out of their silos is one of the central roles we play at the Council. Our affinity groups are a key resource.

When our grantmakers come together through the affinity groups, we see foundations and corporations collaborating and leveraging more and more. When we can cross fertilize, say for example, sharing research done on arts education that speaks to all education, it can feel like the ultimate win-win.

Nina Stack is the President of Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, the statewide association for corporate, family, independent, and community foundations. She is a regular contributor to the Dodge blog.

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If there’s one thing nonprofits hear repeatedly about the importance of social media, it’s the potential to use these tools for fundraising in new and exciting ways. And while none of them will magically deliver large sums of money to your organization, we think Kickstarter is revolutionizing fundraising, and that if you don’t already know about them, you should.

Kickstarter is crowd-sourced fundraising – it’s a website where anyone with an idea can ask for donations for their project. If someone likes your idea, he can donate a little or he can donate a lot. And there is no shortage of creative, fun, practical, exciting and incredibly smart projects to back. In fact, in 2011, Kickstarter reached some astonishing milestones. Since launching the website in April 2009, 17,000 projects have been successfully funded with $130 million in pledges and 1.25 million backers. Pretty compelling numbers for non-profits who have been looking for ways to fund their most creative ideas.

One of the keys to Kickstarter’s success is its clever all-or-nothing model: projects must be fully funded before any money exchanges hands, which helps minimize the risk to donors. This model also helps you, the creator, test your idea in the marketplace without risk: if you don’t get fully funded, you don’t have to spend the money or effort to follow through, which frees you to refine your idea or try something new.

Dodge recently partnered with Kickstarter to curate our favorite projects. While we don’t actually fund these projects, we choose ones that reflect the kinds of grants we make here in New Jersey in the Arts, Education, Environment and Media. As Kickstarter continues to grow, we hope to see our grantees launch campaigns of their own, which we can feature on our page. In fact, we hope to see as many New Jersey-focused projects as possible – all toward a better New Jersey.

Coming soon: Kickstarter will be offering a workshop for Dodge grantees with tips for launching a successful Kickstarter campaign. Details to come!

Visit the Dodge Foundation’s curated Kickstarter page

2012 is already shaping up to be quite a year for New Jersey’s philanthropic community.

We have two national organizations coming to Newark in the next few months. At the end of this month, the Association of Black Foundation Executives will launch its 2011-2012 Connecting Leadership Fellowship program with a Leadership Summit in Newark. The Fellowship, which began in 2005-2006, is a yearlong professional development experience which aims to promote the professional mobility and visibility of mid-career Black executives in the field of philanthropy.

Another first is being planned by Grantmakers for Education. The organization will convene one of its three 2012 Urban Education Study Tours in Newark. These study tours bring funders from around the country together for an extensive, multi-day site visit. Their visit is being designed now.

What these two gatherings affirm is the recognition nationally that New Jersey’s philanthropic community is working in innovative and successful ways — pushing the envelope beyond the traditional operating patterns of foundations. We are seeing members connect more and collaborate more. New Jersey’s philanthropic leaders are taking on national leadership roles as well — serving on the boards of national affinity and infrastructure groups. These include the Schumann Fund’s Barbara Reisman with Grantmakers for Education, the Dodge Foundation‘s Laura Aden Packer with the Grantmakers in the Arts, Novartis’ Rhonda Crichlow with the Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals, and Risa Lavizzo Mourey of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with Independent Sector.

When I sit at Council on Foundations Board meetings and share with my fellow trustees the exciting things that we are doing in New Jersey, it piques great interest because they are hearing about New Jersey’s accomplishments from their colleagues in the field – both far and wide. For instance, they have learned of the way CNJG brings our members together regularly with key legislative officials in our “Conversations With the Cabinet.” Or, they’ve heard about our other policy work, like Facing Our Future, for which we’ll be releasing updated and expanded information in the next month.

When CNJG advocated for, and ultimately created, the Newark Philanthropic Liaison position, there was only one other in the country. Five years after embedding Jeremy Johnson in Newark City Hall and Mayor Cory Booker’s administration, he’s been directly responsible for attracting more than $45 million and leveraging millions more.

These and many other CNJG programs throughout the state have placed New Jersey’s philanthropy among those providing best practices and successes that will be replicated across the country.

Nina Stack is the President of Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, the statewide association for corporate, family, independent, and community foundations. She is a regular contributor to the Dodge blog.

According to the Council on Foundations, in 2008 there was nearly $18 billion in philanthropic assets in the state of New Jersey. We don’t have a clear sense of where those assets are today with the stock market’s rollercoaster recovery of late. Whether up or down, the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers’ (CNJG) mission remains the same: to strengthen and promote effective philanthropy. As the state’s forum for learning, sharing ideas, and advancing the field, CNJG worked throughout 2011 to inspire our members to be responsive, proactive and effective funders.

CNJG offered grantmakers over 50 roundtable and panel discussions, workshops, teleconferences and webinars in 2011. We hosted 140 New Jersey non-profit and foundation leaders at our annual conference where we explored the powerful role philanthropic networks play in advancing issues and causes. During our popular Conversations with the Cabinet sessions, CNJG members discussed opportunities to partner with state government on mutual issues of concern with Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez, Community Affairs Commissioner Lori Grifa and Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf. And, last week, our 2011 Annual Meeting featured Dr. Jeffrey Brenner, a Camden doctor in the national spotlight for his work to reduce healthcare costs by “hot spotting” or “super serving” chronic healthcare system users. The Nicholson Foundation‘s Charles Venti and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation‘s Gretchen Hartling offered their insight into seeding this type of work and rewards of working with such an innovative champion.

In addition to our programming and services for grantmakers, work progressed significantly on several CNJG leadership initiatives this past year. For example, the Board Bank, which I’ve written about on this blog before, is just about ready to launch with our partners, the American Conference on Diversity, at the helm. Facing Our Future, the groundbreaking initiative that has objectively examined New Jersey’s long-term fiscal problems, is heading into a second phase of its work. I’ve outlined the findings of our first report as part of Facing Our Future in this column before but in the next few months we’ll be releasing an update to the findings, along with some options or best practices that are underway in New Jersey and elsewhere that could prove promising to help address the fiscal crisis we face.

And we saw the continued advancement of a truly successful partnership with the Council’s Newark Philanthropic Liaison Jeremy Johnson, now in place for 5 years. Among the notable achievements: the rollout of Living Cities $15 million blended investment in the “Strong, Healthy Communities Initiative,” submission of a multi-partner application to the White House-endorsed “Promise Neighborhood” program for the Fairmount section of the city and a commitment by the Mayor’s office for a six-community neighborhood revitalization project. The Newark Funders Group grew to over 25 members and it’s Education Subcommittee created the Newark Public Schools Innovative Investment Fund – a pooled fund to support the school district’s strategic plan priority of building “a system of great schools that serve students, their families and the community.”

We also saw the membership of the Council grow with 16 new members. These foundations and corporate grantmakers recognize the importance and value of engaging with their philanthropic colleagues to leverage their impact and staying abreast of the latest trends and best practices. On behalf of the CNJG Board and staff, we thank the Dodge Foundation for allowing us to share our story through their blog. Dodge Foundation’s noble commitment to our region has spurred social sector growth and education, and it has nourished New Jersey’s soul through their generous support of the arts. For that and so much more, we are grateful.

Nina Stack is the President of Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, the statewide association for corporate, family, independent, and community foundations. She is a regular contributor to the Dodge blog.

By Nina Stack
President, Council of New Jersey Grantmakers

Against the backdrop of a prolonged and dramatic budget crisis, a statewide team of former senior level government officials and others is seeking to engage leaders and local residents in needed discussion about the long-view of New Jersey’s financial solutions at all levels of government.

Beginning in 2010, the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers (CNJG) started working with this non-partisan, volunteer group because we recognized philanthropy might be able to provide a neutral and “safe space” necessary to examine the complex and critical problem our state faces. Earlier this year, we issued a report that provided an independent, objective analysis of how various government entities in New Jersey raise and spend money. In Facing Our Future, the leadership group concluded that the scale of fiscal problems facing New Jersey today dwarfs any problems faced in the past. Although our current fiscal crisis built incrementally over many years, fully unwinding those decisions to restore fiscal health is neither practical nor realistic.

What Facing Our Future does is foster a much-needed civic conversation; it looks at all revenue sources and all public spending across state, municipalities, school districts and counties. More telling, the report shows how entangled the fiscal situations are at different levels of government. Over 40 percent of the state budget consists of state aid payments to municipalities, counties and school districts. Reductions in state aid coupled with property tax constraints shift the budget cuts to another venue. The result? A problem solved at one level moves the fiscal stress to another.

The report also raises the surprisingly simple – yet real – questions before us now. Do we look ahead at the fiscal trajectory and make purposeful decisions that will lay a new firm foundation, or do we just whack away incrementally at our public services in response to continued fiscal pressures, until we are surprised one day at how degraded our services have become? Will we be confronted with the elimination of some service we valued, and wonder if we had been more engaged would we have had more control over the choices being made?

Admittedly, tough budget choices were made this year. However, they haven’t solved the problem and a lot more are needed. In fact, the problem can’t be solved at any single level of government. We need a wholly different conversation about what we want in public services, how much we are willing to pay for them, and how much we are willing to accept changes in those services to preserve their value.

Usually, fiscal stress causes individuals – including citizens and elected leaders – to protect their priorities. The Facing Our Future leadership group is using public outreach to encourage civic discussion by a broad spectrum of New Jersey’s citizens. Through this outreach, we are also informing the public about the scope, nature and extent of our shared fiscal future, and sparking open-minded conversations about what’s next and what are our options.

In the coming weeks, there are two symposia designed to engage critical stakeholders in a series of focused public discussions about the report’s findings and to generate discussion that will help identify and prioritize options for addressing our state’s current fiscal crisis. On November 17th, The Walter Rand Institute at Rutgers-Camden will host a Facing Our Future symposia. In conjunction with PlanSmart NJ, a second Facing Our Future event will take place on December 9th at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

The initial Facing Our Future report stopped short of prescriptions. Our intent was to lay out the issues and get people informed. There is no silver bullet for maintaining desired services in our state’s fiscal scenario. As the report makes clear, the entire public enterprise must be examined, as tweaking parts of the equation will not be sufficient remedy.

You can view the full “Facing Our Future” report at www.facingourfuture.org. To date, support for Facing Our Future has been provided by the Fund for New Jersey, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Nicholson Foundation, PSEG Foundation, the William Penn Foundation and a private donor.

Related coverage of Facing Our Future.

Nina Stack is the President of Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, the statewide association for corporate, family, independent, and community foundations. She is a regular contributor to the Dodge blog.

Diverse perspectives improve effectiveness.

A bold statement perhaps, but a belief that is being embraced more and more in the corporate world, and we hope, in nonprofits as well. Why have for-profits moved to making sure their Boards are diverse? Because they recognize that successful companies today need to have a management that is more globally oriented and culturally diverse. Because having that produces better decisions and stronger organizations.

This holds true for nonprofits as well, and it is why my organization, the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, is partnering with New Jersey’s American Conference on Diversity to explore creating The Board Bank, a board matching service for diverse leaders in the state who want to connect with nonprofits and foundations. We thank the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation for recently sending out a survey to its grantees that will help us gauge their interest in this idea. If you’d like to take the survey follow this link. All responses will be kept confidential and will be enormously helpful as we work to create this new resource designed to ensure that New Jersey’s diverse voices are well represented.

The idea of finding a way to help foundations and nonprofits identify diverse trustees has been on the docket of the Council for some time. In recent years, there has been a good deal of discussion about board diversity in the philanthropic community. As CNJG considered how it might help our members identify potential trustees, it seemed natural to enlist the American Conference on Diversity as a partner. With some planning grant support from the Albin Family Foundation, the Community Foundation of New Jersey, the Eastman Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we began earlier this year researching similar programs throughout the country, considering criteria for inclusion, and formulating a business model for long term success. An advisory council made up of highly-regarded diverse professionals from all over the state has been providing frank and invaluable input into the development and execution of The Board Bank.

We expect that through The Board Bank, institutions within the State’s social sector will have access to diverse business and community leaders looking to actively participate in the governance and leadership of organizations while serving as trustees. Individuals who wish to expand their community and philanthropic involvement will be matched with organizations seeking to ensure that their Board reflects the significant and rapidly growing diversity in New Jersey.

There are two very important outcomes we see for this program, and both are critical to improving the quality and relevance of services rendered by NJ’s social sector:

• The Board Bank will inevitably boost the amount of knowledge and expertise available to foundation and non-profit Boards.
• It will be a unique and valuable resource for companies looking to become more connected and engaged in the communities in which they conduct business.

The American Conference on Diversity expects to launch The Board Bank in 2012. Look for more information then on how your nonprofit can become a “Member” or how your business or leading institution can become a “Partner.”

Nina Stack is the President of Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, the statewide association for corporate, family, independent, and community foundations. She is a regular contributor to the Dodge blog.

What is missing amidst the headlines of extraordinarily generous private donors investing in Newark is the quieter story of what a group of local funders seeded 5 years ago. It started as a test to see if it might bear fruit, and has now gone on to have meaningful impact across the city in a number of important, very tangible ways.

When Mayor Cory Booker was first elected, a group of local foundations with long histories of supporting Newark talked of a model that had been working quite well: in Michigan, a group of foundations helped create the non-partisan Office of Foundation Liaison, a cabinet level position within the Michigan governor’s administration to promote cross-sector partnerships and to broaden understanding of the philanthropic sector.

Mayor Booker and his team recognized the value in such an opportunity, and with the support of funders committed to Newark, the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers partnered with Mayor Booker to establish the Newark Philanthropic Liaison position in City Hall.

Many in Newark know Jeremy V. Johnson. He works closely with the Mayor’s office to connect local and regional grantmakers and government entities. He convenes philanthropy stakeholders and government leaders, and he leverages local philanthropic dollars to secure and raise additional resources – introducing new investments into Newark.

Since the position was created in 2006, more than $46 million dollars in private and public funding has been added to the city’s pool of money used for its prisoner re-entry program, workforce development, the greening of Newark, the creation of a safe haven for Newark’s lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and questioning youth, and other programs too.

Through CNJG and Jeremy, the Newark Funders Group, which is made up of funders that invest in the city, now meets regularly to share knowledge and their varied expertise, and to connect with government and community leaders. The formation of this group has led to more agile decision-making when funds are needed. For example, in June of this year, when the group learned that school district funding had been cut for half of the high achieving 7th and 8th graders who were to attend the prestigious W.E.B. Dubois Scholars Institute at Princeton University, they sprang into action. Within days, the group put up the $65,000 shortfall. Thanks to their quick action, all 25 students were able to participate in the five-week, college-level, intensive program designed to develop Newark’s future leaders.

The unusually fast action is the result of the group’s trusted, collaborative network and a testament to the important role Johnson plays in one of Mayor Booker’s highest priorities: increasing Newark’s philanthropic investments.

“The Newark Philanthropic Liaison has worked out phenomenally well for local funders,” said Irene Cooper-Basch, Executive Officer & Secretary of the Board for the Victoria Foundation and a member of the Newark Funders Group, who has experienced first-hand the impact the Philanthropic Liaison’s office has had on the giving community. “Having this position embedded in City Hall and interfacing closely with the Mayor and his senior team has resulted in the ability to leverage countless opportunities to bring local, national and government resources to Newark that I believe would not have occurred otherwise.”

Jeremy was instrumental in drawing $15 million of private funding to Newark’s Strong Healthy Communities Initiative through the national organization Living Cities – which is another substantive example of what this position has enabled. A $15 million match by Prudential and support from other local foundations is being used to create healthy neighborhoods, improve the supply of and demand for fresh food, establish school-based and mobile health centers, and revitalize neighborhoods by rehabbing up to 100 abandoned properties.

In the coming weeks we’ll be announcing more examples of how funders are coming together in Newark, thanks in large part to the work of our Newark Philanthropic Liaison.

Nina Stack is the President of Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, the statewide association for corporate, family, independent, and community foundations. She is a regular contributor to the Dodge blog.

The news has been filled lately with stories relating to potential tax changes and/or regulations that would affect the social sector if passed.

On a federal level, our colleagues at Independent Sector are urgently asking supporters to sign onto a letter asking President Obama and Congressional leaders not to proceed with the proposed cap on the value of the charitable deduction for certain taxpayers. If instituted, this cap is projected to cost America’s charities as much as $7 billion a year.

Recently, the measure in Massachusetts to eliminate all compensation for board trustees – including private foundation board members – did not go forward but apparently there will be another attempt. And in Oregon, lawmakers did not approve a measure that would have required charities to spend at least 30 percent of their expenses on programs or else be unable to allow donors to get a charitable deduction.

Here in New Jersey, our own Division of Consumer Affairs is now taking comments on a “pre-proposal” that would mandate a charity to outline its programs on any direct funding request and then provide a way for donors to designate the specific programs they wish to direct gifts. It’s designed to address cases in which a charity focuses its appeals around particular programs (e.g., buying bulletproof vests for the troops) but actually spends the majority of its money fund raising or on administrative costs. While the intention is good to get rid of the bad apples who do this, the effect on the large majority of nonprofits could be devastating.

Here is why: although donors always have the option of restricting their gifts, the regulations would go further by effectively encouraging donors to do so, thereby reducing available funds for general operations, overhead or organizational flexibility to respond to unanticipated community needs. Without some operational support – to pay the auditors, have the phones answered and the lights on, and most importantly to react and assist when needed – a nonprofit cannot implement its programs effectively, which, in turn, reduces its ability to have an impact.

Measures like this and the one in Oregon are troubling and set the field back. The philanthropic community has come to see the importance and value of investing in organizational capacity and innovation, moving away from the highly restricted “project only” support. Let’s hope our Division of Consumer Affairs will take note and find a way to address the problem without undermining the thousands of charities doing the good work. They are accepting public comment through August 5th.

For more information and to learn what you can do to help, please visit the Center for Nonprofits’ website.

Nina Stack is the President of Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, the statewide association for corporate, family, independent, and community foundations. She is a regular contributor to the Dodge blog.

Even in the current economy, philanthropy is alive and well in America. Here in New Jersey, corporate, family, independent and community foundations, as well as individual donors are engaged and giving back in new and innovative ways. The state’s philanthropic community is stable and committed. At Council for New Jersey Grantmaker‘s (CNJG) annual conference on June 6, when a room of 140 people were asked how many have been involved in the sector for 10-20 years, two thirds of the room stood up. This is a robust, dedicated community that, in some regions of the state, is even growing. And, exciting, significant changes to a sector that has been pretty staid are beginning to take hold.

The troubled economy has undoubtedly impacted philanthropic resources and has forced many in the field to re-examine how their contributions are having impact. CNJG’s conference keynote speaker Gabriel Casper of the Monitor Institute pointed to the realization that our society, our world is dealing with “wicked problems.” These are complex, multi-stakeholder, interconnected issues where solutions aren’t clear, and one donor – no matter how large – can’t move the needle alone.

As New Jersey faces crippling budget shortfalls now and into the foreseeable future, minds have opened to new thinking and creative solutions to address and innovate vital systems like education, infrastructure, human services and the arts. Increasingly, philanthropists are at the table with community leaders, legislators and other donors to better understand and develop solutions that can’t be fixed with money alone. The philanthropic-minded represent a highly-invested body that can lead the way to systemic change. In some circles, that has already earned them a seat at the table where decisions are being made about the issues and communities in which they already invest.

For example, Newark Funders Group members Victoria Foundation, Bank of America, PSEG and other grantmakers meet regularly to ensure that their grant strategies compliment the city’s priorities. The mere existence of the group’s Education Subcommittee has allowed for real dialogue with Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg’s representatives and collaboration with the City government’s activities surrounding it.

The Camden Funders Affinity Group with members like Campbell’s Soup Foundation, Community Foundation of South Jersey, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and Annie E. Casey Foundation, regularly discuss who else is giving to agencies and organizations in Camden, what impact it’s having, what their understanding is of the needs and who the key players are in the city.

Philanthropist and grantmakers have the ability to leverage dollars, support and impact. They’re active participants in the change that we all want to see and they welcome all opportunities to come together with stakeholders, leaders, and service recipients to help untangle complex “wicked problems” not only in the big cities, but in communities of all sizes throughout the state of New Jersey.

Nina Stack is the President of Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, the statewide association for corporate, family, independent, and community foundations. She is a regular contributor to the Dodge blog.

Photo by Kevin Coughlin

To our all grantees, friends and colleagues who are experiencing this leadership transition with us, we share both a farewell message from outgoing President and CEO David Grant as well as a welcoming message from Dodge’s new President and CEO Chris Daggett. We urge you to read both, as well as to listen to Morristown Green’s podcast of the joint interview (also on our homepage) which Kevin Coughlin conducted with David and Chris. In it, David and Chris share their views on sustainability, training tomorrow’s leaders, and the role of philanthropy in a tough economic climate, among other topics. We believe their messages coupled with the podcast will give you a sense of both where we’ve been and where we’re going. Goodbye to David, and hello to Chris!

* * *

Almost twelve years ago, when I wrote my first introduction to a Dodge Foundation Annual Report, I invoked Robert Frost’s poem The Pasture. Placing the poem at the beginning of his collected works, Frost invites the reader into a world filled with images of spring and flow and rebirth – cleared springs and newborn calves tottering by their mothers – and wrote: We shan’t be gone long/You come too.

I was inviting our Annual Report readers into a world that struck me as similarly inspiring — full of the creativity of Dodge’s grantees and the Foundation’s own initiatives. Now I think I was writing to myself as well. We shan’t be gone long – indeed the twelve years have flown by, and I find myself full of gratitude at the end:

• For the people in the civic sector whom Dodge is so privileged to support. If there is ever to be “a society more humane, a world more livable,” as the Dodge mission language envisions, it will be because of the cumulative effects of their work;
• For the Dodge Board, which was not afraid to take risks. The Foundation’s response to 9/11, the launching of the New Jersey Cultural Trust, the construction of the green building at 14 Maple Avenue – all are testament to creative governance;
• For the Dodge staff, who are a mission-driven, hard-working, fun-loving group. They know that it is not only what they do but also how they do it that has defined Dodge’s place in the world. The day-to-day fellowship with them, doing work that matters, is what I will miss the most.

I wish Chris Daggett all the best as he takes on the leadership of this remarkable institution, and I thank all of the people who have been so supportive of Nancy and me and our sons Ben and Rob during our years in New Jersey.

With best regards,
David

* * *

Greetings! I come to Dodge with an overwhelming number of good wishes from people across the state, many of whom I have met over my years of involvement in the public, private and non-profit sectors, and others of whom I have never met, but who have great respect and hope for the work of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.

Those good wishes are both appreciated and humbling. I fully recognize the legacy of excellence and good works of Dodge’s first two leaders, Scott McVay and David Grant, and greatly appreciate the trust placed in me by the board of directors to carry on the tradition they established.

There is much to do, particularly given the state of the economy and the pressures placed on grantees by the decline in financing by individuals, governments and foundations. But times of turmoil are also times of opportunity – and foundations can lead the way by supporting the best programs of the past, and the new ideas that will shape the future. The key is to get the right balance of the two.

I am confident that the success of my predecessors will continue – but as good as the staff and board of the foundation may be, we cannot do it alone. We need your help – or, in the words of Robert Frost quoted by David Grant in his companion letter, “You come too”. Together, and led by our grantees, we will meet the challenges of the day.

I look forward to working with you.
Chris