Happy September and happy fall! We hope you had a great summer. Here’s what’s been happening at the Grunin Foundation in each of our strategic priority areas.
Funding - Fund and support organizations, partnerships, coalitions, and other structures whose work aligns with the Foundation’s prioritized outcomes and who have a strong connection to the community.
As we continue to make equity a priority in our work, this also means more transparency with our funding. We now have a grants directory on our website, searchable by keyword and year, showing grants we’ve made from 2020 to the present. This will be updated quarterly. You can find this new directory here: https://gruninfoundation.org/grants-directory
Please visit our website for thorough information on our funding and funding process.
Capacity Building - Invest in the capacity building of organizations and individuals to enhance their impact, effectiveness, and sustainability.
Local Summer Nonprofit Board Retreat Recap
We hosted our third Nonprofit Board Retreat in partnership with Support Center on September 12 and 13. The “Local Summer” Nonprofit Board Retreat was held at the Days Hotel in Toms River. This two-day retreat offered tools, frameworks, and approaches for understanding the role of individual board members and the functioning of the board as a whole. Attendees learned everything from board roles/responsibilities and board recruitment to having difficult discussions and building a diverse and inclusive board.
What a vibe this board retreat was, from the welcome to the final session, the energy was buzzing the entire time! The Local Summer Nonprofit Board Retreat had a summer camp theme with prizes and décor to match. We try to keep these events fun and fresh with new surprises each time. For this retreat, we had several “minute to win it” games that generated a lot of applause, laughter and prizes. There was even a Family Feud style game and a secret board retreat cheer that rang out throughout the sessions. And new this time around was a book swap. Attendees had the option of bringing a new or used book of any genre to swap with another attendee in a "have a penny, take a penny" style but with books!
If you could not attend this retreat, we’ll have another opportunity next year and you can fill out this quick form to be added to our board retreat email list!
Upcoming Plenary Session: Fundraising Day – Tips, Tricks, and Tactics for Successful Fundraising with Floyd Jones
On Tuesday, November 12, we are hosting a Grunin Capacity plenary session, facilitated by creator, coach, and community builder, Floyd Jones - Fundraising Day – Tips, Tricks, and Tactics for Successful Fundraising. This will be held in-person at the Girl Scout Program Activity Center in Farmingdale. There will be 2 different sessions and 3 ticket options:
Ticket 1. Full day from 9:15am to 3:45pm
Ticket 2. Breakfast and Session 1 only from 9:15am to 12:15pm
Ticket 3. Lunch and Session 2 only from 12pm to 3:45pm
Session 1 is "Community as a Catalyst: How to Unlock the Power of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising"
Session 2 is "Building Strategic Alliances: How to Secure Corporate Partnerships and Sponsorships"
For full details on each session and to register, visit: https://gruninfoundation.org/eventbrite/?event=1003724867097
Coalition Building – Engaging in coalition building and advocacy at the regional and state levels to impact systemic issues.
Pragmatic Activism Cohort
The 4th Pragmatic Activism Cohort started on September, facilitated by Orville Morales of Morales and Associates. Pragmatic Activism is a strategic approach to social change that allows for intentional and reasonable action that is sustainable over time. This program, offered to nonprofit and business professionals who live, work, worship, or serve in Ocean and Monmouth Counties, teaches the importance of advocacy and how to get involved.
This hybrid cohort is taking place over 5 sessions at HOPE Tower at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, with the option of participating via Zoom. The first session covered where participants stand, uncovering beliefs and policy viewpoints. Cohort members got to know one another, dove into the demographics and geographics of the group, and just began to scratch the surface on how they can advocate. In the next session, members will explore who they can influence via public policy as an advocate in their region. This workshop will include a deep analysis of the various levels of the government in the region and their prevailing priorities of the day. The cohort will also explore other voices in the region to consider when advocating.
MORF/PEEP Recap
The Monmouth & Ocean Roundtable of Funders (MORF), led by the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers in partnership with the Grunin Foundation, meets regularly to share information, learn together, and increase collective impact.
On July 23, MORF hosted a PEEP at the Jersey Shore BlueClaws. PEEP (Party to Enhance Equity in Philanthropy, started by Vu Le, writer of the blog, Nonprofit AF) - is a nationally celebrated movement to bring together nonprofit and philanthropic leaders to help break down the pervasive power dynamics in our work and a small tool to help us see each other in our full humanity. As Vu Le says, PEEP events are “casual, no-agenda settings just to chat and see one another as human beings.”
This event was a time for connection and relationship building with people we don't always get a chance to see in the philanthropic and nonprofit world. Most importantly, this was for all levels of nonprofit (and philanthropy) organizations, including those doing direct service and operations, and board members. While it was a HOT summer day, the event was very successful – leading to new connections and a lot of fun! Check out pictures from the event, taken by Joshua Reed.
What’s to Come
Stay tuned for more updates as we move into the final quarter of 2024!