The Importance of Philathropy in New Jersey and the Nation

Steve Adubato talks to Nina Stack, President of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, to discuss the work the Council has done over the years, their current initiatives and the role of philanthropy in the state and the nation.

8/14/17 #2066

Excerpt:

"We are pleased to welcome Nina Stack, who is the President of Council of New Jersey Grant Makers, which is? A statewide association serving private philanthropy. So, private foundations, corporate giving programs, community foundations, individual donors. And a lot of corporate supporters who help us in public broadcasting, particularly Jon Pearson who is your chair. Yes! At Horizon. Talked to us about you and he said, "Hey, do you know it's their 20th anniversary?" Yes, it is. So, when the organization was created, people say, "There's government and government's job is to help people who have the least." Hubert Humphrey once said, right, "We will be judged by how we treat the oldest, the most vulnerable, the children, and everyone who is sick in between." In many ways, it's the non profit community doing that. The grant makers are helping those organizations right? Exactly, so private philanthropy is where the money comes in from behind. They can't fill the gaps that government... You know, government is the primary funder for our non profit social sector but private philanthropy can provide some of that seed money. It can provide the research and development money, evaluation money. They can test. Things the government money can't do and private philanthropy is also much more nimble. So they can help with start ups. They're really kind of the venture capitalists for the social sector in a lot of ways. For your organization, the most exciting important things you're involved in right now include? Well, our Newark philanthropic liaison which has been... Our man in Newark City Hall who's been working with the administrations and with private philanthropy has been an exceptional program and has actually become a model around the country. What's the goal? Well, the goal is so that private funders, private philanthropy that want to help Newark advance can work as effectively as possible in understanding what the goals are of the city and what are the opportunities that exist and to be able to connect those dots. But how is that a model? Model for what? In places like...? Having a liaison, exactly. So, in other cities around the country, in county governments, in state governments, it's actually something we saw happening in Michigan. The Governors office had a liaison at the cabinet level, and so that was years ago and we saw that and at the time, then Mayor Booker and now wonderfully Mayor Baraka has embraced this. In Newark, Ras Baraka? Yes, to have a liaison who's... He's not a city employee. He works for the council, but he's based in city hall. He understands what's going on. The other thing, and we've done a tremendous..."