CNJG's New 2023 – 2025 Strategic Plan

After many months of exploration and discovery, and conversations and meetings to make sense of what we learned, we’re proud to share the Council’s new 2023 – 2025 Strategic Plan. The process included a review of policies and practices, surveys, focus groups, one-to-one key informant interviews, SWOT analysis, business model canvas, secondary data sources of philanthropic research, trend reports, and benchmark analysis. The surveys, interviews, and focus groups engaged CNJG members, trustees, staff, and colleagues from across the nonprofit and government sectors.
 
As we consider the challenges of our time and the opportunities that lie ahead, this process helped to crystalize, not only philanthropy’s changing role, but also the role of CNJG as a philanthropy-serving organization.
 
The Council envisions a healthy, thriving, and civically engaged New Jersey where people of all places, racial identities, socio-economic backgrounds, abilities, and identity expressions are valued for their gifts and talents, and we all can reach our full potential and participate generously in the common good.
 
Building on our vision, and front and center to guiding our work going forward, is our mission. CNJG supports and elevates New Jersey’s philanthropic community through shared learning, collaborative and trusting relationships, network building, and leadership.
 
The vision and mission support a clear set of core values:

• CNJG values shared power and leadership to advance our mission and vision. We look for opportunities for individual members, member institutions, and allied organizations across the social sector to engage in a common cause of supporting and elevating New Jersey's philanthropic community.

• From expanding access to programs, to exploring the inequitable origins of wealth, CNJG values equity as an organizing principle and lens for looking at our structure, business model, programs, and communications. 

• CNJG values trusting cross-sector relationships grounded in inclusion that seek out diverse voices, contributions, and participation from across the social sector. We are a network that works to form new alliances and broad coalitions to advance our mission and vision.

• CNJG values learning and dialogue across our community as we explore, engage, and identify new ways of organizing ourselves and redefining philanthropy in broader ways.

Thank you to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Grunin Foundation for providing grant funding to support the strategic planning process. Thank you also to the Strategic Planning Committee for your diligence, insights, and wisdom in shaping the plan.
 
We encourage you to read CNJG’s full Strategic Plan. We’ll dig in a little deeper on the Strategic Plan at our Annual Meeting & Holiday Gathering on December 14. We look forward to seeing you there.
 
Sincerely,

Maisha Simmons
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Strategic Planning Committee Co-Chair

Andy Fraizer
Community Foundation of South Jersey
Strategic Planning Committee Co-Chair