E. Grants from the Grantor’s Perspective: A Panel

With a finite amount of money available, grant giving is increasingly affected by deciding which organizations can deliver the deepest impact or benefit to society.

• Hear what grantmakers have to say about your proposals
• Learn how they decide what to fund.

A selection of grantors – foundation, corporate, small, large – will help you understand their differences and what nonprofits need to do to be more successful at receiving grant money

Facilitator:
Linda Czipo, President and CEO, Center for Nonprofits
Linda Czipo is the President and CEO of the Center for Non-Profits, New Jersey’s state association of charitable nonprofits. The Center strengthens New Jersey’s charities, individually and as a community, through advocacy, public education, management and compliance assistance, and membership services. Linda’s nonprofit sector experience spans over 25 years and includes expertise in public policy, compliance, and management issues. She was named one of the 2014 Top 50 Women in Business by NJBIZ.  Linda is a Public Policy Committee member and a former board treasurer of the National Council of Nonprofits. She also serves on the New Jersey Commission on National and Community Service; the advisory board of the Center for Excellence in Leadership, Governance and Philanthropy at Fairleigh Dickinson University; and the Leadership and Policy Committee of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers.

Panelists:
Wendy Liscow, Program Director,Education,  Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
Wendy Liscow has worked in philanthropy for more than 12 years and is currently the education program director at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Additionally, she is responsible for the design and oversight of the Foundation’s capacity building and technical assistance programming for grantees. Prior to joining the Foundation staff in 2003, Wendy worked for 25 years as a professional theatre administrator, director, and producer. She was the associate artistic director and resident director of George Street Playhouse for 12 years. She then served as the director of Programs and Services for the New Jersey Theatre Alliance where, among other responsibilities, she led the New Jersey Arts Access Task Force, of which she is a founding member.  Wendy received her degree from the University of Michigan in Secondary Education and serves on many boards and committees across New Jersey.

Rodger Herrigel, Executive Director & Secretary, Investors Bank Foundation
Rodger Herrigel is a partner in the law firm of Herrigel, Bolan, LLP. A member of the New Jersey Inheritance Tax Rules and Regulations Committee, he writes and lectures on estate planning and related subjects. He is a member of the American, New Jersey, and Maine Bar Associations, a section member of the Real Property and Probate and Banking Law section of the New Jersey Bar, and Real Property and Probate section of the American Bar.

Currently, he serves as a trustee of the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, the Board of Visitors of Drew University, counsel and organizer of the Senior Services Center of the Chathams, Inc., and other not-for-profit entities. He has been active in the past as a trustee or board member of many nonprofit organizations including the Rotary Club of Chatham. He has previous governmental experience, having served as a Councilman in Chatham Borough, as a member of the New Jersey State Board of Human Services, and early in his career as a legal adviser to the State Department.

Sally Kerney Lane, Director of Special Projects, Thomas Edison State University,  James Kerney Foundation
Sally Lane of the James Kerney Foundation is a fourth-generation member of a Trenton newspaper family, who worked as an editor and columnist at the city’s two newspapers for 19 years. She has been a dedicated advocate for the importance of Trenton’s rich history and in 1990 was asked by Capital City Redevelopment Corp. to design a plan for tourism development. She then served as director of the nonprofit Trenton Convention & Visitors Bureau for 14 years before joining the Department of Environmental Protection on the staff of the assistant commissioner for Natural and Historic Resources. She is currently the director of Special Projects, Office of the President, at Thomas Edison State College.

A founder of the Friends of the State House, she is a past president of the Trent House Association and a former vice president of the Old Barracks Association. She serves in various capacities on several boards: New Jersey State Museum Foundation, the Crossroads of the American Revolution Association, the Roebling Museum, the Trenton Historical Society, the Trenton Firefighters Museum, and the Mercer Fund, Community Foundation of New Jersey.

She graduated from Barnard College and is married to Sam Graff—still the toughest editor she’s worked for.

Jeffrey M. Vega, President & CEO, Princeton Area Community Foundation
In 2015 Jeffrey Vega joined the Princeton Area Community Foundation (PACF) as president and CEO. PACF is a nonprofit charitable organization that enables individuals, families, businesses, and organizations in central New Jersey to create permanent charitable funds to help communities meet the challenges of changing times. The Foundation invests and administers these funds, awards grants and scholarships, and provides an array of services to promote philanthropy and support local nonprofits.

Before joining the PACF, Jeffrey was president of New Brunswick Tomorrow, a private, nonprofit organization that fosters public/private partnerships to improve the quality of life there. He serves on the boards of The NJ Center for Nonprofit Corporations and LeadNJ. He is a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s National Advisory Council for New Jersey Health Initiatives. He has been honored for his work by various nonprofit and faith-based organizations and government agencies.

Jeffrey was awarded a fellowship to study public policy at Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, where he earned his Master’s degree. As an undergraduate at Cook College, he completed three majors—Urban Studies, Human Ecology, and International Environmental Studies.

He lives in Monroe Township with his wife, Angela Klizos, and young son, Nico.

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