Council of New Jersey Grantmakers Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
223470235
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Ewing, NJ, USA
Phone
6094147110
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Philanthropy, Voluntarism, and Grantmaking Foundations N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,299,740
Expenses
$1,192,510
Assets
$2,027,445
Liabilities
$194,851

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • THERESA JACKS (PRESIDENT AND CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • THERESA JACKS (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $192,222 total reported compensation
  • KEVIN CALLAGHAN (NEWARK PHILANTHROPIC LIAIS): $145,539 total reported compensation
  • CRAIG WEINRICH (SENIOR DIRECTOR, MEMBER SERVICES): $131,013 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The council of New Jersey grantmakers' mission is to support and elevate New Jersey's philanthropic community through shared learning, collaborative and trusting relationships, network building, and leadership. Cnjg works to strengthen and promote effective philanthropy throughout the state of New Jersey. To assist grantmakers in their work, cnjg's programs and services provide members with valuable resources, networking and connection, educational programs, collaborative opportunities, and links to a national network of organized philanthropy. Cnjg enhances the effectiveness of the state's philanthropic sector by strengthening their capacity and informing their decision-making to address nj's most difficult problems.

What it reported doing in 2025

Programming and servicesthroughout the year, cnjg programs bring together all types and sizes of grantmakers with leaders from government, business, academia, and New Jersey's nonprofit community. In 2025, we provided over 100 programs, including funder briefings, affinity group meetings, partner programs, and skill-building webinars. Cnjg funder briefings provide a forum to exchange knowledge and insights related to pressing societal issues that affect our communities. Skill-building workshops are an integral part of the council's educational programming for members. These workshops offer a range of topics to develop new skills and acquire knowledge to advance and inform members' grantmaking. Affinity groups provide a valued forum through which New Jersey grantmakers can connect, exchange information, and learn from experts in a wide range of fields and sectors. We partner with united philanthropy forum, the New Jersey center for nonprofits, as well as other regional and national philanthropy-serving organizations and nonprofit organizations, throughout the year to provide special briefings and knowledge-building programs for members.other programs and services include member research and queries, special reports such as the New Jersey philanthropy benefits & salary summary report, newsletters, and communications to keep members informed, listservs, foundations on the hill, systems change work such as doing good better, and the newark philanthropic liaison initiative. The office of the newark philanthropic liaison is an innovative collaboration between the city of newark and cnjg and represents one of the nation's first formal partnerships between a city and the philanthropic community. The non-partisan liaison position serves as a bridge between newark funders, members of the council and newark's administration. The liaison's overall primary goals are to convene, connect, leverage, and raise resources through partnerships between New Jersey's philanthropic community and the mayor's office.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66.3%; rating input score 66
  • Program expense ratio: 71.4%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.3%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.7; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 39.3%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 66.3% of revenue deployed · 71.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $852K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $192K · 23 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $125K reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 43/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 52/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.