The Bunbury Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation awarded more than $1.4 million in grants in 2021 to local nonprofits to help build their internal capacity.

“The Bunbury Fund’s mission is to strengthen the ability of nonprofit organizations to do their best work,” said Jamie Kyte Sapoch, a Community Foundation Trustee and Advisor to the Bunbury Fund. “We also believe it’s important to develop meaningful relationships with the nonprofit partners that we support. There are so many organizations in our region doing incredible work. With these grants, we hope to help some of them achieve their next level of organizational maturity and capability.”

The Bunbury Fund, which is held at the Community Foundation, was created from the assets of the Bunbury Company, a private charitable foundation formed in 1952 by Dean Mathey of Princeton. Grants are recommended by a group of seven advisors who have deep experience in the region’s nonprofit community.

In addition to the initial grant awards for capacity building, each nonprofit awarded a grant this fall received an additional 15 percent in funding to cover administrative, overhead support. Administrative funding, which totaled more than $112,000 this year, is an important component of grantmaking because it allows the organizations to pay for costs such as rent, utilities and supplies.

Fall grants were awarded to 14 nonprofits:

  • ActorsNET, Morrisville, Pa., $5,000, to replace the organization’s aging data tracking and manual ticketing systems with a centralized system
  • Artworks Trenton, Trenton, $20,000 to support the agency during its executive director transition
  • Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mercer County, Trenton, $25,000, to help the nonprofit expand access to much-needed youth mentoring services
  • CASA for Children of Mercer & Burlington, Ewing, $15,000 to support a comprehensive strategic and scenario planning process and to help the nonprofit develop a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging plan
  • People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos, Lawrenceville, $16,000, to help the organization strengthen its human resources systems, including the updating and creating new protocols and practices
  • Rescue Mission of Trenton, Trenton, $50,000, to help improve the nonprofit’s use of data, reporting structures, processes, and overall capacity for evaluation, measurement, and decisions
  • RISE, Hightstown, $50,000, to build a volunteer hub and strengthen its Human Resources system; the agency’s volunteers provide more than 1,200 hours of service each month
  • The Watershed Institute, Pennington, $30,000, to help upgrade its IT infrastructure
  • Trenton Health Team, Trenton, $50,000, to develop a strategic and operational plan that is grounded in equity, diversity, and inclusion
  • YWCA of Princeton, Princeton, $40,000, to conduct a Community Needs Assessment that will help the agency inform its strategic and programmatic planning

The following agencies received multi-year grants and will receive their grant amounts over three years as they meet agreed upon progress milestones:

  • Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, $90,000 to improve its culture, policy and practices to ensure all individuals, families, and groups feel welcomed by the art museum and sculpture garden.
  • Snipes Family Farm, Morrisville, Pa., $110,000, to assist the hunger relief nonprofit’s redesign of its marketing content and improve its communications with individuals and groups that are key to its growth and survival
  • Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum, Skillman section of Montgomery, $150,000, to help the nonprofit develop strategic partnerships and program collaborations, improve its technology and communications, and acquire professional resources to support a newly launched initiative; the organization works to tell the story of the history and contributions of the African American community in the Sourland Mountain Region.
  • Young Audiences New Jersey & Eastern Pennsylvania, Princeton, $110,000, which will allow the agency, which is the region’s largest arts education organization, to update its service model with digital content that will strengthen student engagement and offer flexibility for teachers; That content will include a library of video and digital material, which will help the nonprofit serve more students and improve school partnerships.

Additionally, last Spring, grants totaling $575,000, were awarded to 12 nonprofits:

  • Anchor House, Trenton, $50,000
  • Boys and Girls Clubs of Mercer County, based in Trenton and Lawrenceville, $50,000
  • East Trenton Collaborative, with fiscal sponsorship from New Jersey Community Capital, $25,000
  • I Am Trenton Community Foundation, Trenton, $50,000
  • Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF), Trenton, $50,000
  • Millhill Child and Family Development, Trenton, $50,000
  • NonprofitConnect, Hamilton, $50,000
  • Outdoor Equity Alliance, with fiscal sponsorship from Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space,  $50,000
  • RISE, Hightstown, $50,000
  • The Father Center, Trenton, $50,000
  • Trenton Health Team, Trenton, $50,000
  • Urban Promise Trenton, Trenton, $50,000