The Bunbury Fund supports non-profit organizations making significant impacts across central New Jersey, and most specifically Mercer County, to strengthen their capacity to effectively advance their missions toward sustainable, organizational maturity.
The Fund awards one-year capacity building grants of up to $50,000. It also accepts proposals for multi-year grants focused on developing organizational effectiveness over a period of up to three years and a total amount of up to $150,000. It will also consider awarding a planning grant of up to $10,000 to help an organization evaluate the resources required to undertake a more comprehensive capacity building project.
The deadline to apply for the Cycle 1 grants was February 28, 2022; more information about the Cycle 2 grant applications will be announced in an upcoming Community Foundation electronic newsletter and posted here later this year. Sign up for our newsletter here.
The Bunbury Fund recently awarded more than $1.4 million in grants to local nonprofits.
You can read more about the capacity building grants here.
Bunbury Fund Community Survey Response
In spring 2021, the Bunbury Fund sent a survey to its grantees and recent applicants seeking feedback on our processes and communication. Thank you to all who responded. Your comments were helpful and we have used them to make some specific adjustments to the process.
- Extremely high response rate – 33% (43 out of 130 invited participants)
- Appreciation of the Bunbury Fund’s distinct focus on capacity building grants
- Keen desire for more networking, collaboration and information sharing among the Bunbury Fund grantees and including Bunbury Fund advisors
- Interest in regular feedback from advisors on fund priorities, grantee progress and declines
- Further streamlining the application
- Reducing the number of attachments
- Increasing the added Administrative Grant from 10% to 15% but continuing to not fund staff salaries
- Committing to consistent grantee feedback through virtual grant updates and site visits
- Finding new ways to strengthen our partnership with grantees by facilitating grantee learning opportunities through the Community Foundation and by staying abreast of the changing needs and demands being placed on the community we serve.
Thank you to our grantees for the important work you are doing. We are learning with you.
Bunbury Fund Advisors,
Nancy Kieling, Shannon Mason, Meredith Moore, Carolyn Sanderson, Jamie Kyte Sapoch, John Thurber and Jay Watson
The Bunbury Fund sponsored a seminar for board and executive leaders on The Power Good Governance.
To learn more about that event, read 12 Takeaways from our Good Governance Seminar.
The Bunbury Legacy
In 1952, longtime Princeton resident Dean Mathey created The Bunbury Company as a private, grant-making foundation to further his charitable intentions. With a touch of humor, he named the foundation after Uncle Bunbury in Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Ernest. For years when an important project needed funding, and friends came seeking Dean’s support, he would routinely defer the decision until he could make a consultation with his valued advisors at Bunbury.
Mathey died in 1972, but his philanthropic legacy lived on through The Bunbury Company’s grantmaking. Over the next 40 years, the foundation awarded more than $75 million to central New Jersey non-profits working on important social, environmental and educational projects. In 2015, The Bunbury Company started a new chapter as a fund at the Princeton Area Community Foundation. The Bunbury Fund at the Community Foundation continues original foundation’s legacy of dedication to supporting the nonprofit sector, now with a focus on capacity-building.
Photo on far right courtesy of Passage Theatre.
Organizations may only apply once per grant cycle. Once awarded a grant, an organization must sit out for 12 months. Planning grant recipients may request to move forward sooner. These requests will be considered at the discretion of the Fund Advisors.
If you have any questions, please email us at bunburyfund@pacf.org
To begin the online application process, please click here.
To view lists of Bunbury Fund grantees from prior years, please use the dropdown menu below:
ORGANIZATION |
PROJECT DESCRIPTION |
FUNDING |
CYCLE |
CONSULTANTS/Professional Services* |
| Arts Council of Princeton | Planning grant to engage a consultant to assist the Arts Council in a deeper examination of organizational effectiveness and stability specifically focused on Board governance, the organization’s executive structure, and improved processes and procedures. This Deep-level work will lead to the development of a comprehensive plan. |
$11,000 | SPRING | Blake Partnerships |
| — | ||||
| Boys & Girls Club of Trenton & Mercer County | Implementation of an organizational strategy to improve student outcomes for Social Emotional Learning and enhance the infrastructure needs of the organization. | $42,900 | SPRING | Apenture Education |
| — | ||||
| Community Loan Fund of New Jersey (d/b/a New Jersey Community Capital) | Maximize the capacity for staff and resident leaders of the East Trenton Collaborative (ETC) to fully on-board organizational infrastructure and continue creating impact and sustainability. | $48,400 | SPRING | 3rd Edge |
| — | ||||
| HiTops | Funding for Capacity Building Initiative, an intentional synthesis of strategies that will result in a healthy, vibrant, and sustainable organization. | $165,000 | SPRING | Jane Silverman and Assoc. Match Nonprofit Consulting Zstreet Marketing Carisma Managed IT Solutions |
| — | ||||
| Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. | Finalize strategic planning process and implement priorities to strengthen board governance, incorporate leadership and staff training, improve communications and branding, strengthen service delivery and organizational expertise in order to address growing needs and increased demand in Mercer County. | $165,000 | SPRING | None |
| — | ||||
| Mercer Street Friends | Reorganize the development office, finance office, improve operations and measure organizational impact. | $110,000 | FALL | Espenshade Nonprofit Consulting |
| — | ||||
| Millhill Child & Family Development | Develop board ownership and expertise around the issue of succession planning. | $66,825 | FALL | Wallace Leadership Consulting Volunteer Connect |
| — | ||||
| Old Barracks Association | Accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums to increase the credibility and value of the Museum to funders, policy makers, and peers. | $5,665 | SPRING | None |
| — | ||||
| Prevention Education Inc. | Conduct a comprehensive organizational risk assessment to analyze current and potential risks. | $32,469 | FALL | Nonprofit Risk Management Center |
| — | ||||
| Princeton Nursery School | Perform a comprehensive self-assessment and planning period to create a multi-year capacity building plan that is contextual, collective and continuous. |
$11,000 | SPRING | None |
| — | ||||
| Princeton Senior Resource Center | Build and strengthen capacity through executive and board coaching, strategic and technological improvement in communications. | $165,000 | FALL | Joan Garry Consulting Crescendo Marketing Creative Capacity, LLC Kolodner.com Imbue Creative |
| — | ||||
| Roebling Museum | Implementation of technology to manage collections, donors and visitor relations in a more efficient and effective manner. | $8,580 | FALL | March 4th Technical Services Past Perfect Software Miles Technology |
| — | ||||
| Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum | Planning grant to evaluate current resources and determine strengths, weaknesses and needs including board development, fundraising, volunteer management, marketing/communications, new programs/service development, strategic relationships, succession planning and other areas critical to the long-term growth and sustainability of the organization. | $11,000 | FALL | Bohse & Associates, Inc. |
| — | ||||
| The Paul Robeson House of Princeton | Preparation of a strategic plan to develop a social justice program and a fund-raising campaign. | $11,000 | FALL | Creative Capacity, LLC Bohse & Associates, Inc. |
| Trenton Area Soup Kitchen | A planning grant to identify the resources required for the development of a leadership development and succession plan for the organization. | $10,120 | FALL | Princeton HR Insight, LLC. |
| — | ||||
| Trenton Children’s Chorus | Developing a partnership between TCC and BGC will improve its overall program offerings, expand TCC’s influence, and align with TCC’s goals to improve children’s lives through artistry in music. | $33,000 | SPRING | None |
| — | ||||
| Trenton Circus Squad | Support for training and professional development for African American or Hispanic employees from Trenton to facilitate their transition into leadership roles. | $13,200 | SPRING | Rigger Human Connection Project Renewing the Mind |
| — | ||||
| Trenton Music Makers | Board development in the creation of an organizational Strategic Revenue Development Plan. | $9,460 | SPRING | Cause Effective |
| — | ||||
| UIH Family Partners | Implementation of the UIH Family Partners re- branding plan by developing marketing tools and strengthening the organization’s social media presence. | $55,000 | FALL | Taft Communications |
| — | ||||
| VolunteerConnect | Conduct an assessment of the organization’s mission and strategic direction to inform the development of a new strategic plan that provides a roadmap for the future. |
$16,500 | SPRING | Creative Capacity, LLC |
| — | ||||
| West Windsor Arts Center | An organizational assessment that will provide a strategic plan, capital campaign plan and board development. | $28,623 | FALL | Creative Capacity, LLC The Blake Partnership The Capital Campaign Toolkit |
| — | ||||
| * use of consultants is not required by the Bunbury Fund but may serve as effective, external professional resources in support of an organization’s infrastructure, governance and overall organizational capacity-building needs. The Bunbury Fund Advisors and the Princeton Area Community Foundation do not endorse the consultants listed. These names are provided as resource examples. For additional information about the outcomes achieved and experiences with particular consultants, please contact the organization utilizing their services. | ||||
ORGANIZATION |
PROJECT DESCRIPTION |
FUNDING |
CYCLE |
CONSULTANTS/Professional Services* |
| Anchor House Inc. | Planning and execution of partnerships, collaborations, and/or mergers | $6,875.00 | October 2020 | Frank Crawford, Jr. and Paul Risk |
| — | ||||
| Community Action Service Center d/b/a/ Rise | Reassessment of financial policies, internal controls, and financial forecasting for long-term sustainability. | $29,700.00 | December 2020 | Dennis Kilfeather CPA, Lear & Pannepacker, LLP Allison Trimarco of Creative Capacity LLC Jean DesRavines |
| — | ||||
| Community Loan Fund of New Jersey, Inc. | Sustain and expand the East Trenton food security program. | $50,000.00 | September 2020 | None |
| — | ||||
| Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area | Crossroads of the American Revolution Association, Inc. Board Development & Succession Planning Proposal | $17,847.50 | September 2020 | Betsy Wallace, Wallace Consulting Allison Howe, Executive Director, Non-Profit Connect |
| — | ||||
| Isles, Inc. | Strengthening Governance | $34,100.00 | December 2020 | Dr. Shannon Mason |
| — | ||||
| LifeTies, Inc | Organizational assessment | $70,675.00 | November 2020 | Laura Line, Principal, Bowling Business Strategies Ana Lisa Yoder, Principal, Yoder Consultancy |
| — | ||||
| Millhill Child and Family Development | Succession Planning | $41,250.00 | December 2020 | Betsy Wallace, Wallace Leadership Consulting |
| — | ||||
| People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos | Financial and Scenario Planning | $7,920.00 | December 2020 | Danielle DeLisle, Research Analyst, Mathematica Jon Shure, Senior Communications Specialist |
| — | ||||
| Princeton Nursery School | Using existing financial and operational data to create scenario based models | $8,690.00 | November 2020 | Gary Romano, President and CEO of Civitas Strategies |
| — | ||||
| The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey | To develop and build a clear and efficient pathway for automated HIPPA compliant Medicaid billing | $23,144.00 | November 2020 | Jason Lieberman, MA Applied Math and BA, Math and Computer Science |
| — | ||||
| The Father Center (Formerly UIH Family Partners | Succession Planning while simultaneously growing their board’s capacity to guide and assist the agency in critical areas such as fund development and financial planning | $38,500.00 | November 2020 | Brenda Ross-Dulan |
| — | ||||
| Trenton Circus Squad | Financial and Scenario Planning | $11,000.00 | December 2020 | Allison Trimarco, Principal of Creative Capacity |
| — | ||||
| Trenton Music Makers | Using the Adaptive Planning model to create a new strategic plan | $16,500.00 | December 2020 | Allison Trimarco, Principal of Creative Capacity |
| — | ||||
| We MAKE Autism at Work | Strengthening Governance | $33,000.00 | December 2020 | Grace Anne Alfiero, MFA & President of Arts In Action Jayne O’Connor, Vice President of TAFT Communications Dave Parker, President & CEO of Rootstrike Labs |
| — | ||||
| YMCA Princeton | Strengthening Governance | $53,900.00 | December 2020 | Via Evaluation |
| — | ||||
| * use of consultants is not required by the Bunbury Fund but may serve as effective, external professional resources in support of an organization’s infrastructure, governance and overall organizational capacity-building needs. The Bunbury Fund Advisors and the Princeton Area Community Foundation do not endorse the consultants listed. These names are provided as resource examples. For additional information about the outcomes achieved and experiences with particular consultants, please contact the organization utilizing their services. | ||||
For more information or support, please contact:
Danny Freund
Grants Manager
Email Danny Freund
Nelida Valentin
Vice President, Grants & Programs
Email Nelida Valentin