Management Moves: Lempert Named as HIP Board Chair
Former Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert has accepted the volunteer position of interim board chair of the Housing Initiatives of Princeton (HIP), according to a statement from HIP’s Executive Director Kathleen Gittleman.
HIP, a Princeton based non-profit that provides transitional housing and support to individuals/families on the verge of homelessness, distributed $349,000 in rental assistance to 140 families in and around Princeton in 2021.
Princeton resident Carol Golden, who served as board chair for six years and also as a volunteer executive director until the appointment of Gittleman in a salaried capacity in July, 2021, will remain on the board as an advisor.
“I am looking forward to working together with executive director Kathleen Gittleman, past board chair and director Carol Golden, and the entire HIP team and all of our partners to help working families in our community avoid homelessness. HIP has an inspiring legacy of transforming the lives of families on the brink of crisis from barely surviving to thriving by providing temporary housing and comprehensive, wraparound support. I am excited to be part of this important effort,” says Lempert, who was Princeton’s mayor for eight years, from January 1, 2013 to January 1, 2021.
“Liz’s talent, community relationships, and her willingness to work hard for folks in our community, particularly the most vulnerable, are renowned and will prove to be invaluable to advancing HIP’s mission to serve our hard-working neighbors struggling to provide a decent life for themselves and their children. I am happy to be remaining on the board to help in any way,” Golden says.
For more information, visit www.housinginitiativesofprinceton.org.
Grants Awarded
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 in the 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, Pennsylvania, $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, Pennsylvania, $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.
Mergers
Biltmore Capital Advisors, a Witherspoon Street-based investment advisory firm, has merged with Georgia-based Merit Financial Advisors. The merger also includes Stone Creek Capital Management
Biltmore, which has an additional office in Boca Raton, Florida, provides comprehensive wealth and investment management and financial planning services for affluent individuals, families, executives, and business owners. Stone Creek is an affiliated company that offers services to those seeking margin lending, portfolio reporting, research, and other consulting services.
Biltmore head D. Tyler Vernon will join Merit as regional director.
“Merit’s growth objectives are centered on our commitment to providing additional capabilities, expertise and access for our clients,” said Kay Lynn Mayhue, president of Merit. “Having known Tyler for over 20 years, I have watched him build an incredible business and team. This merger is bringing a tremendous amount of talent and an entirely new business line to Merit, and we are extremely excited to welcome the Biltmore and Stone Creek teams to the firm.”
The merger was finalized on December 31, 2021, and adds $557 million in assets under management, together with consulting services on an additional $1.6 billion in assets. Financial and legal terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Deaths
Adele Domanski, 97, on January 10. She was an administrative assistant with the New Jersey State Police for 50 years.
Raj Nigam, 77, on January 9. He held a PhD in operations research and worked at RCA and later at Merrill Lynch, from which he retired as chief scientist.
Joseph Calabro, 84, on January 7. He worked alongside family members for more than 40 years at Porfirio’s Italian Foods in Trenton.
Michael J. Massaro, 81, on January 10. He worked for SRI International for 22 years and was also a machinist and former owner of JDM Industries in Hamilton.
Charlotte Rossi, 94, on January 9. She was retired from Educational Testing Service.
Raymond Barnard Wolkind, 79, on January 11. After serving as an executive with Sears Roebuck, he spent 30 years in real estate, ultimately becoming a part owner/broker of RE/MAX of Princeton. He was also president of the Mercer County Association of Realtors.
Sara McLanahan, 81, on December 31. A member of the Princeton University faculty since 1990, she was professor emerita of sociology and public affairs. She was also the founding director of the Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
Jacquelyn T. Amison, 86, on January 11. She worked for the state Division of Taxation for 27 years, retiring as the mailroom supervisor.
Ralph DeMarco, 95, on January 11. He retired from Princeton University as assistant director of financial aid and continued practicing as an accountant until his death.
