Initiatives

Our resources and efforts are dedicated to assisting North Jersey communities. The Foundation assists disadvantaged children and families through funds that provide disaster relief for food, clothing and shelter, help with medical needs, and support literacy and educational programs. In furtherance of our vision to become the most trusted charitable organization in North Jersey, our current initiatives are as follows:

General Fund
This initiative was established so that the Foundation can distribute money to the areas where there is the most need. Distributions could be to any of the other initiatives within the Foundation or to other local organizations in the community such as Eva's Kitchen, Gilda's Club, Hackensack University Medical Center, and Camp Sunshine, as well as various local art and educational organizations, just to name a few.

We have already committed our funding dollars through 2008. If you would like to submit a grant application for funding in 2009, please click here (pdf) .

Compassion Fund
The Compassion Fund assists individuals, families, and children in crisis by providing funds directly to those in need or to agencies working on their behalf.

This initiative has helped many North Jersey citizens including:

• Covering housing expenses for two separate single mothers whose residences were destroyed by fires.
• Helping a single mother keep her home by paying a tax lien that was put on her home due to not receiving child support.

For guidelines and application for the Compassion Fund, please click here (pdf)

The Fund For Military Families
In the last four years, an estimated 9,000 New Jersey soldiers have gone to war. Extended deployments have left family members in our community with serious economic, physical and emotional challenges. They need help to pay rent, mortgages, utility bills, child care cost, and counseling. Your donation will hold together families that are sacrificing so much. 

Action Against Hunger™
Action Against Hunger™ was launched in 1991 as a one-day food drive. Held each October, it has grown into the largest food drive in the country, serving more than 40 pantries and over 40,000 families. We started this program in response to news reports in 1990 detailing the increasing problems of hunger among residents in Northern New Jersey.

Seed funds and employee time for the food drive are contributed annually by North Jersey Media Group and are used to support the food drive including signage, solicitation of sponsors, advertising, media exposure, volunteer supplies, and site supplies. This is an amazing day that brings together hundreds of volunteers for a wonderful cause.

For more information, or to donate money, food or time, please click here.

Disaster Relief Fund
The Disaster Relief Fund was created as a direct result of September 11th. North Jersey Media Group was one of the first in the world to respond and establish a fundraising vehicle for the victims and their families. It is committed to assisting North Jersey residents who suffered losses due to the September 11th tragedy. As part of our on-going efforts, the Disaster Relief Fund has donated almost a half-million dollars to assist families and victims of September 11th. These funds are intended to provide help in the areas of food, clothing, shelter, medical needs, property damage or loss, as well as therapeutic and educational benefits.

The majority of funds raised for this cause have come from The Record's world famous photo of three firefighters raising the American flag at Ground Zero. This photograph has become a global message that life, and America, would go on. Proceeds from the sale of the photo and licensed products benefit the North Jersey Media Group Foundation's Disaster Relief Fund and The Bravest Fund.

• Meet the Allocations Committee (PDF)
• How to Apply for a Grant
• Ground Zero Spirit web site

Bear Hugs for the Holidays®
Started in 1998, this end-of-the-year program helps provide cheer to hospital patients and disadvantaged children in community day-care centers during the holiday season. The program serves all 29 hospitals in North Jersey and three United Ways' serving Bergen, Passaic, Morris, Essex and Hudson counties. This program was launched in 1998 in response to a newspaper column in The Record entitled Inspirations. Bear Hugs collects new teddy bears and other stuffed animals or funds to purchase them, and distributes them to hospitals, medical facilities, and various local United Ways.

The program has grown from 3,900 bears collected in 1998 to over 22,000 in 2006. Our ultimate goal is to distribute a bear to every person who passes through area hospitals during the holiday season, which is estimated to be 28,000. For more information, click here.

Literacy and Education Fund
The Foundation is always seeking opportunities to help in the areas of Literacy and Education. Two of our most significant initiatives in these areas are the Spelling Bee and the NIE Program.

North Jersey Spelling Bee
Teachers in North Jersey are invited to encourage their students to participate in the North Jersey Spelling Bee which is open to fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students in Bergen, Passaic, Morris counties.

The Record and Herald News sponsors and finances this North Jersey event and sends the winner and adult chaperone to Washington, D.C. to compete in the National Spelling Bee sponsored by Scripps Howard.

Now in its 71st year, this annual event is part of the North Jersey Media Group campaign to encourage excellence in students. Our goal is to create a fair and open competition that fosters school spirit, individual achievement, and state pride!

For more information or to register your school, call 201-646-4758 or click here.

Newspaper in Education Program (NIE)
NIE is instrumental in providing North Jersey schools with classroom copies of The Record, Herald News and related educational supplements. As part of the curriculum in hundreds of schools in Bergen, Passaic, and Hudson counties, our program is a professional development provider for the New Jersey Department of Education, and is aligned with educational standards set by the state.

To make a contribution, please click here.

Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort
This initiative was created to allocate money to families from New Orleans who have relocated to North Jersey to rebuild their lives. To apply for a grant, call 201-646-4021 or email us at admin@nimgf.org.