Doubling an operating budget through private foundation strategy

The context

The Newark Conservancy is an urban food justice organization working at the intersection of community health, food access, and education in Newark, New Jersey. The mission was clear and the strategic plan well-defined — but unlocking larger private foundation grants from regional and national funders had proven a persistent barrier.

The engagement began during a period of leadership transition and broader funding cutbacks across the sector. Timing that would have paralyzed many organizations was instead the moment the Conservancy decided to invest in a structured foundation strategy.

The problem

The Conservancy needed to expand its operating budget and secure sustainable funding to scale community programming — but the internal capacity and institutional relationships required to unlock principal foundation awards did not yet exist. The work of prospecting, vetting, and cultivating national funders had to happen in parallel with everything else the organization was doing.

What we did

NPI deployed a team of senior-level consultants against a structured funding strategy, led by Malin Bergman, Ph.D., Senior Director of Institutional Giving:

Prospecting and vetting. We identified private foundation funders aligned with urban food systems, health equity, and community resilience — the three lanes where the Conservancy's work had the strongest institutional case.

Needs-assessment work sessions. We ran structured sessions with the client to map programmatic, financial, and resource development priorities against funder requirements — so every proposal that went out was written against a real alignment, not a template.

Grant writing and relationship management. Thirty years of grant writing expertise applied to translate the Conservancy's model into proposals that foundation program officers could champion internally — and into relationships that renewed.

The outcomes

$3.8M Novo Nordisk Foundation award. NPI secured a $3,867,727 grant over three years — doubling the Conservancy's operating budget and launching a new community initiative around healthy food access in Newark schools.

$50K closed in the first week. Malin Bergman closed a $50,000 capital grant within the first week of engagement — an early proof point that reshaped what the board believed was possible.

Newman's Own Foundation increased giving 150%. Annual support grew from $40,000 to $100,000 within the first year of NPI's engagement — a renewed relationship rather than a one-time win.

Why it worked

The Conservancy already had the mission, the strategic plan, and the operating discipline. What they needed was a partner with the senior institutional-giving relationships and the prospecting infrastructure to match that rigor on the funder side. When those two halves met, the budget doubled.