TRENTON, NJ - The board of trustees for the New Jersey Cultural Trust met to announce the organizations receiving "qualified" designation to participate in the Trust's funding programs.  A total of 14 organizations were designated as qualified, including six groups that received renewed qualification status.  (A full list of qualified organizations follows.)

In order to be designated as qualified to participate in the Trust's funding programs, an organization must be a New Jersey nonprofit arts, history or humanities group that has operated for at least the last four years and has submitted appropriate financial information. Qualification applications are processed on an on-going basis, under the rules of the Trust. 

Plans for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2010 round for Capital Historic Preservation Grants were also presented at the meeting. Application guidelines for this program will be available shortly on the websites of both the New Jersey Historic Trust (www.njht.org) and the Cultural Trust (www.njculturaltrust.org). Requests for funding are due on May 14, 2009, and will be reviewed over the summer and fall. The Historic Trust Board is scheduled to meet on December 9, 2009, to approve their recommendations funding, at which point they can be delivered to the Cultural Trust Board for final approval.

The New Jersey Cultural Trust was created in 2000 to build a permanent, stable and additional source of funding to support qualified private nonprofit arts, history and humanities organizations.  The earnings of the Fund may be given in grants to build endowments, finance important capital projects and provide support for institutional and financial stabilization.  Grants are based on recommendations from programs administered by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the New Jersey Historical Commission, and the New Jersey Historic Trust to The New Jersey Cultural Trust. 

The New Jersey Cultural Trust is a division of the Department of State.  The Trust Fund is a permanent, interest-generating fund that serves as an additional source of revenue to nonprofit arts, history, and humanities organizations for specific purposes that are crucial to ensuring fiscal and operational health, stability and durability.  The New Jersey Cultural Trust was established by P.L. 2000, c: 76 which is now N.J.S.A. 52:16A-72 et seq. and was signed into law on July 25, 2000.

For more information, contact The New Jersey Cultural Trust office at 609-984-6767.