A nationally recognized leader in community philanthropy has joined the Community Foundation of South Jersey (CFSJ) as the first Executive Director of the group formed to build a permanent charitable endowment for South Jersey.  Sidney R. Hargro, 44, comes to South Jersey from Columbus, Ohio, where he helped lead the Columbus Foundation strategic grantmaking for nine years.  Sidney took over the reins of CFSJ on November 4, 2009.

Community foundations are nonprofit, public charities that enable a broad cross-section of donors to easily and effectively support causes they care about, immediately or through their wills. Created by and for the people of South Jersey, CFSJ is the first community foundation dedicated to the people and communities in Atlantic, Burlington, Cape May, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean and Salem counties.

“We are pleased and excited to have recruited someone with Sidney’s talent, experience and commitment to join us in our mission of inspiring philanthropic giving to improve the quality of life throughout South Jersey,” said Jack Tarditi, a businessman and civic activist who serves as Chair of CFSJ’s Board of Trustees. “With his help, we look forward to making a positive impact on social issues ranging from hunger, health care and the environment to housing, education and the arts.”

“Becoming the first Executive Director of the Community Foundation of South Jersey is an honor that I embrace with great joy and enthusiasm,” Hargro said.  “I am most excited about the challenge of connecting people to the causes they care about most, and organizing those efforts to make the greatest possible difference in the cities, towns, boroughs and townships of South Jersey.”

Hargro said he will spend his first 100 days meeting with leaders in the community — from nonprofits, business, government, and education and others to learn how the Foundation can best serve the region.

“Every great opportunity must start with listening,” he said.

Hargro brings an in-depth knowledge of the changing philanthropic landscape and a proven track record of success in community leadership, organizational strategy and performance, and strategic grantmaking.

Hargro believes CFSJ’s launch coincides with a “new era of philanthropy” in which community foundations can strike a “sustainable balance” between donor advisory services and civic activism aimed at understanding a community’s most pressing needs and seizing the opportunity to address them creatively and collaboratively.

 Among his numerous accomplishments in Columbus, Hargro:

• Led efforts to investigate and implement ideas for packaging the Foundation’s knowledge about local community issues and causes to better inform donors about opportunities to make a difference.
• Served as community investment advisor to major gift donors for community initiatives addressing such issues as family economic stability, student mobility in urban school districts, and parent education in domestic violence prevention, preventive health care and job skills.
• Created the Foundation’s first evaluation framework, which measured the impact of Foundation funding on program success.

Hargro has been actively involved as a volunteer on numerous boards and committees on a local, regional and national level, and is a contributing blogger to Council on Foundations.

He earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C.  He also holds a Master of Science degree from Ohio State University in Columbus and a Master of Divinity degree from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.

For more information, contact (856) 216-8150 or info@communityfoundationsj.org

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Photo provided upon request.