Our Work

We envision a just and equitable New Jersey where people of all races and communities have equitable access to opportunities to thrive.  

In our grantmaking, we take guidance from networks, movements, organizations, and leaders closest to harm and solutions. Our goal is to increasingly direct our funding to organizations working to address the root causes and repair of structural racism and inequity to transform lives in New Jersey. A root cause-centered strategy builds for the future, focuses on systems change, and seeks to upend the underlying factors that make New Jersey a state with some of the worst equity indicators in the country. A repair-centered strategy is about making amends for the past, repairing systemic harms that have plagued communities of color since the founding of this country and state. 

We know inequities compound and intersect in ways that are not siloed or singular. For us, systems change requires adjustments or transformations in the policies, practices, power dynamics, social norms, or mindsets that underlie the societal issue at stake and often involves the collaboration of a diverse set of players. We support work across issue areas and prioritize organizations and partners that use the following types of systems-change strategies and tactics: 

STRATEGIES  

Build Power by advancing the ability of communities of color to exert economic, political, and cultural influence to change the rules that disproportionately impact them.  

Reimagine Systems of Justice by advancing efforts to build new or dismantle institutionalized laws, policies, practices, and beliefs that perpetuate the disproportionate oppression and disadvantage of communities of color.  

Strengthen Economic Resilience by increasing financial security, mobility, opportunity, and prosperity for low-wealth communities and for communities of color.  

TACTICS  

• Movement Building & Organizing: Engaging in multi-issue social change movements built over a long period, where multisector groups come together towards a long-term shared vision or common cause. Organizing includes all forms: grassroots, community, cultural, and beyond.
• Narrative Change: Activating organizers, storytellers, artists, and creatives using creative tools to shift storylines about those most impacted and build cultural power to support justice and equity.
• Policy and Advocacy: Using interventions that advocate for and support changes in the rules that affect those most impacted and closest to harm and solutions. Advocates find ways to organize evidence, garner attention, and create systems change by organizing litigation, civic education campaigns, etc.  
• Sector Capacity Building: Supporting the development of skills, relationships, and impact of leaders and organizations, working on the front lines of change.  

Through grants, capacity-building, and other critical investments, the Dodge Foundation resources changemakers to transform New Jersey into a just and equitable state.