The State of the Nonprofit Sector Community Briefing

Every day across Greater New Haven, nonprofit organizations feed families, provide affordable housing, care for children and older adults, support people experiencing mental health challenges, protect our environment, celebrate and create arts and culture, educate young people and strengthen neighborhoods. They are often the first to respond when needs grow and the last line of support for many in our community.

That work is becoming increasingly difficult.

Changing federal priorities and reductions in government funding are creating new uncertainty for many organizations. At the same time, nonprofits continue to face workforce shortages and staff retention challenges while demand for their services continues to rise. Together, these pressures are reshaping the nonprofit sector and raising important questions about how our community can continue to meet growing needs.

Please join us on Wednesday, August 26, for a timely community briefing featuring leaders from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and United Way of Greater New Haven as they discuss the current state of the nonprofit sector, the challenges organizations are navigating and what these changes could mean for Greater New Haven in the months and years ahead.

Whether you're a donor, professional advisor, nonprofit leader, elected official or community member, this conversation will provide valuable insight into the forces shaping our nonprofit community and the organizations that so many people rely on every day

Featured Speakers

Jennifer Heath is the president and CEO of United Way of Greater New Haven. She has held the position since 2016, after serving the organization for 10 years as Executive Vice President and Vice President of Community Impact. During her tenure, Jennifer has been a key architect of United Way’s work in the community, with a particular focus on improving the lives of families who are struggling to make ends meet, and addressing the needs of children and youth.  She has also successfully diversified and grown the organization’s revenue, staff, and board.  

Prior to joining United Way, Jennifer served as a strategic planning and program design consultant for state and local government, foundations, and not-for-profit organizations. 

Christina Ciociola is the senior vice president for planning and community strategies at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, where she has held several positions in her twenty-plus year tenure.

Since 2014 she has held the senior programmatic staff position at the Foundation, overseeing grantmaking, strategy development and implementation, and community knowledge work. She has led its efforts to promote local philanthropy through giveGreater.org and The Great Give. 

She served on the leadership team of the Community Foundation Opportunity Network (CFON), a national network of community foundations committed to narrowing the opportunity gap and was a member of Social Venture Partners (SVP) of CT’s Investment Committee.