First Night Morris County’s Community Reinvestment Program’s Aims to Help Community Based Organizations Find New Sources of Revenue and Help Them Achieve Their Mission
2020 has been a challenging year for so many; especially for community-based organizations and nonprofits. Many have seen a drastic increase in demand for services and reduced financial resources to accomplish their mission. According to the Washington Post, up One-Third of nonprofits could close or merge before the economy recovers. To help combat these challenges, New Jersey Largest First Night, First Night Morris County, a self-funded 501c(3) volunteer based nonprofit is offering community based organizations a revamped fundraising program, the Community Reinvestment Program or CRP.
The CRP program is part of First Night Morris County’s Year-Round Community Development Program, FNM365 which aims to drive positive year-end impact through strong community-based partnerships. FNM365 features a wide variety of programs ranging from a Literacy Initiatives, Arts & Innovation Summit to a Workforce Development / Internship Program and even a program to support local Restaurants. All the programs leverage the organization’s annual event, held on New Year’s Eve for the past 29 years.
For this year’s Community Reinvestment Program, participants can receive up to 35% of First Pass (an online streaming and on-demand access pass) purchases for this year’s First Night Morris County on December 31, 2020 with additional on-demand access January 1 to January 3 for purchasers. The CRP program is at no cost to the participating apolitical community organizations.
Tickets are $15 and include access to over 100+ Artists and 40+ Performances. Purchasers simply visit, firstnightmorris.com, select the organization they want to support at check out and the sale is credited to the CRP partner.
“First Night is about bringing our community together and strengthening it. Strength comes from unity and partnership. The Community Reinvestment Program is a strong example of what First Night Morris County stands for and our commitment to the community,” stated CRP Program Creator and First Night Morris County, President, Craig Schlosser. “We can not be more excited to have so many diverse and outstanding partners. The entire organization looks forward to continuing to promote our CRP Partners and encourage purchasers to support them,” Schlosser added.
This year’s participating partners are indeed diverse, ranging from service-based nonprofits to organizations which assist businesses, local community organizations and independent art groups. The lasting year-round impact is the same.
nourish.NJ, which services over 2,000 individuals each year and will be featured during this year’s New Year’s Event during a special “Behind the Curtain”, added in “Thank you to our generous community. Your support for nourish.NJ enables us to continue to provide healthy meals, medical and mental outreach services to our community. We are excited to be a participating CRP Partner and featured during First Night Morris County 2021,” stated, Nancy Rudgers, Director of Development for nourish.NJ.
A full and complete list of organizations can be found at firstnightmorris.com/support. Featured Partners include, but are not limited to Employment Horizons, Housing with Hope, Mayo Performing Arts Center, Middlesex County Regional Chamber of Commerce, Morris Arts, Morris Habitat for Humanity, MorristownGreen, New Brunswick Rotary Foundation, New Jersey Highlands Coalition, NJSBDC, North Jersey Partners, nourish.NJ, and Hamlet/Horatio; be sure to select a participating CRP Partner during your purchase at firstnightmorris.com/buy-now.
