Prudential Community Resources awards $110,000 To winners of the Strength for Capacity business plan competition

Three New Jersey organizations were selected winners of a business plan competition sponsored by the Community Resources Department of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) to encourage nonprofits to think creatively about new ways to generate revenues to support their mission.

The competition was part of Prudential’s new Strength for Capacity initiative, which was launched earlier this year to help nonprofits achieve long-term sustainability. The first event in the initiative was a "Breaking the Gala Addiction Clinic,” that gave non-profit board and staff leaders information about alternatives to traditional events-based fundraising. A competition was announced during the clinic to encourage nonprofit staff and boards to come up with ideas on how to generate unrestricted income to help their organizations fulfill their missions.

The winners were announced on September 25 at the second event in the Strength for Capacity initiative – a capacity building conference where keynote speaker Rick Moyer, director of programs at the Meyer Foundation, discussed "Leading and Managing in Tough Times: It’s All About Partnership.”

The first prize – a $75,000 grant and the volunteer services of members of Prudential’s Project Management Council to help implement the business plan – went to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. The award-winning business idea was to produce bagel crisps to sell in farmers’ markets and upscale specialty stores.

"This is a windfall for us and we are ecstatic,” said Richard Uniacke, director of market development for the Community FoodBank. "In order to implement our business plan we need to spend money to make capital improvements. We cannot divert funds from their stated purpose of feeding the hungry, whose numbers and needs are growing in this economic environment. So, without this $75,000 grant, we would not be able to gain the unrestricted income that this venture will bring. We’ll be able to go gangbusters on making this venture achieve viability, now.”

Kids Corporation won the $25,000 second prize and the volunteer services of the Prudential Project Management Council. Kids Corporation will use the grant to develop a four-acre organic farm on its 125-acre camp facility. The produce will be sold locally in collaboration with the Farmers Market Initiative at an estimated annually profit of $40,000.

"We were thrilled to be recognized in this competition by Prudential, the company that gave Kids Corporation our first grant 39 years ago! Innovative, capacity-building funding is desperately needed in the non-profit sector. With this prize, Kids Corporation will not only increase our revenues but also expand our mission-based programs for Newark kids by feeding their stomachs, their minds and their futures,” said Michaela C. Murray-Nolan, executive director of Kids Corporation.

The $10,000 honorable mention was won by City Without Walls, an urban gallery of emerging art that advances the careers of artists while building the audience for contemporary art. Located in the historic Lincoln Park arts district in Newark, cWOW came up with a technology-based strategy to generate income from web-based marketing services for artists; high end digital printing and photography; frames for digital prints and photographs; software services for arts organizations; and other related products and services.

"This award will help us take the next steps in advancing our business strategy when we launch the web platform early next year,” said Ben Goldman, executive director of cWOW. "Our market testing suggests that this has potential for considerable growth. We’ve worked very hard on this idea. Winning honorable mention thrills us and validates our hard work.”

The Prudential Strength for Capacity Initiative was created in recognition that the current economic crisis is creating greater demand for nonprofit services at the same time that contributions and grants are declining. "We are committed to strengthening the nonprofit sector so that it can continue to provide services that communities and individuals so desperately need, particularly in this challenging economic climate,” said Gabriella Morris, vice president and head of Prudential Community Resources and president of The Prudential Foundation. "The Prudential Strength for Capacity initiative will help support the strategic growth of non-profits and reinforce the social infrastructure of the communities they serve.”

The Prudential Community Resources Department is a strategic combination of four units: The Prudential Foundation, a grant-making unit created in 1977, which strives to build children and families’ self sufficiency; the Social Investment Program, which originates and manages socially beneficial investments; Local Initiatives, which coordinates employee volunteerism and fosters community outreach; and Business Diversity Outreach, which facilitates diverse market development and outreach efforts for Prudential businesses.

The mission of the Community Resources Department is to strengthen Prudential by investing financial resources, business expertise and associate volunteer skills in programs that increase human potential and individual self-sufficiency through education, job skills, economic revitalization and basic community health.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with approximately $641 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2009, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping approximately 50 million individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. The company’s well-known Rock symbol is an icon of strength, stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test of time. Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. For more information, please visit http://www.news.prudential.com/.