Margarethe P. Laurenzi, who leads grantmaking at the Community Foundation of New Jersey, has been named executive director of the Maher Charitable Foundation. She will join the Foundation in October, working with Brian Maher and his daughter Amanda to set the course for the family foundation going forward. Maher Charitable Foundation has been a leading voice in the advocacy initiative to secure and fund universal pre-K education for children in New Jersey and to ensure our state’s youngest children have access to healthy, safe, and high-quality early childhood facilities.

At the Community Foundation since 2014, Margarethe has most recently served as chief philanthropic officer, managing a team that stewards the charitable grantmaking of 600+ individuals and families who contribute more than $50 million annually. She has been an effective advocate and advisor to fundholders, helping to identify interventions and collaborations to accomplish specific charitable objectives.

During her tenure at CFNJ, Margarethe has considered how philanthropy can drive systems change in, among other issues, limiting the use of solitary confinement and advancing youth justice reform, increasing representation and support for unaccompanied minors and their families, and broadening access of low-income women to capital through microlending. She has spearheaded initiatives that promote the vital role of women in philanthropy by advising the Impact100 giving circles that CFNJ hosts, and deepening engagement with women fundholders and their families. She is a member of the Women@NJPAC Board of Trustees and of Impact100 Essex and chairs the advisory board of Jazz House Kids in Montclair.

Originally from Buffalo, NY, Margarethe is a graduate of Princeton University, with an AB in politics, and was a Rotary International ambassadorial fellow in Florence, Italy. She is a 20+-year resident of Mountain Lakes, NJ.

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