The Affinity Foundation, which provides assistance to individuals and community members across New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut through development programs and grants, raised $335,000 in 2025.
The foundation supports members of Affinity Federal Credit Union and their surrounding communities, representing the member-owned financial institution’s 90-year commitment to serve.
This past year, the foundation raised more than $213,000 through events and over $21,000 with grassroots fundraising efforts. Through multiple grant programs, it awarded a combined $65,000 to 74 individual members and $190,000 to 23 nonprofits.
“Our team stepped up to bring communities together,” said Kelly Watts, executive director of the Affinity Foundation. “We reached more lives than ever before and took great inspiration from the people we served.”
2025 marked the 20-year anniversary of the Affinity Foundation’s higher education scholarship program. The foundation offered individual grants of $2,500 to six exceptional New Jersey high school students to support their pursuit of two- or four-year degrees. The foundation also concluded a three-year pledge to uplift six organizations with $20,000 annually, totaling to $360,000 given across the years.
In 2025, the Affinity Foundation gave a total of $70,000 in separate grants to local organizations including:
- 180 Turning Lives Around (Hazlet) – Emergency Domestic Violence Shelter and Support Programs
- Center for Great Expectations (Somerset) – Adult Residential Mommy & Me Program
- Center for Safety and Change (New City, N.Y.) – Bridging Critical Gaps in Emergency and Transitional Housing for Domestic Violence Survivors initiative
- Community Center Without Walls (Greenburgh, N.Y.) – Community Center without Walls, Inc. – Youth Empowerment and Apprenticeship Program
- Dare to Be Different West Chester (White Plains, N.Y.) – The Farmers Market One-Stop Hub: Essentials, Education, and Empowerment Program
- Deirdre O’Brien Child Advocacy Center (Morristown) – Deirdre’s House Medical and Mental Health Program
- Food Bank Network of Somerset County (Bound Brook) – General Food Assistance – Fresh Food Program
- Homefront (Lawrence) – Hire Expectations: Employment and Educational Support for a Stable, Financially Secure Future Program
- Homes for the Brave (Bridgeport, Conn.) – Training for Success Vocational and Educational Program
- Lunch Break (Red Bank) – The Life Skills Program
- Middle Earth (Bridgewater) – Journeys Employment Readiness Component (ERC) Program
- Safe + Sound Somerset (Somerset) – Financial Empowerment & Support Program
- Second Street Youth Center (Hillsborough) – Second Street Youth Center (SSYC) Full STEAM Ahead summer camp
- Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (Trenton) – Education and Employment (E&E) Program
- Women’s Center for Entrepreneurship (Chatham) – 2025 eCommerce/AI Program
