New Jersey · Nonprofit
CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC
CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC (New Jersey) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,049,500 to it, the largest being INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 825ABCDRRH ($600,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $21M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $3.7M
What Choose New Jersey Inc does
Mission
Choose new jersey is a privately funded 501 c(3) economic development organization with a mission to stimulate job creation and attract capital investment to new jersey. Choose new jersey markets new jersey both domestically and internationally as the best place to grow a business in the united states. Knowledgeable, experienced staff, supported by a network of state agencies and private partners, provide free, confidential assitsance to guide companies in establishing operations in new jersey. By harnessing the power of business,labor, academic, and government leaders, choose new jersey enables growth across all sectors of the state's economy, aspiring to build a stronger and more prosperous new jersey for all.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Business attraction and retention efforts - choose new jersey is keenly focused on nurturing economic growth in new jersey by stimulating job creation and capital investment. Working with governmental entities, choose new jersey designs and executes business development strategies aimed at specific companies, with a focus on several key sectors, including: innovation & technology; life sciences; clean energy; advanced manufacturing; logistics; food & agriculture; artificial intelligence (ai); and film. Working jointly with new jersey's business leaders and community groups, choose new jersey engages directly with business decision makers to communicate the unique value proposition for doing business in the garden state. These efforts include direct negotiations, economic development missions, and national and international trade shows.
$2,765,266 spent15% of program spendingIntegrated marketing and media relations - choose new jersey successfully and widely promotes the benefits of conducting business in the state of new jersey to businesses and corporate leaders in other states and other countries. Marketing activities include paid advertising in both print and digital publications; event planning and sponsorships, including proprietary policy symposia, networking events and public forums; and website development and social media strategies. Media relation activities include interaction with briefings with news media, interviews, press release distribution, and coordination of press conferences to promote initiatives, market developments and trade missions.
$2,010,000 spent11% of program spendingChoose new jersey was awarded a $5 million business marketing grant from the new jersey department of state. This initiative will highlight the benefits of doing business in the state of new jersey and to encourage national and international business entites to relocate and expand in the state. The preliminary work on the capaign, entitled, ""this is nj,"" includes development of campaign strategy, design and production of creative assets, creating a new brand identity, and identification of target audiences within the cohorts of business decision makers, site selectors and, entrepreneurs and startups; identification of geographic target markets and assessment of the media landscape to identify appropriate ad placement opportunities. This period also saw the creation of the landing page njinnovation.com; the devlopment of landing pages for each sector and key subsectors; and the development of assets and custom content to push out on google ads, linkedin, youtube and facebook/instagram; and, the creation of the first video marketing the state for business attraction.
$3,773,288 spent20% of program spendingIsrael grant
$120,669 spent1% of program spendingNjeda grant
$8,264,050 spent44% of program spendingU.s. Department of the treasury passed through the new jersey department of state business action center covid-19 coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds
$1,649,282 spent9% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $18,582,555.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $7.1M to $11M (+49%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2019 11% · 2020 39% · 2021 43% · 2022 37% · 2023 56% · 2024 76%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (60% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Wesley Mathews
President and CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018, and between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $175k → $150k.
1 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $130k from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Hackensack Meridian Health Inc-Subordinates). These are real filings, and they are not money CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC raised.
From the IRS filings of CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
72% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 86% · 2019 67% · 2020 51% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
17% of CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 33% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
78% of CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC's grant income comes from New Jersey funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $150k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 659 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 659 community improvement nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $33.1M on record.
- DIRECT STATE SERVICES - NON-SALARY$27.1M
- FEDERAL$6.0M
- DEDICATED$3k
- TRUST FUND$3k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In New Jersey
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC?
- CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC (New Jersey) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,049,500 to it, the largest being INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 825ABCDRRH ($600,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $1,049,500 in grants to CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC?
- INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 825ABCDRRH is the largest funder on record, with $600,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHOOSE NEW JERSEY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Jersey. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Choose New Jersey →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 9 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing