In 1971, the Lions Clubs within District 16A approved the establishment of the New Jersey Lions District 16A Charitable Foundation. It was incorporated in 1971 as " a non-profit organization for Literacy or Educational and Scientific purposes and to receive, administer and distribute funds exclusively for charitable purposes."  The Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit organization as approved by the IRS. District A was comprised of the Lions Clubs and its members in Bergen, Hudson and Passaic Counties. The District Governor and 13 Past District Governors were the original Trustees. The first official meeting-the Organizational Meeting- was held in September of 1971, with the President and 27 Trustees- 3 Lions from each of the 9 existing District Regions in attendance.

Over the years, The Foundation grew,  with its original goals unchanged- to continue to provide help wherever and whenever we are asked for support throughout Lions Multiple District 16.  With the needs of State and District-Sponsored Projects ever-increasing, so are the grant requests that are presented annually to the Charitable Foundation for consideration.  These are requests that could not be fully provided by individual Clubs.  

Although contained within District 16N, the Foundation is completely autonomous and is governed by Trustees that serve for four year terms.  Trustees are appointed with the approval of the Foundation President and Trustees.  All Officers and Trustees serve on a volunteer, unpaid basis.  

 On July1, 2014, in compliance with the Re-districting of MD 16-New Jersey, District 16A was reorganized with Clubs from Districts 16D and 16E.  In an effort to retain the identity of our Charitable Foundation, with a discussion and vote of approval at a Foundation Board Meeting,  a proposal was made and approved by vote at the 2015 New Jersey Lions MD 16 State Convention to officially change the name of our Foundation to The North Jersey Lions District Charitable Foundation, Inc. In May, 2017, with the approval of Lions Clubs International, we officially changed our name to  Lions District 16N Charitable Foundation.