Jewish Communal Fund
/OVERVIEW: The New York-based Jewish Communal Fund supports Jewish religious, cultural, educational and human service-oriented organizations prioritizing the New York City area. The fund also supports higher education and public health in New York and beyond.
IP TAKE: JCF runs over 4,000 donor-advised funds and makes grants through community gift program with the revenues and fees it earns. Its website is geared toward donors, limiting information about its specific grantmaking practices. Nor is it accessible as it does not appear to run a grant application program.
To get on this funder’s radar, networking with its leadership and staff will be key. This fund is approachable, but a bit bureaucratic. Get in touch with them to learn more about how their funding is evolving. Funding supports national and international work, specifically in Israel.
PROFILE: The New York City-based Jewish Communal Fund (JCF) was established in 1972 by attorneys Herbert Singer and Richard Netter with help from Sanford Solender, a noted philanthropist, educator and social worker. The fund “facilitates and promotes charitable giving to sectarian and nonsectarian organizations through donor-advised funds and provides support to Jewish organizations in New York.” JCF currently manages over 4,000 funds and maintains a about $3 billion in assets. In addition to its donor-advised funds, the fund uses monies earned from revenues and fees to run its Community Gift program, which supports the United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York annually and makes grants to many other Jewish organizations. Giving prioritizes but is not strictly limited to the greater New York City area. Information about JCF’s grantmaking is limited, as its website is geared toward donors rather than grantseekers.
Grants for Jewish Causes
Jewish causes represent the JCF’s main area of grantmaking. The fund’s largest recipient, the United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York, receives about $2 million annually for its support of Jewish human services, cultural and educational organizations in the U.S., Israel and around the world. Tax filings indicate that the provides annual support of about $2 million to UJA annually. Other recipient Jewish organizations in the New York area include the Sephardic Community Youth Center of Brooklyn, Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue Synagogue and the Westchester Jewish Center in Mamaroneck, New York. On the national level, JCF has supported the Jewish National Fund, the Anti-Defamation League, Birthright Israel, the Foundation for Jewish Camps, and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. Several U.S.-based charities that support Israeli causes also receive funding, including the PEF Israel Endowment Funds, the American Israel Education Foundation, the Central Fund for Israel and the American Friends of the Tel Aviv University.
Grants for Higher Education
JFC’s grantmaking for higher education has supported a broad range of colleges and universities in the U.S. and Israel. The fund gives to both Jewish-oriented and non-religious institutions. Jewish higher education grantees include New York’s Yeshiva University, the Hebrew University of New York, Tel Aviv University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Funding to non-Jewish institutions appears to focus on large, prestigious schools in the New York area and beyond. Recent grantees include Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, Columbia University, New York University, Duke University, MIT and the University of Texas, among others.
Grants for Public Health and Access
JCF’s giving for public health and access focuses on hospitals, hospital systems and medical schools serving the greater New York City area. In a recent year, the fund made grants of $1 million or more to Mount Sinai Hospital and its affiliated Icahn School of Medicine, the Hospital for Special Surgery, NYU Hospitals Center. Outside of the New York area, the fund has given to the Duke University Health System and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Grants for Environmental Conservation and Justice
Environmental conservation is a smaller area of giving for JCF. The fund’s main recipient in this area is the Natural Resources Defense Council, which received over $3 million in a recent year.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Arts and culture do not appear to be a main focus area for JCF’s grantmaking, but each year a few grants are awarded to Jewish and non-Jewish oriented arts and culture organizations. Giving is mainly limited to New York City, where the fund has made grants to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the 92nd Street YMCA, the New York Public Library, the Museum of Modern Art, the Public Art Fund and the Roundabout Theatre Company.
Important Grant Details:
In a recent year, the JCF made over $500 million in grants, but it is important to recognize that this figure includes grants made through the fund’s many donor-advised funds. The funds grants range from $5,000 to $10 million, with an average grant size of about $25,000. Grantmaking is national in scope, but more than half of all funding stays in the New York City area. The fund also places a very strong focus on Jewish religious, educational, cultural and human services organizations, although giving for health and higher education has also been robust in recent years.
The JCF’s website does not offer information about grant application and is geared toward donors and potential donors. Grantseekers may send the fund a message via its contact page or network with the fund’s leadership and staff for additional information about the grantmaking process.
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