As the leading collective of Jewish funders
in the country, the Jewish Communal Fund has a singular mission: help our Fundholders support their charities quickly and securely.

For over 50 years, we’ve helped our Fundholders make their charitable giving simpler and more tax efficient—and along the way we have made a profound impact on our community.

In addition to our Fundholders’ giving—totaling $900 million in FY 23—JCF’s Board of Trustees makes a $2 million gift from our revenues to the annual campaign of UJA-Federation of New York. Our endowment, the Special Gifts Fund, makes annual grants on behalf of our JCF community to support organizations that promote the welfare and security of the Jewish community at home and abroad. JCF’s trustees have awarded $500,000 from the Special Gifts Fund for the Israel Emergency Fund of UJA-Federation of New York.

Our Community Gift has two components:

  • A $2 million donation to the Annual Campaign of UJA-Federation of New York
  • Grants from the JCF Special Gifts Fund. Since 1999, more than $22 million has been awarded from the Special Gifts Fund to over a dozen worthy causes selected with the assistance of UJA-Federation of NY. 

Special Gifts – 2022

  • $100,000 to the Riverdale Y to renovate its multipurpose room
  • $171,428 to the Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds for the Jewish Communal Fund Home Base and a new pool
  • $133,000 to UJA-Federation of New York to provide mental health care at multiple day camps
  • $132,500 to UJA-Federation of New York’s new Brooklyn Hub, to create a safe space for victims of domestic violence and for the New York Legal Assistance Group’s office
  • $83,333 to the JCC Staten Island to support its Upward New York Digital Food Pantry

2021

  • $250,000 to the Sephardic Jewish Community Center to create a therapy center

Thanks to JCF’s support, The Sephardic Community Center in Brooklyn will be able to build a 1,500 square foot therapy center, where preschool-age children can receive physical, occupational, and speech therapy. The Jewish Communal Fund Therapy Center will feature therapy swings, a rock-climbing wall, climbing structures, monkey bars, balance beam, therapy balls and other sensory equipment to enhance experiential learning for preschoolers of all abilities.

  •   $211,000 to UJA-Federation of New York to provide Jewish day camp scholarships for campers attending camps housed on the Henry Kauffmann Campgrounds for Summer 2021.

JCF’s support will enable children—many of whom have experienced the loss of a parent or are living in or near poverty as a result of a parent’s job loss—the ability to go to Jewish summer camp. Day camp scholarships will be divided among 13 Jewish community centers that run day camps at the Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds in Long Island, Staten Island, and Rockland County.

  •   $130,000 to the Shorefront JCC for its digital food pantry

Food insecurity is on the rise in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic; demand at UJA-funded food pantries is up 40 percent as compared to last year. JCF’s support will help the Shorefront JCC Digital Pantry provide more nutritious food for its clients, many of whom are Russian-speaking seniors, and enable greater choice in selecting food.

  • $100,000 to UJA-Federation of New York to provide a matching grant to four camps in UJA’s network to secure funding for capital improvements

JCF’s donation will help Camp Zeke, Eden Village Camp, Berkshire Hills Eisenberg Camp and Surprise Lake Camp fund capital improvements that will expand enrollment while following COVID-related social distancing guidelines. JCF’s grant can help these camps secure matching funds from the Jewish Community Response and Impact Fund (JCRIF) through the Foundation for Jewish Camp.

2020

This year JCF’s Special Gifts Fund approved $1 million in emergency coronavirus-related grants:

  • $500,000 to the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty to provide emergency food delivery for low-income seniors who are sheltering in place at home and are at greater risk from the coronavirus outbreak
  • $250,000 to UJA-Federation of New York’s Community Initiative for Holocaust Survivors to provide critical services for Holocaust Survivors
  • $150,000 to the UJA-Federation of New York to provide thousands of Passover Seder Meals to Go
  • $50,000 to UJA-Federation of New York’s Single Parent Initiative to provide emergency cash assistance for single parents
  • $50,000 to Dorot’s University Without Walls which connects seniors to educational programs using their telephone

2019

  • $275,000 to the Sid Jacobson JCC to provide a food bank stafed largely by individuals with special needs
  • $250,000 for the Henry Kaufmann Campground at Pearl River to renovate swimming pools
  • $120,000 to the Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst to expand a support program for Holocaust survivors with dementia
  • $130,000 to support Met Council to increase its capacity to provide food to those in need
  • $100,000 to support UJA-Federation of New York’s Single Parent Initiative to provide scholarships for day camp, day care and after-school programs.
  • $110,000 to Mishkon to provide an adaptive playground, a pool lift and increased lighting and security features
Watch: Groundbreaking of the new sensory and therapeutic playground at Mishkon

2018

Jewish Communal Fund Food Pantry Ribbon Cutting
Jewish Communal Fund Food Pantry Ribbon Cutting
  • $375,000 to the United Jewish Council of the East Side to provide a Digital Choice Food Pantry
  • $250,000 for New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) to provide free Civil Legal Services at the Brooklyn Resource Hub
  • $125,000 to the Community Initiative for Holocaust Survivors (CIHS) showcasingHours of Freedom
  • $90,000 to support the Marion & Aaron Gural JCC to cover increased food costs at the new Sustenance Center

2017

  • $500,000 for the Digital Choice Food Pantry at the Central Queens Y Community Resource Hub
  • $500,000 for a New Home Base at the Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds’ Long Island site
  • $100,000 to build a sensory gym at The Harold and Elaine Shames JCC on the Hudson
  • $125,000 to UJA-Federation of New York for the expansion of the Witness Theater Holocaust education project
  • $65,000 to support Selfhelp Community Services‘ 26 Coffee Houses
  • $65,000 to provide scholarships for the JCC of Manhattan’s Camp Settoga for children from low-income families