Why Give to Jewish Federation?

Jewish Federation of St. Louis is the Jewish community’s central philanthropic, planning and community-building organization. Founded in 1901, it is one of the region’s most respected and effective nonprofit organizations. Federation is committed to the ongoing development and enhancement of a thriving Jewish community through a family of more than 50 local, national and international agencies, programs, services and innovative projects.  (The complete list is under Federation supports.)

In 2010, Jewish Federation launched a new, visionary and all-encompassing five-year strategic plan designed to ensure a vibrant, thriving and engaged Jewish community for the future that will drive Federation’s activities, initiatives, structure and resource allocations. On this basis, Jewish Federation is realigning its structure and resources to promote an enduring, energized and engaged Jewish community.

As a result of the new plan, there are six strategic priorities.  Federation’s Annual Community Campaign and ongoing Planned Giving opportunities will focus on raising funds necessary to provide services to engage both young families with children and young adults, support Jewish learning, educate and advocate for a strong Israel and safe Jewish world, recruit and train exceptional human resources and provide a safety net for vulnerable Jews.

In order to meet these priorities, Jewish Federation will continue to raise funds at face-to-face meetings, over the phone, at special events, through the mail, e-philanthropy, e-blasts and on www.jewishinstlouis.org.  Yet, there is a shift from supporting agencies per se to supporting those programs and services that meet the goals of the strategic plan. Of course, some core funding to agencies will continue to ensure a measure of financial responsibility in terms of infrastructure and basic operating costs. 

More than half of donations go to local needs and a portion goes to national organizations. The rest are distributed through Jewish Federations of North America (formerly United Jewish Communities) to the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) for national and overseas humanitarian aid. (See Overseas Funding).

Some funds are directly distributed overseas by Federation’s Overseas Allocations Committee for special projects, such as St. Louis’ Partnership 2Together sister-city region in Israel, Yokne’am-Megiddo.  P2Gether received funds for humanitarian and social service programs. Other St. Louis funding goes to specific and targeted overseas education, employment and language programs.

Other funding sources:

• Emergency Campaigns
  
  In times of crisis, Federation brings the community together to organize and launch emergency fundraising campaigns for food, clothing and more. Federation special campaigns have aided Jews in Israel, Argentina and the former Soviet Union with food, education and employment assistance, have responded to terrorism and economic crises, assisted the Jewish community in Kyrgyzstan and continues to help fund the transport and integration into Israeli society of thousand of Ethiopian Jews. Federation emergency campaigns have also responded to national crises by directing contributions to provide relief during hurricanes, fires, floods, tsunamis and more.
  
  
• Planned Giving
  
  Money also comes from planned giving through The Jewish Community Foundation of St. Louis  (JCF), a service of Jewish Federation. JCF is a central resource to accept and manage endowments and planned gifts: bequests, charitable remainder trusts, annuities, donor-supervised funds. JCF is backed by more than 100 years of Federation's service as a trustee of the St. Louis Jewish community's funds, which has one of the largest unrestricted endowments of any North American Jewish Federation.
  
  In August, 2009, the “Create a Jewish Legacy” program was introduced in St. Louis as a program of the JCF. Donors have responded in a very positive way.  Working in partnership with Jewish Federation’s local agencies and day schools, the CJL program is educating, training and assisting organizations in securing bequests and other planned gifts from their constituents. To extend the reach of “Create a Jewish Legacy” in the St. Louis Jewish community, last August, 2010, JCF received a $350,000 grant from the Areivim Philanthropic Group.  The grant provides funding for JCF to hire additional staff and engage local congregations in this effort.  Eight congregations – Bais Abe, Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel (BSKI), CRC, Nusach Hari Bnai Zion,Shaare Zedek,Tpheris Israel Chevra Kadisha Congregation (TICK), Traditional Congregation and United Hebrew -- have joined the effort.  In 2011, to date, we have secured $2.6 million in deferred bequests and $350,000 in cash bequests from 20 donors.  These gifts benefit 9 organizations in our community. 
  
  
• Why an Annual Community Campaign?
  
  To meet Federation’s strategic priorities toward a thriving community, the Annual Community Campaign raises the basic funds necessary to run our community's agencies, programs and services. The needs and the costs of these services rise almost every year. Founded in 1901 to centralize, improve and lower fundraising costs, Federation has undertaken many projects - directly or through our funded agencies locally, national and internationally, to insure the survival of our Jewish community.
  
  
• Your Federation Donations at Work In St. Louis
  
  
  • $12 = a children’s book for the Brodsky Jewish Community Library
    
    
  • $36 =  food for a Jewish family of four for three days at the Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry at the Jewish Family & Children’s Service 
    
    
  • $60 = One year of children’s books & CDs through the PJ Library Program for children ages 6 months through 7 years
    
    
  • $110 = one 60-minute counseling session with a JF&CS therapist  or the value of a phone call to ElderLink St. Louis, a free information and referral service for seniors and their caregivers/children
    
    
  • $180 =  training for one high school student in the  JCRC Student to Student Program, a project to reduce prejudice and develop future leaders
    
    
  • $200 =  the cost of one week of job search/career services at MERS/Missouri Goodwill Industries 
    
    
  • $300 = a one week session of JCC day camp
    
    
  • $375  = one year’s tuition for a teen to attend the CAJE Jewish Opportunities and Learning for Teens (JOLT)
    
    
  • $365 ( or $1 a day) = Shabbat and holiday meals delivered to homebound residents of Covenant House/CHAI Apartments
    
    
  • $600 = 50% scholarship for a one-week session at Camp Sabra in the Ozarks
    
    
  • $765 = 24 tutoring sessions in Jewish education and Hebrew for special needs children through CAJE’s Kulanu Program
    
    
  • $915  provides one month’s tuition for a child at the JCC Early Childhood Center where scholarship requests are up 29%
    
    
  • $1,000 = one grant for a child (grades 1-12) to attend Jewish camp for the first time through the St. Louis “One Happy Camper Program
    
    
  • $3,000 = a 10-day Birthright Israel trip for one young adult – aged 18-26.

Thanks to Federation fundraising and planning, young people will connect with their heritage on special trips to Israel and Federation’s concierges will continue to connect those young adults to our community.  The Central Agency for Jewish Education and St. Louis congregations have joined forces with Federation to provide Jewish education. Our largest agency, the JCC, will continue to attract the young and old through a large, creative assortment of programs and activities at the new Staenberg Family Complex and Arts & Education Building. More than 30,000 people, including 400 school groups, will continue to tour our Holocaust Museum & Learning Center each year. The Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry will continue to feed an average of 3,600 people a month of all ages, backgrounds and religions. Vulnerable Jews throughout the world will continue to receive basic needs -- hot food, affordable and safe housing, medical care and more.  

Why give to Federation?  Federation has always been about people with the primary objective to improve the lives of Jews in St. Louis and around the world every day of the year wherever the needs are greatest.