Why Give?

Jewish Federation is the central fundraising organization for the St. Louis Jewish community. Each year, Federation launches an Annual Community Campaign that is the St. Louis Jewish community’s largest fundraising effort. Annual Campaign donations help pay the day-to-day bills of Federation’s family  -- 30 local and 21 national agencies, programs and services; three international agencies and four targeted programs – to feed the hungry, educate thousands of children and adults,  care for the young, provide basic care for seniors, send students to Israel, rebuild and revitalize neighborhoods around the world, counsel families, fight global anti-Semitism, promote Jewish identity and culture and support Jews in Israel and around the world. 

Every gift to the Annual Campaign is a gift to the entire community. Funds are raised at face-to-face meetings, over the phone, at special events, through the mail and on www.jewishinstlouis.org. 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.

Some of the St. Louis Annual Campaign funds are directly distributed overseas by Federation’s Global Jewish Needs Committee (GJN) for special overseas projects, such as St. Louis’ Partnership 2000 sister-city region in Israel, Yokne’am-Megiddo.  P2000 received funds for humanitarian and social service programs. Other St. Louis funding goes to specific 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 helped 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.

Money also comes from planned giving through The Jewish Community Foundation of St. Louis, a service of Jewish Federation, a central resource to accept and manage endowments and planned gifts: bequests, charitable remainder trusts, annuities, donor-supervised funds. JCF is backed by 109 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.

Why an Annual Community Campaign?

The Annual Community (fundraising) 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.

So, Federation turns to our community, to raise even more funds to meet important needs:

1. Unemployment and shaky economies. Starting in late 2008, the economy began to plummet. Federation faced the worst global fiscal crisis since the Great Depression. But Federation was here for our community. Our first priority was to respond to the hardship experienced by Jewish families . Within weeks, Federation put together a Lifeline Fund to provide cash grants and loans to support families hit hard by the economic crisis.
   
   In addition, Federation extended assistance to the unemployed through MERS/Missouri Goodwill’s Careers in Transition Program and increased donations and contributions the Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry. The past two years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of families coming to the Food Pantry – an increase of 62% between ’08 and’09 and in ’09, more than one million food and personal care items were distributed, a 34% increase from 2008.
   
   At the same time, in Israel and in other countries overseas, Federation continued to expand human needs – more care for seniors, programs for at risk children and adults and services to feed hungry families.
   
   Our senior population is exploding. Jews have a higher percentage of elderly than any other group. Growing numbers are frail and isolated. Some are active and healthy and want to live independently in their own homes with dignity -- while others need basic services and support. We are constantly finding ways to care for them, maintain their dignity and help them live independently to put off long-term care. 
   
   In our community, Federation supports Adult day Care, Senior Olympics, renovations to Covenant/CHAI, volunteer opportunities and social, recreational and cultural programs. But, we must increase our capacity for long-term care for those of all income levels.
   
   A priority has been to develop an integrated system of senior adult services. ElderLink St. Louis (launched in 2009) serves as a free central resource for seniors and their caregivers. It’s a project of the Senior Service Integration Commission designed to best serve our senior population. Another very successful senior project is The Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) Senior Project. NORC is designed to help seniors remain independent in their homes to age in place with home modifications and programs to keep seniors active and mentally engaged. NORC encompasses a three-mile area in west St. Louis County and has a current membership of 638 (as of 6/10) people aged 65+. The St. Louis NORC offers a low-cost alternative to institutionalization. Fewer than 1% of the NORC’s residents report having moved from the NORC into nursing homes.  At an average annual cost of $44,000 per person for a nursing home bed in St. Louis (according to AARP), the NORC provides a cost-effective and dignified option while meeting the lifestyle choice of mature adults. 
   
   
2. Jewish institutions are struggling to serve the next generations. They provide the programs and services that strengthen Jewish identity, deepen Jewish knowledge, culture and heritage, build an inclusive Jewish community and enrich lives. Our goal is to engage more young Jews in Jewish life in its many forms and in ways that give them  sense of meaning and purpose. We do this through Hillel at Washington University and on the Campus of the University of Missouri, Columbia, and through the Young Professionals Division of Jewish Federation, Women’s Connection, the Community website www.jewishinstlouis.org , Jewish Agency for Israel, summer camps in the Former Soviet Union, Birthright Israel, outreach programs to interfaith couples and unaffiliated Jews, Shalom St. Louis, Shalom Baby and Student to Student. 
   
   Federation has also extended its reach to young adults through such efforts as the Rubin Israel Experience (for 27 to 40 year old) and personal outreach to our next generation through support of Moishe House, Next Dor and the PJ Library Program.
   
   
3. Anti-Semitism is on the rise in many parts of the world.  We must continue the work to build bridges and address the injustices between social, economic and cultural groups. Much of this work is supported through Federation donations. Tolerance education is done through the Holocaust museum and Learning Center which welcomes 30,000 visitors a year, including some 400 school groups. Federation also counters propaganda, monitors and fights anti-Semitism, legislates against hate crimes and monitors hate groups through the Jewish Community Relations Council.
   
   
4. Israel depends upon our strong ties as the country continues to struggle with peace efforts and terrorism. Human tolls are huge in terms protecting a nation at daily risk. Israel also needs our support to absorb the influx of new immigrants including Ethiopian Jews  and Jews from other countries such as the recent group coming from Kyrgyzstan and the 100,000 Ethiopians who already live there.  That’s why Federation strives to strengthen global Jewish unity and peoplehood by engaging the entire community through Focus Israel. In St. Louis’ sister-city region in Israel, Yokneam-Megiddo, we provide assistance to families with at-risk children and families and hunger programs.  In 2009, Federation concluded Knesset Israel, a two year intensive lab process for four congregations –Temple Israel, United Hebrew, Shaare Emeth and B’nai Amoona – to deepen their ties with Israel.
   
   
5. International Jewish relief and rescue agencies need our support to aid and rebuild communities for Jews who face immediate crisis from growing anti-Semitism, poverty, homelessness and hunger -- in Israel and 63 other countries such as the Former Soviet Union.  

Your Federation Donations at Work In St. Louis

• $36  provides food for a Jewish family of four for three days at the Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry at the Jewish Family & Children’s Service 
  
  
• $100  pays for one 60-mnute counseling session with a JF&CS therapist 
  
  
• $110 is the value of a phone call to ElderLink St. Louis, a free information and referral service for seniors and their caregivers/children
  
  
• $180  provides training for one high school student in the  JCRC Student to Student Program, a project to reduce prejudice and develop future leaders
  
  
• $200  covers the cost of one week of job search/career services at MERS/Missouri Goodwill Industries 
  
  
• $300  pays for a one week session of JCC day camp
  
  
• $375  is one year’s tuition for a teen to attend the CAJE Jewish Opportunities and Learning for Teens (JOLT)
  
  
• $365 ( or $1 a day) provides Shabbat and holiday meals delivered to homebound residents of Covenant House/CHAI Apartments
  
  
• $600  provides a 50% scholarship for a one-week session at Camp Sabra in the Ozarks
  
  
• $765  covers 24 tutoring sessions in Jewish education and Hebrew for special n eeds 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%
  
  
• $1,250  covers one month of infant care at the JCC
  
  
• $3,000  pays for a 10-day Birthright Israel trip for one young adult – aged 18-26.
  
  
• $3,000  provides a Shabbat dinner at Hillel for 200 area college students
  
  
• $3,500 provides the cost to modernize and modify one bathroom to accommodate a frail resident at Covenant/CHAI
  
  
• $5,000  provides repairs, equipment and supplies for the JCC Early Childhood Program
  
  
• $6,000 provides one year of twice-weekly JF&CS homemaker services for a frail elderly couple to help them live independently

Thanks to Federation fundraising and planning, young people will connect with their heritage on special trips to Israel. 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. Our Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry will continue to feed an average of 3,600 people a month of all ages, backgrounds and religions. Our seniors will continue to receive services — hot food, transportation, social activities, affordable and safe housing, free information and referral services—through Covenant/CHAI, the JCC, ElderLink and the Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) program to help them live independently and with dignity in their homes and communities as long as possible.

Why give to Federation? It’s simple. 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.