In its first combined grant cycle, the Jewish Community Foundation and Jewish Federation (now the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix) awarded more than $1.4 million to Jewish organizations, programs and services locally, in Israel and overseas. The organization awarded a combination of core operating support and program grants to meet the needs of our Jewish community.
You may be eligible for the streamlined process.
Endowed funds and contributions to the Annual Campaign enable the Center for Jewish Philanthropy to award grants to a variety of organizations making a difference in Greater Phoenix, Israel and around the world.
To learn more about the 2024 Community Impact (formerly grants and allocations) process, please download the file below:
For organizations serving the Greater Phoenix Jewish community, click below to apply for a strategic initiative grant (formerly a program grant).
Local organizations applying for grants of $5,000 or less now have the option of requesting funding through this expedited process. Applications submitted through the Small Grants process will be reviewed on a streamlined, rolling basis.
Download the form to learn more about Small Grants and apply!
The Center for Jewish Philanthropy recently awarded more than $1.5 million in grants to the greater Phoenix Jewish community, and Israel and overseas.
Funding provides kosher Shabbat dinners, delivered Valley wide each week to families who are referred by Jewish Family and Children’s Service and Jewish Day Schools. Arizona Kosher Pantry is a partner of St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix, which provides basic food needs to disabled and low-income people in Phoenix, both Jewish and non-Jewish, including people in hospitals, shelters, prisons, and substance abuse programs.
Funding supports individuals from Greater Phoenix area to participate on a Birthright Israel trip. According to BI’s research, conducted by Brandeis’ Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, alumni feel a stronger connection to Israel, hold stronger sentiments about keeping a Jewish family, and are more likely to be engaged with Jewish life than nonparticipants.
Funding supports accessible Community Celebrations in the Greater Phoenix area that contribute to a welcoming community for all Jews for all Jews, regardless of affiliation and religiosity.
The Center for Jewish Philanthropy’s Senior Rides program provides low-cost, subsidized rides to Jewish seniors who are unable to drive and in need of transportation, with a goal of helping seniors age in place.
Committed to serving all members of the community regardless of religious affiliation, the Friendship Circle provides support to families of children with special needs. In addition to helping those in need, the Friendship Circle empowers and enriches its network of volunteers, mostly teenagers.
Dedicated to enriching the lives of the senior population in Greater Phoenix, SOS offers a wide array of services and programs, including in-home visits by volunteers, Shabbat dinners, holiday celebrations, luncheons, social programs, chaplaincy, educational lectures, discussions with the rabbi and more.
Smile on Seniors West Valley provides Jewish programming, education and experiences geared specifically to the senior and aging Jewish population in the West Valley.
The EVJCC is expanding the concept of Auschwitz Live, Virtual Tours, to create Holocaust Live, Virtual Tours, a second and complementary platform consisting of five distinct Nazi concentration camps: Belzec, Majdanek, Chelmo, Treblinka and Sobibor. Funding will help provide free tours for approximately 8,000 middle and high school students.
Gesher works with summer camps to create inclusive activity programming, review camper documents that request information about behaviors, trains counselors on learning/playing differently, and assists camp directors with campers needing additional assistance.
Hillel Sparks will bring warm, joyful holiday celebrations to a much larger student population than previously served. The Hillel Sparks strategy is a new and ambitious plan to meet more Jewish ASU students exactly “where they are” (physically and with their connection to Judaism) bringing Jewish connection to their particular interests, needs and involvement.
Honeymoon Israel targets diverse couples (interfaith, interracial, LGBTQIA, with and without children) with at least one Jewish partner aged 25-40, in the first five years of their marriage or lifetime, committed partnership. The program’s goal is to engage these couples in the critical years when they are in permanent relationships and are deciding how they want to shape their lives and raise their children.
Open to the entire community for events, meetings and a safe place to gather, the campus serves as home to 14 Jewish non-profit organizations (Anti-Defamation League, B’nai Brith Youth Organization, Bureau of Jewish Education, Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix, Gesher Disability Resources, Jewish Community Relations Council, JFCS Senior Concierge, Jewish Free Loan, Jewish News, Jewish Tuition Organization, Minkoff Center for Jewish Genetics, Nishmat Adin Day School, Pardes Jewish Day School, and the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center, in addition to the kosher restaurant Milk + Honey Espresso Bar and Eatery.
The state-based nonprofit security grant will largely benefit Jewish nonprofit entities that conduct worship services (mainly synagogues) in Maricopa County, with a specific focus on small and medium-sized synagogues who lack the capacity or capital to take part in the federal security grant program. Working with Goodman Schwartz, with the Arizona Faith Network as lead client on the legislative campaign, the non-profit security grant program (SB 1713) was included in the state budget which Governor Hobbs signed into law on May 15, 2023.
In 2022, the Senior Concierge returned to providing direct services on Tuesdays and Thursdays (paused during COVID) at the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus. Implemented in 2015, the program provides seniors, and their adult children/care partners with increased access to services that can help older adults remain active, connected, and independent.
The new digital home of Greater Phoenix’s Jewish community, JewishPhoenix aims to connect people to the wide array of programming and opportunities to engage in Jewish life. The site features more than 120 organizations and over 3,000 unique visitors utilizing the site per month.
Funding provides Shabbat and High Holiday services for residents and their families, Jewish holiday celebrations and transportation to Smile on Seniors Shabbat dinners. This program provides a Jewish atmosphere, Jewish activities and socialization opportunities for Kivel residents as well as Jewish people in the community.
Since opening in 2013, Moishe House Phoenix (four residents) has engaged 15,900+ young Jewish adults in total attendance through nearly 750 programs. Additionally, since opening in 2021, Moishe Pod Phoenix (two residents) has engaged 1,400+ young adults through close to 150 programs. MH Phoenix and MP Phoenix provide a welcoming hub of vibrant Jewish life for Jewish young adults.
OneTable enables accessible and repeatable DIY, home-based Jewish ritual, mental wellness practices, and personal connections, all through the lens of Shabbat. OneTable technology matches hosts with resources to build community and helps guests find Shabbat dinners. Through a dedicated landing page, on-the ground support by a Phoenix Community Ambassador, and food credits, young adults have what they need to welcome people to their own Shabbat dinner.
For the past 40 years, PHA has been an all-volunteer based organization. The influence of the organization has grown exponentially over the past decade as PHA leadership transitioned from Holocaust survivors to their descendants and other interested individuals. A part-time executive director will establish organizational protocols, professionalize, and expand fundraising, and increase outreach to area schools and the community at large.
The Hold on to Hope exhibition allows youth and adults to journey back in time through the pages of Holocaust survivor Oskar Knoblauch’s memoir, A Boy’s Story, A Man’s Memory: Surviving the Holocaust 1933-1945. The traveling Hold on to Hope exhibition will be organized and available both as an “exhibition-in-a-box” for local schools, libraries, and community centers locally, and as an electronic file package with artifact collection for museums, cultural institutions, and other non-local organizations.
Valley Beit Midrash will expand their youth programming by offering more volunteer events geared towards children or young families. Funds will be used for program materials and new staff dedicated to family engagement. The family engagement professional will plan at least two programs per month, centered around a social action issue or theme.
JDC anticipates that their Ukraine Emergency Response efforts will reach over 43,000 vulnerable Jewish seniors and families in Ukraine, including over 3,200 internally displaced Jews. Emergency response includes lifesaving humanitarian aid, winter survival, and trauma support.
The program provides both focused short-term support and empowerment to yotzim – Israeli Jews who choose to leave the ultra-Orthodox communities in which they were raised. This program includes counseling and treatment; educational and employment programs, scholarships and tutoring to complete high school equivalency, academic or vocational degrees; comprehensive employment services, free legal aid for single mothers; and housing subsidies and transitional housing in Hillel’s emergency shelter for 25 women aged 18-27
itworks’ Single Mothers program works to improve the economic situation of single mothers by providing vocational training, soft skills training, and job placement assistance, to help them obtain well-paying employment. The goal of the program is to narrow income gaps between single mothers and the rest of Israeli society and allow single mothers to support their families with dignity and financial security.
The Jewish Agency’s Aliyah of Rescue missions are mostly conducted for small groups and at extreme risk. Prior to their Aliyah, Jews in peril need to be identified, smuggled to safety, and prepared for the journey to Israel. This grant serves 16 olim in the coming year through our Aliyah of Rescue efforts. JAFI provides comprehensive, holistic services that set olim up for success in Israeli society, such as intensive Hebrew lessons, practical guidance, and support in finding employment and independent housing, vocational training, courses on Judaism, academic support for children of all ages, and individualized support from social workers.
This project combats get (Jewish divorce) refusal in a strategic effort to bring about a broad-reaching solution and create a world without agunot (a Jewish woman who is stuck in her religious marriage). Mavoi Satum trains women to become activists to effectively share their stories in the media, at parlor meetings, and lectures. Additionally, Mavoi Satum works inside the Knesset and government ministries to legislate systemic solutions.
Beating the Odds is an on-going program that offers multi-faceted support and concrete assistance to 18-27-year-olds leaving their foster framework to prepare them for their transition to independence. Beating the Odds ensures that Orr Shalom graduates can integrate into Israeli society as empowered and educated tax-paying citizens, capable of building healthy economic and social futures, and of stopping the cycle of abuse and welfare-dependence.
Kfar Silver Youth Village embodies ORT’s mission to level the playing field for underserved junior and high school students in Israel’s geographic and economic periphery by providing access to world-class instruction in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, & Math), agriculture, and general studies. A rural boarding school near Israel’s border with Gaza, Kfar Silver provides Israel’s most at-risk students, new immigrants, and children from the region with high-level learning opportunities and services that address their emotional and physical needs.
The program serves children ages 3-21 years-old with severe multiple disabilities, both cognitive and physical, and life-threatening medical disorders, and includes Jewish and Arab children from the Jerusalem area. The program provides the services of a medical professional who attends to both the daily medical emergencies and routine medical needs, and a social worker who works in tandem with the doctor and coordinates the medical and therapeutic needs of each child.
The Bureau of Jewish Education promotes and enhances Jewish literacy, knowledge and understanding and provides programming to inspire an appreciation of Jewish heritage. Classes and programs inspire appreciation of Jewish heritage and strengthen Jewish identity and spiritual life through a pluralistic learning environment. Programs include Jewish Baby University, Hebrew High, IGNITE religious school teacher training, Passages Lecture Series and adult learning classes.
The mission of the East Valley Jewish Community Center is to be a center for social, cultural and educational activities, engaging families and individuals throughout their lifetime through Jewish values. The EVJCC provides education and socialization for children to seniors through programs such as: Open Beit Midrash, Early Childhood Education, summer and school-break camps; arts and culture programming, including Conversations with the Rabbi, Klezmer Fest, concerts, lectures and movies; interfaith discussions, the Lone Soldier Project, and JBox Food pantry, a program in partnership with St. Mary’s Food Bank
Gesher Disability Resources serves children and adults affected by a disability through inclusion assistance in the classroom, teacher and counselor training, monthly religious services accessible to all, resource referral, residential support, and social groups. Gesher helps individuals with special needs and their families in the Jewish community to lead fuller lives.
The mission of Hillel Jewish Student Center at ASU is to enrich the lives of Jewish undergraduate and graduate students so that they may enrich the Jewish people, Israel, and the world. Hillel offers religious, cultural and Israel education initiatives, Jewish learning, leadership development, professional mentoring, connects students to internship opportunities, and hosts Shabbat and holiday celebrations. It serves as a home away from home for many college students.
Funding supports JFCS’ Jewish Community Services, which serves the Jewish community of Greater Phoenix with a primary focus of addressing the needs of individuals and families across a broad spectrum of Jewish life. Specific programs serve Holocaust Survivors, those in need of Jewish counseling and career services, older adults for in-home care, activities that can remove social isolation barriers, and spiritual guidance to those with illness, trauma, recovery, and/or end of life situations. Programs include: Aleinu Education Series, Jewish Career Services, Center for Senior Enrichment, counseling, Crisis Response Team, Helping Hands (emergency financial assistance), holiday programs, Holocaust survivor services, hospital chaplaincy, in-home older adult services, and Sun City counseling/bereavement services.
Valley Beit Midrash strives to improve the quality of Jewish life in the Greater Phoenix Jewish community through transformative Jewish education. VBM brings together a diverse cross-section of the community to encourage greater cooperation and collaboration between different Jewish organizations, to teach, model, and inspire the value of pluralism; to cultivate the next generation of Jewish leaders. VBM offers myriad classes, panel discussions, and scholars-in-residence for our community, and publishes a journal of local and national Jewish thought called “KOLOT: Celebrating the Plurality of Jewish Voices.
The Valley of the Sun JCC offers programs for all ages and serves people of all faiths, backgrounds, and abilities. Programs include: Harold and Jean Grossman Parkinson’s Program, which helps those with Parkinson’s and individuals with movement disorders to improve functional movement; after-school programming, which includes sports programs, crafts, games, STEM activities, and theater; early childhood education, which nurtures each child’s natural curiosity, intelligence, and interests, while developing their Jewish identity; health and fitness programming, and adult programming, which meets the needs for adults to have access to a variety of cultural and social opportunities, including speakers, classes, and games. The VOSJCC serves as a gathering place for people to meet, eat, socialize, or attend a drop in mahjong or canasta game.
Funding supports general operating costs and provides free tours to students in the Chandler Unified School District to experience Auschwitz Live Virtual Tours, the only live, online tour through history’s most notorious death camp.
Hillel at ASU is the center of Jewish life on campus. Funding supports programing including a new initiative, Hillel Co-op, which convenes students in small groups to address current issues and develop leadership skills.
Grant funding will be used to help expand the JCRC to include leadership and oversight of the JCRC in Tucson to help increase the safety and security of the whole of the Jewish community of Arizona.
The new digital home of Greater Phoenix’s Jewish community, JewishPhoenix aims to connect people to the wide array of programming and opportunities to engage in Jewish life.
The Valley of the Sun JCC serves as a community hub that provides access to cultural, educational, social and health and fitness programs for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Funding will support educational programming including Wise Aging, a program that helps active seniors explore the issues of aging and IGNITE, an 18-month learning series for religious school educators in greater Phoenix.
This 16-week program for married Jewish couples with children uses Torah sources and positive psychology to help improve all areas of their personal lives.
Valley Beit Midrash strives to improve the quality of Jewish life in our community through transformative Jewish education including classes, panel discussions, and scholars-in-residence.
Starting September 2022 -January 2023, AZJHS will feature an exhibit from United States Holocaust Memorial Museum that examines the role of ordinary people in the Holocaust and the variety of motives and pressures that influenced individual choices to act.
This week-long event addresses how we confront the legacy of the Holocaust and other mass genocides, while also raising awareness about current and ongoing threats of genocide and related mass atrocity crimes around the world.
Dedicated to enriching the lives of the senior population in Greater Phoenix, SOS offers programs to educate, and encourage Jewish engagement for seniors, their families, and the volunteers who provide services.
Smile on Seniors West Valley provides Jewish programming, education and experiences geared specifically to the senior and aging Jewish population in the West Valley.
The Center for Jewish Philanthropy’s Senior Rides program provides low-cost rides to Jewish seniors who are unable to drive and in need of transportation.
Funding supports overall programming including the Senior Concierge and Virtual Center that help connect older adults to programs and services they need and want to help them remain active, safe, connected and independent.
Funding provides Shabbat and High Holiday services, Jewish holiday celebrations, transportation to Smile on Seniors Shabbat dinners, and discussions regarding Israel to Kivel residents.
Committed to serving all members of the community regardless of religious affiliation, the Friendship Circle provides support to families of children with special needs.
Funding will provide weekly Shabbat dinners, which are delivered Valley-wide, to families who are referred by Jewish Family and Children’s Service and Jewish Day Schools
Funding supports the launch a network of support that will provide ongoing help – both financial and emotional – for those that find themselves with a BRCA positive diagnosis.
Gesher helps individuals with special needs and their families in the Jewish community to lead fuller lives. A portion of funding supports summer camp assistance for children with disabilities.
Phoenix has the second largest Bukharian Jewish community in the United States. Lehadleek’s goals are offer educational and social programs to bridge the generational gap between the traditional parents and their secular children who are on the brink of assimilation.
Take Away 2k will educate Jewish and non-Jewish Phoenix and Scottsdale teens about antisemitism. The program will be offered at five high schools, followed by a community-wide awareness event created by the teens, under the guidance of NCSY’s senior educator in antisemitism.
JDC’s humanitarian assistance program offers vital services to Jewish elderly living in post-Soviet states who are unable to meet their own basic needs and have nowhere else to turn for support.
This comprehensive program includes counseling and treatment; educational and employment programs, free legal aid, scholarships, social and cultural programming and housing subsidies and transitional housing in Hillel’s emergency shelter for 25 women ages 18-27.
This program provides training and support to help single mothers (ages 19-55), learn necessary skills to find a job so that they can support themselves and their families.
Funding supports the process of Aliyah for Ethiopian immigrants and provides the housing, services, and training needed to assimilate into Israeli society.
Grants made to JFNA partners (JDC, JAFI and World ORT) for services including trauma relief, temporary housing, humanitarian support, transportation, Aliyah and absorption, emergency operations and security.
Mavoi Satum will train a group of former and current mesoravot get (women whose husbands refuse to grant them a get) to become activists. They will use their platform to work inside the Knesset and government ministries to bring about progressive change.
Beating the Odds is an on-going program that offers multi-faceted support and concrete assistance to 18-27-year-olds leaving their foster framework to prepare them for their transition to independence.
The program serves Jewish and Arab children (ages 3-21) from the Jerusalem area with cognitive and physical disabilities, providing them a medical professional and a social worker to address the needs of each child.
Breaking the Bind changes fundamental Israeli policies and laws that undermine, destabilize, and weaken all women but especially women survivors of violence, and the pain and setbacks caused by systematic injustice.
Working in tandem with community leaders to fund vital organizations and programs that make our Jewish community vibrant and seeing those programs in action, brings me such fulfillment. If you are interested in funding programs selected by the Community Impact Committee or want to discuss funding local needs from your Donor Advised Fund, I’d love to speak with you.
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