Annual Federation allocations increase by over $500,000

By Justin Jacobs June 30, 2010, 6:40 pm 0 Edit

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh released figures this week outlining fundraising amounts to be distributed this year, totaling $20.4 million, a $500,000 increase over last year.

Of that bottom line figure, the Community Campaign, a fund created by donations from community members and allocated primarily for the operating budgets of the Federation’s 10 beneficiary agencies, as well as overseas partners and non-beneficiaries, is projected to reach a total of $12,560,000. The Campaign is set to wrap up in the next week, as the Federation is working to reach that projected figure.

The $20.4 million is divided between four avenues, including the aforementioned Campaign, used for more everyday operating expenses. “Agencies can use it for activities that they can’t get funded in other ways, that they can’t get donors to fund,” said Josh Donner, associate director of planning and funding. “Nobody wants to fund the CEO salary; they want to fund a particular program that speaks to them. Our [Campaign] dollars are investment in overall mission of agency.”
Foundation grants are allocated for “one time funding, one time needs,” said Donner. “The Campaign is steady, reliable dollars. [With money from the] Foundation, we indentify a need in the community and address that need.”

Campaign and Foundation dollars represent about two thirds of the Federation’s total allocations. The second half is made of government grants and supplemental donor funding.

The Federation projects increased money raised in all four areas: $10,000 in the Federation Campaign; $110,000 in Foundation grants, $180,000 in donor supplemental funding and $240,000 in government funds.

“Something we did in particular this year was increase funding for Israel travel,” said Donner. “We recognize those programs help young people solidify Jewish identities. We’ve increased the amount of scholarships for anybody traveling to Israel. We’re working very hard to make sure dollars we’ve raised, particularly new dollars, go around our community priorities.”