Federation, Rodef Shalom finish in top 10 in Day of Giving
Two Jewish nonprofits placed in the top 10 in terms of dollars raised in The Pittsburgh Foundation’s 2013 Day of Giving campaign.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh placed fourth in terms of funds with $121,141. That covers $15,748 in matching funds from the Pittsburgh Foundation.
Rodef Shalom Congregation followed in sixth place with $100,193, which covers a $13,025 match from the Foundation.
No Jewish nonprofits finished in the top 10 in terms of actual number of donations.
“We did well because we have a large, faithful and generous donor base,” Federation President and CEO Jeffrey Finkelstein said in a statement to the Chronicle. “The vast majority of the donations are by our existing donors who are taking advantage of the wonderful match by our friends at The Pittsburgh Foundation. Every year since the Day of Giving was launched, it has resulted in several new or increased donations.”
He said the dollars raised through the Day of Giving are all included as part of the annual campaign, which raised $13.3 million last year. “Those dollars are allocated as part of a yearlong, thoughtful process of planning and allocations,” Finkelstein said.
Steve Bram, executive director of Rodef Shalom, noted that his congregation made Day of Giving a “priority” in its publicity for the fundraising event, and the congregants responded.
“It was driven by staff and volunteers,” he said. “It was a great team effort. Our membership responded and we were very pleased to be Number 6.”
All told, $6.4 million in public donations were received in a 24-hour period during the Day of Giving.
Those individual contributions each receive an equal pro-rated share of the $750,000 matching funds, creating a total of $7,150,000 raised for nonprofits.
A Day of Giving for Westmoreland, which ran simultaneously, received public donations of $480,000 that share a match pool of $95,000 (totaling $575,000).
Together, both campaigns produced more than $7.7 million in funds for local nonprofits. All data is preliminary and is subject to financial and administrative reconciliation by Foundation staff, which should be completed by early next week.
A total of 729 local nonprofits in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties — including 19 Jewish nonprofit organizations, charities and congregations — were eligible to receive contributions from donors that qualified for an equal, pro-rated share of the matching funds. The Pittsburgh Foundation will announce the matching amount for each donation for the 719 organizations that received contributions as soon as financial reconciliation of all data is completed.
The participating Jewish nonprofits were:
Agency for Jewish Learning, BBYO, Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh, Hadassah Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, Hillel Jewish University Center, Jewish Assistance Fund, Jewish Association on Aging, Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Jewish Family & Children’s Service, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Jewish Residential Services, JFilm: The Pittsburgh Jewish Film Forum of the Federation, Kollel Jewish Learning Center, National Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh Section, Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival of the Federation, Rodef Shalom Congregation, Temple Emanual of South Hills and Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha Congregation.
The Day of Giving, also known as PittsburghGives, was launched in 2009. Since then, the on-line site’s giving events have so far raised more than $28 million for the region’s nonprofit organizations.
The platform serves year-round as an on-line giving and research program for nonprofits to showcase their work in the community, detailing information about their charitable programs, missions, management and finances.
(Lee Chottiner can be reached at leec@thejewishchronicle.net.)
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