Jim Joseph Foundation Awards $5.25 million in Grants At Latest Board Meeting

November 19th, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The San Francisco-based Jim Joseph Foundation today announced grant awards from its Fall 2014 Board meeting, totaling more than $5 million to a variety of Jewish education organizations. Grants were awarded to the Contemporary Jewish Museum, American Institutes for Research, Birthright Israel Foundation, and Kevah.

“Many of these new grants build on the previous determined work of grantees to create more Jewish learning opportunities,” notes Al Levitt, President of the Jim Joseph Foundation. “We are excited to help successful initiatives expand and evolve to engage even more Jewish youth and young adults in vibrant Jewish life.

The Foundation focuses on creating effective and compelling Jewish learning experiences for youth and young adults (primarily ages 13-30) in the United States. A full breakdown of the Foundation’s grants can be found in its portfolio analysis.

Details of Major Grants from Fall 2014 Board Meeting:

Contemporary Jewish Museum: Innovation Fund 2.0 (2014-2018)
Total Awarded: Up to $1,200,000
Purpose: Innovation Fund 2.0 will support creative, cultural exhibitions in the San Francisco Bay Area to engage youth and young adults, and further educate museum curators and Jewish educational practitioners from museums across the country (this is the second grant for the Innovation Fund).

American Institutes for Research: Cross Community Evaluation of the Community-based Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Initiative (2014-2018)
Total Awarded: Up to $800,000
Purpose: Conduct the Cross Community Evaluation of the Community-based Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Initiative; Funds will be used to execute on a cross-grant evaluation of initiatives operating in up to ten communities; Rosov Consulting and Professor Steven M. Cohen will serve as sub-contractors. Key objectives will include:

  • Assess the success of the collective initiative based on achievement of shared goals
  • Ensure that findings from ongoing local evaluations are comparable across communities
  • Identify and make accessible key learnings that emerge from evaluations of the local initiatives and additional data that will be collected as part of this evaluation
  • Provide actionable feedback to strengthen national support structures
  • Ensure ongoing shared learning over a four year period beginning in October of 2014.

Birthright Israel Foundation: Birthright Israel Trip Support (2014)
Total Awarded: Up to $2,500,000
Purpose: To provide trip support for Birthright participants from the United States.

Kevah: Support Growth in the Number of Kevah Groups and Kevah Educators in the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston and Denver (2014-2017)
Total Awarded: Up to $750,000
Purpose: To support Kevah’s educators and growth in the number of Kevah groups for young adults in the Bay Area, Boston and Denver.

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By investing in promising Jewish education grant initiatives, the Jim Joseph Foundation seeks to foster compelling, effective Jewish learning experiences for young Jews in the United States. Established in 2006, the Jim Joseph Foundation has awarded more than $300 million in grants to engage, educate, and inspire young Jewish minds to discover the joy of living vibrant Jewish lives. www.jimjosephfoundation.org