Groups boost Jewish camping

The Jewish Funders Network and the Foundation for Jewish Camping have announced a matching-grants initiative to increase the number of Jewish campers over the next four to five years. At the JFN’s annual conference in Atlanta on Monday, JFN President Mark Charendoff announced the initiative, which will provide grants of $25,000 to $50,000 to communities to motivate first-time campers to attend overnight summer camps.The matching-grant program is part of a larger initiative by the Foundation for Jewish Camping to triple the number of Jewish campers over the next four to five years. The Foundation received an anonymous $15 million gift to create matching programs to provide incentives for campers across the country, JTA has learned. It is the largest single gift ever made for Jewish camping.In the next four to five years, the foundation and JFN would like to bring in up to $50 million to increase the size of the program, Foundation for Camping Executive Director Jerry Silverman told JTA. There are now 63,000 Jewish children attending Jewish not-for-profit overnight camps annually.