The rainy day has come in San Francisco, where the city’s federation has dipped into its Jewish Community Endowment fund to withdraw $7 million in rainy day funds to help bail out Jewish institutions in the area, according to j. The Jewish Weekly of San Francisco.
The S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and Jewish Community Endowment Fund announced the withdrawal of $7 million from unrestricted “rainy day” assets to aid local Jewish social service agencies and to develop what they call a “new model for sustainable philanthropic outreach.”
Federation CEO Daniel Sokatch announced the Jewish Community Federation–Catalyst Initiative at the federation’s annual meeting June 11 at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. Of that $7 million, $1 million in emergency grants has been disbursed to Jewish Family and Children’s Services, Jewish Vocational Service, Hebrew Free Loan Association and federation-run programs aiding synagogues and Jewish day school tuition scholarships.
“We know there’s great and growing need,” Sokatch told j. on June 9. “In frontline agencies, the need is up 100 percent. Nationally, American Jewish federations are down 20 percent in their fundraising efforts. I was talking to the head of the Detroit federation and he said there are bread lines.”
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