Jewish Foundation Makes High-Impact Investment in Cincinnati's Jewish Community

In a dramatic show of support for the community’s central fundraising effort, The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati pledged $500,000 to the Jewish Federation’s 2012 Community Campaign—the largest single contribution ever made to the Community Campaign. In addition, in an effort to motivate increased individual giving, the Foundation will match dollar-for-dollar any new or increased portion of Campaign gifts from community members.

“Although we now have more than $70 million in requests, the Trustees wanted to make a strong statement to our community by supporting the Federation’s Community Campaign and the critical programs it funds year in and year out,” said Jewish Foundation President Michael R. Oestreicher. “We made this investment and developed the match in order to express tangibly how important we feel the Community Campaign is. We hope these actions will inspire individual donors to be as generous as possible with their gifts, to ensure that the ongoing community needs met by the Campaign have a broad base of support. This will allow the Foundation to invest additional resources in some other very important needs that are not able to be funded by the Campaign.”

The demand for critical assistance has spiked sharply since the 2008 recession.  Emergency assistance funds are being depleted, vital senior service requests are multiplying and many families cannot afford to access cultural, educational and other Jewish life opportunities. “The Federation has increased funding for these needs by 20% through program cuts in other areas, and by spending down its emergency reserve fund,” said Jewish Federation President Bret Caller. “In response, the Jewish Federation has increased its goal for the 2012 Community Campaign to $6 million, an additional $800,000 over last year's total giving and a return to the pre-recession 2008 level.   The Foundation’s contribution gives the community a real opportunity to reach this goal—provided that individual donors take full advantage of the dollar-for-dollar match and increase their own gifts.”

Bret Caller continues, “We are fortunate that the Foundation recognizes that a vibrant community—one that serves as a model for other Jewish communities around the country—cannot be sustained without a strong base of individual donors demonstrating their participation, leadership, and personal commitment to the community.”

The matching grant has already begun to inspire more individual generosity. Upon hearing of the Foundation’s commitment to the Community Campaign, long-time donor Bill Friedlander—who had been planning to contribute the same dollar amount he gave to last year’s campaign—changed his mind about this year’s gift. “This grant represents a very strong statement on the part of the Foundation—one that resonated with me,” Friedlander commented. “I chose to increase my gift by 50 percent to show my support. When matched, my total gift becomes doubled toward programs that respond to the critical needs of the community.”

The Federation and Foundation will continue coordinating complementary strategies to make Cincinnati a first-class community and Jewish destination. In the coming months, the Federation will announce additional initiatives that will advance Cincinnati 2020, a community-wide strategic planning effort, and the Foundation will launch a series of grants designed to build on this effort through the enhancement of core areas of Jewish life in Cincinnati.

Individual donations to the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati’s Community Campaign go directly to those programs that improve the lives of Jews in Cincinnati, in Israel and around the world.

To learn more about the Community Campaign and the agencies and programs it funds, subscribe to the Jewish Federation’s newsletter at www.jewishcincinnati.org.

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