Jewish Federation Receives Over $13 Million in Funding Requests

As a testament to the needs of our Jewish community, the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle announced that it received over $13 million in requests through the first round of submissions for funding through the 2012 Community Campaign.

"We were gratified by the outstanding response to our call for proposals. We received over 200 Letters of Intent (LOI) from more than 60 organizations -- 55% of whom have never before received an allocation from the Federation's community campaign," said Jack Almo, Chair of the Planning and Allocations Committee. "The creativity and cooperation among organizations demonstrates to us that our Jewish community is thriving and has a vibrant, future."

In order to review all of the proposals in a meaningful manner, volunteer workgroups from a diverse cross-section of the community were created for each of the impact areas. They read and prioritized each of the LOIs within their area. The workgroups made very difficult choices as to which proposals they felt were most aligned with the priorities and goals within their impact area. We hope the community will respond with increased donations to this year's campaign, so that we are able to fund as many of these excellent programs as possible.

Submissions were received in every one of the newly defined Community Impact Areas and Community Priorities. "The breadth of the proposals speaks well about our many Jewish organizations, and their dedication to meeting the diverse needs of our community," noted Almo. "With the introduction this year of our new philanthropic model that allows donors to designate their giving to specific areas of impact and community priorities, it was satisfying to see that each of the defined areas has one or more organizations working on meeting our community needs."

"We know how much effort went into preparing the LOIs and we appreciate the work that went into every submission," said Amy Wasser-Simpson, Vice President of Planning and Allocations. "The caliber of programs taking place in our community -- and those that organizations wish to start -- will move our community forward in meaningful ways and are testament to the strength of our Jewish community. Together, we can only go from strength to strength."

All organizations have received notification about the status of their LOIs. Final Request For Funding submissions for the 2012 campaign year are due February 7, and announcements of the final allocations will take place in late spring.