Ignition Grants

Reflecting the Federation Value of “Innovation”

Ignition Grants

Our Ignition Grant program reflects and supports the Federation core value of “Innovation,” providing up to $12,000 to cultivate new, pilot, and one-time projects that address the evolving needs of the Puget Sound Jewish community.

Grant applications for the Fiscal 2024 cycle are now closed. Thank you to all who applied!

Ignition Grant Recipients

2023

$7,500 – Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Pacific Northwest – Asian Jewish Initiative in Seattle
In 2022, eight Asian and Jewish organizations came together to identify areas of common interests, needs, and challenges. After months of relationship building, the groups decided to launch an Asian Jewish Initiative in Seattle with the goals of building cross-community partnerships, deepening knowledge and education, advancing civil rights and social justice, and speaking out jointly to combat hate. In addition to meeting every 6-8 weeks, in 2022 the Initiative hosted two programs designed for Asian and Jewish community leaders at the Wing Luke Museum and Temple De Hirsch Sinai to highlight Asian and Jewish culture and identity and to explore areas of common group. Attendees included legislators, clergy, and community leaders.
$1,200 – Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue – B’Nai Mitzvah Program Development
We want to revitalize the synagogue’s B’Nai Mitzvah program coming out of the pandemic. Our goal is to have a defined B’Nai Mitzvah program with a robust curriculum that can be in place through multiple cohorts of students and various teachers. Our anticipated outcome is that our B’Nai Mitzvah program will have a solid structure so that we are able to educate our synagogue youth and guide them toward the completion of a B’Nai Mitzvah ceremony. Funding was requested for purchase of teacher’s manuals and student texts for curriculum in Hebrew, Jewish Prayers, Mitzvot, and Jewish History. These manuals and texts will remain at Bet Alef for future cohorts of teachers and students to use.
$7,500 – Camp Solomon Schechter – Special Needs Family Camp Retreat
Many Jewish families with children with special needs don’t feel their children can be successful in a mainstream environment right away. We want to create a special needs retreat for these families to experience the magic of camp. This retreat will require 15-20 additional staff to provide children with MESH (mental, emotional, and social health) issues, particularly children on the autism spectrum, with behavior disorders, and with mental health challenges, and their families the unique opportunity to experience Jewish camp. This retreat would also provide parents and neurotypical siblings an opportunity to take a break and connect with others experiencing the same challenges. Outreach will be focused on unaffiliated Jews in particular.
$2,863 – Congregation Shaarei Teshuvah – Jewish Prisoner Services International
JPSI worked with the Department of Corrections to place most of the Jewish inmates at one facility to allow for greater access to religious programs. The religious items were also moved to that location. We found we have a hodgepodge of prayer books, bibles, and such. The inmates requested that JPSI provide Siddurim, Machzorim, and Tanachs that were all the same. We talked to the inmates and they voted to use the Artscroll books. The Jewish inmate community at the MCC – TRU currently stands at 21 Jewish inmates. We were able to order part of the books as we received a donation for that, but not all that are needed. By having all the inmates pray from the same book, they feel they will be much more of a community.
$7,500 – Congregation Kol Shalom – Kitsap and Olympic Peninsula Jewish Youth Group
We plan to launch a Jewish teen group for post-bar- and bat-mitzvah age Jewish youth who reside on Bainbridge Island and the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas. There is no Jewish youth group on our side of Puget Sound. Congregation Kol Shalom (CKS) operates the only formal Jewish religious education program for young people on the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas, serving students ages 6-13 from as far as Port Angeles and Kingston. We will recruit a a youth leader to initiate a Jewish teen group for our region, with specific activities to be selected and implemented with input from teens. Based on past occasional CKS teen events, we expect activities to include social action/volunteering, Jewish holiday-oriented events, music, and social events.
$7,000 – Hillel at University of Washington – Jconnect SVARA Shavuot Seminar
The goal of the Jconnect SVARA Shavuot Seminar is for participants to learn together through the SVARA mixed-level bet midrash study method. Unlike traditional Talmud study, this method recognizes the insights of those on the margins, particularly individuals from the queer community and people of color. SVARA empowers them to have a sense of ownership over Jewish texts and traditions. The Jconnect SVARA Shavuot Seminar will provide eight hours of radical Talmud study experience for 25-30 Jewish young adults who will represent a broader cross-section of the Jewish community than those who usually study Talmud together.
$5,673 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Interactive 3D Artifact Project
The objective of this project is to create interactive, three-dimensional (3D) scans of various artifacts from the Holocaust Center for Humanity’s collections, to supplement, modernize, and expand access to the stories our collections hold. The pilot deliverable will feature 11 unique artifacts from local survivors, rescuers, and resistance fighters. Hosted on the Center’s website, the online resource will allow users to interact with each artifact, and feature brief descriptions and links for a deeper dive into the object’s history. The 3D artifact viewer will be incorporated into our free educational resources for teachers, students, researchers and the public.
$7,500 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – A New Permanent Exhibit: The Ten Stages of Genocide
The objective of this project is to conceptualize, design, and install a new permanent exhibit about The Ten Stages of Genocide (coined by Dr. Gregory H. Stanton). The exhibit will explore root causes, characteristics, lessons, and consequences of global genocides past and present. This new exhibit will include not only historical context from Holocaust-Era Europe, but also Rwanda, Guatemala, Cambodia, Bosnia, Armenia, Myanmar, and Sudan. The goal of this exhibit is to empower learners with a better understanding of genocide’s nuanced and complex nature, a greater awareness of the richness of the Puget Sound’s refugee and immigrant legacies, and the confidence to identify the warning signs of genocide in time to take action.
$7,500 – Seattle NCSY – JSU on Wheels
JSU on Wheels, a project of NCSY, is a five-day trip that immerses unaffiliated or marginally active teens in Jewish learning and leadership opportunities while enjoying the backdrop of a West Coast road trip. A unique experience, 14 teens will opt to spend their mid-winter break encountering Jewish life in Los Angeles and Las Vegas and volunteering at kosher, community-run food distribution, school, and senior center. The trip acts as a microcosm for NCSY’s The Jerusalem Journey, a month-long trip to Israel. JSU on Wheels will enrich their Jewish identity and place in the Jewish world along with increasing their desire for continued engagement. Our goal is to bring back to Seattle empowered leaders and set on a path to Israel this summer.
$7,500 – Sephardic Adventure Camp – Yachad Special Needs Inclusion Program
Camp is a wonderful place where campers and staff come together in a world of connection and fun. It is a very social place absent of parents and the regular structures of power in most of the kids’ lives. For the vast majority of kids, this change is wonderful and they learn leadership, how to try new things, and make friends more organically. For some campers, this change of structure is very hard. Our special needs program is there to guarantee that no camper misses out on the camp experience by providing intake support from clinical professionals before camp and by support on shadow staff members in the bunks to provide maximum support in the most quiet way. Our ideal outcome is for every camper to have a positive experience in camp.
$7,500 – The Friendship Circle of Washington – Shorashim
Shorashim takes elementary students with and without disabilities on a deep-dive of their heritage, connecting them with core Jewish values, upon which Friendship Circle was built. Through once-monthly outings with our partners and once-monthly workshops, 4th and 5th grade students will connect with the Jewish principles that guide Friendship Circle and drive our volunteers to do such impactful things. Objectives include: serve 55 unaffiliated Jews in the first year; 100 percent of participants understand the importance of building an inclusive world; 90 percent of participants express a deeper connection to their Jewish identity; 90 percent of participants join other Friendship Circle programs.
$7,500 – URJ Camp Kalsman – Spring Fest
As we redefine how Camp Kaslman serves the Pacific Northwest Jewish communities, we are hoping to pilot a menu of new year-round programmatic opportunities. We are excited to launch Spring Fest, a day-long program that will bring together 60-80 families for engaging, meaningful, Jewish programs at camp. We hope to be able to connect with new families who might not be interested, willing, or able to join us during the summer by providing quality content for a weekend family event. Twenty-two percent of our first-time campers last year first heard of Camp Kalsman at an Open House. These short-term opportunities encourage participants to return to camp in the future.
$7,500 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Jewish Family Memory Vault
Jewish Family Memory Vault: A private/public portal built into the new WSJHS archival platform. The portal allows community members to scan and store their own family photos, documents, and videos. The program will be piloted with families in 2023 who will have the option to make relevant information publicly available and will aid in the curation of future digital exhibitions/programming. The organization and physical storage of photos/resources from families who have heirlooms and historical documentation dispersed is critical, as these items are truly at risk of loss or damage. Many photos only have one copy (old negative), and treasures span multiple generations and are at risk of not being recorded as to who, what, why, when, and where until too late.

2022

$1,250 – Camp Solomon Schechter – Connecting
$7,500 – Congregation Beth Shalom – Becoming a Synagogue Where Every Jew Finds Belonging
$7,200 – Congregation Beth Shalom – Shmita Year 5782
$5,000 – Dreamcoat Initiative – “Jewish &” Speaker Series
$2,000 – Dreamcoat Initiative – What’s on Your Plate?
$7,500 – Friendship Circle Of Washington – U-First
$7,500 – Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation – The Shalom Project
$7,500 – Holocaust Center For Humanity – DEI Inreach & Implementation Plan Project
$7,200 – Holocaust Center For Humanity – Message Refresh Project
$7,500 – Jewish Family Service – Identification And Outreach To The King County Jewish Community Of Color
$7,200 – Jewish Family Service – Intergenerational Cooking Classes For Russian-Speaking Jewish Families In King County
$4,900 – Kadima – Supplemental BIPOC Liturgy
$2,100 – Seattle Jewish Community School – Bo’u Nilmad V’n’daber/Come, Let’s Learn And Talk /באו נלמד ונדבר
$5,000 – Seattle Sephardic Network – I Want More Than Borekas: The Future Of The Seattle Sephardic Community
$5,000 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – True Colors By The Braid
$7,500 – Temple B’nai Torah – We Once Were Strangers; Learning To Fight For Racial Equity
$7,500 – Trybal Gatherings – Trybal Gatherings Seattle Pilot
$7,500 – UW Foundation, Sephardic Studies Program – The Ladino Bookshelf
$7,500 – URJ Camp Kalsman – Family Camp
$2,500 – West Coast NCSY – JSU Leadership Institute

2021

$6,750 – Camp Solomon Schechter – Family Camp Expansion
$7,000 – Congregation Beth Shalom – Building Beth Shalom’s Leadership of Color
$7,500 – Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Light – Jewish Greening Congregations for Shmita and Beyond
$6,750 – Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation – Chicken Soup for the Quarantined Soul
$7,000 – Hillel UW/Jconnect Seattle – J-Author Series
$5,000 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Dear Erich – International Holocaust Remembrance Day
$3,200 – Jewish Family Service – Secondary Trauma and Clinical Support for Staff During COVID-19
$4,020 – Jewish Family Service – Staying Connected – Client Technology Support
$6,500 – Seattle Hebrew Academy – SHA Art to Action
$6,000 – Seattle Sephardic Network – Podcast: Ladino Refrains – Idioms, Insults, and Dirty Words
$2,030 – Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation– Café Finjan: Sephardic Music Series
$7,500 – Stroum Center for Jewish Studies – Mashallah! Jews in Arab Lands
$6,750 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – Mitzvah Corps
$7,500 – Temple Beth Am – Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Temple Beth Am Youth Learning
$4,500 – Temple B’nai Torah – Badge Education Program
$6,750 – Temple B’nai Torah – Outdoor Adventure Camp
$7,500 – The Friendship Circle of Washington – Holiday Outside the Box
$7,500 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Teen Historian Program

2020

$4,000 – Bet Chaverim Community Synagogue of South King County – Yom Ha’atzmaut Concert
$7,500 – Camp Solomon Schechter – CSS Discovery Lab
$7,500 – Friendship Circle of Washington – Mom’s Special Day of Rest
$7,500 – Healing the Divide (formally Straight Talk) – Othering Study
$7,500 – Hebrew Free Loan Association of Washington State – College Loan Program
$2,500 – Hebrew Free Loan Association of Washington State – Women & Children’s Fund
$2,500 – Hillel UW – Jconnect Seattle
$7,500 – Hillel UW: Student Leadership Board – One Big Thing
$5,000 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Ambassadors for Change
$2,500 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Written Resistance
$7,500 – Jewish Family Service – Uniper Care Technologies
$3,775 – Minyan Ohr Chadash – Synagogue Melodies
$7,500 – OneTable – Nosh:Shabbat
$6,000 – Sephardic Adventure Camp – Sephardic Heritage Education
$7,500 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – Tot Shabbat
$7,500 – Tales of the Alchemysts Theatre – The Ruins of Memory
$7,500 – Temple B’nai Torah – Group Therapy
$2,500 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Hear O’Washington
$5,000 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Oral History

2019

$4,000 – ADL Pacific Northwest – Straight Talk: Seattle Jewish Center for Conflict Resolution
$7,500 – Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath – Cemetery Security
$6,000 – Camp Solomon Schechter – CSS Jewish Culinary Program
$5,500 – Friendship Circle of Washington – Sensory Holiday Program
$5,000 – Hebrew Free Loan Association of Washington State – Angel Guarantor Program
$6,000 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – “Stories Among Us” Traveling Exhibit Banners
$7,500 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Confronting Antisemitism and Intolerance: A Program for the Community
$4,000 – Jewish Family Service – Improving Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in the Seattle Safety Net
$6,000 – Jewish Family Service – Older Adult Services GoGoGrandparent Transportation Pilot
$4,500 – Kavana – End of Life & Advance Care Planning in Seattle’s Jewish Community: A Pilot
$4,500 – Kol HaNeshamah – Amanut L’Dor V’Dor
$6,000 – Northwest Yeshiva High School – Kibbutz HaTzafon Sustainability Seminar
$4,500 – Panim Hadashot-New Faces– Home Shabbat Animators Initiative
$5,500 – Sephardic Adventure Camp – Sephardic NextGen Project
$7,500 – Stroum Center for Jewish Studies – Jewish Questions – Confronting Antisemitism in the United States
$4,000 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – SJCC Early Childhood School – Hebrew/English Bilingual program
$4,000 – Temple Beth El – Interfaith Youth Corps
$7,500 – Temple De Hirsch Sinai – “Exodus: The Party!” Passover Experience for Young Adults
$7,500 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Digital Museum Template Development
$2,500 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Development of Digitization for Jewish Sephardic Seattle Tour

2018

$7,500 – Camp Solomon Schechter – Bachutz haGan (Outside the Garden Project)
$7,500 – StandWithUs Northwest – A Weekend of Advocacy: College Students Standing for Israel
$2,500 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Customized Trunks for Jewish Students
$6,000 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Yom Hashoah Outreach Project
$6,000 – Temple Beth Am – Mimouna: A Muslim and Jewish Interfaith Celebration
$7,500 – Hillel of Western Washington University – Northwest Regional Hillel Retreat
$2,500 – Jewish Graduate Student Initiative – JGSI Seattle Expansion Project
$4,500 – Kavana Cooperative – Immersive Spirituality at Kavana
$7,500 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – B’Yachad
$2,500 – Jewish Family Service – Project DVORA: Trauma-Informed Therapy for Children
$7,500 – Jewish Family Service – Project DVORA: Legal Services for Survivors of Domestic Violence
$4,000 – Temple Beth El – Pierce County Interfaith Choral Festival: “Getting to Know You”
$2,500 – Jewish Prisoner Services International – The Jewish Calendar Correspondence Course
$2,500 – Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath – L’Chaim: To Life After Cancer

2017

$5,000 – The Friendship Circle of Washington State – Pre Holiday Workshop
$5,000 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Legacy Speakers Project
$5,000 – Jewish Family Service – Project DVORA: Mobile Advocacy for Survivors of Domestic Violence
$5,000 – Kol HaNeshamah – Special Education Resources
$5,000 – Panim Hadashot – Embracing New Faces
$5,000 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – Artists4Israel
$5,000 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – “Israel Story Live: Herzl 48”
$5,000 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Bringing Jewish History to Community
$3,400 – Hillel at the University of Washington – Re’jew’vination
$2,850 – Hebrew Free Loan Association – Marketing and Outreach
$2,500 – Camp Gan Israel Seattle – CGIS School Break Winter Fun Camp
$2,500 – Camp Solomon Schechter – Jewish Educator Day of Learning
$2,500 – Limmud – Taste of Limmud Mini-Events
$2,500 – Temple Beth El – LGBTQ Inclusion
$2,500 – Temple De Hirsch Sinai – Lunch & Learn
$1,500 – Mercaz Seattle – Women’s Tefillah Group and Learning Circle

To learn more, contact:

Emilia Picklesimer | Foundation Operations Specialist | emiliap@jewishinseattle.org | 206.774.2218

Ignition Grants

Reflecting the Federation Value of “Innovation”

Ignition Grants

Ignition Grant Recipients

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