Jewish Communal Fund takes great pride in our mission of facilitating our fundholders’ charitable giving. We’re celebrating our half-century of exemplary service to our fundholders and commitment to support the Jewish community that dates back to 1972, when JCF was founded.  Herbert Singer was the founding President of JCF, and served from JCF’s inception in 1972 through 1987. Together with Richard Netter, his law partner, Sanford Solender and other Federation and UJA leaders, they established the Jewish Communal Fund, a donor advised fund to serve the Jewish community of greater NY. Since its inception, JCF has been blessed with a wealth of talented and passionate leaders. Past presidents include Joel S. Ehrenkranz, Susan Lytle Lipton, Larry Zicklin, Sanford B. Ehrenkranz, Andrew H. Tisch, Harold R. Handler and David Tanner. Our diverse donor base represents every sector of the Jewish community, and our grantees are a reflection of that diversity.

Over 50 years of making charitable giving simple & efficient.

Timeline


In the early years, Jewish Communal Fund managed $4 million in assets for fewer than 200 donors and distributed $698,000 in grants. Five decades later, our tradition of prudent management, accountability and treating our donors with the utmost integrity and respect has helped us grow to 4,500 funds and $2.6 billion in assets.  Our impact has grown dramatically as well.

In over fifty years that Jewish Communal Fund has been facilitating charitable giving, over $2 billion has been contributed to thousands of worthy causes in communities around the world. Over the years, $312 million has been sent to 716 Israeli charities. In addition to distributing funds to qualified charities at the recommendation of our donors, each year Jewish Communal Fund makes a significant community gift from its fees and endowment income to the Annual Campaign of UJA-Federation to support worthy causes in the New York area. To date, $271 million has been granted to UJA-Federation of New York, and an additional $9 million has been awarded to high performing Jewish charities from JCF’s Special Gifts Fund. Some of JCF’s Special Gifts grantees include Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, Hebrew Free Loan Society, FEGS, Met Council and most of the JCCs.

In 1983, for the first time in JCF’s history, assets exceeded the $100,000,000 mark. At the start of the millennial in 2000, our growing endowment formally became the Special Gifts Fund, and it continues to be a critically important source of support for Jewish charitable organizations in the greater New York area. In 2001, JCF was honored to be named one of the nation’s four most efficient charities according to Forbes. And, in 2003, the Chronicle of Philanthropy rated JCF as the second largest grant-maker in the country and third largest in assets. JCF consistently ranks among the top 100 charities on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s “The Philanthropy 400” list of top U.S. charities.