Sophisticated Giving Spotlight: Jewish Federation of St. Louis
Sophisticated Details: We are the funder, the communicator, and the convener. Celebrating our 120th year of serving the St. Louis area, the Jewish Federation of St. Louis is the Jewish community’s central philanthropic, planning, and community-building organization. Yearly, Federation works with our volunteer and professional community leadership to assess the needs of our community and establish strategic plans to sustain our vibrant Jewish ecosystem. Through our partnerships with thousands of donors, we then raise the funds to meet those needs. Our professional team, working with volunteers, led a community investment process, followed by a staff evaluation of those investments, to ensure we fulfill our strategic commitment to build a vibrant Jewish community here in St. Louis, in Israel, and wherever there is a need.
Sophisticated Goals: COVID reinforced the crucial role Federation plays in the Jewish Community. We raised nearly $1 million in COVID relief funds. Because we had an existing infrastructure to assess needs, we were able to quickly determine where to put those dollars to best use. Meanwhile, our core work has continued, supporting and bolstering more than 80 organizations and programs in the St. Louis area. Highlights have included creating a new Center for Legacy Giving, investing in a new collaborative initiative for all 10 early childhood programs in the community, and recently obtaining nearly $500,000 in security grants for ourselves as well as five other organizations.
Sophisticated Connections: With the funds raised through the Jewish Federation of St. Louis’ Annual Campaign and through other funding opportunities, we are able to:
1. Ensure the Jewish identity and engagement of future generations through our Community Leadership and Engagement department with programs like PJ Library and the Israel Center and leadership development through JProStl and other initiatives.
2. Create a vibrant, embracing, local Jewish community that will help retain and attract young adults and families with young children.
3. Educate and advocate for a strong Israel and safe Jewish world.
4. Build a human services safety net to identify, monitor, and care for the most vulnerable and isolated Jews.
5. Recruit, train, and develop exceptional human resources.
6. Strengthen and optimize the community’s infrastructure to meet present and future realities and challenges. Sophisticated Giving: Federation volunteers represent the community’s wide variety of interests, ages, and viewpoints. Donating time and talents, volunteers serve on boards and committees where they work with professional staff to raise funds, examine needs, get our message out, and plan for the community’s future.
Sophisticated Giving: The Annual Campaign, the Jewish community’s largest fundraising effort, supports high-quality agencies, programs, and services that sustain our community’s vision of a thriving, vibrant, and engaged Jewish community. With a wide variety of affinity groups, we also cover diverse opportunities:
• Young Professionals Division (YPD), for men and women in their 20s and 30s;
• Women’s Philanthropy, for women of all ages, backgrounds, interests, lifestyles, and income levels; and
• The Professional Society – with divisions for Business and Real Estate, Financial Services, Legal, and Health Care – offers professionals a host of opportunities to come together with other like-minded community members and philanthropists.