Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey's Overseas Allocations Committee has begun reviewing applications from nonprofit organizations for Targeted Overseas Grants aimed at supporting vulnerable populations in Israel and around the world.

The grants, to be awarded by October 2023 for 2024, will focus on aid for Ukrainian and Russian families with children up to age 18 who fled their homes and came to Israel due to the current war and are in the process or have recently completed the process of making Aliyah. 

More than 40 applications were received. The review process will include deliberations based on such criteria as:  

• A program's major outcomes
  • whether short- or long-term
  • aimed at broad or narrow scope 
• Extent to which the initiative is unique/fills an unmet need
• Degree to which Federation dollars make a difference 

Eligible organizations are Israel-based nonprofits with an organizational budget of $1,500,000 or less, and with a program budget of $300,000 or less, requesting up to $20,000 per program. Organizations may apply for more than one program.

Prior to the current Ukraine war, Targeted Overseas Grants focused on programs that serve youth-at-risk, people with mental and physical disability, and seniors. In 2022, the primary focus of Federation's overseas allocations criteria for 2023 targeted grants shifted. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and resulting refugee crisis including many thousands of Jews, Targeted Overseas Grants were made to nonprofits that help Aliyah-eligible Ukrainian refugees integrate into Israeli society. 

After extensive briefings from international aid partners, the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) on the war's effect on Jews in Israel, Russia, and Ukraine, including an influx to Israel of Russian Jews escaping forced conscription and other war-related circumstances, Jewish Federation in the Heart of NJ's Overseas Allocations Committee expanded criteria for 2024 grants to include Aliyah-eligible Russians in addition to their Ukrainian brothers and sisters. 

Federation's Overseas Allocations Committee comprises eight volunteer community members, many who have traveled with Federation and other organizations on fact-finding missions to beneficiary nonprofit agencies in Israel, Eastern Europe, and beyond, and all of whom are dedicated to serving vulnerable Jews outside North America. 

To learn more, click here. To get involved, contact us. 

 

Photo: courtesy JNS