Coronavirus Resource Hub

Last updated: April 20

VISIT THE NEW-AND-IMPROVED JFN RESOURCE HUB HERE.

Starting on April 20, this page will no longer be updated. Instead, please visit our new-and-improved Resource Hub and Needs & Responses pages.

For Funders & Nonprofits

For Educators & Parents

CARES Act & Other U.S. Government Resources 

General 

Reports from the Field

Upcoming Webinars

Recorded Webinars 

News from Funders

 

 

Resources for Funders

  • News and Resources from JFN-Israel: Includes information about needs and funder projects in Israel, schedule of upcoming events, as well as recordings of webinars about specific funding needs and sectors. Please note that many of these materials are in English, and that the JFN-Israel staff is available for phone/Zoom consultations with all JFN members to discuss their giving in Israel.

 

Resources for Nonprofits

 

CARES Act and Other Relevant Legislation

Resources for Educators & Parents

 

General

Reports from the Field

 

North America

 

 

 

  • How Jewish Family Service is Responding (Seattle): CEO Will Berkovitz on building and using a crisis response team, figuring out how best to keep serving clients, making decisions during a crisis, and operating while conditions are changing rapidly. (Via the Bridgespan Group. Links on this page to other reports from the field, as well.)

 

  • The Jewish Federation of San Diego County, Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego and Leichtag Foundation have partnered to establish the San Diego Jewish Community COVID-19 Emergency Fund. The accelerating scale of COVID-19 calls for a coordinated, streamlined response to support those who are most vulnerable and impacted primarily in San Diego’s Jewish community. A consortium of initial funders have already contributed more than $1.6 million to launch this Fund. This urgent effort will gather information about community needs and immediately allocate funds, employing effective processes that proved successful in prior crises. Accepting donations here. (Added 3/24)

 

  • Charitable Food Resource Guide During COVID-19 (Mazon): General resources and state-by-state resources. "As the coronavirus spreads, MAZON is carefully monitoring the situation, coordinating with our grantee partners and other colleagues across the country, gathering the latest information, and advocating at the federal and state level for swift and effective action to expand access to food assistance for those affected. While we recognize that all states and communities will be impacted, MAZON is committed to listening for and lifting up the needs and concerns of those places where we expect to see a disproportionate impact, including in the most food-insecure states as well as those states already reporting large numbers of coronavirus cases. Over the coming days and weeks, we will act as an information clearinghouse for the most-up-to date information from these states as we work to ensure essential services, government benefits and food assistance are available to all who need them." (Added 3/25)

 

  • The Jewish Food Society and The Paul E. Singer Foundation are "working with more than a dozen restaurants, including Russ & Daughters, Miznon and Taim Falafel, to provide meals to hospital workers around the city," teaming up with Feed the Frontlines NYC. "The first 50,000 meals are being covered by The Paul E. Singer Foundation, and [the Jewish Food Society] is fundraising to allow the work to continue and expand." (Jewish Insider, April 8)

 

  • Massachusetts First Lady Lauren Baker and JFN member the One8 Foundation are teaming up with philanthropists, business leaders, Eastern Bank, The Boston Foundation, and the Foundation for Business Equity to launch the Massachusetts COVID-19 Relief Fund to support those across the state most impacted by this health crisis. The Fund will work in concert with regional non-profit leaders, community foundations, leaders on the ground and at the state level to understand the response and relief landscape locally and statewide to strategically fill in where gaps are pronounced. The mission is to ensure essential needs are understood in real time and provide resources for interventions that are effective and impactful. ($17.3 million raised as of April 13)

 

 

 

Israel

  • News and Resources from JFN-Israel: Includes information about needs and funder projects in Israel, schedule of upcoming events, as well as recordings of webinars about specific funding needs and sectors. Please note that many of these materials are in English, and that the JFN-Israel staff is available for phone/Zoom consultations with all JFN members to discuss their giving in Israel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International

Upcoming Online Events and Webinars

Monday, April 20

  • Yom HaShoah Briefing and Commemoration (JFN), 12-1:15 p.m. Eastern: Join JFN's CEO and President, Andres Spokoiny, Seed the Dream Foundation, and KAVOD SHEF Funding Partners for a special briefing and Yom HaShoah commemoration. It is not too late for us to come together and talk about some of the ways that we, as a funding community can amplify our efforts to work together to address poverty among Holocaust survivors. We will commemorate Yom HaShoah with a special session on the “new shapes of memory,” including Pinchas Gutter, Holocaust Survivor, and Stephen D. Smith, PhD, of the USC Shoah Foundation. Registration required.

Wednesday, April 22

  • Virtual Safeguards for Jewish-Youth Organizations (Sacred Spaces), 1 p.m., Eastern: Due to extraordinary public health circumstances, youth-serving organizations are quickly moving their operations and programming online. Sacred Spaces recognizes the enormous demands on organizations during this difficult time. It is a period of transition, adaptation, and learning. Join Shira Berkovits, President and CEO of Sacred Spaces, for a webinar and Q&A on safeguarding children and teens in online environments. This webinar is intended for those working in youth-serving organizations who are responsible for overseeing online communication and programming or those who are directly communicating with youth and parents on behalf of the organization. Registration required.

 

  • Virtual Conversation: (Jewish) Journalism in (the Coronavirus) Crisis (JFN & The Forward), 2 p.m., Eastern. Never has independent, empathetic reporting on our communities been more important. And yet: Jewish and other news organizations are cutting salaries, cutting staff — even closing, as the pandemic intensifies the challenges the industry was already grappling with. As we think about “saving” nonprofits like JCCs, camps and cultural institutions, what is the role of philanthropy in supporting media? Join Jodi Rudoren, editor-in-chief of The Forward, and AndrĂ©s Spokoiny, president and CEO of the Jewish Funders Network, for a conversation about the future of community news with Ben Smith, media columnist for The New York Times (and former Forward intern); Sue Fishkoff, longtime editor of San Francisco’s J Weekly; and Prof. Jonathan Sarna of Brandeis University. RSVP here

Thursday, April 23

  • Briefing: Support for Israeli Nonprofits During COVID-19 (JFN), 12 p.m. Eastern: Please join us for an important briefing on how nonprofits in Israel are being impacted by COVID-19 and what interventions are being created to help. We will hear about the Emergency Fund for Nonprofits a joint project of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the nonprofit lender Ogen, formerly known as the Israel Free Loan Association. We will also learn how impact investing can help Israeli entities at this time. Moderator:AndrĂ©s Spokoiny (JFN); Speakers: Misha Galperin (Philanthropic Advisor); Amira Ahranovich (Jewish Agency); Sagi Balasha (OGEN); Beth Sirull (Jewish Community Foundation); Ruth Salzman (Russell Berrie Foundation)

 

 

Recorded Webinars

COVID-19 and the Israeli Tech Ecosystem (JFN Webinar, April 7)

Jewish Day Schools and COVID-19 (JFN Webinar, April 6)

Women in Israel During COVID-19 (JFN Webinar, April 6)

Asylum Seekers in Israel During COVID-19 (JFN Webinar, April 5)

Jewish Arts and Artists in a Time of COVID-19 (JFN Webinar from April 2)

Supporting Vulnerable Populations During COVID-19 (JFN Webinar from March 30)

JFN 2020 Virtual Convening Videos (March 23-24)

Coronavirus and the Jewish Community: Responses from the Field (JFN webinar from March 18)

Post-Election Scenarios in Israel and How Coronavirus Changes Things (JFN webinar from March 17)

 

News from Funders

 

  • The Azrieli Foundation approved an emergency fund on March 18, earmarking $2 million to be directed to immediate needs in Canada, and NIS 10M to needs in Israel. Priority areas include serving the elderly and Holocaust survivors (particularly for food and basic needs), the educational and psychosocial needs of at-risk youth and special-needs learners, services for individuals with disabilities.

 

  • The Jewish Federation of San Diego County, Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego and Leichtag Foundation have partnered to establish the San Diego Jewish Community COVID-19 Emergency Fund. The accelerating scale of COVID-19 calls for a coordinated, streamlined response to support those who are most vulnerable and impacted primarily in San Diego’s Jewish community. A consortium of initial funders have already contributed more than $1.6 million to launch this Fund. This urgent effort will gather information about community needs and immediately allocate funds, employing effective processes that proved successful in prior crises. (Added 3/24)

 

 

 

  • The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation on March 27 announced $4 million in emergency grants (Phase 1) in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Grants include $250,000 to nonprofits in Israel and more than $450,000 to Jewish social service agencies in New York, Baltimore, Chicago, San Francisco and other parts of the United States. Full list of grants here.

 

 

  • Over $1.5 Million in COVID-19 Rapid-Response Grants Released by Rose Community Foundation (April 7): The foundation awarded over 120 grants totaling $1,566,754. The grants were directed to nonprofit organizations and government agencies on the front lines of COVID-19 prevention, containment and response and are specifically aimed at supporting the Greater Denver region’s most vulnerable and impacted populations. This collection of grants – focused primarily on prevention, containment and emergency response to the basic need impacts of COVID-19 on vulnerable populations – represents the first of three anticipated COVID-19 grantmaking phases. Future grantmaking will develop to meet evolving community needs and will likely address impact mitigation and, eventually, recovery and stabilization efforts. On April 2, the Foundation explained its three-phased plan for funding, which it believes can serve as a model for other Jewish funders during the coronavirus crisis, in this April 2 eJewishPhilanthropy article.

 

 

  • The Claims Conference has established a Holocaust survivor COVID-19 emergency assistance fund, with $4.3 million in initial funds, to help address urgent needs worldwide during the coronavirus pandemic. It also announced it will be providing significant advances of nearly $300 million of the over $600 million in previously committed funds to agencies and relaxing reporting deadlines in an effort to mitigate any funding issues. The emergency fund, which includes $100,000 from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and €200,000 from the Alfred Landecker Foundation, will reinforce an array of services already in place, including delivering meals and medicine, assisting survivors with rent and utility payments, supporting short-term sheltering for Holocaust survivors, and expanding virtual/telephonic socialization programs and volunteer programs to help alleviate isolation and loneliness through secure methods. It also seeks to ensure that survivors can be cared for safely, by providing funding for personal protective equipment (such as masks, gowns, gloves, etc.) and sanitizing agents. (Added 4/8)

 

  • The Jewish Food Society and The Paul E. Singer Foundation are "working with more than a dozen restaurants, including Russ & Daughters, Miznon and Taim Falafel, to provide meals to hospital workers around the city," teaming up with Feed the Frontlines NYC. "The first 50,000 meals are being covered by The Paul E. Singer Foundation, and [the Jewish Food Society] is fundraising to allow the work to continue and expand." (Jewish Insider, April 8)

 

  • The Ruderman Foundation has made several emergency grants in response to the COVID-19 crisis: $100,000  to Massachusetts General Hospital to support the mental health and wellbeing of doctors, nurses and medical personnel responding to the Covid-19 crisis; $50,000 to Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston for responding to needs of the community; $40,000 to public television in Israel (Kan) to develop programming for people with disabilities who are isolated as a result of the crisis; and $10,000 to the Boston Police Department to support the mental health and wellbeing of police officers responding to the crisis. (Added 4/8)
  • Massachusetts First Lady Lauren Baker and JFN member the One8 Foundation are teaming up with philanthropists, business leaders, Eastern Bank, The Boston Foundation, and the Foundation for Business Equity to launch the Massachusetts COVID-19 Relief Fund to support those across the state most impacted by this health crisis. The Fund will work in concert with regional non-profit leaders, community foundations, leaders on the ground and at the state level to understand the response and relief landscape locally and statewide to strategically fill in where gaps are pronounced. The mission is to ensure essential needs are understood in real time and provide resources for interventions that are effective and impactful. ($17.3 million raised as of April 13)
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