A strong society needs gender equality.

Empowering girls and women moves mountains. World leaders, field experts, and scholars alike agree that it’s the key to unlocking economic growth, political stability, and social transformation.

UPDATE: Click here to view this initiative's website >>

We're thrilled to announce a new matching grant initiative: Building & Strengthening the Impact Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Israel.

This initiative is a collaboration between the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation (Israel) and Jewish Funders Network.

22 projects will receive matching funds from the Breaking Barriers matching grant initiative in honor of 2016 Genesis Prize laureate Itzhak Perlman.

Matching Grant Initiatives

JFN matching grants have generated over $100 million in new funding for Jewish causes. 

About

JFN Matching Grants Initiatives are an innovative strategy to grow the base of significant funders for a given field of Jewish philanthropy. Sponsoring a matching grant initiative increases the pool of philanthropic supporters for that field.

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JFN Matching Grant Initiatives leverage the sponsor's funds to encourage new donors to make their first ever (or significantly increased) grants to a specific field by offering matching funds directly to the organization that the new donors’ funding will support. Because new donors choose the specific organization within broad funding parameters, donors who participate understand that the matching funds are indisputably new money, entirely contingent upon the gifts they decide to make. At the same time by requiring that eligible donors be making their first ever (or significantly increased) gifts, the initiatives offer the sponsoring foundation the security that their gifts are genuinely generating new funds from the individual donors.  Sponsoring a matching grant initiative is a benefit of JFN membership.  

Based on past matching grant initiatives, we have learned successful matching grant initiatives: 

• Are broad enough to allow donors to choose the organizations they feel connected to, but narrow enough to control the scope. A minimum of 50 qualified organizations is recommended. 
• Have clear parameters and defined criteria both for eligible donors and eligible organizations. 
• Have a clear story to tell
• Work in fields with enough capacity to raise and utilize the funds. Successful matching grant initiatives do not place complicated requirements on a field that does not have the capacity to implement them. 

Newest Matching Grant Initiative

Israel’s impact ecosystem — a network of enterprises that use a financially sustainable business model to address unmet social and environmental needs — is now $2 million stronger, as a result of JFN's second Matching Grant collaboration with the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation. The Edmond de Rothschild Foundation is a visionary leader in this field, working to create a local language of impact and build the infrastructure required for the Israeli ecosystem.

Congratulations to the 15 NGOs, from a variety of areas, including the Arab society, regional entrepreneurship development, impact real estate, and agricultural and food technology, that benefited from the matching grants. And thank you to the 22 generous funders who participated in this initiative, including 18 who, as a result of this initiative, made their first-ever gift to an NGO in this sector, and another four who significantly increased their gifts. Of the donors, 12 are Israeli, and 11 are new JFN members!

Past Matching Grant Initiatives

Actor Michael Douglas joined a panel on hospitality in synagogues at the 2015 URJ Biennial. He spoke of his own Jewish journey, and of the JFN matching grant initiative in his honor, Avenues to Jewish Engagement for Intermarried Couples and their Families, in honor of 2015 Genesis Prize Laureate Michael Douglas.

Seven foundations match pledges from JFN Members and build the Jewish social change movement

Seven foundations match pledges from JFN Members to pursue human rights, sustainable agriculture, and economic and social justice projects.

Funding from JFN Members Aims to Promote Jerusalem as Hub of Israeli Creative Thinking

NEW YORK, January 2, 2014 -- An artists’ project, a dance company, and an NGO that uses film to promote nonviolence among Israelis and Palestinians are among the grantees from the first round of a matching grant program devoted to furthering social and cultural programs in Jerusalem.

MATCH 4 is a matching grants program funded by the AVI CHAI and Kohelet Foundations in partnership with Jewish Funders Network (JFN) and the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE). MATCH 4 provides a 1:2 (50 cents on the dollar) match for new or significantly increased gifts to Jewish day schools. MATCH 4 grants are capped at a maximum of $50,000 per school.