Jewish Federations of North America

The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), formerly the United Jewish Communities (UJC),^[5] is an American Jewish umbrella organization for the Jewish Federations system, representing over 350 independent Jewish communities across North America that raise and distribute over $2 billion annually, including through planned giving and endowment programs, to support social welfare, social services and educational needs. Jewish Federations also provides fundraising, organization assistance, training, and overall leadership to the Jewish Federations and communities throughout the United States and Canada. The Federation movement protects and enhances the well-being of Jews worldwide through the values of tikkun olam, tzedakah and Torah.^{[citation needed]}

Jewish Federations
of North America

Abbreviation	JFNA
Formation	January 31, 1935; 90 years ago (1935-01-31)[1]
Tax ID no.	13-1624240
Legal status	501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
Headquarters	New York City
Region	North America
President and CEO	Eric D. Fingerhut[2]
Subsidiaries	United Israel Appeal Inc.[3] JFBP LLC[3]
Revenue	$279 million[4] (2023)
Expenses	$283 million (2023)
Website	jewishfederations.org
Formerly called	United Jewish Appeal[1] United Jewish Communities[1]

JFNA was formed from the merger of the United Jewish Appeal (UJA), Council of Jewish Federations, and the United Israel Appeal. The organization hosts an annual General Assembly event for the broad North American Jewish community.^[6]

History

Council of Jewish Federations

The original umbrella organization for the federations was the National Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds formed in 1932.^[7][8] "National" was dropped from the name in 1935 and "Welfare Funds" was removed in 1979.^[7]

United Jewish Appeal

United Jewish Appeal

Abbreviation	UJA
Formation	January 1939 (1939-01)
Founder	Arthur Loewengart.[9]
Type	Non-Profit organization
Headquarters	New York City, U.S.
Website	www.uja.org

Israeli postal stamp, 1962

The United Jewish Appeal (UJA) was a Jewish philanthropic umbrella organization that existed from its creation in 1939 until it was folded into the current organization. In January 1939, the United Jewish Appeal for Refugees and Overseas Needs was established, combining the efforts of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, led by Rabbi Jonah Wise; the United Israel Appeal, led by Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver; and the National Coordinating Committee Fund led by William Rosenwald. The three founders emphasized that the funds needed to support Jews in Europe and Israel would be triple to quadruple the amount raised in the previous year. While the organizations would raise funds together, the Joint Distribution Committee would assist Jews in Europe, the United Israel Appeal would aid the Jewish community in Israel, including refugees from Europe arriving there and the National Coordinating Committee Fund would assist refugees arriving in the United States.^[10]

United Jewish Communities

In 1999, the UJA merged with the Council of Jewish Federations and United Israel Appeal, Inc. to form a combined entity that would be called the United Jewish Communities. While the organizations had been raising more than $1 billion annually, they had faced concerns that the individual organizations were not as relevant as during the Holocaust and the creation of the State of Israel, with many major donors seeking to direct their philanthropy through their own foundations rather than through the umbrella organizations. The balance of power would shift to the federations, which would select about two-thirds of the 120 members on the board of trustees of the new organization. Businessman and philanthropist Charles Bronfman was chosen as the volunteer chairman of the combined entity, responsible for planning the group's strategic direction.^[11]

Jewish Federations of North America

Delegation of Jewish Federations of North America in Beit HaNassi, Israel. In the background is an Israeli volcanic ash artwork.

In October 2009, the UJC was renamed the Jewish Federations of North America.^[12]

After the 2009 launch of the new logo for The Jewish Federations of North America, increasing numbers of local Federations are switching to some variant of that logo. An example is the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.^[13]

After a couple of years of lower staff layoffs in February 2010, new CEO Jerry Silverman laid off three senior vice presidents that made an estimated $750,000 to $1 million combined.^[14] JFNA declined to run the decennial National Jewish Population Survey in 2010 due to re-prioritizing.^[15]

In 2021, it announced the $54 million LiveSecure campaign, which it described as the largest campaign to secure North America's Jewish communities in history.^[16][17]

The aftermath of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in 2018 included arguably the most ambitious and comprehensive effort, led by JFNA, ever taken to protect Jewish life in the United States, according to the New York Times. In addition to bringing in $100 million in federal grants through the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NGSP), JFNA raised $62 million to secure every Jewish community in North America, overseen by the JFNA's Secure Community Network. By 2023, 93 Jewish federations had full-time security directors, a more than four-fold increase over the previous 5 years.^[18]

In 2022, the JFNA pressured the Jewish Council for Public Affairs to fold their organization into a larger organization and mute its progressive politics or to break away and lose funding from dozens of Jewish federations across the United States. The organization refused to mute or repudiate their progressive politics, choosing independence and losing their ability to speak for 16 Jewish national organizations and 125 Jewish "community relations councils", almost all of which are part of local federations.^[19]

After the October 7 attacks, JFNA launched the largest emergency campaign in its history, raising $908 million for Israel, with JFNA allocating $235 million. The largest share of donations went to the Jewish Agency, the Joint Distribution Committee, and non-profits in the Gaza Envelope.^[20][21]

At JFNA's 2025 annual conference, CEO Eric Fingerhut said the organization's top two priorities were facilitating the sale of Tiktok from Chinese ownership to Larry Ellison and countering the influence of the National Education Association. According to The Forward, a common refrain at the conference was a greater emphasis on "Jewish education, Zionist identity, and Torah learning", according to Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.^[22] Clips from the conference went viral, including a clip where The Free Press journalist Olivia Reingold argued that portrayals of Palestinian children starving due to the Gaza Strip famine were misleading due to them having pre-existing conditions and remarks by Sarah Hurwitz where she argued that Holocaust education was incorrectly teaching people to "fight the big, powerful people hurting the weak people".^[23]

Positions

During the Gaza war, JFNA and other major American Jewish groups such as the ADL and AJC announced it opposed the reestablishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza.^[24]

Activities

National Jewish Population Survey

JFNA administered the National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS), a decennial census of the Jewish community in the United States. The 1990 survey indicated that the intermarriage rate was 52 percent, a claim questioned by demographers. The 2000-2001 edition of the NJPS used a different survey method, cost $6 million, and the data was lost. JFNA did not fund the 2010 survey due to re-prioritizing given decreased revenue given its limited direct benefits to local federations.^[15]

JFNA helps direct hundreds of millions of dollars annually for Jewish programming and organizes an annual conference that is one of the largest gatherings of Jewish professionals in the world.^[22]

Jewish DataBank

In 1986, CJF established the North American Jewish Data Bank in conjunction with City University of New York's Center for Jewish Studies.^[25] The Databank's purpose is to serve as a repository and to standardize research methods for academic studies and surveys about Jewish community. In 2004, the Databank moved to the University of Connecticut under the direction of scholar Arnold Dashefsky.^[26]

Cultural allusions

In the Woody Allen film Bananas, the dictatorial president of the fictional country of San Marcos accidentally calls upon the UJA, instead of the CIA, to help prevent a coup. The result is that as fighting swirls in the streets around him, at least one rabbi can be seen soliciting donations from combat troops.