January marks the start of our 2014 Annual Campaign for the community. Funds raised through the Campaign are put to work forwarding our mission of securing a vibrant Jewish community now and into the future.
This year’s Campaign is led by Andrea Schneider, General Campaign Chair, and Sharyl Paley, Women’s Philanthropy Campaign Chair. In all, more than 100 volunteers help with one-on-one solicitations, while dozens more participate in our Super Sunday phone-a-thon, scheduled for March 2014.
Not only do volunteers take responsibility for raising the funds; they also decide how the dollars are allocated, through participation on several committees of lay leaders representing a cross-section of our community. They decide how the dollars are distributed to ten local agencies, six MJF programs and services, and three national partners serving Jews in Israel and worldwide. (See sidebar.).
“We have received a groundswell of support from volunteers throughout our community,” said Hannah Rosenthal, MJF president and CEO. “On behalf of the thousands of individuals who benefit from our Annual Campaign, I thank each one of our volunteers for both their time and their own gifts to the Campaign.”
“The theme for this year’s Campaign is, ‘No gift touches more lives,” said Rosenthal. “We want our donors to understand the impact of a single dollar. Each dollar affects literally thousands of people locally and around the globe every day.”
Sarah Kriger Hwang, a member of the MJF executive committee, said, “I give to the Annual Campaign because it supports Jewish agencies that are of personal importance to me, but also the full array of programs and services that are needed to have a strong Jewish community.”
While our mission and reach remain the same, this year’s Campaign has a major change: new timing. In the past our Annual Campaign was launched in the fall and wrapped up in the spring of the following year.
This year the 2014 Campaign will start and end in 2014 (January through April), and it will be shorter — four months instead of nine. Donors can pledge and pay in the same calendar year, accommodating donors who prefer to pay their pledges in December.
The Annual Campaign, which raised more than $6 million last year, is proof of the generosity of Milwaukee’s Jewish community. Campaign dollars are critical because they provide unrestricted funds for our agencies – dollars that they can use to meet their greatest needs. Campaign dollars are also important because they are distributed at the discretion of the community for the community.
Through the generosity of our donors, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s 2014 Annual Campaign will help us continue building a vibrant Jewish community for today and for tomorrow. Thank you so much!
A single gift to the Milwaukee Jewish Federation supports ten local agencies, six MJF programs and services, three national partners serving Jews in Israel and worldwide, and seven local community properties.
Local Partner Agencies
Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center
Hillel Foundation – UW Madison
Jewish Beginnings Lubavitch Preschool
MJF Programs and Services
Jewish Community Relations Council
Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center
Major National and Overseas Partners
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
Jewish Federations of North America
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