Youth Philanthropy:
Build a Tzedakah & My Very Own Tzedakah
Build a Tzedakah
The Foundation administers and promotes the Build a Tzedakah (BAT) program which enables young adults to establish their own Foundation endowment fund. The Build-a-Tzedakah program allows young adults to engage in charitable giving by contributing $600 from their Bar or Bat Mitzvah gifts, with a match of $400 from a community donor. With this, the young adult now has a $1000 named charitable fund at the Jewish Foundation—they, or others, can add to the fund at anytime and in honor of special occasions—and, every December (Hannukah time), they will be given the opportunity to choose to which charity(ies) they want to make a distribution (distributions are based on the Jewish Foundation’s spending policy and must follow IRS regulations which include that they must be charitable and can only be made to US based public charities)
My Very Own Tzedakah
My Very Own Tzedakah: Powered by the Build a Tzedakah program for the youngest children. With My Very Own Tzedakah, parents, guardians, family, and friends can establish a personalized Tzedakah Fund (charitable fund) for the special child(ren) in their lives by contributing $600. An additional $400 is contributed from a generous community; your budding philanthropist’s fund will have an impressive $1,000 available.
The beauty of this program lies in its ongoing nature. Anyone, including the child, can continue to contribute to the fund at any time-be it birthdays, holidays, b’nai mitzvah, or other memorable moments. This not only fosters a sense of responsibility but also provides the opportunity for the fund to grow and make an even greater impact.
Start your child’s philanthropic journey early and watch as the seeds of compassion and generosity grow within them. It’s never too soon to inspire a lifelong commitment to giving back!
Over the past ten years, Build a Tzedakah funds have distributed over $40,000 to more than 60 organizations!
Including:
- IRIS (Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services)
- Jewish Family Service of Greater New Haven
- JCC of Greater New Haven
- Camp Ramah