UJA-Federation of NY Announces $50m Day School Challenge Fund

UJA-Federation of New York has announced the establishment of its $50 million Day School Challenge Fund, which will begin to enroll schools in September 2014. The fund will be the source for 1:3 matching grants for new endowment funds raised by participating schools, positioning schools to raise an aggregate $150 million. Once complete, the $200 million in new endowment funds will provide a predictable revenue stream for schools to subsidize tuition and invest in educational excellence.

This is the first-ever New York-area effort of its kind and covers Jewish schools in the five boroughs, Long Island and Westchester – a region that contains sixty percent of day school students in the nation. UJA-Federation of New York has led in the creation of the Day School Challenge Fund along with contributions from The AVI CHAI Foundation, the Jim Joseph Foundation and individual vanguard donors.

Schools can begin enrolling in the Day School Challenge Fund in September 2014. The fund is targeted at providing tuition relief and building academic excellence. The contribution from the Jim Joseph Foundation will be used exclusively to address tuition subsidies and affordability. Schools have approximately three years to raise matching funds and UJA-Federation will provide assistance in helping them do so.

The matching funds will be available in annual distributions to day schools that raise a minimum of $100,000 in new endowment funds. Full eligibility requirements are available at www.ujafedny.org/day-school-challenge.

The fund is comprised of donations from UJA-Federation of New York ($20 million from its endowment); the Jim Joseph Foundation ($10 million); The AVI CHAI Foundation ($10 million) and individual philanthropists ($10 million), including Giti and Jack Bendheim, Alisa and Dan Doctoroff, Tamar and Eric Goldstein, The Gottesman Fund, George Klein, and Pamela and George Rohr.