• Home
  • About
    • About
    • Policies
  • Submissions
    • Op-eds
    • News / Announcements
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

eJewish Philanthropy

Your Jewish Philanthropy Resource

  • News Bits
  • Jewish Education
  • Readers Forum
  • Research
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / The American Jewish Scene / JData: a Powerful New Tool for Educational Organizations

JData: a Powerful New Tool for Educational Organizations

October 8, 2010 By eJP

JData.com, a groundbreaking online database that promises to revolutionize data management and sharing for Jewish communities and their education organizations, today launches its 2010-2011 national outreach, calling on Jewish camps, schools, and early childhood centers to enter their organization’s data into the site.

Conceived and funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation and developed by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, JData.com is partnering nationwide with Jewish federations and local and national agencies to offer unprecedented high-quality, reliable and practical information to the world of Jewish education.

JData’s mission is to strengthen the Jewish education sector by making available high-quality data that support fact-based decision-making in four key ways:

  • helping local Jewish educational organizations improve their planning and increase their grant activities;
  • helping Jewish federations and central agencies manage allocations and grant making more efficiently;
  • adding to the national agencies’ capacity to support the growth and development of their member organizations;
  • and supporting the efforts of advocates and researchers to advance knowledge and stimulate action in the field of Jewish education.

“JData is a much-needed source of information in Jewish education,” according to Professor Amy Sales, associate director of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies. “It answers research and planning questions for educational organizations, community agencies, funders, researchers, consultants, and community members. A few simple clicks gives them clear, concise information on key indicators related to Jewish educational organizations.”

“A school or camp’s part is to put their organization’s data into JData.com,” continued Sales. “They then can generate reports for planning, recruitment, communications, and fundraising – all at no cost to them.”

Participating organizations also put in information about program expertise and innovation. Users of the website can search for organizations doing work of  particular interest to them, whether in teen programming, family education, special needs, professional development or other areas of practice.

JData is organized by type of organization, ranging from part-time and day schools to summer camps to campus organizations. Each organization’s data are completely confidential, but aggregated, anonymous information is available to all users. Organizations can use JData to benchmark their tuition, enrollment, and other key indicators against those of similar programs.

JData is also organized by community so that Jewish communal leaders can use it to draw a picture of Jewish education in their community and to assist their local agencies in planning, developing, and promoting their programs. JData is a longitudinal tool that over time will provide trend data. Some communities and national agencies are adding special summary reports, professional network meetings, as well as use of JData profile for funding requests.

“Communities and national umbrella agencies that are using JData as a ‘common app’ can replace their myriad requests for information with a single JData request,” added Sales. For example, the Foundation for Jewish Camp recently announced that they will use JData for their annual camp census.

JData.com was conceived in a collaboration between the Jim Joseph Foundation and Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies. In 2006 the Foundation’s board engaged the Cohen Center to “map” the field of Jewish education, a project that led to a prototype database. Seeing its potential to display the world of Jewish education not only to funders but also to practitioners and researchers, the foundation decided to invest in what would become one of its signature projects.

Since 2009, JData has been working with local Jewish federations and central agencies for Jewish education to gather data from all Jewish educational organizations within their catchment areas. JData is currently active in communities throughout North America including Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Northern New Jersey, Palm Beach County, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis and Washington, DC.

JData consults with participating Jewish federations and central agencies on ways to analyze and interpret community-level data. “We will regularly validate a community’s data, review missing or improbable information, and contact organizations for additions and corrections,” added Sales. In addition to support from the JData research team, the federation or central agency can go to Research on JData.com and download the dataset for their community.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: The American Jewish Scene, The Blog Tagged With: Brandeis University, Education, JData, Jim Joseph Foundation, summer camp

Click here to Email This Post Email This Post to friends or colleagues!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Norman Kabak says

    October 10, 2010 at 12:23 am

    We “auslanders” would also like to contribute our data to this noble effort. Perhaps, with sufficient input form around the world, a better picture of how we Jews live will be established and help us to better understand our parochial and universal needs.

  2. Ben Pincus says

    October 14, 2010 at 3:08 pm

    OK, call me paranoid. I worry when Jews submit mass data to outside sources, especially when funded by secular or non-Jewish organizations. After all the safeguards are in place, having a central database of Jewish demographics, if hacked, can be a powerful tool in the hands of the wrong party. Now I know that’s not supposed to happen, and I get how useful this will be for our institutions, but… There’s a reason, for example, that the President, Vice-President and all Cabinet members are NEVER allowed to be all in the same place at the same time. It’s a security issue, and it’s considered a real issue—so don’t paint me as part of a lunatic fringe. I’m concerned about social media like Facebook and others as well where Jews are asked to join and enroll others in joining Israel support groups where the membership data is public. Anyone else have these concernes?

Primary Sidebar

Join The Conversation

What's the best way to follow important issues affecting the Jewish philanthropic world? Our Daily Update keeps you on top of the latest news, trends and opinions shaping the landscape, providing an invaluable source for inspiration and learning.
Sign Up Now
For Email Marketing you can trust.

Continue The Conversation

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Recent Comments

  • Bruce Powell on An Invitation To Transparency: Reflections on an Open Salary Spreadsheet
  • Sara Rigler on Announcement: Catherine Reed named CEO of American Friends of Magen David Adom
  • Donna Burkat on The Blessings in 2020’s Losses
  • swindmueller on Where Do We Go From Here?
    Reflections On 2021
    A Jewish Response to These Uncertain Times
  • Alan Henkin on Where Do We Go From Here?
    Reflections On 2021
    A Jewish Response to These Uncertain Times

Most Read Recent Posts

  • What Title for Henrietta Szold?
  • Jewish Agency Accuses Evangelical Contractors of “Numerous Violations” but Denies They Evangelized New Immigrants
  • An Invitation To Transparency: Reflections on an Open Salary Spreadsheet
  • Breaking: Birthright Israel & Onward Israel Seek to Join Forces to Strengthen Jewish Diaspora Ties with Israel
  • Why One Zoom Class Has Generated a Following

Categories

The Way Back Machine

Footer

What We Do

eJewish Philanthropy highlights news, resources and thought pieces on issues facing our Jewish philanthropic world in order to create dialogue and advance the conversation. Learn more.

Top 40 Philanthropy Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2020

Copyright © 2021 · eJewish Philanthropy · All Rights Reserved