As demand for its in vitro fertilization grants has spiked in recent years, the Atlanta-based Jewish Fertility Foundation has received a $3 million grant from the Marcus Foundation, the largest single gift in the fertility treatment funder’s history.

The funding from Marcus Foundation, a longtime donor to JFF, will primarily go towards the “less sexy stuff,” — employee salaries, benefits, professional development, academic research and marketing expenses — Elana Frank, founding CEO of JFF told eJewishPhilanthropy. The Marcus Foundation, also based in Atlanta, has been a consistent and longtime supporter of JFF, she noted. 

“We always have relied on the Marcus Foundation to pay for the less sexy stuff. They’ve been instrumental in helping to offset the cost of salary and benefits and professional development,” Frank told eJP. “At the end of the day, they want to see more Jewish babies, and so they’re helping us with increasing our fertility grant allocations, and other things that we’re going to be doing.”

JFF, which was launched in 2015, is currently experiencing its third “spike” in demand for IVF grants in the last few years, Frank said. The first followed the Oct. 7 terror attacks in southern Israel, as some Jewish couples sought to expand their families in response. A second came in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., after federal layoffs buffeted government workers, some of whom were in the process of IVF treatment.

This third spike has been more sustained, said Frank, who attributed it to both growing awareness of the foundation within the Jewish community and an increase in those using assisted reproductive technology overall.

The grant also comes as JFF, supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, pilots a program to give grants of between $20,000-$25,000 to offset the cost of gestational surrogacy for LGBTQ+ Jewish families, and others who require surrogates to start families. In the past, JFF has provided much smaller grants for gestational surrogacy, covering only the costs of medical procedures. 

“They’re unfairly at a loss,” said Frank. “I mean, it can cost $100,000-$200,000 to be able to go through this process, and it’s just beyond out of reach.”

JFF’s existing model has been to fund fertility treatment through local donors and partnerships with clinics within its 10 locations nationwide. With the $3 million gift coming as the organization faces increased demand, some of the grant will also be allocated towards creating a “national pot of money” to serve those who need grants independent of the donor base in an individual city, said Frank. 

“We’re still really trying to understand how… we’re going to pay for all of this need,” said Frank. “Our organization is looking at how funders, like the Marcus Foundation, can help support the demand and need when it arrives in a city that we didn’t necessarily anticipate such high demand.”