by Dan Perla

The results of MATCH 4[1] are in and the numbers are impressive. Consider the following statistics:

• 119 Jewish day schools have received $9.7 million of gifts, including approximately $2.8 million of matching funds from the AVI CHAI and Kohelet foundations.
• The 235 schools that submitted a MATCH application came from a wide range of denominations and geographies. Cumulatively, these schools have a $1.4 billion annual operating budget and serve over 72,000 students. This suggests an average per student cost of approximately $19,000.
• Nearly 200 individual donors or family foundations have made new or dramatically increased gifts to a Jewish day school.
• With parents of a currently enrolled Jewish day school student ineligible to participate in MATCH 4, the majority of gifts have come from alumni, grandparents, board members and community members.
• Slightly less than half of the gifts came from a first time donor to a Jewish day school.
• Nearly half of all gifts to MATCH 4 were at the minimum $10,000[2] level. On the higher end, 10% of gifts were for $100,000 or more.
• Since 2005, MATCH programs have generated in excess of $58 million in donations to Jewish day schools.

To see more data on MATCH 4 click here.

With four rounds of MATCH now under our belt, it seems evident that MATCH has helped improve the financial strength of Jewish day schools by expanding the community of donors. Furthermore, day school leaders report that MATCH has empowered them to seek out new, large donors and helped them to steward those relationships to repeat gifts. MATCH has also served as a catalyst for more significant funding from existing donors. Data on previous rounds of MATCH indicate that within 18 months of their original gift, more than 75% of donors made a repeat gift which averaged about 77% of the matched gift.

AVI CHAI and Kohelet are now considering a fifth round of MATCH and would welcome your input regarding prospective donors. Do you see the greatest opportunity coming from alumni, grandparents or board members? How about other community members? Is there a particular cohort of parents that you seek to catalyze? Your feedback will help to ensure that the match continues to burn brightly!

Dan Perla is AVI CHAI’s program officer for day school finance.

[1] MATCH 4 is a matching grants program funded by the AVI CHAI and Kohelet Foundations in partnership with the Jewish Funders Network (JFN) and the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE). MATCH 4 provides a 1:2 (50 cents on the dollar) match for new or significantly increased gifts to Jewish day schools. MATCH 4 grants are capped at a maximum of $50,000 per school.

[2] MATCH 4 lowered the minimum gift size to $10,000 from $25,000 previously.