Steven Windmueller’s recent article, “The remake: Bringing the federation model into the 21st century” (Sept. 2), asks the important question of what should Jewish federations become in a changing Jewish community.

We agree that Jewish communities are changing: their needs are changing and the challenges facing them are changing, both at home and around the world. But what Windmueller doesn’t recognize is that this constant evolution and adaptation to the needs of the Jewish community and the commitment to evolving as the world changes is exactly what the federation model was designed to do. Many of his suggestions and frameworks are useful, and indeed are already core to how most federations approach their work. Adaptation is what federations have always done, from the generations that helped resettle the immigrants to America to the building of the State of Israel to the growth of formal and informal Jewish education to today’s post-Oct. 7 environment. 

Flashvector/Getty Images

Across the 141 federations, the “model” calls on skilled professionals, lay leaders, donors and partners to support the realities of Jewish life today while building the capacity to meet whatever comes next.

The past six years have provided perhaps the clearest demonstration yet of the relevance, adaptability and enduring value of the federation model.

Consider what Jewish communities have experienced over the past decade. The COVID-19 pandemic forced communities to rapidly coordinate resources, support vulnerable populations and rethink how Jewish life could function. Rising antisemitism and the attacks on Jewish institutions, from Tree of Life and since, have made security and community safety an increasingly urgent communal responsibility. The war in Ukraine and other global challenges have required federations to mobilize for global Jewish needs. And Oct. 7, 2023 fundamentally changed the reality for Jewish communities in Israel and around the world, calling on federations to show up with extraordinary levels of funding, advocacy, partnership and support.

In each of these moments, federations have both drawn on our rich experience and adapted to answer the call. They are entrusted with the responsibility and the resources to find communal solutions to challenges that individual institutions could not solve alone.

From fundraisers to builders of flourishing Jewish communities

The purpose of a federation is to help build flourishing Jewish communities. We define this as communities that are healthy, safe, caring, welcoming and inclusive, educated and engaged, active in the broader community and connected to Israel and Jewish communities around the world.

Achieving this vision requires much more than raising money and allocating it.

Federations are community planners, investors, conveners, relationship builders, infrastructure builders and mobilizers of people and resources. They are focused not simply on existing programs or institutions, but on whether the community as a whole has the conditions necessary for Jewish life to flourish.

That begins with understanding the community.

Federations draw on community studies, pulse surveys, participation data, national research, information from local organizations and, perhaps most importantly, what they hear from the people who live in their communities. They seek to understand where people are thriving, where they are not being reached, what needs are emerging, which organizations are strong and where there are gaps. This process is not episodic, it is ongoing and relies on regular data and information, which Federations today have as a result of new systems and technologies.

Then federations bring people and organizations together around what they are learning. Their role is to help the community understand what is needed and determine who is best positioned to respond. To support and reinforce these efforts, Jewish Federations of North America convenes and partners with national organizations.

That is community planning in its fullest sense. It is not simply deciding which organizations receive funding, but helping a community understand itself, establish priorities and translate those priorities into collective action.

Building the infrastructure Jewish life requires

Perhaps nowhere is the evolution of the federation role more visible than in community infrastructure. Security provides a clear recent example. 

The rise in antisemitism has fundamentally changed what it means to operate a Jewish institution safely. Across North America, federations have built community-wide security infrastructure, including assessments, training, coordination, crisis response, relationships with law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and the philanthropic resources necessary to sustain this work.

The same is true of community relations, which has been a function of federations for many decades. Federations today are building relationships with elected officials, law enforcement, school leaders, business leaders, interfaith partners and others in the broader community. Those relationships matter every day and become especially important when antisemitism or another crisis emerges. 

This enables the community to respond to crises, but more importantly, it makes it possible for Jewish life to continue and thrive.

Mobilizing resources at scale

Fundraising remains a core part of the federation model, and for good reason. Federations have a unique ability to mobilize philanthropic resources around shared community priorities. The response to Oct. 7 demonstrated this on an unprecedented scale, with the federation system raising over $900 million for Israel.

But perhaps the more important lesson is that this was not simply a one-time response to a crisis. Many new donors stayed engaged, while existing donors increased their investment as they saw the continued needs facing Israel and Jewish communities.

As Windmueller highlights, that trust contributed to more than 15% growth in federation annual campaigns in FY2025. Annual campaigns remain the most important source of philanthropic support in the federation system, while federation philanthropy today is increasingly diverse and encompasses endowments, donor advised funds, directed giving, emergency campaigns, major gifts and other forms of investment. These resources allow communities to respond to immediate needs, strengthen institutions, build infrastructure, support Jewish engagement and education, and connect local communities to Israel and Jewish communities around the world.

But the growth of Federation philanthropy tells us something larger than the story of fundraising: People continue to see value in coming together to solve problems that are bigger than any one institution.

To be clear, it is a process. The only way federations can be agile and adaptable is to continue learning from our communities, from our peers, from professionals and lay leaders, and from thought leaders.

But as federations demonstrate value, in the many ways discussed in this article and beyond, they engage donors and lay leaders in new ways. Stronger relationships and more visible impact create greater philanthropic and leadership capacity, which in turn gives communities greater ability to address the challenges and opportunities before them. It is a virtuous cycle.

Measuring what matters

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of Federations’ work today is how they define and measure success.

Dollars raised matter. They are key to accomplishing our mission, and the ability to mobilize philanthropic resources remains one of the Federation system’s defining strengths. But dollars raised are the means to the end, not the end itself.

Federations also measure impact. Every Federation now has access to regular reports that look holistically at financial resource development, community allocations, organizational capacity, community infrastructure, participation, engagement and other indicators of organizational and community health. Federations also have more options than ever for understanding the attitudes and needs of their communities. Rather than relying solely on an every-ten-year community study, they can use community pulse surveys to understand how people are experiencing local Jewish life. Together, these tools allow Federations to look more holistically at whether their communities are healthy and thriving—a shift from measuring dollars raised and allocated to measuring community impact.

The question is no longer only whether we have grown the resources to do the work. It is whether those resources, together with strong local institutions, effective leaders and shared infrastructure, are helping create the kind of Jewish community people participate in, feel safe in and show up for.

Positioned for today and tomorrow   

The last six years have shown us that Jewish communities need institutions capable of building the community’s infrastructure to prepare for both good times and bad, moving quickly in a crisis, mobilizing resources at extraordinary scale, strengthening the organizations that make Jewish life possible, and creating new pathways for people to find connection and belonging.

Federations have done all of that, and they are continuing to evolve.

The Jewish community does not need federations to be everything to everyone. It needs federations to do what few other institutions can do: to see the whole community, bring its disparate parts together, understand where the greatest opportunities and needs lie, and help translate collective priorities into collective action.

The crises of the past six years have shown us that this capacity is not a relic of the past. 

This is what federations do today — and it is precisely why federations are so well positioned to help build the Jewish communities of tomorrow.

Shira Hutt is the executive vice president of Jewish Federations of North America.

Mimi Kravetz is the chief impact and growth officer of Jewish Federations of North America.