The Jewish Women’s Giving Foundation of Baltimore capped off a successful year of philanthropy with an annual closing luncheon, where the organization detailed the many nonprofit organizations it has helped support for the past year.
In total, the foundation contributed over $169,000 in grants to organizations specializing in providing resources for women in need in the U.S., Israel and Ukraine.
The meeting was joined by two leaders of Project Kesher, which aids Jewish women in Ukraine, as well as Ukrainian and Russian immigrants who live in Israel. Project Kesher CEO Karyn Grossman Gershon and Project Kesher Ukraine CEO Vlada Nedak spoke and answered questions about the organization’s history, their work and their responses to the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Israel.
Project Kesher was also one of the organizations to receive a grant from JWGF as part of its series of Israel grants. Other recipients included The Rackman Center, NATAL, The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, the Israel Women’s Network and Magen David Adom’s Breast Milk Bank, which all received $15,250 each. But JWGF has also been lending a hand to several local organizations in Baltimore, such as ¡Adelante Latina!, Black Women Build Baltimore, CHANA and PIVOT, as well as Building Our Nation’s Daughters, which received a special three-year grant.
“JWGF is an integral part of The Associated’s centralized system,” said Julie Newman, JWGF’s chair. “We benefit in many ways from the infrastructure that supports our work, such as when you pay your dues, to the relationships we have with our other Associated agencies and programs. When we see the power of collective giving, so too are we better together as part of a vibrant and thriving Jewish Federation system.”
JWGF celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. It was founded in 2003 by a group of Jewish women interested in philanthropy. Their contributions largely focus on meeting the needs of women in the Jewish community and beyond, supporting initiatives that benefit women and girls from low-income backgrounds as well as organizations focusing on largely-women’s causes like reproductive rights and assistance for victims of sexual abuse.
Previous director Jennifer Millman, who read the d’var Torah that opened the meeting, estimated that JWGF has given approximately $2.8 million to 169 different organizations over the course of its operation.
The majority of this year-end meeting focused on the work of Project Kesher and how it has evolved since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the events of Oct. 7 in Israel.
“We’re based in Israel and Ukraine, so we don’t often get to meet with people in person,” Gershon said. “But I wanted to start by saying thank you, because I don’t know that this project would exist without the support of this community and the Jewish community of Baltimore. You punch way above your weight.”
Gershon also noted that during times of war, nonprofit organizations often neglect the needs of women in their efforts to support the military. Project Kesher has helped meet that need. In the case of Ukraine, the organization has helped over 9,000 women leave the country, with many immigrating to Israel.
During the event, Gershon and Nedak showed several video testimonies from women Project Kesher had helped, including new mothers and LGBTQ women who were unable to apply for a visa to leave Russia.
“People have also asked for our help with specific requests or with cultural initiatives,” Nedak noted of her work. “We’ve hosted events in Ukraine specializing in Jewish programming that let Jewish women come together.”
As this year of JWGF programming draws to a close, hopes are high for next year.
“Research is showing that giving circles are really amazing,” Newman said, citing a survey conducted by the organization Philanthropy Together. “They are a foundation of philanthropy in the 21st century. They’re exploding in popularity, because they’re super collaborative. They are very intentional, democratic, joyful and rooted in trust.”
She added that according to this survey, there has been a 250% increase in giving circles and philanthropic groups in the past six years.
“It’s about having the absolute right people at the right time to do the right job,” she said.
