Tzedakah

A CAUSE OF DISSATISFACTION

What about giving to charity? I would like to connect my giving to my Judaism but the Jewish Federation seems to have as its priority the State of Israel and is ignoring agencies whose work represent my priorities.

OUR EXPERIENCE

In the 70’s Ron was on the allocation committee of the local united way. While society was changing, the same organizations received the same amounts each year. The committee developed a needs survey for the community, prioritized the needs, asked the agencies to submit program based budgets and invited groups in the community to submit proposals to serve the prioritized needs. In the 90’s Ron was on the board of the local Jewish federation which promoted a well attended program for the community where input was requested about what those in the Jewish community wanted. Unfortunately, the effort failed since the leadership had no plans to take into account the desires of the community when making decisions about how the funds contributed should be allocated.

Within our Havurah, some of our members formed a Tzedakah Cooperative. Each month we made contributions and quarterly held meetings to decide on allocations.

LET US HELP YOU

Let us help you form or join an organization to collect and distribute gifts to needy individuals and groups. While it may appear that the only option for giving to charity in the Jewish world is through a local Jewish federation, that is not the case. There are many worthwhile social and economic justice oriented organizations to choose from. They support efforts in the areas such as healthcare, education, employment, housing, civil rights and the environment both here and around the world. There is much satisfaction to be found in giving money to organizations whose work is consistent with your values and your beliefs. With our support, you will:

Discuss and consider your critical issues

Recruit and bring together participants

Choose an area of focus

Find relevant reading material

Locate organizations active in your priority area

Set up guidelines for the first year

Design, plan and hold the first meeting - the first step in attempting to improve the situation for those who are supported by your donations.