JEWISH UNITED FUND OF CHICAGO

JUF amplifies our collective strength to make the world a better place — for everyone.
Community powered, we consider the totality of local and global Jewish needs and how to address them. From generation to generation, we help people connect to Jewish life and values, fueling a dynamic, enduring community that comes together for good.

WE CONNECT
our community to the epic moments in Jewish life, invigorating a Jewish heritage that honors the past and hopes for the future.

WE ASSIST
people in need to overcome life’s challenges, transforming daily life for over 500,000 Chicagoans of all faiths.

WE SUPPORT
Israel and the Jewish people worldwide, advocating on key issues and providing humanitarian assistance for millions.

WE RESPOND
swiftly to crisis situations, mobilizing resources and rushing aid to communities in distress worldwide.

WE MAXIMIZE
impact, generating ROI on the community’s philanthropy through smart stewardship of collective resources.

WE CULTIVATE
Jewish identity and connection, engaging our community through enriching programs and experiences from "baby to Bubbe."

WE ADVANCE
Jewish learning — supporting and providing Jewish educational opportunities from preschool to high school, through college and beyond.

WE INSPIRE
innovation — funding and incubating breakthrough initiatives that adapt to and effect change.

Through a combination of annual allocations and directed grants, we mobilize financial resources to support 100+ affiliates, beneficiary agencies, and initiatives that provide wide-ranging direct services and programs to 500,000 people of all faiths in Chicago and millions around the globe.

Our affiliate agency partners are JCFS Chicago, CJE SeniorLife, JCC Chicago, and Sinai Chicago. Other partner agencies include Associated Talmud Torahs, The ARK, BBYO, EZRA Multi-Service Center, Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, JUF Uptown Café, Jewish Day Schools, Keshet, Maot Chitim, Moishe House, OneTable, NCSY, NFTY, REACH Specialized Services in Day Schools, SHALVA, Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning & Leadership, USY, and many more. Overseas partners include the Jewish Agency For Israel (JAFI), the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and World ORT. Our own programs include Hillels of Illinois, jBaby Chicago, One Happy Camper, PJ Library, the Norton & Elaine Sarnoff Center for Jewish Genetics, Voices: The Chicago Jewish Teen Foundation, TOV Volunteer Network, and many more.

Additionally, we work closely with the United Way, other sectarian and non-sectarian social service organizations, and many government-supported programs and agencies.

We have a sophisticated planning and allocation process, led by a partnership of staff and lay leaders, involving nearly 200 board and community members and four standing commissions and committees. This planning and allocations process is informed by periodic local population studies that examine the demographic composition of the Chicago-area Jewish community, identify unmet needs, and help us understand the status of community access to existing services. The demographic information gleaned—including population growth and suburban migration, household structure, the effects of the pandemic on local households and congregational membership—informs JUF/Jewish Federation and its agencies in designing and delivering needed community services going forward.

Since 1900, the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Chicago has proudly served as Jewish Chicago's central source of hope and help for people in need.

JUF/Federation has a 90-member volunteer Board of Directors, thousands of volunteers for our programs and fundraising activities, professional staff of the highest caliber, and tens of thousands of gifts to our annual campaign.

We have an efficient infrastructure in place to raise and allocate funds. Our fundraising costs are less than a nickel per dollar.

The Jewish Federation maintains offices in Springfield, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., to monitor and apply for government funding opportunities and to advocate on a variety of other issues important to our community.

With the vast array of needs that JUF addresses, there always will be more that could be done. Our constant objective is to assure that the infrastructure and resources always are in place and prepared to meet and adapt to whatever circumstances arise, and to be proactive in identifying them in their earliest stages.

The ability to respond in a time of crisis is our reason for being, and our response to to the COVID pandemic is an excellent case in point. In the wake of the pandemic, JUF and our family of agencies instantly became a lifeline for tens of thousands of people who suddenly, desperately needed assistance. When hungry children could no longer get subsidized school lunches, we pivoted and delivered thousands of meals to feed them. When professionals were laid off and needed cash to provide necessities for their families, we swiftly provided millions of dollars in emergency financial aid to help them. When health care workers required vast quantities of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other support to safely care for the elderly, vulnerable and sick, we quickly supplied it.
When Jewish schools, camps and agencies struggled, we sent them emergency operating support. When they needed to make health and safety upgrades to re-open safely for in-person services, we funded those, too.

That’s the power of collective action.

The strength of the JUF Annual Campaign—our community’s collective effort to do good—is what enabled us to marshal the means to help so many so swiftly. It is the foundation of JUF/Federation’s multi-faceted financial resource development efforts. Donations to the Annual Campaign from individuals and corporate partners are complemented by grants from foundations, the government and United Way, plus distributions from Donor Advised Funds and Supporting Foundations and generous bequests and endowment gifts, which further strengthen the foundation on which future generations will build.

We know there are tens of thousands of individuals who rely upon the services and programs offered by our programs and family of agencies for support on many levels. Our goal is to continue increasing the allocations for our affiliate and beneficiary agencies, enabling them to expand and evolve the services and programs they can provide—with the twin goals of continually meeting evolving needs and eliminating wait lists for services.