Donors are the focus of the 2017 Federation Campaign, as we provide thoughtful stewardship, exceptional donor experiences and personalized interactions. We strive to gather feedback from you and adjust accordingly in order to do meaningful outreach.
We convened several gatherings this year to connect with you, our donors, and to help you connect with the wider Jewish community in Louisville. These have included Rabbi Irwin Kula talking to community leaders about embracing change, more than 100 community members coming together to bake challah at the first Louisville Shabbat Project, and Jewish and Arab women from Israel speaking about building bridges.
In February, we hosted our fourth and final program this season in our Women’s Philanthropy Connecting Series. More than 30 women connected with theatre, gathering for a pre-show reception before seeing Funny Girl at The J on February 9. John Leffert, CenterStage artistic director, spoke about the iconic role Fanny Bryce has played in the Jewish community and several actors visited the women at the reception to talk about their experience in this classic musical.
We deeply appreciate how many members of our community answered the call and gave generously on Super Sunday, January 29. This event has become a community outreach initiative as we strive to connect with our donors in meaningful ways. In just a few hours, our dedicated volunteers connected with more than 200 donors. In addition to securing over $55,000 for our campaign, volunteers took time to thank donors who have already pledged. We thank all of our volunteers who came out to help us make the calls, including former Mayor and Lieutenant Governor Jerry Abramson.
Stay tuned for more Community Outreach Telethons throughout the campaign to both thank our donors and enable us to reach our goals for 2017. If you are interested in volunteering, contact Geoff Brooks, senior campaign manager, at gbrooks@jewishlouisville.org.
Thanks to Super Sunday and our campaign volunteers, February marked a significant step closer to our JHFE challenge grant. We just passed the halfway point of our $200,000 challenge grant with Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence, but we still need more help. Once again, you can double your impact with every new dollar given to the 2017 Federation Campaign.
We still have much more to go to help us offer gemilut chasadim – acts of loving kindness. Whether it’s providing social services to those in need, helping ensure the best in Jewish education, or strengthening Jewish communities, you can make difference. Please consider donating to the Federation Campaign at www.jewishlouisville.org/donate.
(Benji Berlow is the Young Adult and Hillel director of the Jewish Federation of Louisville.)
