Jewish Federations of North America



The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), formerly the United Jewish Communities (UJC), is an American Jewish umbrella organization for the Jewish Federations system, representing over 350 independent Jewish communities across North America that raise and distribute over $2 billion annually, including through planned giving and endowment programs, to support social welfare, social services and educational needs. Jewish Federations also provides fundraising, organization assistance, training, and overall leadership to the Jewish Federations and communities throughout the United States and Canada. The Federation movement protects and enhances the well-being of Jews worldwide through the values of tikkun olam, tzedakah and Torah.

JFNA was formed from the merger of the United Jewish Appeal (UJA), Council of Jewish Federations, and the United Israel Appeal. The organization hosts an annual General Assembly event for the broad North American Jewish community.

Council of Jewish Federations
The original umbrella organization for the federations was the National Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds formed in 1932. "National" was dropped from the name in 1935 and "Welfare Funds" was removed in 1979. In 1986, CJF established the North American Jewish Data Bank in conjunction with City University of New York's Center for Jewish Studies. Renamed the Berman Jewish DataBank, the purpose of the organization was to conduct sociological studies of North American Jewish communities.

Jewish Federations of North America
In 1999, the CJF merged with the United Jewish Appeal to become the United Jewish Communities. In October 2009, the UJC was renamed the Jewish Federations of North America.

After the 2009 launch of the new logo for The Jewish Federations of North America, increasing numbers of local Federations are switching to some variant of that logo. An example is the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.

After a couple of years of lower staff layoffs in February 2010, new CEO Jerry Silverman laid off three senior vice presidents that made an estimated $750,000 to $1 million combined. JFNA declined to run the decennial National Jewish Population Survey in 2010 due to re-prioritizing.

In 2021, it announced the $54 million LiveSecure campaign, which it described as the largest campaign to secure North America's Jewish communities in history.

The aftermath of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in 2018 included arguably the most ambitious and comprehensive effort, led by JFNA, ever taken to protect Jewish life in the United States, according to the New York Times. In addition to bringing in $100 million in federal grants through the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NGSP), JFNA raised $62 million to secure every Jewish community in North America, overseen by the JFNA's Secure Community Network. By 2023, 93 Jewish federations had full-time security directors, a more than four-fold increase over the previous 5 years.

National Jewish Population Survey
JFNA administered the National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS), a decennial census of the Jewish community in the United States. The NJPS has elicited controversy. The 1990 survey indicated that the intermarriage rate was 52 percent, but this claim was questioned by demographers. The 2000-2001 edition of the NJPS 2000-01 used a different survey method, cost $6 million, and the data was lost. JFNA would not fund the 2010 survey due to re-prioritizing given decreased revenue given its limited direct benefits with some Jewish federations like the New York federation. JFNA was then open to partnering with other agencies on the national survey.

Politics
In 2022, the JFNA pressured the Jewish Council for Public Affairs to fold their organization into a larger organization and mute its progressive politics or to break away and lose funding from dozens of Jewish federations across the United States. The organization refused to mute or repudiate their progressive politics, choosing independence and losing their ability to speak for 16 Jewish national organizations and 125 Jewish "community relations councils", almost all of which are part of local federations.