Your campaign dollars at work

By Rosalee Bogo, Annual Community Campaign Chair

In my article that was published in the July-August Federation Star , I expressed so much excitement sharing that we had not only reached, but exceeded, the 2024 Annual Community Campaign goal. Together we raised $1,770,000. In addition, we successfully raised $1,067,000 for the Israel Emergency Campaign. What a season this has been!

In that previous article, I referred to our allocations process and what a challenge it is to answer the needs requested by local and overseas partners. As we bring this campaign to a close, I want to go a bit more in depth so you can see where these dollars are dispersed. The 2024 Allocations Committee had $600,000 to work with. Of that total, $340,300 was allocated for local needs. Another $122,000 was allocated for overseas, Israel and national organizations. Additionally, Jewish Federations of North America has a core assessment requested of each Federation. Our commitment is $137,762. The total request from all the agencies was $764,892.

We are very transparent in reporting who gets funds and how they are used. Seventy percent of money raised goes for programs and program support. Fourteen percent goes to fundraising and 16% goes for overhead. The sidebar to this article lists the beneficiaries, and I will share how it is used.

The large synagogues get money for their religious school and camp scholarships. The smaller synagogues get assistance for their community programing. Baker Senior Center gets funds for geriatric case management, and we specifically provide for the Holocaust survivors, a practice that is a priority of this Federation.

We strongly support the work of the Holocaust Museum and Cohen Education Center as they promote more programs for students combating antisemitism and educate the community on the history of the Holocaust. The Jewish War Veterans are also of importance for our support.

BBYO, a youth organization that has almost 50 teens attending their programs, is supported with holiday programming, Shabbat services and a Shabbat dinner bringing them together, as are the Jewish students at FGCU. With what is going on at the universities, this is even more important. These are but a few of the local agencies our allocated dollars help.

Also of great importance to our community is our support of overseas needs. Yad Lakashish is a workplace for the poor elderly Jews from the former Soviet Union. They work on arts and crafts that are sold in their gift shop. This provides them with a workplace, transportation to work and food. The beautiful mazuzot around our building and hanging on our office doors were all made there. Agencies in Israel educate immigrant children preparing them for Israeli life and to be in the army. Neve Michael is a residential home for abused children who are referred by local law enforcement agencies. Neve Michael also has the only teenage girls’ emergency center in the region. Many of our lay leadership team have personally visited these sites and have seen the need firsthand. Please feel free to ask us about it!

As our Naples community continues to grow, so do the needs within the community. The needs also continue to grow overseas, especially in Israel, where the war has created complex, intense and emergent issues that Jewish Federation is uniquely poised to address. We must prepare to take on the challenge of making our Annual Community Campaign successful again next season. The people we help and the partner organizations we support depend on us. We look forward to kicking off the 2025 Annual Community Campaign on Jan. 8 and making this year’s results the most successful one to date!

Many of you return to Naples in September, and you will find a lot going on at the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center. We look forward to your return.

Local programs and beneficiary agencies

• Annual Community-wide Chanukah Celebration and Menorah Lighting

• Antisemitism Task Force

• Baker Senior Center

• Beth Tikvah Congregation

• B’nai B’rith Youth Organization Naples (BBYO Naples)

• Catholic-Jewish Dialogue

• Cardozo Legal Society

• Florida Gulf Coast University Chabad

• Financial needs-based scholarships for Jewish sleep-away camp and for Israel experience

• The Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center

• Israel & Overseas Committee

• Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival

• Human Needs Award

• Jewish Community Relations Council

• Jewish Congregation of Marco Island

• Jewish Historical Society of Southwest Florida

• Jewish Russian Cultural Alliance (JRCA)

• Jewish Young Professionals of Greater Naples

• Jewish War Veterans Post #202

• Men’s Cultural Alliance (MCA)

• Mix & Mingles: 40-50

• Naples Jewish Congregation

• Patricia J. Adkins Youth Leadership Award

• Stand up for Justice Award

• Temple Shalom

• Women’s Cultural Alliance (WCA)

National, overseas and in Israel

• American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)

• American Friends of Leket Israel

• Anti-Defamation League

• Birthright Israel

• Ethiopian National Project (ENP)

• Friends of the Arava Institute\

• Hillel International

• Jewish Agency For Israel (JAFI)

• Jewish Federations of North America

• Jewish National Fund

• Neve Michael

• Sapir Community Center, Kfar Saba

• World ORT

• Yad LaKashish