Since 1913, WRJ’s has been driven by our commitment to strengthen the Reform Movement. We nurture the leaders of tomorrow in the Jewish community through our philanthropic endeavors, reaching people at a local, national, and global level. WRJ provides grants through its YES (Youth, Education, and Special Projects) Fund and additional grants for social good through general funding. Check out how the YES Fund was allocated in 2023-2024, 2022-2023, and 2021-2022.
To support WRJ's philanthropic impact and WRJ’s YES Fund, please donate today.
Women of Reform Judaism Awards $300K in Grants to Support Future of Jewish Life Worldwide
All About the YES Fund
The Impact of the YES Fund
Youth Programs
Each year, through WRJ’s YES Fund and the generous support of our donors, we encourage the growth of individuals as Jewish trailblazers and the advancement of Reform and progressive institutions. YES Fund grants offer critical support for primary, secondary, and lifelong learning. Championing the voices of young people, we support URJ camps around the country and organizations such as NFTY (North American Federation of Temple Youth), which WRJ helped establish, and the Kol Koleinu Fellowship, which provides advocacy training to high school students who identify as feminists. WRJ also invests in youth organizations abroad, such as the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa, which provides a safe environment for both Arab and Jewish student-led initiatives and the creation of school-wide community and mutual understanding.
Education
Thanks to the YES Fund, future leaders of Reform Judaism are given scholarships for rabbinical and cantorial studies at seminaries and institutions around the world including the global campuses of Hebrew Union College (HUC) and schools supported through The World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), including Abraham Geiger College in Potsdam, Leo Baeck College in London, Instituto Iberoamericano de Formación Rabínica Reformista in Buenos Aires, and the Institute for Modern Jewish Studies in Moscow.
Special Projects
The YES Fund also supports programs and organizations that promote social justice and fight for a safer world. WRJ allocates annual support to the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), helping to fund an Eisendrath Legislative Assistant, who advocates for Jewish values and social good. WRJ has also given special grants over the years to organizations like Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) to assist in its campaign for Reform Jews to vote in the World Zionist Congress elections.
On a global level, this fund aids Fundación Judaica in Argentina which empowers women to pursue leadership positions across the country, partners with the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) to continue the struggle for religious pluralism in Israel, and provides access to Jewish education and programming for immigrants to Israel from the Former Soviet Union through the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism (IMPJ).
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI)
In its latest initiative, WRJ has allocated funding to three organizations in North America committed to furthering work in the Jewish community’s space of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). This funding will expand community programming for The LUNAR Collective, and Avodah’s Jewish Service Corps for deeper engagement in social justice and the Jewish community. In addition, the YES Fund gave grants to Jewtina y Co. to support their Puentes Leadership Fellows and Tkiya Music to bolster their Wee Jam for Justice programming, and more.
How Sisterhoods Say YES
Donate
Through the YES Fund, WRJ is able to achieve what no one individual or one sisterhood could accomplish alone because it represents the collective efforts of sisterhoods and individual donors to advance our mission.
Although the final allocation of money from the YES Fund is authorized by the WRJ Executive Committee, there are many ways your sisterhood can and should get involved in supporting the YES Fund.
YES Fund
Ask your sisterhood and sisterhood members to donate annually to the YES Fund. Note: Donations made during the WRJ fiscal year (July 1-June 30) are credited to the sisterhoods for the YES Fund Honor Roll.
Lifeline Endowment Fund
Ask your sisterhood and sisterhood members to make donations annually to the Lifeline Endowment Fund.
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Uniongrams
Have your sisterhood or sisterhood members send messages of congratulations, thanks, get well wishes, etc. utilizing WRJ’s Uniongrams. Encourage your sisterhood officers, especially your corresponding secretary, along with your rabbi and cantor to use these products for correspondence, messages, and invitations.
YES Fund Resources
Check out our YES Fund Toolkit!
Incorporate
Utilizing YES Fund information
Make this part of each sisterhood program by explaining the history of the Uniongram, displaying YES Fund items, and educating your members about who YES helps.
Honoring Special Events
Publish a list of upcoming B'nai mitzvot, birthdays, and anniversaries in your temple bulletin and suggest donors make a contribution to the YES Fund for each person they would like to honor (i.e. $1-2 per person). Then, have your Uniongram chairwoman compile and send a Uniongram to the honoree listing all the donors.
Hosting a Uniongram Recipe Luncheon
Have members bring recipes written on Uniongrams to the event and display Uniongrams as decorations.
Planning a YES Fundraiser
Utilize ideas from other sisterhoods to help raise funds for the YES Fund through engaging programming for your sisterhood and congregation.
YES Fund Lifeline Gifts & Honor Roll
YES Fund Stories
Building Women's Leadership: WRJ and the YES Fund
The YES Fund Gives L'Dor V'Dor
YES Fund Donations at Work for NETZER FSU Camps
With your support, WRJ strengthens the voices of women worldwide and empowers them to create caring communities, nurture congregations, cultivate personal and spiritual growth, and advocate for and promote progressive Jewish values. Consider making a donation today!
