2025-10-28 06:15:PM <br/> Tags: #AmericanJewry #organization #KeyOrganizations ![[image-161.png|586x307]] # UJA-Federation of New York - The United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York (UJA-FNY) is the largest of the Jewish Federations. - The Jewish federated system began as the [[United Jewish Appeal (UJA)]] in 1939. - The UJA-Federation of New York is the largest local philanthropy in the world. #### Brief Organizational History - The Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies of New York was founded in 1917. - The Federation merged with the Brooklyn Federation of Jewish Charities in 1944 to create the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York (FJP). - The modern UJA-FNY was formed in a 1986 merger of the [[United Jewish Appeal (UJA)|UJA]] and the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York. - The UJA was reconstituted as the [[Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)]] in 1999. #### Early History as the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies of New York (1917-1986) - The UJA-FNY began as the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies of New York. - The Federation centralized all Jewish fundraising activity within New York City. - The Federation was involved in Jewish schools, Jewish orphanages, settlement of Jewish immigrants, Jewish hospitals, Jewish senior care, etc. - Wealthy Jewish donors gave money to the Federation, which distributed the money to the many Jewish New York charities and social causes. - The Federation was founded by [[Felix Warburg]] in 1917. - Warburg became the first Federation president (1917-1921). - [[I. Edwin Goldwasser]] became the first director (1917-1920). - The Federation was founded with close ties to established organizations like the: - [[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)]] - [[American Jewish Committee (AJC)]] - #### Notable Federation Leaders: - [[Felix Warburg]] - Founding president - [[I. Edwin Goldwasser]] - Founding director - Solomon B. Lowenstein - Executive VP - 1920-1942 - [[Arthur Lehman]] - Second Federation president - 1921-1924 - Joseph L. Buttenwieser - Third president - 1924-1926 - [[Sol Stroock]] - Fourth president - 1926-1929 - [[Joseph Proskauer]] - Sixth president - 1931-1935 - [[Samuel Leidesdorf]] - Seventh president - 1935-1937 - [[Benjamin Buttenwieser]] - Tenth president - 1939-1941 - son of third Federation president Joseph Buttenwieser - [[Ralph Samuel]] - Thirteenth president - 1948-1951 - [[Gus Levy]] - Sixteenth president - 1957-1960 - [[Fredrick P. Rose]] - Twenty-second president - 1974-1977 #### United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York (1941-1986) - In 1941, the Federation formed the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York (UJA-GNY). - The UJA-GNY was formed as a parallel organization of the Federation. - The Federation raised and distributed funds for domestic Jewish organizations while the UJA-GNY raised money for the Jews of Europe and the [[Yishuv]] (Israel after 1948). - The UJA-GNY was organized under the umbrella of the recently (1939) created [[United Jewish Appeal (UJA)]]. - The UJA was the overall umbrella organization for American-Jewish fundraising. - #### UJA-Greater New York Leaders Include: - Sylvan Gotshal - First UJA-GNY president - 1942-1947 - [[Edward M.M Warburg]] - Fifth president - 1967 - [[Lawrence Tisch]] - Ninth president - 1973-1974 #### 1986-Present, Post UJA Merger - In 1986 the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York and the [[United Jewish Appeal (UJA)]] underwent a merger resulting in the UJA-Federation of New York (UJA-FNY). - The UJA-FNY was responsible for both domestic Jewish fundraising and global Jewish fundraising, primarily to Israel. - #### Notable UJA-Federation of New York Leaders: - [[Joseph Gurwin]] - Second UJA-FNY board chair - 1988-1991 - [[Irwin Hochberg]] - Board chair - 1991-1994 - [[Larry Silverstein]] - Board chair - 1994-1997 - Silverstein bought the World Trade Center buildings a few months before 9/11. - [[James Tisch]] - Fifth UJA-FNY president - 1998-2001 - [[Susan K. Stern]] - Board chair - 2004-2007 - [[John M. Shapiro]] - Eight president - 2007-2010 - [[Alisa Doctoroff]] - Board chair - 2010-2013 - Tenth president - 2013-2016 - Linda Mirels - Board chair - 2013-2016 - Current president - [[Robert Kapito]] - Board chair - 2016-2019 - [[Marc Rowan]] - Board chair - 2023-present - #### Other Notable Figures: - Jane Wilf - Member at large - Jane is the wife of [[Mark Wilf]]. - [[Merryl Tisch]] - Member at large - [[Jeffrey Aronson]] - Member at large - Current partner organizations listed by the UJA-FNY include: - [[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)]] - [[Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)]] - [[Hillel International]] - [[JCC Association of North America]] - [[Jewish Agency]] - [[Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)]] - [[Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)]] - [[Moishe House]] - [[Keshet]] ---- #### Funding and Grants - In 2024, the UJA-Federation of New York reported $484 million in revenue. - ~87% of this revenue comes from contributions. - 89% of UJA-FNY money is distributed in New York (47%) and Israel (42%). - As of 2024 the UJA-FNY has over $1.6 billion in total assets. - The UJA-FNY boasts of raising over $300 million in emergency funding for Israel since [[October 7th]]. - The UJA-FNY distributes its funds to hundreds of Jewish groups/charities/nonprofits, etc. - #### 2024 UJA-FNY Grant recipients include: - [[Avodah]] - [[CyberWell]] - "TikTok Expansions" - [[American Friends of Israeli Navy Seals]] - [[American Friends of LIBI]] - [[American Jewish Committee (AJC)]] - Shine A Light program - Shine A Light is an antisemitism reporting and education program that teaches students to pressure their schools and workplaces. - [[ADL]] - "Reducing Antisemitic Attitudes Through Research and Testing" - [[Birthright Israel]] - [[Bend the Arc]] - [[B'nai B'rith Youth Organization (BBYO)]] - [[Conference of Presidents]] - "Shine A Light" - [[Facing History and Ourselves]] - [[Harold Grinspoon Foundation]] - [[Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)]] - "Welcome Campaign for Humanitarian and Refugee Relief" - The HIAS Welcome Campaign is a network of hundreds of American synagogues that facilitate third world refugees into American cities. - [[Hillel International]] - [[Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC)]] - The ICC is a quasi Israeli intel organization that operates on US college campuses. - [[JCC Association of North America]] - "Shine A Light" - [[Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)]] - UJA-FNY is a prime benefactor for the JCPA following its 2022 separation from the [[Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)|JFNA]] - [[Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS)]] - [[The Lawfare Project]] - "Defending Jewish Civil Rights" - [[Technion|Technion: Israel Institute of Technology]] - [[Young Judaea]] *The quotations are directly from the 2024 grants report.* - #### 2024 Donors Include: - *Donors are separated into tiers based on their contribution. Exact dollar amounts are unknown.* - #### $5,000,000+: - [[Phillip Kirsh]] - [[Daniel Och]] - [[Marc Rowan]] - [[Tisch Family]] - #### $2-5 Million: - [[Tony Ressler]] - #### $1-2 Million - [[Apollo Global Management]]'s Apollo Opportunity Foundation - [[Jeffrey Aronson]] - [[Larry Silverstein]] - [[Daniel Loeb]] - [[Blackstone]] - [[Paul Singer]] - Singer's [[Paul E. Singer Foundation|Foundation]] has contributed $8,546,000 since 2017.[^1] - #### $500,000-1M - [[BlackRock]] - [[Michael Bloomberg]] - [[Stephen Ross]] - [[Tepper Foundation]] - [[Steven Roth]] - [[Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation]] - [[Jonathan Tisch]] - [[Lloyd Blankfein]] - [[David Blitzer]] - [[News Corp]] - [[John Paulson]] - Companies including [[Google]], Spotify, YouTube, [[Salesforce]], and [[Wix]] also donated. *Many more donors can be found here: https://www.ujafedny.org/api/v2/assets/2024-KDS-Roll-of-Honor.pdf * #### References - “United Jewish Appeal – Federation of New York Collection (I-433) Timeline.” _American Jewish Historical Society_. [https://ajhs.org/holdings/united-jewish-appeal-federation-of-new-york-collection-i-433-timeline/](https://ajhs.org/holdings/united-jewish-appeal-federation-of-new-york-collection-i-433-timeline/) - Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Felix M. Warburg Dead at 66.” October 21, 1937. [https://www.jta.org/archive/felix-m-warburg-dead-at-66](https://www.jta.org/archive/felix-m-warburg-dead-at-66). - UJA‑Federation of New York. “Our Leadership.” [https://www.ujafedny.org/about-uja/our-leadership](https://www.ujafedny.org/about-uja/our-leadership). - UJA‑Federation of New York. _Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia_. “UJA-Federation of New York (UJA-Federation).” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UJA-Federation_of_New_York#As_United_Jewish_Appeal_of_Greater_New_York](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UJA-Federation_of_New_York#As_United_Jewish_Appeal_of_Greater_New_York). - “Annual Reports & Grants Book – UJA‑Federation of New York.” UJA-Federation of New York. [https://www.ujafedny.org/about-uja/annual-report-grants-book](https://www.ujafedny.org/about-uja/annual-report-grants-book) - “Grants Book 2024 – UJA‑Federation of New York.” PDF. [https://www.ujafedny.org/api/v2/assets/1716573-Grants-book-2024.pdf](https://www.ujafedny.org/api/v2/assets/1716573-Grants-book-2024.pdf). - “Annual Report FY 24 – UJA‑Federation of New York.” PDF. [https://www.ujafedny.org/api/v2/assets/UJA-Annual-Report-FY24.pdf](https://www.ujafedny.org/api/v2/assets/UJA-Annual-Report-FY24.pdf) - “2024 Roll of Honor – UJA‑Federation of New York King David Society.” PDF. [https://www.ujafedny.org/api/v2/assets/2024-KDS-Roll-of-Honor.pdf](https://www.ujafedny.org/api/v2/assets/2024-KDS-Roll-of-Honor.pdf) [^1]: ProPublica, “Paul E Singer Foundation,” [https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/272009342](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/272009342)