Our Philanthropic Principles
We acknowledge that there are many important and needed areas for philanthropy in our communities. We have chosen to focus on children … birth through college. We hope to work closely with our funded organizations and institutions.
The priority giving areas and funding decisions of RJAFF are the responsibility of its Board of Trustees. The Foundation’s grant making policies and priorities may be modified at the Board’s discretion. Our Board places the highest value on creating long term grantor and grantee relationships. The following are the primary giving areas of our Foundation.
Education
RJAFF supports programs and organizations that assist to develop and improve in the education, literacy, skills, learning, and academic success of children from birth through college. We especially focus on early childhood education. We believe that education is one of the most significant components to the development of the individual. A child’s future is tremendously influenced by how he or she learns in the earliest years. Education is more than classroom learning. Skills like creativity, interacting with others, and organized activities all contribute to the development of the child’s potential. We believe it is important that all children receive the tools necessary to have a better future. Additionally, support of teachers and resources can be considered.
Medical Treatment and Care and Human Services
There are many children and their families who need access to the amazing resources of medical and research professionals in the communities RJAFF serves and the organizations by which those professionals are engaged. RJAFF supports those programs and non-profits that care for these children, teens and their families as they deal with medical issues, including issues related to mental health and chronic illnesses.
Examples of RJAFF’s involvement in this space include helping to seed a program providing children with chronic and end of life illnesses with a team of professionals providing continuing care. The Foundation has recently provided funding for a pediatric behavioral health program.
The Arts and Culture
The arts enhance everyone’s life. We support fields of visual arts, theater arts, performing arts and the rest of the creative community who enrich and add beauty to the fullness of one’s life experience…we salute and support this community. We believe it is important to expose and engage children to the arts so that they may learn to appreciate dance, art, music and theater. These organizations add vibrancy to the development of our youth, intellectual stimulation, beauty and creativity to our communities.
Jewish Life
We are Jewish philanthropists who believe it is important to support Jewish children in learning and understanding the heritage, stories, culture and traditions of our religion. We support those Jewish organizations that provide our communities with a richer Jewish life. We also will support organizations in Israel that align with our focus areas.