Tag: jewish community foundation

A summer away from home. A dining hall full of noise. A Shabbat filled with song and dance. A friendship that started in a bunk and is still going strong twenty years later.

Ask an American Jew what first made them feel “Jewish,” and there’s a decent chance the answer involves summer camp.

Jewish overnight camp is one of the key ways that Judaism becomes an immersive way of life. For families in the DMV, Capital Camps has been that introduction for nearly four decades.

What actually happens at Capital Camps?

The short answer: a lot.

Located in the Catoctin Mountains of Pennsylvania, just 75 miles from DC, Capital Camps is the premier Jewish community overnight camp in the region. A core partner of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, each summer, more than 900 campers and 180 staff come together across multiple village programs. Programming spans waterfront activities, a ropes course, theater & arts through the Habima program, a working farm, and Jewish life experiences that run through the entire summer. A 700-person dining hall serves kosher meals (meat, dairy, and pareve kitchens, if you were wondering), and staff provide daily opportunities for campers to connect with Jewish text, tradition, and community.

First-time campers enter through the Yalla program, a specially designed experience for children navigating camp for the very first time. Older campers transition into leadership programming that, for many, becomes their first tangible leadership experience: running a Shabbat, taking responsibility for a cabin, or mentoring a younger camper.

Capital Camps also works to ensure that different groups feel included and that they can enjoy everything the summer camp experience has to offer. The Atzma’im inclusion program ensures that children of any denominational affiliation, gender, race, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status, including those with a range of intellectual, emotional, and physical abilities can fully participate in the camp experience. The campus is fully ADA compliant and support staff is available for medical and mental health services. Through annual partnerships with Friends of the IDF, Israeli campers who have lost someone through conflict are welcomed to camp, a reminder that the camp’s community extends well beyond its 75-mile radius.

How does the Foundation support camp?

Access to transformative Jewish experiences is one of the most powerful investments a community can make. Research shows that Jewish overnight camp creates lasting connection to Jewish identity, community, and leadership in ways that are difficult to replicate.

Study after study, from the Foundation for Jewish Camp to Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, finds that Jewish camp alumni are more likely to marry Jewish partners, raise Jewish children, donate to Jewish causes, and remain engaged in Jewish communal life across the arc of their adulthood. The mechanism is straightforward: immersive, joyful, community-based experiences during formative years create an attachment to Jewish life that withstands the drift of adulthood.

We know this, and yet, cost remains one of the primary reasons families don’t send their children to Jewish overnight camp. If we can lower this barrier to access, we know we can create strong and vibrant future generations of Jews.

Scholarship funding exists to remove this exact barrier.

The Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington is proud to support the expansion of access to transformative experiences like Capital Camps through strategic philanthropy and scholarship funding through both Donor Advised Funds and Legacy Gifts. Because one of the truths we keep returning to in this work is that belonging isn’t something you can teach in the abstract. It has to be lived. And the experiences that young people carry with them into adulthood, their sense of Jewish identity, their instinct toward community, their capacity for leadership, are often rooted in summers like this one.

Ready to learn more?

If you’re a donor thinking about where camp scholarship funding goes, it goes here: to a child who might not otherwise have access to the people, the places, and their connection to Jewry they just haven’t met yet.

The Catoctin Mountains are waiting!

Eddie served as President of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington from 1989–1991 and of what is now the Jewish Community Foundation from 1992–1995.

During his tenure, Eddie helped lead key changes at Federation, including the transition to its current name, reflecting a forward-looking approach to engaging the next generation.

Across more than thirty years on Federation’s Board and as a Foundation trustee, Eddie helped advance Federation’s role in strengthening the institutions that anchor Jewish life in our region today. He supported significant investments in the Greater Washington Jewish community and beyond, such as the Capital Camps and Retreat Center (CCRC).
 

A Commitment to Community

Eddie experienced firsthand the power of Federation and its partners to build Jewish life. Born and raised in the DC area, he grew up attending programs at the Bender JCC, then The Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington (JCCGW), and later served on its board. His family have been longtime members of the B’nai Israel Congregation in Maryland.
 

He gave his time, talent, and resources to organizations across our community, including the Bender JCC, Pozez JCC, JSSA, and Charles E. Smith Life Communities.
 

That leadership extended beyond Greater Washington, with national roles through Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), reflecting a deep commitment to Jewish communities locally and around the world.
 

His contributions were recognized across the Jewish community, reflecting the breadth of his impact.
 

A Lasting Legacy

Known for his sharp wit and generous spirit, Eddie formed a clear view of what needed to be done and pursued it with determination, grounded in a deep sense of purpose. He gave his all to the work he believed in, bringing both vision and heart to everything he did.

His legacy lives on in stronger institutions, deeper connections, and a community built to endure. We carry that legacy forward with gratitude and extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends. Those who wish may honor his impact on our community through a tribute gift.

Through The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s Annual Campaign and its Jewish Community Foundation, 6,600 donors came together, mobilizing $68.6M to strengthen Jewish life, respond to community needs, and support Jewish and broader community impact nationally, in Israel, and around the world.

Why People Gave

Some donors gave for the first time. Others gave more than ever before, deepening their commitment to Jewish life across the region. Some gave because their parents did. Others, as parents themselves, chose to model Jewish values through philanthropy, supporting security, education, belonging, and care for one another. Many gave to honor where they come from, to reflect what they believe, and to pass on those values to future generations. Others were moved by the moment, inspired by community, or motivated to invest in a Jewish future that is connected, resilient, and rooted in shared responsibility.

For all these reasons, donors turned to Federation and the Foundation to care for today’s needs and build a strong Jewish future. Together, we mobilize resources when it matters most and help donors invest strategically so Jewish life remains strong, safe, and connected.

The Shape of Philanthropy

$29.1M raised through Federation’s Annual Campaign
Flexible, mission-driven support across unrestricted, directed, and impact-focused giving, powering core priorities and enabling rapid response.

$1.7M unlocked in Matching Challenges
Matching opportunities activated targeted investments to strengthen Jewish life where it is growing and where it is most vulnerable.

• Vibrant Jewish Life funding supported family connection, teen wellbeing and leadership, and built peer-led community for young adults, deepening belonging and connection across Jewish Greater Washington, including in Northern Virginia, where more families are putting down roots.
• Community Security matches expanded training, readiness, and critical systems through JShield, Federation’s community security initiative, helping keep synagogues, schools, and community spaces open, welcoming, and safe for Jewish life to pray, gather, learn, and connect.

$42.3M in new assets to the Foundation
Long-term, values-driven giving that helps build resources our community can rely on, now and for years to come, including:

• $34M stewarded in Donor Advised Funds, providing families and individuals a personalized way to support the causes they care about most, with $19M granted last year to Federation and other nonprofits across the Jewish and broader community.
• $1.5M invested in collaborative funds, bringing donors together to amplify their collective impact around shared priorities and passions
• $6.8M in legacy giving vehicles, helping ensure sustained support for generations by supporting both Federation’s core work and the specific causes donors care about most

Building What Comes Next

As a community, we’re more than meeting the moment—we’re building what comes next. Over the past five years, total philanthropic support through Federation and the Foundation has grown by 41%, a testament to what’s possible when our community invests in a strong Jewish future.

Thank you for every gift, every act of generosity, and every moment of care. In a year that called on us to lead with heart and act with purpose, our community rose to the challenge.

We’re proud to be your trusted partner in this work. Together, we’re building a safer, more connected, more resilient Jewish Greater Washington for today and for generations to come.

And we’re just getting started.

Learn more about the difference you can make.

Through a new endowment with the Jewish Community Foundation of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, Rhea Schwartz is investing in Jewish summer camp—helping more children experience what shaped her so profoundly. Her support recognizes both the cost for families and the realities camps face in maintaining safe, welcoming facilities.

Jewish Life, Lived Every Day

Rhea Schwartz grew up in a home filled with Jewish life.

Raised in Brooklyn, her childhood was shaped by family, culture, and everyday experience. Yiddish filled the room, spoken by her grandparents, parents, and their friends. “My family wasn’t very religious,” she says, “but we were very Jewish.”

Where Belonging Took Shape

That feeling of belonging took its fullest shape at Jewish summer camp.

For ten summers, camp was where Rhea felt most at home—living in bunks, singing on Friday nights, and forming friendships that would last a lifetime. Several of those summers were spent at a small Jewish camp in the Catskills, owned and operated by her parents and their closest friends. It was an experience that shaped not only her childhood, but her understanding of what Jewish community can be.

The Power of Camp, Long After Summer Ends

Decades later, those connections endure. Long after the camp itself closed, former campers still find each other—organizing reunions, maintaining friendships, and staying connected through an active online community.

“That tells you how powerful camp can be,” Rhea reflects. “It creates Jewish family.”

How Community Is Sustained

After moving to Greater Washington for law school, Rhea became involved in the local Jewish community through the JCC, a place she believed was essential to Jewish life in the nation’s capital. Through that involvement, she came to better understand the broader Jewish communal landscape, including the role Federation plays in strengthening Jewish life across the region.

“I wasn’t raised as a Federation kid,” she says plainly. “But once I understood what Federation does, I wanted to learn more.”

That learning led her to years of involvement on Federation committees, deepening her understanding of communal responsibility. Her own lived experience—especially camp—ultimately shaped how she chose to give back.

Showing Up When It Matters Most

Rhea’s commitment to Jewish life didn’t begin with camp—and it doesn’t end there.

Earlier, in 2017, she and her late husband, Paul Martin Wolff, established the Rhea S. Schwartz and Paul Martin Wolff Emergency Fund through the Jewish Community Foundation of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, designed to ensure resources are available when unbudgeted local or global emergencies arise.

Since 2022, the fund has been activated to respond to urgent needs, including support for Jewish summer camps after fire-related damage and, more recently, assistance to the Capital Jewish Museum following last year’s antisemitic attack.

For Rhea, this kind of readiness reflects the same values she learned early on: that Jewish community means showing up for one another—both in moments of joy and in moments of need.

Ensuring Belonging for Generations to Come

With the Foundation, she found a partner who helped her turn a deeply personal chapter of her life into a lasting commitment, shaped by what mattered most to her: supporting both the children who attend camp and the camps that make those experiences possible.

For Rhea, the impact of camp goes far beyond summer fun.

“It’s like the first time I went to Israel,” she explains. “I remember thinking, I don’t have to be conscious of being Jewish.”

At camp, she says, children experience a rare kind of ease: being fully themselves without explanation. Whether it’s joyfully welcoming Shabbat, forming close friendships, or simply living Jewishly without standing out, camp offers a sense of comfort that’s hard to replicate elsewhere.

“Jewish camp removes the element of uncomfortableness,” she says. “You belong.”

Looking Ahead to What Comes Next

When asked whether she considers herself a philanthropist, Rhea hesitates. “Not really,” she says, smiling. “A do-gooder, maybe.”

What matters most to her is what comes next. The idea that children—perhaps for the first time—will experience Jewish summer camp because of her investment is deeply meaningful.

When asked how it would feel to hear stories of children attending Jewish summer camp for the first time because of her support, Rhea doesn’t hesitate. Her face lights up.

“I hope you’ll come back and tell me those stories,” she says. “That would be great.”

For Rhea Schwartz, camp was never just a place. It was where Jewish identity felt natural, joyful, and secure. And now, through her generosity, she’s helping ensure that same sense of belonging is passed on, one summer at a time.

Carrying What Matters Forward

Her story is one example of how Jewish experiences can inspire action that strengthens Jewish life across our region.

Thinking about how your giving can endure for generations?

As 2025 winds down, many of us are thinking about the difference we want to make—and how to give in ways that matter most. With changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) taking effect on January 1, 2026, now is the time to plan ahead. New charitable deduction limits—including a 0.5% adjusted gross income (AGI) floor and reduced itemized benefits—may affect giving strategies in 2026 and beyond. That makes this year an important opportunity for strategic giving.

Below are five tax-smart strategies to consider as you make your year-end gift—whether you’re supporting The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, shaping your long-term philanthropic goals through the Jewish Community Foundation, or both.

1. Give Online

Give online for the fastest and most convenient option. Web-based platforms make strengthening Jewish life across Greater Washington simple, safe, and accessible.

2. Donate Appreciated Stock

Donating appreciated stock allows you to save on capital-gains taxes and receive a charitable deduction for the fair-market value of assets held more than one year. Your gift powers the programs and partnerships that keep Jewish Greater Washington strong.

Tip: Initiate stock transfers by Monday, December 15 to ensure a 2025 tax credit.

3. Create or Add to a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)

Open or add to your fund using cash, securities, or complex assets such as business interests or real estate. You’ll receive a charitable deduction now, your fund can grow tax-free, and you’ll have the flexibility to recommend grants when you’re ready. A DAF can also streamline your giving and engage your family in meaningful philanthropy.

Many donors are choosing to contribute up to $108,000 to their DAFs in 2025 to maximize deductibility before 2026’s new limits take effect.

Example: If you plan to give $36,000 annually over the next three years, “bunching” that total into a single $108,000 gift before December 31, 2025 may allow you to take full advantage of today’s deduction rules—versus a reduced benefit spread across multiple years under the new law.

If you already have a DAF, recommending a grant to Federation’s Annual Campaign by December 31 is one of the quickest ways to make an immediate impact.

If you don’t have a DAF, you can still make your year-end gift directly online, through appreciated assets, or by choosing the strategy that best aligns with your goals. And if you’re thinking ahead, opening a DAF is an option you can explore anytime.

4. Make a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from Your IRA

If you are 70½ or older, you can transfer up to $108,000 directly from your IRA to Federation or the Foundation—tax-free.

A QCD

• Counts toward your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)
• May reduce your adjusted gross income
• Remains beneficial even if you don’t itemize deductions

QCDs must be received by December 31 to count for 2025.

Example: A donor who makes a $108,000 QCD before year-end may reduce both their taxable income and future RMDs, while supporting Jewish community needs today.

5. Donate Appreciated Real Estate or Other Complex Assets

A gift of appreciated real estate or other complex assets allows you to avoid capital-gains tax and receive a charitable deduction based on the property’s fair-market value (with a qualified appraisal). You may give all or part of a property while retaining lifetime use and build a lasting legacy for Jewish Greater Washington.

We’re Here to Help

Our Federation and Foundation teams can help you identify the giving strategy that aligns with your goals and values before year-end. We encourage you to consult with your professional advisors to determine how these strategies apply to your individual situation.

If you’d like to understand more about how the new 2026 deduction rules work—including the 0.5% floor and the new ceiling for itemized deductions—you can find a full explanation here.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and the Jewish Community Foundation do not provide legal, financial, or tax advice.

When the tax laws shift, people often ask: What does this mean for how I give?
But the real question is: What kind of impact do I want to make and how can I make it count right now?

If you’re thinking about how to give more intentionally, you’re not alone. Our Jewish Community Foundation works with community members every day to ensure their giving reflects their priorities and keeps making a difference, even as circumstances change.

What’s Changing and What it Means for You

A new law called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will change how charitable deductions work in 2025 and 2026. If you give regularly—or are thinking about how to give more intentionally—these changes could affect you.

In 2025: A Chance to Maximize Your Giving

The SALT (state and local tax) deduction cap temporarily increases from $10,000 to $40,000 (from 2025 to 2030). That means more people, especially homeowners, will be able to itemize deductions. Limits on charitable deductions coming in 2026 make 2025 a smart year to give.

Consider:

• Making a larger gift than usual: bunch several years of charitable gifts in 2025
• Opening or contributing to a Donor Advised Fund (DAF)
• Donating appreciated stock or property
• Accelerating a legacy gift or funding a named endowment: 2025 could be a smart year to fund a legacy gift or named endowment.

In 2026: New Charitable Deduction Limits

Two new rules may reduce how much you can deduct if you itemize:

• A new floor: You can only deduct charitable gifts that exceed 0.5% of your income
• A new ceiling: For those in the highest income brackets, the tax benefit of itemized deductions, including charitable gifts, is effectively capped at 35%

Some donors may choose to “bunch” their giving by consolidating multiple years of giving into 2025 to take advantage of more favorable deduction rules. One of the most effective ways to do this is by funding a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) now.

By contributing more to a DAF in 2025, you can maximize your deduction in a high-impact year while still supporting Federation and other causes you care about over time. It’s a smart way to align your giving with both tax efficiency and long-term impact.

The law also extends the 2017 tax rates, standard deduction levels, and estate and gift tax exemptions indefinitely, but these could change with future legislation.

If You Take the Standard Deduction

Even if you don’t itemize, in 2026, you’ll still be able to deduct:

• Up to $1,000 (single filers)
• Up to $2,000 (married couples)

For Those 70½+: A Powerful Giving Tool

If you’re 70½ or older, you can donate up to $108,000 in 2025 (indexed annually) directly from your IRA to a nonprofit like The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington (with that limit expected to rise in 2026). These Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) reduce your taxable income and aren’t affected by the new deduction limits.

Note: QCDs can’t be used to fund DAFs, but they can go directly to support The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington or any qualifying nonprofit.

Your Partner in Purpose

Most people don’t give because of tax deductions. You give because you care—about Jewish life, about this community, about the future we’re building together.

Our Foundation is here to help you give in a way that’s aligned and intentional, even as the rules evolve. Whether you’re giving this year, advising others on giving, planning ahead, or thinking about a legacy, we’ll help you make sense of the options—and make the most of them.

Tax laws will likely keep evolving, and we’ll be here to help you adapt every step of the way.

Ready to take the first step? Let’s talk about your goals, your values, and how you want your giving to make a difference—this year and beyond.

For more information about how tax changes might affect you, join our Keys to Tax and Charitable Gift Planning Under the New Tax Law webinar on November 12.

This summary is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. Please consult your professional advisor. 

This month, we’ve been spotlighting legacy giving through stories like Marilyn & Ira Polon’s commitment to Jewish continuity and Natalia’s work guiding individuals and families as they imagine how their values can live on for generations. These aren’t just stories of gifts. They are stories of promises: that Jewish life will remain strong long after we’re gone.

But those commitments don’t just sit in a vault—they take shape through The Jewish Community Foundation of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. The Foundation is Federation’s philanthropic arm, providing the expertise, heart, and reach that allow donors to bring their visions for positive change to life—intentionally, personally, responsibly, and with lasting impact. Through the Foundation, donors give Jewishly, practice effective philanthropy, and work together to build a more connected, inclusive, and enduring future.

And legacy is just one part of the story.

Endowments: Building a Thriving Community for Generations

Some donors want their commitments to last beyond their lifetime. Through the Foundation, those commitments become endowments—long-term funds that not only preserve their gift but also actively strengthen the health of our community. Endowments help create the conditions for a community that is safe and deeply connected, proud of its identity and heritage, grounded in Jewish meaning, and committed to building a better world for the future.

Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs): Flexible and Meaningful Giving

A donor-advised fund at the Foundation gives donors the freedom to do all their giving in one place—flexible, tax-smart, and handled with care and transparency. With a DAF, you can support Jewish education, urgent relief in Israel, your local JCC, your synagogue, a hospital, an arts program—or all of them. With the convenience and flexibility to give across causes and communities, whenever and however you choose, it’s giving made simple, while keeping your values at the center.

Collaborative Funds: Creating Opportunities, Changing Conditions

And sometimes, a donor feels compelled to act on a cause so personal it can’t be carried alone: mental health, women and girls, Jewish learning, community security. Collaborative funds are created when donors with shared commitments come together through the Foundation. These funds don’t just respond to problems; they create opportunities to strengthen Jewish life in unique ways, while also tackling some of the most complex challenges our community faces. By pooling vision and resources through the Foundation, donors can change the conditions that shape our future and open the door to a more vibrant, resilient community. Each fund is driven by donors’ deeply personal intentions and made stronger through the power of collective action.

What Sets the Foundation Apart

What makes the Foundation unique is that every gift is both personal and communal. Because it is part of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington—an institution trusted for generations—donors know their giving is grounded is anchored in Jewish values and connected to something larger. Unlike other financial institutions, fees at the Foundation support Jewish programming at the Foundation and Federation that strengthens the fabric of Jewish life locally, nationally, and globally. Donors also gain access to philanthropic learning, expert advisement, and the ability to make their giving visibly Jewish, even when supporting a secular nonprofit. Together, donors experience philanthropy that is both effective and deeply meaningful.

What Every Gift Has in Common

Whether through an endowment, a DAF, or a collaborative fund, every gift at the Foundation begins with a donor’s intention. Federation helps inspire these commitments. The Foundation ensures they are honored with care—and, grounded in an institution donors know and trust, they are brought to life in the most impactful, personal, and deeply Jewish way possible.

How Natalia Straus is helping Greater Washington’s Jewish community plan for the future—with heart, humor, and purpose.

Natalia Straus has always been a planner.

“As a kid, I’d write a to-do list that started with ‘write a to-do list,’” she laughs. “My family still teases me that I can’t get through breakfast without saying, ‘Let’s make a list.’”

That love of structure—and her deep sense of purpose—make Natalia the perfect person to lead legacy giving at The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.

A Natural Fit for the Future

Now serving as Federation’s Senior Director of Legacy Giving, Natalia is revitalizing a community-driven legacy program in partnership with the Jewish Community Foundation.

Her goal? To make it easier—and more meaningful—for community members to plan for the future and leave a lasting impact on Jewish life in Greater Washington.

“Legacy giving is about intention,” she says. “It’s asking: What values do I want to carry forward? What kind of world do I want to help build—even after I’m gone?”

And there’s no better time to start. August is National Make-A-Will Month—a timely reminder that creating or updating your will is one of the simplest, most powerful ways to secure your future impact.

Legacy gifts—like naming Federation in your will, trust, or retirement plan—are simple to set up and have a lasting effect. These gifts sustain the programs, services, and values that shape Jewish life: from youth education and senior care to Jewish identity, emergency response, and beyond.

Two Decades of Legacy Leadership

Natalia got her start in legacy giving at the Osher Marin JCC through Federation’s “Leave a Jewish Legacy” initiative. Since then, she’s helped organizations from Spirit Rock Meditation Center to California State Parks Foundation build and strengthen their legacy programs.

She recalls one moment that solidified her passion: a longtime donor reached out to confirm their gift shortly before passing. “They told me it brought them peace,” she remembers. “That conversation reminded me—this work isn’t about paperwork. It’s about people, their stories, and their hopes.”

A Personal and Professional Passion

For Natalia, planning a legacy isn’t just a job—it’s how she moves through the world.

“Creating a plan is one of the most generous things you can do. For your family. For your community. For yourself. It’s an act of hope.”

That same outlook shaped her leadership in Federation’s Women’s Philanthropy program over the past three and a half years. “It’s been an incredible experience building this community,” she says. “I’m proud to leave it in the hands of amazing leaders like Becca Ginns, Jordan Kaufman, and our Women’s Philanthropy chairs and changemakers.”

Ready to Write Your Next Chapter?
Your legacy is already in the making. Let’s make sure it tells the story you want to be remembered by.

Reach out to Natalia at natalia.straus@www.shalomdc.org or 301.230.7279