Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties

The foundation was founded in 1910 and traces its roots to the settlement of Jewish people in the San Francisco area during the late 19^th century. The organization distributes around $100 million to organizations annually with a focus on Israel-based organizations, Jewish community centers, and many other Jewish religion-oriented organizations and schools. The group, like other community foundations, also facilitates many donor-advised funds that allow individuals to manage their grantmaking through the foundation. The organization had over $1.4 billion in assets under management as of its 2021 tax documents. ^{2 3 1}

History

The Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund traces its roots back to Jewish settlers of the San Francisco Bay area in the late 19^th century, who set up a communal fund “to help aid the sick and needy, assist in the resettlement of Jewish immigrants, provide widows and children with food and shelter, and pay burial costs when their husbands and fathers succumbed to the hardships of dangerous work and difficult living conditions.” ¹

In 1910, the Federation of Jewish Charities merged with the earlier organization, the Eureka Benevolent Society, to become the Jewish Welfare Fund (JWF). In 1980, the organization broadened its focus from just the needy to fund programs within the entire Jewish community of the area, and in 1981 was renamed the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties. ¹  

Since 1975, the organization has also operated an endowment fund and is known as the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund. ¹

Brian Lurie is a rabbi and the former executive director of the organization. As of 2024, his son Daniel Lurie is the heir to the Levi Strauss business conglomerate and the mayor-elect of San Francisco defeating former San Francisco mayor London Breed in a November 2024 city mayoral election. ⁴

Activities

The Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund awards grants and supports programs to support the Jewish Community in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as in Israel and internationally. The foundation also “stewards and administers donor-advised grants through personal philanthropic vehicles” including operating over 1,119 donor-advised funds and 32 “supporting foundations” that the organization fiscally sponsors that support Jewish causes as well as broader causes to local, national, and international organizations. ²

Organizations Funded

The Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund has funded organizations including the Jewish Baby Network, Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, Jewish Community Center of the East Bay, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, Berkeley Hillel, Honeymoon Israel, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Northern California Board of Rabbis, Alliance for the Study of the Holocaust, Bay Area Jewish Healing Center, Hebrew Free Loan Association, the Reutlinger Community, the Jewish Home and Senior Living Foundation, Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County, Jewish Family and Children’s Services, AvraTech, Rothschild Caesarea Foundation, Tebeka – Advocacy for Equality and Justice for Ethiopian Israelis, the Institute for Democratic Education, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, and the Jewish Federations of North America. ²