Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Community Priorities Grant Request for Proposals (RFP)  

MISSION: Cultivate Resources, connect people and collaborate across the community to live and fulfill Jewish values. 

VISION: A flourishing Jewish community where everyone feels included, supported and inspired. 

To meet the Federation’s mission and vision, it will invest in grants that support two priority areas:  

Engaging Young Adults

• Create or strengthen opportunities for Jewish young adults (ages 22-45) and their families, as well as emerging young adults (ages 18-22) to explore and connect to each other, their Judaism and/or Jewish identity and community.    

• The intended impact of this priority is to cultivate a sense of Jewish identity so that young adults feel connected to our community, and that it continues to thrive.  

• Achieves one or more of the following outcomes:   

• • Create new, or strengthen existing, safe spaces for Jewish young adults to build community that results in stronger pride in their Jewish identity.  

• • Create more innovative and creative opportunities for deepening Jewish knowledge, connection and engagement around rituals, history, etc. for young adults and their families.  

• • Increase training opportunities for professionals in Jewish organizations that build confidence and capacity so that the ever-changing needs of young adults, and their families, are supported.  

• • Fills a specific need within the young adult Jewish community.   

Addressing Antisemitism

• Empower Jewish and non-Jewish allies to act against antisemitism (as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) through increased understanding, education, advocacy and collaboration.  

• The intended impact of this priority is to ensure members of the greater Pittsburgh Jewish community feel empowered to live, celebrate and engage in Jewish life safely and publicly; and increase awareness of non-Jews about antisemitism to foster allyship and public support.  

• Achieves one or more of the following outcomes:  

• • Increase number of allies, or grows established coalitions, that work together to address antisemitism.  

• • Contribute to greater collaboration and communication among organizations in the Jewish and non-Jewish communities that address antisemitism.  

• • Create more advocacy for causes that support the Jewish community; including but not limited to the adoption of IRHA definition of antisemitism in Jewish and non-Jewish spaces.  

• • Provide additional education about Jewish inclusion in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives across school levels and more education about modern antisemitism.  

• • Increase pride in being Jewish through additional trainings, capacity building and resources for Jewish community members.  

• • Improve in overall physical and psychological safety and security for Jewish communities. 

Start your application on our portal: grantmakingportal.smapply.io/prog/community_priority_grants/

Application FAQs

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Preview of RFP Questions

All questions that require a response are listed in bold.

 Organizational Information 

• Organization Name 

• Organization TAX ID 

• Are you in good standing with the IRS (e.g. have submitted 990s or equivalent on time for the last three consecutive years). If no, please explain. 

• Organization Mailing Address Please provide if your organization has not received funding from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh before, or if address has changed 

• Organization Mission 

• Organizational Website and social media 

• Does your organization hold the majority of its endowment dollars with the Federation’s Foundation?  

• Total Organizational Budget 

• Total number of Full-Time Employees (FTEs) 

• Primary Contact Name 

• Contact Title 

• Contact Email 

• Contact Phone Number 

 

Project Information 

• Project Name 

• One sentence description of project. This description will be used in our dashboards for our grantmaking committee, so keep it short and to the point. (50 words max) 

• Are you requesting more than one year of funding for this project?  

• How many years of funding are you seeking? 

• If this is a multi-year grant, what are the annual milestones that will gauge success and determine whether additional funding should be released? 

• If only one year of funding is approved, can this program still move forward? Y/N and please explain your response. 

• Is this a new or existing project? Please indicate the project start date and end date (if not ongoing) below. 

• Project Begin Date 

• Project End Date 

• Is this project innovative? Please explain your response. Innovation is defined as a new project, program or event for your organization, or seed funding for an organization new to the Federation’s geographic catchment area (Allegheny, Butler, Beaver, Washington and Westmoreland counties) 

• Amount Requested (for this year and for entire project if requesting multiple years) 

• Please list the partner organizations, if any, that are critical to the success of this project and what the role of each will be. 

• Please describe any efforts to-date on soliciting community and stakeholder input into this project. 

• Total project budget 

 

Narrative (all required)

Answer the following questions. If preferred, you may submit video responses to these questions. Video responses should be created on a desktop computer, laptop or smartphone (landscape orientation), be in .mov, .mp4, .avi, or .wmv file type, filmed in a quiet room with good lighting, be no more than 3 minutes long, and must address all elements of the question.  

You may choose to submit a video response for as many narrative questions as you would like, but you should make separate videos for each question (rather than one video encompassing responses to multiple questions). 

• What is the community opportunity/need your project will address? Select which community priority will it address: Engaging Young Adults or Addressing Antisemitism  

• Describe how the program relates to the relevant Federation’s community priority, and its outcomes. (up to 500 words) 

• Describe your proposed program or project. Be specific, describing activities, strategies, staffing, partners, timelines, etc. Explain how the design will enable you to address the problem or need. Clearly identify the demographics or groups served by the project, and the number of people impacted if known. (up to 500 words) 

• How will you know if your project is successful? How will you measure the outcomes and outputs of the program? (up to 250 words)  

• What research, evidence, or established best practice suggests that your project will be successful? If the approach is new and therefore untested or unproven, why do you think it will be successful? (up to 250 words) 

• What are the most significant possible risks and rewards associated with this project? (up to 250 words) 

• Describe why your organization is well-suited to implement the proposed program. Provide a description of how the project is complementary/additive to and not duplicative of existing community efforts, initiatives, and plans. (up to 250 words) 

• Provide a project budget (PDF preferred) as well as a brief narrative to describe the project budget. (up to 250 words for narrative) 

• If awarded funds, how would you recognize the Federation’s support? (up to 150 words) 

• Any additional information to share?