July 2024 - June 2025
Cover image: PJ Library subscribers, Northampton, MA
Above: PJ Library subscribers, West Hartford, CT
Dear Members of the PJ Library Community,
As we navigate a changing world, community is more important than ever. Surveys and reports over the past year paint a picture of Jewish families in search of togetherness and belonging as they weather a range of challenges: economic hardships, cultural shifts, and a global rise in antisemitism. Families are seeking meaningful Jewish relationships and expressing new and renewed desires to take part in Jewish life. In these ways and many more, PJ Library was there to meet families’ needs from 2024 to 2025.
We are proud that PJ Library is a connector — for Jewish families, in Jewish communities across the US and Canada, between Israel and the diaspora, and throughout the wider Jewish world. Through initiatives such as Get Together, parent connectors, and our international programs, PJ Library provided accessible low-barrier entry points to Jewish communal life this past fiscal year.
We are grateful that we don’t do this work alone. Hundreds of partner organizations in North America and around the world join with us to provide PJ Library for families and utilize the program to engage children and families in Jewish life. We extend our deepest thanks to these hardworking professionals for offering families a crucial and reliable source of Jewish joy, connection, and pride, even during times of crisis.
In worldwide surveys PJ Library conducted in 2024, families told us that PJ Library is an essential resource for raising Jewish kids. In the pages of this report, we hope you see how essential your support is for Jewish families.
Thank you for being part of the story.
Winnie Sandler Grinspoon President Harold Grinspoon Foundation
Alex Zablotsky Executive Director PJ Library
Lara Knuettel Chief Philanthropy Officer
PJ Library
Helping Jewish Families Get Together
Jewish families are seeking connection. In a 2024 largescale survey of PJ Library subscriber families, a staggering 75% said they were interested in becoming more connected to a local Jewish community.
But many face hurdles: Some families with young children lack the time to seek out new opportunities. Others live too far away from established centers of Jewish life. Still others encounter financial barriers. Participation in traditional religious institutions surged after October 7, yet many Jewish families remain unaffiliated and disconnected from Jewish life. In the 2025 Jewish Families Today report, Rosov Consulting found that “the search for community seems to be of special importance to parents with young children,” who “are simply struggling to find communities where they fit and that work for them.”
PJ Library offers a solution: Get Together. The Get Together initiative encourages families to host small gatherings and holiday celebrations with other Jewish families. PJ Library created Get Together to incentivize families to confidently take part in Jewish life and build their own vibrant peer-led Jewish microcommunities.
How does it work? Host families invite two or more other Jewish families for a Jewish-themed gathering — around the table or out in the community. PJ Library helps cover up to $100 of the cost and helps families forge deeper relationships that make Jewish life joyful and fun. PJ Library’s expert tips, ideas, holiday guides, and resources offer inspiration for families hosting Jewish events.
“It is the warmest feeling when you can have your family and friends together for a Jewish holiday. Our friends and family gathered for Shabbat dinner and caught up while participating in a millennia-old tradition.
— Dustin S., a PJ Library parent
Thanks to generous donors, PJ Library made Get Together available throughout the US and Canada in 2024, meaning every PJ Library family is now eligible to host. The impact can be measured in numbers, words, and smiles during this past fiscal year:
• Over 5,000 families applied to host a Get Together
• Over 9,000 families participated in a Get Together
• Hundreds of host families applied per day in the weeks before Hanukkah!
“I hosted a Hanukkah party for my son’s class so I could get to know the boys my son spends every day with. They did a sticker menorah project, sang songs, and gave charity. I wanted them to feel excited and happy and proud to be a Jew and enjoy the holidays.
— Maryashi O., a PJ Library parent
Photo above: PJ Library subscribers, Chicago, IL
It Costs a Lot to Be This Free
July 1, 2024–June 30, 2025
Operating Budget
The books and resources are free for families — but of course they aren’t free.
Purchasing, distributing, sourcing, creating, and designing the unique Jewish content that PJ Library offers costs a lot of money! Only because of generous donors and committed partners at all levels can PJ Library reach families around the world with beautiful stories and critical parenting resources. PJ Library supporters, partners, and volunteers make local programs possible so that families with young children can connect to each other and to the Jewish community.
Photo at right: PJ Library subscribers, Northampton, MA
$19.5 Million
Harold Grinspoon Foundation
“Together with many philanthropic partners, we can strengthen and grow the Jewish community through engaging opportunities for connection.” — Harold Grinspoon
$8.3 Million
PJ Library Alliance Partners
The PJ Library Alliance is a collective of leading supporters who each pledge a minimum of $1 million to expand and deepen PJ Library’s work.
$6.6 Million
Community Partners: Federations, JCCs, etc.
Over 200 community partners around the globe support the cost of PJ Library subscriptions in their area and engage local families through programming and events.
$9.0 Million
Individual and Institutional Supporters
More than 7,000 PJ Library grandparents, parents, and friends give generous donations that help bring stories, programs, and resources to Jewish families around the world.
$3.0 Million
Israeli Ministry of Education
Sifriyat Pijama, PJ Library’s sister program in Israel, reaches children ages 1-8 in daycare centers, preschools, and elementary schools in Israel.
$46+ Million
PJ Library and Sifriyat Pijama
2024–2025
Operating Budget
An additional estimated $8 million is spent (on local staffing, engagement, and outreach costs) by PJ Library’s partner organizations around the world.
The Impact of PJ Library
At PJ Library, we think a lot about the Jewish future. How can we best support children and families as they pursue joyous, meaningful, proud Jewish lives? Our approach begins at home, extends into thriving Jewish communities, and radiates around the globe. That’s why PJ Library curates the best Jewish stories for children; creates innovative holiday guides for families; serves as a powerful engagement tool for Jewish families throughout the US and Canada; and fosters well-resourced, connected, resilient Jewish communities across the world. Read on for a closer look.
My husband and I are incredibly grateful for PJ Library books. Thanks for making it so easy on our generation to educate our little ones. We appreciate all you’re doing to ensure strong Jewish identities for the next generation. Your work is impactful, worthwhile, and appreciated.
— Marcia K., a PJ Library parent
Photo at left: PJ Library subscribers, Holyoke, MA
Cultivating Sephardic and Mizrahi Stories
PJ Library strives to ensure our books represent the vast diversity of Jewish life around the world so all Jewish children can see themselves in the stories they read. Representation matters: In a 2024 survey, families who reported seeing characters that looked like their family also reported greater impact.
PJ Library’s three-year Sephardic Stories Initiative aims to broaden diversity in our book lineup by cultivating authentic Sephardic and Mizrahi stories. In 2024, PJ Library invited seven published authors of Sephardic and Mizrahi backgrounds to explore their heritage through workshops and retreats and begin creating inspired new stories. In 2025, those seven authors have been mentoring and guiding 14 emerging writers as they craft their own Sephardic- and Mizrahi-inspired manuscripts for publication.
With generous support from the Samis Foundation, the Sephardic Stories Initiative is not only an investment in the future of PJ Library but also a commitment to enrich the body of Jewish children’s literature.
“The Samis Foundation is excited to be involved in this groundbreaking initiative to expand PJ Library’s Sephardic offerings. By supporting authors and increasing the number of Sephardic stories in the PJ Library canon, PJ Library is providing Jewish children and their families with an opportunity to learn about Sephardic Jewish culture and history — and the rich tapestry of Jewish life.”
— Connie Kanter, CEO, Samis Foundation
Sarah Aroeste illustrated by Ayesha L. Rubio
Helping Families Celebrate Jewish Holidays All Year Round
Jewish holidays are an opportunity for families to engage children in joyful Jewish traditions and take part in Jewish life. But many families are seeking new and more accessible ways to involve children in holiday learning, celebrations, and rituals.
PJ Library is there to help. With generous donor support, PJ Library is producing a suite of innovative, information-rich holiday guides intended to give families the knowledge, motivation, and confidence to celebrate Jewish holidays at home.
Much more than a manual, each beautifully illustrated guide
• Helps families understand the Jewish holidays and their associated Jewish values
• Provides windows into how Jewish communities celebrate around the world
• Offers recipes, stories, and suggestions to enhance celebrations
• Presents a range of prompts and activities to get children involved and excited
PJ Library’s holiday guides represent a significant multiyear investment to fill a gap in the market and make sure families have reliable, engaging resources about the Jewish holidays in their homes.
In 2024, PJ Library released A Time to Hope: A PJ Library Family Guide for Hanukkah Through Purim, which featured enriching content about Hanukkah, Sigd, Tu B’Shevat, and Purim.
A Time to Hope has reached approximately 150,000 families so far — and families say it is filling a need. In a recent survey, families agreed or strongly agreed that the guide
• Helped families learn more about or better understand the holidays (90%)
• Helped families involve their children in holiday celebrations (89%)
• Helped families try a new custom or activity as part of holiday celebrations (76%)
In 2026, pending additional support from donors, PJ Library plans to release A Time to Gather: A PJ Library Family Guide for Passover Through Shavuot and an interactive two-book Shabbat set called A Palace in Time. This will complete our series of guides spanning the entire Jewish calendar.
Photo at left: PJ Library subscribers, South Hadley, MA
Fostering Vibrant Jewish Communities
Beyond the books, PJ Library serves as an effective tool for connecting and strengthening Jewish communities. In big cities and small towns across the US and Canada, family-engagement professionals at partner organizations (such as Jewish federations and JCCs) use PJ Library as a vehicle to build relationships and get families involved in their local Jewish community. To support their efforts, PJ Library awarded $300,000 in engagement grants this past fiscal year, empowering local partners to expand and deepen community-based engagement programs. The impacts are tremendous.
Pam Cohen, director of PJ Library at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, calls the city “a small large community” of Jewish families spread out over a wide geographic region. With nearly 5,000 subscribers, PJ Library reaches about 35% of Jewish families — and Cohen sees great potential to grow. In 2024, PJ Library awarded Atlanta an engagement grant to reach more families in areas with less Jewish infrastructure.
Cohen and her team at the Federation used the grant to expand their JBaby program, which connects expecting parents and families with children ages 0-2 through expert-led sessions, meaningful Jewish experiences, and peer-to-peer support. They hired an additional parent connector, a PJ Library parent who builds relationships and hosts events hyperlocally, to engage Jewish families in their own neighborhood. Cohen is focusing engagement efforts on Atlanta’s metro Intown area, where parent connectors have so far engaged 95 new families since receiving the grant.
“We’ve been able to provide Jewish programming and community in areas where there wasn’t as much,” says Cohen, herself a former parent connector. “Without PJ Library and the resources provided by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, there would not be the level of connection for Jewish families that exists in our community.”
PJ Library acts as a seed, Cohen says. Jewish families with young children sign up to receive books, parent connectors build and nurture Jewish relationships, and that engagement creates a pipeline to involve families in Jewish life as children grow.
In the future, the Federation hopes to use PJ Library’s parent-connector model as inspiration to expand outreach to other Jewish demographic groups. Says Cohen, “The whole community recognizes what an asset PJ Library is.”
PJ Library Programs Around the World
PJ Library is a global program that, together with its sister program in Israel, serves more than 650,000 children and their families in more than 40 countries and seven languages.
Thanks to incredible partners and generous funding support, PJ Library continues to build vibrant libraries in homes in every corner of the globe. Help us continue to reach more families in more places with a gift to the PJ Library International Fund.
Brazil
In a 2024 survey, 95% of Brazilian subscriber families described themselves as somewhat or very emotionally connected to Israel. PJ Library translated eight books from Sifriyat Pijama (PJ Library’s Israeli program) into Portuguese for some 3,400 children to reinforce this beautiful connection.
“I can only thank you for the joy in my daughter’s eyes when she receives a book from PJ Library. When we read the books together, it is gratifying to see the stories, often set in Israel, with Jewish names and about Jewish celebrations.”
— A PJ Library parent in Brazil
To Read and Write; written by Ayin Hillel, Illustrated by Aya Gordon-Noy. A Bright Holiday; written by Leah Naor, illustrated by Raaya Karas.
UK
PJ Library in the UK turned 10! Since 2015, more than 20,000 children across the UK have received PJ Library books. PJ Library is a powerful tool for reaching less affiliated families; in a 2024 survey, 45% said PJ Library is the main source (or among a few sources) they rely on to learn about Jewish values and traditions.
Ukraine
PJ Library brought Passover to life in 12 communities around Ukraine; families met in community centers and bomb shelters, exploring the story of Passover through art, theater, and experiential play. Thanks to generous donor support, PJ Library published In Every Generation: A PJ Library Family Haggadah in Ukrainian. Demand for the Haggadah was twice as high as expected — although we printed enough for two years, families have already claimed every copy!
Australia
PJ Library in Australia launched in 2011 and remains a trusted brand. In a 2024 survey, 85% of subscribers in Australia and New Zealand said they would recommend PJ Library to family and friends. Three-quarters (76%) said PJ Library is a valuable parenting tool.
PJ Library’s Continued Support for Families in Israel
PJ Library’s sister program, Sifriyat Pijama (“Pajama Library”), and its Arabic-language counterpart, Maktabat al-Fanoos (“Lantern Library”), reach nearly 350,000 Hebrew-speaking children and more than 175,000 Arabic-speaking children with culturally appropriate books. Both operate through schools in partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Education.
After October 7, Sifriyat Pijama launched an extraordinary response and provided strong, creative, and unwavering support for families and communities in Israel. That support included shipping thousands of books and educational activity kits for children in evacuee centers across Israel. The program also produced live story-hour programs, audiobooks, and web resources for families to access with children during a time of tragedy.
During the 2024-2025 fiscal year, Sifriyat Pijama's support continued. In consultation with the Ministry of Education, our team embarked on strategies to strengthen resilience among children and narrow learning gaps caused by the ongoing war.
2024-2025 Highlights
Sifriyat Pijama produced its first musical, Didi and Yarden in Pajamas, based on its popular podcast series of the same name. The live show, which featured musical renditions of beloved books, provided a respite for families with young children.
Sifriyat Pijama and Maktabat al-Fanoos began sending newsletters to families, providing book-related tips and resources to help build literacy and resilience. For families affected by the stresses of military reserve duty, the newsletters promoted the importance of shared reading time for children.
To give children a comforting way to express their emotions in school, our team developed a “hug me” doll. A joint committee with the Ministry of Education began designing a program for classroom engagement. The doll will debut in 2,000 Hebrew-language preschools and 1,000 Arabic-language classrooms in fall 2025.
Photo at left: Courtesy of Keren Grinspoon Israel
Alliance Donors
The PJ Library Alliance is a collective of leading philanthropists who each pledge a minimum of $1 million to support PJ Library’s growth, sustainability, and innovation. An inaugural investment from the William Davidson Foundation inspired new philanthropic leaders to join together to build on PJ Library’s success and take the program to new heights.
Current PJ Library Alliance Partners:
Harold Grinspoon Foundation
The Marcus Foundation, Inc.
The Azrieli Foundation
Carl & Joann Bianco
Winnie and Steven Grinspoon
Howard & Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation
Koum Family Foundation
Micah Philanthropies, Ann and Jeremy Pava
Anonymous
Ann and Nate Levine Family Foundation
Arnold S. and Madaleine Penner Family Foundation
Crown Family Philanthropies
Jeff Grinspoon and Jon Foley
Joseph and Debra Weinberg Family Foundation
Edward and Mary Ellen Loebl
Marilyn Einstein and Steven Sim Charitable Foundation
Mike & Sofia Segal Family Foundation
The Molly Blank Fund of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
One8 Foundation
PELS Tzedek Tirdof Foundation
Stephen Saks
Sam Berman Charitable Foundation
The Sherrie R. Savett Family Foundation
Diane Troderman
Wilf Family Foundations
Walter, Arnee, Sarah & Aaron Winshall
Zucker Family Foundation
Thank you for being our partner
PJ Library is a global community of families who share treasured storytimes across generations; family-engagement professionals who help families find belonging in Jewish community; and authors, illustrators, and publishers who bring beautiful Jewish stories to life.
Support from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, Alliance partners, community partners like federations and JCCs, institutional supporters, and thousands of donors helps keep PJ Library free for families, always and in every corner of the globe.
Thank you for being part of the story.
Join us
Donors at all levels keep PJ Library free for families. Make a gift at pjlibrary.org/donate.
Photo at left: PJ Library subscribers, Northampton, MA
pjlibrary.org