Our History

Over a Century of Giving

The first pioneer settlers

Following the discovery of gold in 1848, San Francisco quickly became a home for people from different cultures, religions and economic backgrounds. Among some of the earliest settlers in the city were German, Polish, and Prussian Jews who acquired greater freedom by moving to the new world.

By the turn of the century, San Francisco Jews had formed more than a dozen charities tending to the poor, sick, widowed, orphaned and elderly. When the San Francisco earthquake and fires devastated the city in 1906, additional support was needed to revive the Jewish community.

Rabbi Jacob Voorsanger of Temple Emanu-El promoted a local merger of Jewish charities that would be similar to newly federated communities in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati.

Eureka Benevolent Society before and after the earthquake in 1906

Nurses ready to tend to the sick after the earthquake

The Federation of Jewish Charities was officially established on June 1, 1910 to manage joint fundraising for 13 Jewish organizations in San Francisco. This merger not only signaled greater harmony throughout a diverse community, it created a synergy that still exists and is vibrant and thriving in the present day.

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1910’s The Federation of Jewish Charities revolutionized charitable fundraising in San Francisco.

Annual Meeting

Administrative offices for the Eureka Benevolent Society, (one of SF’s earliest philanthropic organizations) c. 1916

Seder at Emanu-el Sisterhood, c. 1917

Communities were no longer burdened by annual appeals from numerous organizations, and charities focused more on their services, as they were relieved from fundraising duties.

In its first years, the Federation was deemed a success with 993 subscribers who contributed $108,717 — double the amount that the charities raised prior to the merger.

Through the leadership of Federation president I.W. Hellman, Jr. in 1918, the Federation reconsolidated its constituent societies into eight agencies to avoid duplication of services.

In its first decade, the Federation positioned itself as a stable and streamlined organization that was prepared to respond to changing demands in an unpredictable world.

Following the opening of the Panama Canal, World War I, and the Russian Revolution, San Francisco experienced an influx of immigrants. The Federation’s local agencies provided housing, food, clothing, and language classes for new immigrants.

The Federation launched major fundraising efforts in order to raise additional funds during times of war and increased immigration. It also supported international agencies that provided relief to millions of Jews living in Central and Eastern Europe.

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1920’s

Pacific Hebrew Orphan Asylum and Home Society, c. 1921

Seder at Emanu-El Sisterhood, c. 1923

A Jewish family in Jedrzejow, Poland

In 1922, the Federation joined the Community Chest of San Francisco (a forerunner of the United Way). The Community Chest administered joint fundraising for local charities which mirrored the Federation’s system, but was applied to a larger constituency. However, the Federation’s Bancroft Library at University of California, Berkeley had to develop a new way to fundraise for its religious agencies, as did the Bureau of Jewish Education, since the Community Chest did not support religious organizations.

In 1925, Federation leaders established the Jewish National Welfare Fund (JNWF) to manage fundraising for local religious agencies, as well as national and international organizations. The JNWF allocated funds to nearly two dozen national and international organizations, with the largest percentage going to the United Jewish Campaign, an appeal that acted on behalf of seven million Jews living in Poland and Russia who were devastated by war, famine, and pogroms.

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1930’s

Local Agencies

JFCC advertising on cable car, c. 1933

New SFJCC at California and Presidio Streets, c. 1933

During the Great Depression, the Federation’s priority was to provide relief to its community.

Unemployment in San Francisco increased, and people were seeking financial support in greater numbers. Hebrew Free Loan Association increased the number of loans it provided during the time of economic instability.

The Federation offset costs that allowed more people to move into residential facilities at the Emanu-EI Sisterhood, Hebrew Home for Aged Disabled, and Homewood Terrace. The Federation also acquired funds for the Eureka Benevolent Society (EBS) to expand its programs and support families with loans, shelter, food, and other standard amenities.

They began to respond to the repression and anti-Semitic acts on their fellow Jews abroad. The Federation led initiatives to open US borders to European refugees while petitioning government leaders for further political intervention in Germany.

International Crisis

In the alarm and panic of Hitler’s rise to power, the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) was formed to rescue and aid Jews in Nazi Germany following Kristallnacht on November 10, 1938. After this event, San Francisco’s Jewish National Welfare Fund (JNWF) started local fundraising for the UJA in order to rescue Jews from the extreme danger they faced in Europe.

By 1939, the JNWF distributed the majority of its funds to help Jews in Germany. Its funding provided general relief through hospitals and soup kitchens, economic rehabilitation through loans, and social reconstruction through educational, religious, and cultural institutions.

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1940’s World War II

Federation agencies adapted their programs to meet the demands of a wartime economy when the US entered World War II in December 1941.

Campaign billboard

Youth participation in the annual campaign, c. 1945

JNWF sends blood to Israel, 1948

Israel

When the war ended in 1945, hundreds of thousands of Jewish survivors were moved to displaced persons’ camps. A tremendous amount of financial support was needed to care for survivors who awaited resettlement. The JNWF contributed to the UJA in order to provide postwar relief to Jewish survivors. The UJA, which had merged with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), provided care to survivors in the displaced persons’ camps, and also worked to resettle survivors in many countries around the world. As the US relaxed its immigration policies for people who had faced Nazi persecution, there was an influx of immigrants.

With financial backing from the JNWF, the Federation’s local agencies, including the San Francisco Committee for Service to Emigrés, created social welfare systems that provided new immigrants with housing and basic amenities.

On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was established. Israel opened its borders to Jews living in the displaced persons’ camps in Europe, as well as Jewish refugees from around the world. In the next three years, 700,000 Jews immigrated to Israel.

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1950’s By the 1950s, the Federation had provided fundraising services for charities during two world wars and periods of marked immigration. The costs born from these situations increased, and the Community Chest was not able to provide the requisite funds. The Jewish National Welfare Fund (JNWF) stepped in to more substantially fund the Federation’s agencies.

Residential Division during the JNWF drive, 1956

JNWWF campaign event, 1952

In 1951, the Federation initiated the Study Committee on Jewish Community Planning, who recommended merging fundraising and strategic planning for all local, national, and international Jewish agencies.

On December 20, 1955, the Jewish Welfare Federation of San Francisco, Marin County, and the Peninsula (JWF) was officially established as a merger of the Federation of Jewish Charities and the JNWF.

The new Federation was formed to singularly address the San Francisco community regarding all programmatic and funding activities for local, national, and international Jewish agencies. Through this merger, the Federation became self-sufficient, and no longer relied on the Community Chest to raise funds for its constituents.

Population Study

In 1959, the Federation published a population study that showed that the San Francisco Bay Area was home to 66,000 Jewish people. While the majority of the Jewish community lived in the city, more people than ever before had moved to the suburbs—nearly 20,000 Jews resided in Marin County and the Peninsula.

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1960’s San Francisco Milestones

FJCC members visit US armed forces in hospital, 1965

Federation’s 50th anniversary dinner, 1960

Children drawing their support of Israel

Early in the decade, the Federation celebrated two milestones—its 50th anniversary in 1960 and a successful capital campaign in 1961. These events marked the community’s strong and continued support of the Federation. Jewish communities around the world, however, faced more tumultuous times marked by anti-Semitism. The Federation recognized these mounting tensions and rallied its community to offer additional support to those in need.

In May 1967, the San Francisco Jewish community held its first annual Israel Independence th Day celebration. Israel’s 19 anniversary was a time to celebrate Israel while also demonstrating against the oppression Jews faced in the USSR. Shortly thereafter, with the Six Day War of 1967, life in Israel was once again made perilous.

The Federation raised funds to support United Jewish Appeal’s (UJA) and the United Israel Appeal’s (UIA) drives, which was a hugely successful campaign.

The funds were allocated to Israel for projects to help rebuild the communities affected by the war.

The Federation also funded two San Francisco-based organizations, the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and the Bay Area Council for Soviet Jewry (BACSJ) that promoted social activism on behalf of Soviet Jews and Jews around the world.

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1970’s One of the Federation’s top priorities of the decade was supporting the Soviet Jewry movement.

Seniors gather at the Menorah Park site, 1979

Days of Mourning: A service for those who died in the Yom Kippur War, 1974

The San Francisco community absorbed thousands of Soviet Jewish immigrants annually.

Freedom for Soviet Jews, however, came at a very significant price, often ranging from $500-$3,000 per person for an immigration visa, along with additional resettlement and absorption expenses.

In 1974, the Federation hired Rabbi Brian Lurie as its executive director, who provided the leadership for numerous innovative local and international programs. Under his direction, the Federation

raised funds to support the massive influx of immigrants in San Francisco Bay Area. Local agencies were encouraged to work together to provide services to new immigrants. English language, job training, and acculturation courses helped Soviet Jews resettle and succeed in the SF Bay Area.

The Endowment Fund

In 1975, the Jewish Community Endowment Fund began providing seed money for new ideas in Jewish programming. It provided a grant that enabled the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and the Bureau of Jewish Education (BJE) to train public school teachers about the Holocaust. Early support from the Endowment Fund also provided seed funding to establish the Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) program to assist members of the local community to find employment.

Female Leaders

During the 1970s, the Federation elected female leaders who opened doors for future generations.

Frances D. Green was the first Federation annual campaign chair in 1972, and president in 1974.

Phyllis Cook was the executive director of the Endowment Fund, which she led through a quarter century of unprecedented growth.

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1980’s

Super Sunday, 1983

Drawing on more than seventy years of providing social services to the local community, the Jewish Welfare Federation was renamed the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties.

At this time, the Federation worked with more than 50 local, national, and international agencies. The Federation’s new building was constructed and inaugurated in 1984, providing a central place for the Federation and other agencies to develop new initiatives.

Projects in Israel

Construction of 121 Steuart Street building, 1984

Following the Lebanon War in 1982, the Federation launched projects in Israel that supported pluralism, democracy, and human rights. The Federation opened an Amuta in 1984, which was comprised of diverse, prominent Israelis who served as a volunteer advisory committee for allocations in Israel.

Problems in Ethiopia

Between 1981 and 1984, Ethiopia faced a drought and famine that led to political instability. By 1987, nearly 10,000 Ethiopian Jews fled New building at 121 Steuart Street, 1984 to Israel. The Federation worked with organizations overseas to fund and implement resettlement and absorption programs for Ethiopian Jews in Israel.

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1990’s Israel

It was cause for celebration worldwide when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Prime Minister Yasser Arafat agreed to peaceful relations between their nations on September 13, 1993.

Shalom ‘91 Mega Mission chaired by Cissie and Richard Swig

Large community mission to Israel

In 1995, Jews around the world mourned the loss of Israel’s leader when a Jewish extremist assassinated Rabin.

The Federation continued to provide grants to its Amuta to strengthen religious pluralism and democracy in Israel. The Adam Institute in Jerusalem funded Jewish and Arab teachers to attend classes on democracy. Several training programs for Jewish and Arab women were established through the Israel Women’s Network in order to improve the status of women in their communities. A Young Leadership Forum was started, and even a playground was provided to a Bedouin village.

Ethiopians immigrating out through Operation Exodus

Operation Exodus & Operation Solomon

Operation Exodus—the United Jewish Appeal’s (UJA) three-year campaign ­was launched to raise support to free Soviet Jews. By 1994, Operation Exodus resettled approximately 500,000 Jews from the Former Soviet Union in Israel, the largest influx of immigration in Israel since 1948.

The Federation also raised funds for Operation Solomon to assist Ethiopian Jews immigrate to Israel. In 1991 the UJA worked with the US, Israeli, and Ethiopian governments to airlift more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Tel Aviv in 48 hours.

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2000’s A new millennium marked a time to celebrate achievements and recognize areas for potential improvements.

Jennifer Gorovitz, 2010

The Federation set out to improve community outreach and better serve traditionally marginalized groups. In 2001, the LGBT Alliance was launched, making it the first federated community in North America to provide dedicated services for this constituency.

In 2004, a new population study of the Jewish community demonstrated that the Federation should continue community development programs to serve new audiences.

Federation LGBT Alliance celebrating SF Pride

In 2010, Jennifer Gorovitz became the first woman to head an executive staff of a Jewish federation in a major North American community.

Israel

During recent times of war in Israel, the Federation funded programs through its Amuta that promoted democracy and pluralism.

Taube Koret Center for Jewish Life

At the beginning of the decade, the Jewish Community Endowment Fund had $540 million in assets, which grew to nearly $3 billion in 2008. This achievement demonstrated the community’s belief in Federation’s programs, as well as its commitment to the future.

Federation Today A New Era of East Bay-West Bay Collaboration

East Bay Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation Centennial Celebration

The Federation’s population study confirmed that there is a sense of connection to a larger regional Jewish community, as opposed to one segregated by regions. In 2019, the East Bay Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation of the East Bay transferred its operations to the San Francisco-based Federation. This historical event will increase support for Jewish communal needs and better serve philanthropists throughout the Bay Area.

Federation Philanthropy Partners event featuring Sir Ronald Cohen

Jewish Philanthropy for the Next Generation

As part of a broader regional community, the Federation will help mobilize people, capital, and community for greater impact. To help achieve this, the Federation launched its advisory practice, called Federation Philanthropy Partners, to provide customized advice, philanthropic education, and access to innovative funding opportunities, including impact investing.

Evolving to meet the community’s changing needs for the next 100 years

For more than 100 years, the Federation has significantly shaped and strengthened this Jewish community and beyond. Today, our community’s needs have changed—as has our culture, our regions, and the world around us. The Federation has embarked upon a new strategic direction that aims to achieve more and better Jewish philanthropy, dramatically increase the number of young people engaged in Jewish life, and foster resilient and secure Jewish communities. These goals will help us meet today’s challenges while strengthening our Jewish communities for future generations to come.