What We Fund

Funding Focus

Welcoming New People to Judaism

The National Center to Encourage Judaism funds programs worldwide to engage, educate, and connect interfaith couples, people interested in conversion, and others who want to explore becoming part of the Jewish community. We offer direct grants to synagogues and Jewish nonprofits for both single events and multi-session programs, traditional classes and experiential learning. We reimburse for marketing, program materials (including holiday celebration kits), security, and related expenses. We only fund established groups.

What Types of Programs Does NCEJ Fund?

We support programs that welcome new people to Judaism including virtual programs:

Exploring the Jewish Experience Course, newsletter feature – Shabbat with Friends New Mexico

We fund programs for anyone interested in exploring Judaism, including interfaith families and individuals considering conversion.

Programs can be any length – from single session workshops to multi-session classes:

We’ve funded family programming, adult learning, discussion groups, conversations with clergy, and much more.

We fund programs with an educational component:

We encourage Jewish groups to offer programs that provide people the tools to help them celebrate holidays, build a Jewish home, and connect with others with similar backgrounds and experiences.

We reimburse for advertising, program materials, curriculum development, and some staff support:

We want to help you attract more people to your programs. We cover digital ads, print ads (in both the Jewish and mainstream press), postcards and brochures, and other types of marketing. We pay for handouts and materials, such as activity kits, directly related to the program we are funding. We reimburse for some costs of curriculum development to develop new programs or to adapt to online learning.

We give grants to synagogues, federations, and other Jewish nonprofits throughout the world:

We’ve funded programs in Israel, the UK, Canada, central and eastern Europe as well as across the US.

We give grants to all branches of Judaism as well as independent synagogues:

Congregations of any size are encouraged to apply.

We welcome inquiries via phone or email:

If you’re not sure if an idea meets our funding guidelines, just ask.

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Pictured Right: Rabbi Alona Lisitsa, Ph.D. (standing, second from left), a sponsoring rabbi for the conversion process for Iberia in the European Beit Din. NCEJ is increasing its international presence with a grant to the World Union for Progressive Judaism to support conversion efforts in the Iberian Peninsula.

Program Profiles

In the last few years, NCEJ has expanded the scope of programs it funds.

Here are some examples:

Family Programming

PJ Library-related programming

Program: “Interfaith Family Engagement Project”: This initiative offered monthly 2 hour conversations for parents (with children welcome) focused on building a Jewish home: Shabbat, holidays, and life-cycle events. – Jewish Federation of Greater Orange County, NY (subgrantee for Jewish Federations of North America)

Program: “PJ Simchas”: This program featured multiple experiences, including Shabbat dinners, holiday celebrations, and havdalah, held in both Jewish locations and in public/ secular spaces. The goal was to build relationships and connections to Judaism through small group settings. – Jewish Federation of Raleigh-Cary, NC

Holiday-related programming

Program: “5 Senses of Judaism”: This is a multi-session program for families with very young children that focuses on one holiday each session. Each child-led program allows families to explore Judaism in an experiential setting and learn about Jewish traditions and customs. The children leave with an activity, such as a coloring book, so that the learning can continue at home. –Temple of Aaron, St Paul, MN

Program: “Hanukkah Latke Bake and Take”: Took place at the JCC. Families prepared the latkes, played dreidel, and enjoyed potato latkes and sufganyiot. For safety reasons families were given the raw materials in reclosable bags to cook at home. Before leaving they all gathered together for music, singing and candle lighting. – The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh 

View PDF – Program Profiles for Families

Adult Programming

Introduction to Jewish Traditions

Program: “A Taste of Hebrew”: Geared primarily to parents who did not grow up Jewish and whose children were in the process of learning Hebrew, this 6-session course taught basic Hebrew decoding skills. – Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis

Program: “A Taste of Jewish Life”: Temple Israel did an outreach program for women in interfaith relationships and other interested women that combined sessions about Jewish living with a lunch featuring a traditional Jewish meal. Sessions included learning about Shabbat, making challah; learning about Passover and making charoset. – Temple Israel Sisterhood, Tulsa, OK (subgrantee Women of Reform Judaism outreach grants)

Introduction to Judaism/A Taste of Judaism®

Program: “A Taste of Judaism®/Introduction to Judaism“: An NCEJ grant to the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ) supports digital marketing and social media efforts designed to increase awareness and attendance. – Union of Reform Judaism

Program: “Elements of Judaism“: Elements of Judaism is an introductory course in Jewish thought, belief, and practice. It is followed by “Choosing Judaism”. – Temple Beth El, Charlotte, NC

Program: “Introduction to Judaism – Goodblatt Curriculum“: An NCEJ grant enabled a PA synagogue to expand marketing for its intro course. Participants were then plugged in to other synagogue programs. – Germantown Jewish Centre, Philadelphia

Program: “Conversion Class Plus Shabbat Dinners“: This Judaism 101 class included several Shabbat dinners at the shul. The classes were promoted on the congregation’s website, on Facebook, and through advertising in local media. – Congregation Beth Israel, Vancouver, Canada

Holiday–Related Programming

Program: “Passover 101”: This 2-session workshop was primarily designed for people who had taken a basic Judaism class and covered preparing for Passover as well as selecting a haggadah and leading a Seder. – Congregation Agudas Achim, San Antonio, TX

Post-Conversion Programs

Program: “Post-conversion Mentoring Program”: A community-wide rabbinic association recently received a grant for a new post-conversion program to help new Jews-by-choice become more familiar with Jewish traditions and assist them in connecting with local congregations. – Rabbinical Association Greater Kansas City

Program: “Keeping the Faith”: Keeping the Faith was specifically designed to strengthen the connection between recent Jewish converts (and their Jewish partners) and the Jewish community. – Toronto Region Rabbinic Assembly, Rabbi Adam Cutler (subgrantee – The Rabbinic Assembly)

View PDF – Program Profiles for Adults

International Programming

Jewish Renewal

Program: “Discovering Jewish Roots”: At the Warsaw JCC, holiday programming helped newcomers to Judaism develop their Jewish identity. For Sukkot there was a week of activities in the sukkah, including meals, classes, and workshops. – Joint Distribution Committee

Program: “Conversion in the Iberian Peninsula”: The program includes both online classes and periodic in-person visits, outreach, educational materials, and conversion ceremonies. – World Union for Progressive Judaism

Judaism 101/Conversion Classes

Program: “Delving into Judaism”: At the Finchley Progressive Synagogue in London, “delvers” will hear about the breadth of Jewish life at the synagogue, and have the chance to meet active members. – Finchley Progressive Synagogue, London

Program: “Judaism for Russian-Speaking Families”: This program enables Jews from the FSU who emigrated to Israel to learn more about Judaism, and develop a Jewish identity. Those who wish can take the classes necessary for conversion. – Israel Reform Movement

Read more about our grants

“No amount of words can express how wonderful our Hanukkah celebration was and the impact that NCEJ has now made in our lives.”

“Our Russian/Ukrainian speaking program completed a 5-part leadership course for [young adults in their language]. Participants can actually pass on Judaism to others, like ambassadors, and can both practice and lead Jewish ritual independently within this unique community. Thank you so much for your support which enables these amazing things to happen!”

Want to Learn More?