Youth foundation hands out $7,300 in grants

By Deborah Moon Seldner

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There just never seems to be enough money to go around. Just ask members of the Oregon Jewish Community Youth Foundation.
During this year's final OJCYF meeting May 7, the 12 young board members had to decide how to reconcile $23,599 in grant requests with the $7,300 the group had raised.
Looking at those numbers, OJCYF member Blake Morell said, "We know a lot of people aren't getting what they want."
Julia Weiss, who originated the OJCYF under the auspices of the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation three years ago, said of the disparity, "I felt bad. I want to help them reach their goals."
Earlier in the year, OJCYF board members allocated $5,000—half to Jewish and half to secular agencies—that had been donated by community members.

The third round of allocations was held after the group attended the national youth funders conference in Denver. From what they learned at that conference, several board members said they wanted to give a larger percentage of their allocations to Jewish agencies.
Josh Wasserteil said he felt the board should give significantly more to the Jewish agencies, a sentiment echoed by Hannah Suher and Morriah Kaplan. Julia Weiss said she personally would give it all to Jewish agencies.
In fact, in the third round they allocated 65 percent of their money to Jewish agencies.
The OJCYF is designed to give Jewish high school students an inside look into how non-profits operate and the decision-making process of philanthropic boards. During three rounds of allocations, board members saw two very different methods of garnering information on prospective grant recipients.
For the first two rounds of allocations, board members visited agencies and then presented their recommendations to the entire youth board, which then divided the available funds between agencies. For the third and final round, OJCYF requested proposals from secular and Jewish agencies.
OJCF Executive Director John Moss asked the youth board members which method they preferred for allocating their funds.
"I like the site visits better," said Dana Bacharach. "You can see with your own eyes and it's much more personal."
Hannah Suher said that they felt the grant requests were a more unbiased way of looking at the needs.
"You have a range of how things are presented ? and the disadvantage of getting too close to an organization," said Suher.
Weiss said she felt it was easier to make decisions based on the grant proposals because, "Sometimes I would fight for mine (the organization I visited), just because it was mine."
In the end, the board made the following grant awards:
? $2,500 to OJCF for PJ Library, to supply bedtime stories and songs for children up to age 5 and their families (See Sidebar);
? $1,800 to Jewish Family and Child Service for its "Side by Side" child abuse prevention program;
? $500 to Neveh Michael Youth Village in Israel to support the Portland Petting Zoo;
? $1,000 to the Portland Reading Foundation for its reading remediation program; and
? $1,500 to Raphael House to send volunteers to the second annual Domestic Violence Summit.