UJA-Federation of New York

UJA-Federation, as it is known today, was created from the 1986 merger of the United Jewish Appeal, established in 1939, and the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, a predecessor organization established in 1917.[4]

Both the Center for Jewish History and the American Jewish Historical Society, an affiliate of the Smithsonian, houses UJA-Federation's archives. Beginning in 1981, the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York conducted an oral history project and continued through the merger between Federation and the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York until 2004.[5] A collection of oral histories was published in 1995.[6] During the late 1980s, UJA-Federation participated in the Soviet Jewry Movement with its Passage to Freedom campaign to help Jewish Émigrés from the Soviet Union.[7] A book entitled UJA-Federation of New York: The First Century was published in 2017 to honor UJA-Federation's centennial.[8]

In 2016, UJA-Federation's annual campaign raised $153.4 million. Including bequests, endowments, and capital and special gifts, the total amount raised in the year was $207.6 million.[9] The American Jewish Historical Society, an affiliate of the Smithsonian, houses UJA-Federation's archives.

Eric S. Goldstein assumed the position of CEO on July 1, 2014.[10] Jeffrey A. Schoenfeld was appointed president of UJA-Federation of New York on July 1, 2016; Robert S. Kapito was appointed chair of the board.[11] In July 2018, Rabbi Menachem Creditor assumed the position of Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar-in-Residence of UJA-Federation.[12]

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, UJA-Federation allocated nearly $70 million in emergency grants.[13] In 2020-21, UJA-Federation conducted an in-depth examination of the social, economic, and emotional impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the New York Jewish community, surveying 4,400 Jews in the New York City area.[14] The study found that nearly one in six adult Jewish New Yorkers experienced financial setbacks during the pandemic, and three-quarters of Jewish New Yorkers who said they have a substance abuse problem said it worsened during that period.[15]

• Jewish Federations of North America
• United Jewish Appeal
• Center for Jewish History
• American Jewish Historical Society
• Jews in New York City

• Berkman, Matthew. “Transforming Philanthropy: Finance and Institutional Evolution at the Jewish Federation of New York, 1917–86,” Jewish Social Studies 22#2 (2017): 146–195.
• Berman, Lila Corwin. "How Americans Give: The Financialization of American Jewish Philanthropy" American Historical Review (2017) 122#5 pp 1459–1489.
• Elazar, Daniel J. Community and Polity: The Organizational Dynamics of American Jewry (1995) see pp 211-18 for a listing of the community Jewish federations and the founding date.
• Feldstein, Donald "The Jewish Federation: The First Hundred Years". in Norman Linzer, ed. A portrait of the American Jewish community (1998).
• Liebman, Charles S. “Leadership and Decision-Making in a Jewish Federation: The New York Federation of Jewish Philanthropies,” in American Jewish Year Book (1979), 3–76.
• More, Deborah Dash. “From Kehillah to Federation: The Communal Functions of Federated Philanthropy in New York City, 1917–1933,” American Jewish History 68#2 (1978): 131–146;
• Nissim, Hanna Shaul Bar. "The Adaptation Process of Jewish Philanthropies to Changing Environments: The Case of the UJA-Federation of New York Since 1990." Contemporary Jewry 38.1 (2018): 79–105.
• Wenger, Beth S. “Federation Men: The Masculine World of New York Jewish Philanthropy, 1880–1945,” American Jewish History 101# 3 (2017): 377–399.

• UJA-Federation of New York
• Guide to the Records of the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York, 1909-2004