Reminder: MATCH Applications Due Jan 13

Did you know that MATCH will help infuse $15 million into day schools throughout North America? First-time gifts of $25,000 to $100,000, as well as grants that increase previous funding by at least five-fold, are eligible for a 1:2 match, (50 cents on every dollar), but the deadine is fast approaching. Applications are due by January 13, 2006 at 3 PM EST. If questions are holding up the process, get in touch with PEJE MATCH Program Manager Sheila Alexander. Or contact Erika Scott at the Jewish Funders Network (JFN).

MATCH Success Stories

As many Jewish day schools across North America learned last year, MATCH is more than just a great incentive for new donors--it's also a terrific way to turn first-time gifts into lasting relationships. And it's helped day schools fund the sort of "dream" projects that all too often seem out of reach. In 2004, the MATCH program helped leaders at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy in Overland Park, KS identify two new major donors. The matching grants helped fund an enrichment project--a new theater program--for the 275-student school. The MATCH program definitely made a difference, according to Development Director Dee Dee Lowland. "In one case it caused a donor to really step up to the plate. In the other, the donor was contemplating a gift and MATCH just pushed him to increase the size of the gift he'd planned to give," says Lowland.

MATCH resulted in four new major donors for the 386-student Brauser Maimonides Academy in Fort Lauderdale, FL. School principal Rabbi Avram Skurowitz says MATCH was an enormous incentive to potential donors--something that helped him to "close the deal" on three gifts for $25,000 and one for $100,000. "It would be foolish for any day school not to apply for MATCH. There are no drawbacks, only benefits," says Rabbi Skurowitz.

Frequently Asked Questions

During recent weeks many of you have called Sheila with questions about the MATCH program. You'll find some of your frequent questions answered here and more on the MATCH website. If you have additional questions, please contact Sheila.

After the donor and school submit the online application, how does the donor pay his Jewish Funders Network membership dues?

JFN will send an invoice to the donor after receiving and reviewing the completed application on line.

I have a prospective donor who has made a previous $10,000 pledge to my school that she is paying over five years at $2000 a year. What is considered her previous largest annual gift for the purpose of calculating her five-fold increase?

The previous largest gift is the $10,000 gift. The $2000 is not the gift amount; it is the annual pledge payment. To be eligible as a MATCH donor, her new gift would have to be at least $50,000.

A donor has made annual gifts to our K-8 school of $5000 per year as well as $6000 per year to the community day school high school. He is prepared to increase his gift five-fold to be eligible for MATCH. How do we calculate that required gift size?

Even though his largest previous gift to your school has been $5000, for his gift to qualify for MATCH he would have to make a gift five-times the larger annual gift or $30,000. He would be eligible to give only one of the schools a MATCH gift. He would have to give at least $30,000 to whichever day school he chooses to support for the MATCH.

I have a new donor couple who gave our school a gift of $25,000 on October 1, 2005. Is their gift eligible for the MATCH application?

No, only gifts made after October 15, 2005 are eligible for MATCH.

My prospective MATCH donor is in Florida for the winter and our school is in New York. How do we complete the application together?

The online application is designed so that more than one individual can access it online. After the donor has completed the appropriate sections, the donor can save, enter an additional email access address, and exit the application. The application provides prompts on how to proceed. The school can then complete additional sections of the application. The donor must be the one to review and submit the completed application.

2006 PEJE Assembly for Jewish Day School Education

Register now for the 2006 PEJE Assembly for Jewish Day School Education, an unparalleled opportunity to access high-level expertise at "wholesale" prices, exchange ideas, network, and propel the day school movement forward. The event is geared to a broad audience, including day school professionals, lay leaders, major donors, and community. Special events and sessions for schools participating in MATCH include:

• The launch of the MATCH Community of Practice
• Networking event for MATCH grantees
• Donor recognition reception for MATCH schools and donors
• "Identifying, Cultivating and Soliciting Major Donors"
• "The Art of Donor Stewardship"
• "Growing the Donor Base: Energizing the Next Generation"
• "Creating New Models for BJE/Federation/Day School Relationships"

PEJE is eager to invite donor participants of the MATCH Program to the Assembly. If your day school has already worked with a donor to submit a MATCH Application, please send Sheila the names and addresses for donors (or prospective donors) and we'll send them an invitation to the Assembly.

Resources

To help you make the case for supporting day schools, visit www.peje.org and www.dayschoolmatch.org.

The December 2, 2005 issue of The Jewish Week highlighted MATCH in a roundup of several philanthropic initiatives.

MATCH is a project of JFN and PEJE, funded by The AVI CHAI Foundation, Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Alan B. Slifka Foundation, and the Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation.