Ignition Grants

Reflecting the Federation Value of “Innovation”

2025 Ignition Grant Applications Are Now Closed.

Our Ignition Grant program reflects and supports the Federation core value of Innovation, providing up to $12,000 to cultivate new, pilot, and one-time projects that address the evolving needs of the Puget Sound Jewish community.

Applicants should expect to be contacted with their award status at the end of December 2024. Should you have any questions before then, please contact Emilia Picklesimer at EmiliaP@jewishinseattle.org

Our Areas of Focus in 2025

Outreach to Unconnected/Unaffiliated Members of the Jewish Community
Outreach to Jews of Color
Combating Antisemitism and Hate
Collaboration Between Multiple Organizations

Ignition Grant Recipients

2024

$4,000 – Camp Solomon Schechter – Immersive Summer Program
Alternative summer programming for teens between their 10th and 11th grade academic years, involving a domestic trip in lieu of the typical Israel trip, in light of current events in Israel.
$4,000 – Camp Solomon Schechter – Song Leader and Educators Workshop
A project to build a new generation of Jewish song leaders in the PNW. CSS will train and equip emerging song leaders and educators with the skills and knowledge necessary to lead meaningful Jewish experiences, fostering a sense of community and collaboration in the region.
$12,000 – Congregation Beth Shalom – Lifting Refugee Voices to Inspire Action
“Lifting Refugee and Immigrant Voices to Inspire Action” will be a year-long series of educational programming, multicultural events, and volunteer activities to inspire the Beth Shalom Community and unaffiliated individuals to engage in volunteer work with immigrants, refugees, and partner organizations.
$12,000 – Friendship Circle of Washington – Jewish Heritage
Jewish Heritage Journey is a trip to New York, aimed at connecting unaffiliated 10th and 11th graders to their Jewish heritage through immersive experiences, followed by monthly programming and a workshop created and facilitated by the teens. Teens complete the program fully embracing their heritage, prepared to step onto their future college campuses as strong, proud Jews.
$3,000 – Jewish Student Union at Gonzaga University – Jewish Culture Campus Event
The Jewish Student Union would like to take their place among the other cultural groups and provide an event celebrating and promoting Jewish culture. This coming April, they are planning to host an afternoon of food, music, and education about Jewish life around the world. The event would serve 200+ people. In a community such as Spokane, our presence is very small and such an event would be extremely beneficial to educating our larger community on the special features of our Jewish cultural heritage. Especially considering the war in Israel, growing antisemitism, as well as general ignorance about Jews and Judaism, planning and holding this event is especially poignant both for our students and for the larger community.
$12,000 – Hillel of the University of Washington – Campus Outreach Program
Hillel UW is requesting $12,000 in support for our new Campus Outreach Program that is in direct response to the needs of students since the Oct 7th Hamas attack on Israel. Ignition Grant support will provide our team with the emergency resources we need to engage unaffiliated Jewish college students and keep them safe – physically, spiritually, and emotionally. The grant will fund additional outreach needs from January – June 2024.
$8,000 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Difficult Conversations
Pilot a socialization program for homebound Jewish older adults from the former Soviet Union. Through this pilot, JFS will engage 15 older adult households, including approximately 30 individuals, who are unaffiliated with the Jewish community in in-person activities that reduce social isolation and promote meaningful connections to the Jewish community and Jewish culture. Activities will include doing art projects and cooking traditional Jewish meals. Participants will include older adults, their family members, caregivers and/or friends.
$12,000 – Seattle Sephardic Network – Los Muevos Ladineros
This grant would fund Los Muevos Ladineros, a community-wide, multi-generational program to keep the Ladino/Judeo Spanish language, spoken by Sephardic Jews, alive in the Seattle area. This grant would create a formal group with the Seattle Sephardic Network acting as its caretaker in partnership with other community organizations, including UW Sephardic Studies. The goal is to create a vibrant group that not only includes native Ladino speakers, but also community members and students – potentially from grade school to graduate school – who want to learn Ladino.
$12,000 – Seattle Yiddish Fest – Seattle Yiddish Fest 2024 Programming Expansion
SYF is a celebration of Yiddish culture with the goals of promoting appreciation, participation and cultural literacy in Ashkenazi expressive arts by engaging a diverse community in a ‘safe space’ i.e. not explicitly religious or political. This application is for adding language, visual art and literature components to our offerings plus activities outside the main festival and a night celebrating local bands. The funding will result in increased engagement and understanding of Yiddish culture history and identity.
$12,000 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – SJCC & Seattle Jewish Community School Satellite Summer Camp Pilot
This pilot satellite program is aimed at expanding our reach into the community by providing a Jewish summer camp experience to children in the north end of Seattle. We recognize that there are many children in north Seattle who are unable to participate due to distance from the SJCC. J Camp will operate at SJCS in Greenlake, for four weeks, and will be staffed with nine counselors and space for up to 60 campers per week.
$6,000 – Temple Beth Or – Meeting Needs in the Jewish Community: ADA Accommodations
This program will install a T-coil sound system in our sanctuary to interface with congregants and guests’ hearing aids. This will improve hearing impaired members and guests’ experience in the sanctuary, provide more communal worship experiences for those that have been foregoing services or attending online only. More people will be able to attend in person services at the Temple instead of only attending from home via Zoom where they can hear the service well.

2023

$7,500 – Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Pacific Northwest – Asian Jewish Initiative in Seattle
$1,200 – Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue – B’Nai Mitzvah Program Development
$7,500 – Camp Solomon Schechter – Special Needs Family Camp Retreat
$2,863 – Congregation Shaarei Teshuvah – Jewish Prisoner Services International
$7,500 – Congregation Kol Shalom – Kitsap and Olympic Peninsula Jewish Youth Group
$7,000 – Hillel at University of Washington – Jconnect SVARA Shavuot Seminar
$5,673 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Interactive 3D Artifact Project
$7,500 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – A New Permanent Exhibit: The Ten Stages of Genocide
$7,500 – Seattle NCSY – JSU on Wheels
$7,500 – Sephardic Adventure Camp – Yachad Special Needs Inclusion Program
$7,500 – The Friendship Circle of Washington – Shorashim
$7,500 – URJ Camp Kalsman – Spring Fest
$7,500 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Jewish Family Memory Vault

2022

$1,250 – Camp Solomon Schechter – Connecting
$7,500 – Congregation Beth Shalom – Becoming a Synagogue Where Every Jew Finds Belonging
$7,200 – Congregation Beth Shalom – Shmita Year 5782
$5,000 – Dreamcoat Initiative – “Jewish &” Speaker Series
$2,000 – Dreamcoat Initiative – What’s on Your Plate?
$7,500 – Friendship Circle Of Washington – U-First
$7,500 – Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation – The Shalom Project
$7,500 – Holocaust Center For Humanity – DEI Inreach & Implementation Plan Project
$7,200 – Holocaust Center For Humanity – Message Refresh Project
$7,500 – Jewish Family Service – Identification And Outreach To The King County Jewish Community Of Color
$7,200 – Jewish Family Service – Intergenerational Cooking Classes For Russian-Speaking Jewish Families In King County
$4,900 – Kadima – Supplemental BIPOC Liturgy
$2,100 – Seattle Jewish Community School – Bo’u Nilmad V’n’daber/Come, Let’s Learn And Talk /באו נלמד ונדבר
$5,000 – Seattle Sephardic Network – I Want More Than Borekas: The Future Of The Seattle Sephardic Community
$5,000 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – True Colors By The Braid
$7,500 – Temple B’nai Torah – We Once Were Strangers; Learning To Fight For Racial Equity
$7,500 – Trybal Gatherings – Trybal Gatherings Seattle Pilot
$7,500 – UW Foundation, Sephardic Studies Program – The Ladino Bookshelf
$7,500 – URJ Camp Kalsman – Family Camp
$2,500 – West Coast NCSY – JSU Leadership Institute

2021

$6,750 – Camp Solomon Schechter – Family Camp Expansion
$7,000 – Congregation Beth Shalom – Building Beth Shalom’s Leadership of Color
$7,500 – Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Light – Jewish Greening Congregations for Shmita and Beyond
$6,750 – Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation – Chicken Soup for the Quarantined Soul
$7,000 – Hillel UW/Jconnect Seattle – J-Author Series
$5,000 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Dear Erich – International Holocaust Remembrance Day
$3,200 – Jewish Family Service – Secondary Trauma and Clinical Support for Staff During COVID-19
$4,020 – Jewish Family Service – Staying Connected – Client Technology Support
$6,500 – Seattle Hebrew Academy – SHA Art to Action
$6,000 – Seattle Sephardic Network – Podcast: Ladino Refrains – Idioms, Insults, and Dirty Words
$2,030 – Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation– Café Finjan: Sephardic Music Series
$7,500 – Stroum Center for Jewish Studies – Mashallah! Jews in Arab Lands
$6,750 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – Mitzvah Corps
$7,500 – Temple Beth Am – Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Temple Beth Am Youth Learning
$4,500 – Temple B’nai Torah – Badge Education Program
$6,750 – Temple B’nai Torah – Outdoor Adventure Camp
$7,500 – The Friendship Circle of Washington – Holiday Outside the Box
$7,500 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Teen Historian Program

2020

$4,000 – Bet Chaverim Community Synagogue of South King County – Yom Ha’atzmaut Concert
$7,500 – Camp Solomon Schechter – CSS Discovery Lab
$7,500 – Friendship Circle of Washington – Mom’s Special Day of Rest
$7,500 – Healing the Divide (formally Straight Talk) – Othering Study
$7,500 – Hebrew Free Loan Association of Washington State – College Loan Program
$2,500 – Hebrew Free Loan Association of Washington State – Women & Children’s Fund
$2,500 – Hillel UW – Jconnect Seattle
$7,500 – Hillel UW: Student Leadership Board – One Big Thing
$5,000 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Ambassadors for Change
$2,500 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Written Resistance
$7,500 – Jewish Family Service – Uniper Care Technologies
$3,775 – Minyan Ohr Chadash – Synagogue Melodies
$7,500 – OneTable – Nosh:Shabbat
$6,000 – Sephardic Adventure Camp – Sephardic Heritage Education
$7,500 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – Tot Shabbat
$7,500 – Tales of the Alchemysts Theatre – The Ruins of Memory
$7,500 – Temple B’nai Torah – Group Therapy
$2,500 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Hear O’Washington
$5,000 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Oral History

2019

$4,000 – ADL Pacific Northwest – Straight Talk: Seattle Jewish Center for Conflict Resolution
$7,500 – Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath – Cemetery Security
$6,000 – Camp Solomon Schechter – CSS Jewish Culinary Program
$5,500 – Friendship Circle of Washington – Sensory Holiday Program
$5,000 – Hebrew Free Loan Association of Washington State – Angel Guarantor Program
$6,000 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – “Stories Among Us” Traveling Exhibit Banners
$7,500 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Confronting Antisemitism and Intolerance: A Program for the Community
$4,000 – Jewish Family Service – Improving Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in the Seattle Safety Net
$6,000 – Jewish Family Service – Older Adult Services GoGoGrandparent Transportation Pilot
$4,500 – Kavana – End of Life & Advance Care Planning in Seattle’s Jewish Community: A Pilot
$4,500 – Kol HaNeshamah – Amanut L’Dor V’Dor
$6,000 – Northwest Yeshiva High School – Kibbutz HaTzafon Sustainability Seminar
$4,500 – Panim Hadashot-New Faces– Home Shabbat Animators Initiative
$5,500 – Sephardic Adventure Camp – Sephardic NextGen Project
$7,500 – Stroum Center for Jewish Studies – Jewish Questions – Confronting Antisemitism in the United States
$4,000 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – SJCC Early Childhood School – Hebrew/English Bilingual program
$4,000 – Temple Beth El – Interfaith Youth Corps
$7,500 – Temple De Hirsch Sinai – “Exodus: The Party!” Passover Experience for Young Adults
$7,500 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Digital Museum Template Development
$2,500 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Development of Digitization for Jewish Sephardic Seattle Tour

2018

$7,500 – Camp Solomon Schechter – Bachutz haGan (Outside the Garden Project)
$7,500 – StandWithUs Northwest – A Weekend of Advocacy: College Students Standing for Israel
$2,500 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Customized Trunks for Jewish Students
$6,000 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Yom Hashoah Outreach Project
$6,000 – Temple Beth Am – Mimouna: A Muslim and Jewish Interfaith Celebration
$7,500 – Hillel of Western Washington University – Northwest Regional Hillel Retreat
$2,500 – Jewish Graduate Student Initiative – JGSI Seattle Expansion Project
$4,500 – Kavana Cooperative – Immersive Spirituality at Kavana
$7,500 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – B’Yachad
$2,500 – Jewish Family Service – Project DVORA: Trauma-Informed Therapy for Children
$7,500 – Jewish Family Service – Project DVORA: Legal Services for Survivors of Domestic Violence
$4,000 – Temple Beth El – Pierce County Interfaith Choral Festival: “Getting to Know You”
$2,500 – Jewish Prisoner Services International – The Jewish Calendar Correspondence Course
$2,500 – Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath – L’Chaim: To Life After Cancer

2017

$5,000 – The Friendship Circle of Washington State – Pre Holiday Workshop
$5,000 – Holocaust Center for Humanity – Legacy Speakers Project
$5,000 – Jewish Family Service – Project DVORA: Mobile Advocacy for Survivors of Domestic Violence
$5,000 – Kol HaNeshamah – Special Education Resources
$5,000 – Panim Hadashot – Embracing New Faces
$5,000 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – Artists4Israel
$5,000 – Stroum Jewish Community Center – “Israel Story Live: Herzl 48”
$5,000 – Washington State Jewish Historical Society – Bringing Jewish History to Community
$3,400 – Hillel at the University of Washington – Re’jew’vination
$2,850 – Hebrew Free Loan Association – Marketing and Outreach
$2,500 – Camp Gan Israel Seattle – CGIS School Break Winter Fun Camp
$2,500 – Camp Solomon Schechter – Jewish Educator Day of Learning
$2,500 – Limmud – Taste of Limmud Mini-Events
$2,500 – Temple Beth El – LGBTQ Inclusion
$2,500 – Temple De Hirsch Sinai – Lunch & Learn
$1,500 – Mercaz Seattle – Women’s Tefillah Group and Learning Circle

To learn more, contact:

Emilia Picklesimer | Foundation Operations Specialist | emiliap@jewishinseattle.org | 206.774.2218

Ignition Grants

Reflecting the Federation Value of “Innovation”

2025 Ignition Grant Applications Are Now Closed.

Our Areas of Focus in 2025

Ignition Grant Recipients

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