Jewish National Fund

A nonprofit organization and united nations ngo (non-governmental organization), Jewish National Fund (jnf) builds a strong, vibrant future for the land and people of israel through bold initiatives and zionist education. Jnf began in 1901 as a dream and vision to reestablish a homeland in israel for Jewish people everywhere. Jews the world over collected coins in iconic blue boxes, purchasing land and planting trees until ultimately, their dream of a Jewish homeland was a reality. Jnf strives to bring an enhanced quality of life to all of israel's residents and translate these advancements to the world beyond. Jnf is "greening" the desert with millions of trees, building thousands of parks across israel, creating quality of life opportunities in israel's north and south for new generations of israel's residents to call home, bolstering israel's water supply, helping develop innovative arid agriculture techniques, and educating both young and old about the founding and importance of israel and zionism. In 2023 Jewish National Fund entered its 122nd year as one of the world's oldest Jewish non-profits and is as relevant today as the day it was founded. Jnf is synonymous with the blue box and planting trees in israel while its work has evolved into seven major program areas, each with its own major goals and partnerships within israel that help bring to reality the projects that are mainly donor-designated. In 2023, jnf achieved the fundraising goal of its one billion dollar roadmap for the next decade campaign, which is creating ground-breaking new ventures focusing on connecting the next generation to israel, building communities in israel's frontier regions of the negev and galilee, creating infrastructure for ecology, special needs, heritage preservation, and so much more. Jnf enhances quality of life by building new communities and bolstering existing ones. Jnf's blueprint negev campaign is attracting hundreds of thousands of new residents to the negev desert while its go north campaign focuses on the communities of northern israel. The organization's work in community building includes the be'er sheva river park, sderot indoor recreation center, central arava medical center, eshkol resilience center, project wadi attir, housing and employment opportunities, the galilee culinary institute by jnf, a food tech hub, and so much more. Jnf is the largest provider of zionist education programs in the u.s. and offers a myriad of ways to connect young americans to israel. Its israel education and advocacy programs take people from birth to the boardroom on their Jewish and zionist journies. They start in kindergarten and continue through college life and beyond, engaging, educating, and helping students foster a greater connection and commitment to the land and people of israel. Jnf's israel continuum programming includes the campus fellowship, caravan for democracy, alternative break, taglit-birthright israel, faculty fellowship program in israel, alexander muss high school in israel, b'nai mitzvah projects, and plant your way to israel. With its alexander muss high school in israel (muss), which, since 1972, has been pioneering the academic and experiential study of israel and Jewish history at the high school level, jnf sets the goal of further growing and enhancing Jewish continuity and israel connectivity amongst youth by offering semester abroad programs to better enrich each student's knowledge base and better prepare them for college life. To date, over 30,000 students have benefited from an education at muss and many students have received a fellowship or grant towards their tuition. In 2023, muss launched a second campus in be'er sheva, reflecting the institution's impressive growth and recognizing jnf's ongoing investment in israel's south. Jnf and its partners support many affiliates in israel including but not limited to: green horizons, halutza communities, hashomer hachadash, the arava international center for agriculture training, special in uniform, makom, nefesh b'nefesh, the society for the preservaton of israel's heritage sites, the gush etzion visitor center museum, the lauder employment center, and western galilee now. Jnf's fundraising efforts have also supported israel's firefighters through the provision of firetrucks and firefighting aperatus, life-saving equipment, and the building of new fire stations. Israel advocacy and education: in 2023, jnf continued with its plans to create the world zionist village in be'er sheva. The initiative will create a new conversation about israel, about the future of zionist leadership, about the next 50 years and beyond, wherein high school students, college students, post-graduates, teachers, young leaders, and older adults are all part of one new conversation. With the vision of creating this ecosystem on a single campus with programming, shared spaces, accommodations, and harnessing the power of positive israel/jewish conversation, jnf is building this world-class campus in be'er sheva that will revolutionize zionist and Jewish educational engagement for the decades ahead. The initiative represents one of the largest philanthropic capital projects in israel's history. Jnf's $100 million boruchin israel education advocacy center experienced continued growth in 2023 with grants awarded to heroes to heroes, alexander muss high school in israel's scholarship program, israel on campus coalition (icc), yavneh on campus, caravan for democracy, center for israel education, charles e. smith jds, sinai temple, students supporting israel, faculty fellowship program in israel, and others, to impact thousands of jews and non-jews across north america. The focus on israel and zionist education programming is designed to be one of the most powerful new initiatives in the Jewish world. The center concentrates its resources on advocating for israel, israel education in the diaspora, and countering the bds movement, all with the goal of strengthening the connection of all americans, now and in the future, to the land and people of israel. The center, administered within jnf, was created as a result of an estate gift of the late john and dora boruchin of California. No previous bequest has ever funded such a bold initiative to promote and develop zionist education of this magnitude. Water solutions: jnf has bolstered israel's water economy by developing alternative water sources, saving the economy millions, advancing israeli agriculture, and improving water quality. Jnf has built over 250 reservoirs and is continuing to fundraise for additional reservoirs at a cost of $200 million. Raising the amount of recycled water in israel to over 90%, jnf is now focusing on river rehabilitation, education, water purification and research and development. Focus areas include recycled water reservoirs, river rehabilitation, rainwater harvesting program and constructed wetlands. Jnf supported water recycling projects continue in the bedouin villages of wadi attir and um batin. Green horizons also has over 64 schools which utilize its rainwater harvesting projects to educate students about water shortages and solutions in israel disabilities and special needs: as part of its focus on improving quality of life in israel, jnf is dedicated to ensuring that no member of israeli society is left behind. Through a variety of initiatives, jnf supports cutting-edge rehabilitative services, special education, and medical care for people with disabilities and makes israel's parks, nature trails, and recreational facilities inclusive for visitors of all ability levels. In 2023, jnf continued to provide services to children, youth, and adults with disabilities through its affiliates including adi negev-nahalat eran, lotem-making israel accessible, red mountain therapeutic riding center at kibbutz grofit, and special in uniform. Research and development: jnf sponsors a network of regional agricultural r&d stations across the country where leading scientists and technicians work closely with local farmers, research institutes, and universities to increase agricultural sustainability, profitability, and resilience. This work focuses on agricultural r&d stations, solar power innovation, global teaching, desert region development, fish farming, and university research. Further enhancing its support for the environment, the establishment of the kasser joint institute for food, water, and energy security, a partnership between the university of Arizona, arava valley farmers, and jnf, will focus on demonstrating sustainable methods of food production against the nexus of energy, land use, and water conservation in an arid environment. The initiative will help the world with a specific focus on developing countries. In 2023, the kasser joint institute initiated the construction of an agrivoltaic project in makueni county, kenya. This groundbreaking project harnesses israeli technology using solar power to operate water pump