24 | JUNE 24 • 2021 

OUR COMMUNITY

T

he Jewish Federation 
reported results from 
its 2021 Annual 
Campaign, completed May 
31. The Annual Campaign 
is Federation’s central 
fundraising vehicle, and it 
provides for the majority of 
resources Federation dis-
tributes to its partner agen-
cies across the local and 
international Jewish 
community. 
The 2021 Annual 
Campaign raised a 
total of $34.2 million, 
meeting the goal estab-
lished at its outset. The 
Andi and Larry Wolfe 
Challenge Fund raised 
an additional $3.8 mil-
lion, for both general 
and dedicated funding to 
the community.
There were 10,450 indi-
vidual donors to the 2021 
Annual Campaign, exceed-
ing Federation’s goal of 
10,000 donors. About $6.5 
million was raised from 
community-level donations, 
including many at $18 and 
$36, demonstrating the 
impact of donations of all 
amounts.
Thanks to the success of 
the campaign, Federation 
was able to provide 
$38,236,000 to its local and 
overseas partner agencies. 
The 2021 Campaign, and 
the distributions Jewish 
Federation will make for the 
year ahead, will be the most 
in its storied history. 
The 2021 Annual 

Campaign was led by 
Co-Chairs Carolyn 
Bellinson and Josh Opperer. 
The Women’s Philanthropy 
Campaign Chair was 
Sherrie Singer and the 
NEXTGen Detroit co-chairs 
were Danielle DePriest, Judy 
Landau, Keith Schonberger 
and Jennifer Maxbauer.
“In many ways, this 

was a historic campaign,” 
noted Campaign Co-Chair 
Carolyn Bellinson. “We 
began shortly after the start 
of the COVID 19 pandemic, 
and it was hard to predict 
how the community would 
be able to respond during 
such a challenging time. 
“We knew that we needed 
an ambitious plan to keep 
our schools, agencies and 
community organizations 
healthy and in a position 
to serve those that relied 
on them. Fortunately, our 
community rose to the 
occasion.”
Campaign Co-Chair 
Josh Opperer added, “We 
sometimes talk in terms 
of annual campaign suc-
cess, but what we really 
are talking about is com-

munity prosperity. This 
incredible achievement 
means more support for 
our seniors, more assistance 
for our Jewish students and 
campers, more services for 
families in need and many 
others.
“It means we can better 
take care of today and still 
build for tomorrow. We are 
extremely grateful to our 
many generous donors 
and support foundations 
for their commitment.”

ALL DONORS HELP
Federation’s Senior 
Director of Philanthropic 
Operations Lisa Cutler 
said, “We want to 
acknowledge the thou-
sands of donors at every 
level across our community. 
We always remind people 
that every dollar is mean-
ingful and makes a differ-
ence in our community. We 
were only able to reach this 
important fundraising goal 
thanks to our broad base of 
supporters. This is truly a 
community that cares.” 
And Steve Ingber, CEO 
of the Jewish Federation, 
said, “In addition to our 
dedicated volunteer leaders, 
I want to also thank and 
acknowledge the Federation 
staff. Our entire organi-
zation, and especially our 
incredible fundraising team, 
put in a tremendous effort 
to ensure that we had a 
successful campaign for our 
community.” 

Federation’s Annual Campaign raises $34.2 million; 
plus an additional $3.8 million is donated.

Fundraising Success

JN STAFF

Recommended 
Reading

What makes a family a family? In 
Hebrew, mishpachah means fam-
ily — and it’s not just a word, but 
a value to embrace as well. And 
families come in all sorts of shapes, 
sizes and configurations: families 
can be large, small, multi-gener-
ational, all living under the same 
roof or spread out geographically. 
Kids take great comfort in seeing 
families like theirs represented in 
books, and they become better 
citizens of the world when they see 
the many ways a family can be. 
 To celebrate all the different 
ways a family can be a family, PJ 
Library, the not-for-profit organiza-
tion that sends more than 240,000 
free books a month to families in 
the United States (and more than 
680,000 books in 32 countries), 
has set forth some terrific recom-
mendations for picture books that 
are all about mishpachah and the 
many beautiful, diverse and varied 
ways to be a family.
The carefully curated list of 
more than two-dozen books 
includes beloved PJ Library 
authors like Lesléa Newman, 
Patricia Polacco, and Todd 
Parr — as well as books that PJ 
Library staff members have on 
their own shelves. The catego-
ries include “Books Featuring 
Many Different Families,
” 
“Books With LGBTQIA+ 
Family Representation,
” “Books 
Celebrating Adoption and Foster 
Families” and “Books Featuring 
Single Parents.
” 
You can find the recommenda-
tions at the PJ Library pjlibrary.
org/beyond-books/pjblog. 

