The mitz­vah of tzedakah is one of the cor­ner­stones of Jew­ish life — while often under­stood as the Hebrew word for ​“char­i­ty,” its true mean­ing is ​“right­eous­ness” or ​“jus­tice.” It describes the oblig­a­tion of a Jew­ish per­son to uplift their com­mu­ni­ty and help others. 

Giv­ing is an essen­tial ele­ment of Jew­ish orga­ni­za­tion­al life today. Many syn­a­gogues, com­mu­ni­ty cen­ters, and non­prof­its are sus­tained by indi­vid­ual, com­mu­ni­ty, and foun­da­tion­al sup­port. One way many peo­ple in the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty choose to give is through a Jew­ish Com­mu­nal Fund donor advised fund. Found­ed in 1972, JCF is the largest and most active Jew­ish donor advised fund in the coun­try. JCF helps sim­pli­fy char­i­ta­ble giv­ing so donors can give strate­gi­cal­ly, quick­ly, and securely.