JFNA

Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) operates as the national institutional umbrella organization for the federated network of approximately 145 local Jewish federations across the United States and Canada. JFNA was formed in 2009 through the merger of the United Jewish Communities (UJC) and the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) federation infrastructure.

JFNA's institutional mandate includes:

— Coordination of the federated North American Jewish federation network — Operation of the overseas allocation channel transmitting US federation campaign proceeds to The Jewish Agency for Israel, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and adjacent international Jewish institutional partners — Major-emergency campaign coordination (the post-October 7 emergency campaign in 2023-2024 is a major recent example) — Federation network professional development and shared services — Federation-network policy coordination on US Jewish institutional questions

Per JFNA data, the aggregate federated North American Jewish federation network conducts approximately $1 billion or more in combined annual campaign activity across the federation network. Major individual federations operate at substantial individual scale (UJA-Federation of New York, Greater Miami Jewish Federation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, and the broader major-federation tier).

JFNA operates the General Assembly (annual major institutional gathering of federation leadership), the federation-network professional infrastructure, and the broader institutional architecture supporting the federation system.

See also: /glossary/federation-campaign/, /glossary/overseas-allocation/, /glossary/annual-campaign/