Harold Grinspoon Foundation commits up to $10m for US Jewish overnight camps

But amid COVID-19 crisis, most Jewish camps have yet to announce whether they will open this summer

By JTA 23 April 2020, 11:38 am

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A sign for Camp Livingston, a Jewish summer camp in Bennington, Indiana (Twitter, via JTA)

The Harold Grinspoon Foundation has committed up to $10 million to a matching fund to help Jewish overnight camps weather the coronavirus crisis.

Dozens of eligible camps from a myriad of Jewish movements will receive $1 for every $2 they raise from other donors through the end of April, the foundation announced.

The All Together Now matching grant program will be available to camps that participate in the foundation’s Jcamp180 initiative.

Most Jewish camps have yet to announce whether they will open this summer.

“The timing of the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting camps especially hard,” foundation founder Harold Grinspoon said in a statement. “We don’t yet know the full extent of the resources the camps will need to weather this storm, but we know they need extra cash flow now and their needs will be significant if the camps can’t open this summer.”

If a camp does not open for all or part of this summer, or if a camper withdraws from the camp season, camper families may convert some or all of their prepaid deposits and tuition to a charitable donation to the camp for a dollar-to-dollar match from the foundation.