Tamar Snyder, Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives, led a session on evaluating charities with the JCC Rockland Teen Leadership Initiative members. The session started off with an interactive exercise using the Clink! app, which can be downloaded for free by visiting jcfny.org/clink

1. JCC Rockland Teen Leadership Initiative
February 10, 2015
“Evaluating Charities Using the Clink! App”
Session led by Tamar Snyder,
Assoc. Director, Strategic Initiatives

2. JCC Rockland Teen Leadership Initiative
February 10, 2015
Download JCF’s new app at
www.jcfny.org/clink

3. JCF’s Impact
• Each year, JCF makes a Community Gift of
$2 million to UJA-Federation of NY
• More than $10 million has been awarded from
JCF’s Special Gifts Fund since 1999 to dozens of
Jewish communal organizations
• JCF donors grant more than $250 million
annually to charities in all sectors

4. Educational Resources
JCF provides seminars, guidebooks, webinars and
online resources to help people be more strategic and
have greater impact with their philanthropy:
• Teen Tzedakah Guide and Clink! Teen Giving App
• Your Jewish Philanthropy Roadmap
• JCF Roadmap – Start Your Journey Conversation Cards
• JCF Legacy Scrapbook & Guidebook

5. Goals for this session:
•Explore the Clink! App
•Create an evaluation rubric
•Learn how to research charities
•Discover tools to help you be
more thoughtful with your
own charitable giving

6. Take 5-7 minutes to test drive
the Clink! app
download at jcfny.org/clink

7. What are the three TOP issue
areas that you care most about?

8. How many of your were:
Global changemakers?
Jewish activists?
Champions of causes?
Local agents of change?

9. Initial criteria to think about:
 local vs. global
 Jewish vs. non-Jewish
 preferred issue areas
Others?

10. Ways to evaluate charities:
•Review grant application
•Look at charity’s website/materials
•Site visits
•Interviews with
staff/volunteers/recipients
•Look at charity’s financial health

11. Research Charities Online
•Charity Navigator
(www.charitynavigator.org)
•GuideStar (www.guidestar.org)
•Better Business Bureau
(www.bbb.org/us/charity-
reviews)

12. What is a 990?
•Every public charity files a form 990
with the IRS which can tell you
about its financial health
•If an organization is doing important
work but its finances are a mess,
your donation may be mishandled

13. Exercise: Sharsheret’s 990
• What % of donation goes to charitable
purposes? (Should be at least 60%)
• Is the charity in good financial health?
• What is the organization’s mission?
• What programs are in place to achieve
these goals?
• How do they measure effectiveness?
• How long has the organization been in
existence?

14. Why an evaluation rubric?
•Common set of questions to
ask of all organizations levels
the playing field
•Choose grantee more
objectively, less because of
emotion

15. Articulate a Mission Statement
We, the JCC Rockland Teen
Leadership Initiative, will
support an organization that:
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________

16. Grant Application Evaluation Qs
•What is the purpose/mission of the
program?
•What need does it address? What
would happen if it didn’t exist?
•How many people will benefit?
•Who will benefit?
•Does the project’s budget seem
appropriate?

17. More questions
• How great is the need this project
addresses?
• How feasible is this project?
• Will this program have a measurable
and sustained impact?
• Does the budget/financials seem
appropriate?
• Do you have confidence in the
applicants’ ability to carry out this
program successfully?

18. Questions?
Tamar Snyder
Associate Director, Strategic Initiatives &
Communications
212.752.8277 ext. 231
tamar@jcfny.org