Guidelines

General Rules and Guidelines

Overview

All overnight camps affiliated with the JCamp 180 program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation as of January 1, 2024, are eligible to participate in the Endowment Accelerator Matching Grant program.  Participating Jewish overnight camps will be eligible to receive $1 from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF) for every $3 they raise from other donors into a qualifying permanent endowment fund.  To qualify for matching funds, gifts must be received after January 1, 2024, and before December 31, 2027.  The maximum matching amount for each camp is $40,000.

Eligibility

• The Endowment Accelerator grant is available to each Jewish overnight camp affiliated with JCamp 180 as of January 1, 2024. A full list of eligible camps can be found here.  
• This challenge grant runs from January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2027.
• Applications to participate in the Endowment Accelerator Matching Grant will be made available in early December 2023 and must be submitted to JCamp 180 no later than December 29, 2023
• Camps must sign and submit a grant agreement letter after they apply for participation using the JCamp 180 online grants portal. The grant agreement letter will be sent out to each participating camp by January 31, 2024 and must be signed and returned by February 29, 2024.

Grant usage and match amount

• Grant funds and donor gifts to this match must be placed into a qualifying permanent endowment fund as defined below.
• JCamp 180 shall review the camp’s endowment creation and policy documents to confirm that the permanent endowment meets JCamp 180 requirements.   

Gifts eligible to be matched

• To be eligible for matching by HGF, gifts must be cash or cash equivalents. Stocks, bonds, and other cash equivalents will be matched.
• Gifts must be added to the camp’s permanent endowment fund prior to the completion of the matching grant period (12/31/2027) to be eligible to be matched.
• Gifts of any amount that are placed in the camp’s permanent endowment will be matched up to the maximum challenge grant amount.

Gifts not eligible to be matched

• Restricted gifts for current operating or capital uses.
• Gifts of noncash equivalents will not be matched by HGF. Examples of noncash equivalents include land, personal property, life insurance policies, art, and jewelry.
• Gifts from existing camp funds.
• Gifts already counted towards a different HGF grant or matching funds received as part of a different HGF grant.

What is a Qualifying Permanent Endowment Fund?

To receive JCamp 180 matching funds from the Endowment Accelerator Matching Grant, camps must have a new or existing “qualifying” permanent endowment fund. The qualifying permanent endowment fund will be the repository of all matching funds from JCamp 180 as well as all funds raised to qualify for these matching funds from other donors.
 
A qualifying permanent endowment fund must have the following minimum characteristics:

• The endowment must be for the sole benefit of the camp.
• The endowment must be invested in a manner and through an organization such as a brokerage firm, a financial institution, or a community endowment fund. Individual investment agents or self-managed endowments are not eligible for the Endowment Accelerator Matching Grant. 
• Approved Policy Documents.

(Please note that HGF is not a financial advisor. HGF can offer sample policy language and guidance about endowment best practices.)
 
Policy Documents
Endowment policy documents must be approved by the camp’s governing body and must contain the following elements to be eligible for the Endowment Accelerator Matching Grant:

• A spending policy, that includes the following elements:
  • how the annual distributions are to be calculated
  • allowed usages of the annual distributions
  • a statement protecting the fund corpus (principal) from use other than in extraordinary circumstances which must be clearly defined
  • a successor plan, detailing what happens to the fund if the camp ceases to exist
• An investment policy for how the endowment fund is to be invested
• Gift acceptance policies outlining how gifts are to be accepted and invested

HGF matching payments

• To receive HGF matching grant payments camps must complete all annual reporting requirements even if no gifts were received to be matched in a given year.
• HGF will not distribute matching grant payments to camps that do not meet the endowment policy requirements outlined above.
• To receive HGF matching grant payments camps must provide an endowment statement or evidence of deposit into the camp’s qualifying permanent endowment fund as part of the Donation Report.
• Disbursements may be made by electronic transfer or by check.
• Each year, HGF will distribute a matching payment based on the submitted Donation Report by the dates listed below.
• Should a camp not submit a matching grant request in any given year, or if the submitted matching grant request does not draw one-quarter of the eligible match, undistributed funds will carry over and be eligible for disbursement through December 31, 2027.
• Should a camp raise the amount of funds needed to secure the full $40,000 of matching funds prior to Year 4 of the grant period, HGF will pay out the full matching grant amount as soon as this milestone is met.

Year	Payments Distributed By
Year 1	April 30, 2025
Year 2	April 30, 2026
Year 3	April 30, 2027
Year 4	April 30, 2028