Loose Change: S.F. federations down, bailouts in St. Louis, $4.5 million for Baltimore school

In the Jewish media this week:

• The Jewish federation in St. Louis and the Jewish Family and Children’s Services department there have given out some $176,000 as part of the federation’s new Lifeline Fund to 60 Jewish families in the area who have been hit hard by the recession, reports the St. Louis Jewish Light.
• The New York Jewish Week has a piece about giving circles, which some Jewish groups, such as Birthright and the UJA Federation of New York, are now using to get younger donors involved.
• Each of the three Jewish federations in the San Francisco Bay area reported losses ranging from 10 percent to 15 percent on their annual campaigns, which ended in July, reports J. The Jewish Weekly of San Francisco: “The S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation took in $23.6 million, down 12 percent from the previous year. The Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay reported a tally of $2.85 million, down 15 percent. And the Jewish Community Federation of Silicon Valley brought in just over $2 million, down 10 percent.”
• The Cardin School, a struggling Reform day school in Baltimore, has received a $4.5 million gift for scholarships that will be paid out in $50,000 increments over the next 90 years, according to The Baltimore Jewish Times.
• The Forward says that some are upset that the post-Birthright programming in New York is being run mainly by the Jewish Enrichment Center, an institution founded and run by Orthodox rabbis. In addition to its Orthodox bent, according to the article, the JEC sponsors one-sided political events from a conservative perspective. Michael Steinhardt appears to be behind the decision.
• Rabbi Ephraim Simon of Chabad of Teaneck donated a kidney to a 12-year-old girl, The New Jersey Jewish Standard reports.
• The Washington Jewish Week gives some local color to JTA’s story about day schools taking precautions against swine flu.
• Synagogues in Philadelphia are looking for creative ways to up their memberships, according to The Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
• Shawn Landres, the co-founder and CEO of Jewish Jumpstart, and David Suissa, the founder of OLAM magazine, have Op-eds about the closing of Professional Leaders Project in the L.A. Jewish Journal.