How the Minneapolis Jewish Federation Helps the Community Live Its Traditions and Meet Today’s Challenges
Every summer, kids across the Twin Cities climb onto buses, wave goodbye to their parents, and head off to Jewish summer camp. They’ll spend their days swimming, singing, picking up Hebrew words, and forming friendships that can last a lifetime. What more than 400 of those kids may not realize is that their summer adventure started in a meeting room.
Each year, the Minneapolis Jewish Federation awards camp scholarships, distributing more than $250,000 to families who might otherwise be unable to send their kids to camp. And it happens because neighbors in the Jewish community first raise the money, then sit down together to decide where it should go.
One of the people at that table is Seth Togal, a member of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation board and chair of its Community Impact Steering Committee that decides how funds are distributed, and for him, helping kids attend summer camp is a full-circle moment.
“When I was younger, I went to summer camp,” Togal said. “It wasn’t until I was an adult that I learned that my mom would get camp scholarships from Federation and the social services organizations. That was the way that my sister, my siblings and I were able to attend summer camp. I had no idea that the Federation was behind that.”
That discovery was part of what drove Togal’s personal journey with the Federation – from participation, to volunteering, to the Impact Committee, and now to the board. “I think as people get more involved, they understand just how crucial Federation is to the community as a whole,” he said.
“Federation is community.”
By highlighting the impact of its work, Togal and others hope to help members of the local Jewish community connect the dots between the ways they benefit from Federation and spark their own journey towards greater participation. To have the best possible impact, it’s vital to represent the full diversity of local Jewish life.
“Federation is community,” said Eilat Harel, the Chief Impact Officer for MJF. “It’s not an office where people come in and have their own work plan. It’s led by community voices, community leaders, and they come to the table and voice their opinions.”
That idea drives everything about how Federation works. It is the umbrella organization for Jewish life in Minneapolis — a fundraiser, connector, and coordinator, as well as a provider of physical spaces for Jewish life to take place, notably the Barry Family Campus in St. Louis Park. But underneath all that is a group of volunteers who both raise the necessary funds and decide how they best can be spent.
Those decisions run through committees made up of community members — parents, teachers, retirees, professionals from every corner of Jewish life — who gather to weigh needs, study partner organizations, and steer dollars toward the places they’ll matter most. The conversations aren’t always easy, and that’s the point.
“You could have five people in a room and have 20 different opinions,” Togal said. Each of those views, he added, “is going to challenge us. We may have been doing something the same way for a long period of time, and it’s going to challenge us to think differently about it.”
The committee also tries to trust the people closest to a need. When Federation invested in early childhood education, it partnered with the directors of nine early childhood centers across Minneapolis and let them decide which families should receive scholarships because they knew their families far better than anyone else.
Uncovering and meeting the unique needs of a community
Once one understands the diversity of voices that make up MJF, the range of what it supports makes sense. The Minneapolis federation is almost 100 years old, and its impact has reflected the needs of its times. Today, that means funding mentorship programs that help new teachers find their footing and stay in the classroom; helping a senior living facility train staff for its dementia and memory care units; backing a congregational school’s hiring of a disability inclusion specialist so every student could fully take part.
It has kept community buildings running, covering things as ordinary as a new heater or a leaky roof — often without anyone noticing. And it also keeps the community safe, a priority that has only grown more urgent in recent years. Plus of course those camp and school scholarships that help Jewish children learn more about their traditions and culture.
Federation’s reach stretches far beyond Minnesota. Dollars raised here travel to Jewish communities around the world. “People might not think that dollars from Minneapolis are going to Ukraine,” said Marisa Gage, Director of Community Impact, “but they are. And that’s part of our ethos — that all Jews care for one another.”
Room for so much more
For all that emerges from the MJF, the people inside know the need still outpaces what they can fund. “The only way that we are able to serve the community appropriately is through our annual community campaign. We have the possibility to do so much more,” Gage said. “And the only way that we can do it is with community support.”
Support can look like a gift of any size, feeding the campaign that funds scholarships and grants; attending or volunteering at Federation events; or a seat at the table—a voice in the room where decisions are made. Community members can learn more about getting involved at jewishminneapolis.org.
“That’s the one of the biggest things that we can ask for: Just provide that individual perspective and participation within Federation, whatever that looks like,” said Togal.
For Togal, it all comes back to that camp bus, and the people who made his own summers possible. Getting involved, he said, is “a responsibility to make sure that we are taking a part to help write our future, so that our children and grandchildren will be able to look back on and see this as a shining moment in the Minneapolis Jewish community.”
That story is still being written. And there’s a place at the table to help write it.
The Minneapolis Jewish Federation needs your support! Help us keep Jewish life strong. Members of the local Jewish community and all who support our mission are invited to contribute to our 2026 Community Campaign here.
