The Harold Grinspoon Foundation recently announced a $50 million matching grant through its JCamp 180 program, which helps Jewish nonprofit camps thrive well into the future.

JCamp 180 will award up to $10 million in matching grants each year over five years to support more than 100 Jewish overnight camps, according to a news release. For every dollar that the HGF grants, the camps must raise $3. This $50 million challenge grant and corresponding camp fundraising efforts will add up to a total of $200 million in the camp ecosystem over the next five years. Camps can use the funds to make critical physical improvements, build their endowments and meet emerging needs, such as increased scholarship or security expenses.

“From the first time I visited a Jewish summer camp, I realized that camp was an incredible way for kids to experience what’s great about being Jewish,” Harold Grinspoon said in the release. “I knew it was a great place to put my dollars. So we have been investing in Jewish camping to help camps meet the financial challenges they face. This grant and its matching component have the potential to truly transform what camps will be able to do. We’ve seen the amazing success of matching-challenge grants and I hope this match will encourage other funders to support the awesome impact of camp.”

This new initiative will continue the work of Forward Together, the HGF’s previous matching-grant challenge for camps. In 2025 alone, approximately 10,000 donors met the Forward Together match. Additionally, 88 of the camps are now working to create permanent endowments with the special targeted support of JCamp 180’s Endowment Accelerator.

“The Jewish camp field is experiencing financial fragility,” Sarah Eisinger, director of JCamp 180, said in the release “Two-thirds of our camps operate within a 3% margin of breakeven, and the camps have faced economic shocks from COVID-19, October 7, and disruptions due to climate change. The data shows that operating expenses such as food, security, and insurance are outpacing inflation, and tuition no longer covers expenses. Philanthropy plays an increasingly important role if we want camps to flourish.”

Rabbi Eliav Bock, executive director of the camp Ramah in the Rockies, said that matches work with the Denver summer camp able to “leverage the match to motivate both major donors and annual donors to increase their giving.”

“The existence of the Forward Together match gave donors confidence that their gifts would have amplified impact and provided a compelling reason to give now,” he said in the release. “We are excited about the prospect of doing more, and I know that my camp colleagues from across the field join me in embracing this new and larger challenge and what’s ahead for us as a field.”

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said that Jewish camps remain a powerful place for young Jews to build a lasting Judaic identity, community and sense of belonging.

“Harold Grinspoon has long understood that investing in camp means investing in the Jewish future, and this extraordinary commitment is another expression of that vision,” Jacobs said in the release. “Across URJ’s 14 camps, we have seen what becomes possible when philanthropy, strong leadership, and bold thinking come together. We are deeply grateful to Harold, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, and JCamp 180 for challenging all of us to build an even stronger and more sustainable future for Jewish camp.”