Yashar: Skills Training Initiative Application

The Yashar: Skills Training Initiative, generously funded by The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, seeks to expand and enhance accessibility, inclusion, and opportunity for young adults with disabilities at Jewish day and overnight camps. Through this grant, camps will have the support to grow the capacity, capability, and overall quality of their skills training (vocational education) programs, empowering adults with disabilities to continue their meaningful camp journeys into adulthood.

Building off the success of the first Yashar grant program—this initiative strengthens the Jewish camp field by investing in capital projects, staff training, and research that expand and elevate the impact of skills training programs for adults with disabilities. Our vision is that the field of Jewish camp continues to reflect the diversity and wholeness of our Jewish community, ensuring that all adults, regardless of ability, can thrive, contribute, and belong.

The purpose of this Yashar grant is to help participating camps strategically upgrade facilities or build new ones and enhance programming to broaden opportunities for adults with disabilities. FJC invites you and your camp to apply, ensuring your proposed project aligns with all program specifications.

For the purposes of Yashar and this grant application, disabilities include autism spectrum disorder, intellectual and developmental disabilities, neurodiversity and physical and sensory disabilities. Include campers with ADHD only if they require additional staff support or accommodations to be successful at camp. Do not include campers who function independently or whose needs are limited to daily/weekly medication management. Food allergies or special diets should not be considered disabilities for the purposes of this grant.

Applications are due by EOD Tuesday December 2nd, 2025.

Eligibility Requirements:

Capital projects funded through this initiative will support skills training programs and adults with disabilities.
Camps must be nonprofit, have ACA accreditation, operate in the United States, been in operation for at least five years, and serve a minimum of 200 campers per summer.
Camps must be able to provide the two most recent years of 990 and audited financial statements by a third party.
Capital grants through this initiative may range from $50,000 to $450,000, with the average grant size being around $300,000. However, the initiative will fund no more than 30% of a capital project (meaning total minimum project cost must be around $166k).
Camps must be welcoming and accommodating of all children regardless of affiliation, denomination, religious background, race or economic status.
Be a United States based day or overnight camp in good standing in FJC’s network and with ACA accreditation
Been operational for at least five years
Have established inclusion efforts, demonstrated by one or more of the following: Participation in the Yashar Initiative, or history of welcoming campers with disabilities, as shown through FJC’s Census and potentially verified through an interview with FJC
Have completed the 2024 or 2025 Skills Training section in the 2025 FJC Census
Commit to full participation in all program components, including cohort trainings, coaching sessions, and reporting. All training and coaching sessions should be attended by the camp’s inclusion professional. Certain elements of the program will also require participation from members of the senior leadership team.
If camp has received a Yashar grant in the past, the capital project must be complete.

Cohort #1 Program Requirements:

Currently operate a Skills Training (VocEd) initiative and must have two or more participants in their skills training program.
Have operated their program for at least two summers.
Maintain a cohort mentality or unit, including designated times when participants come together.
Employ a staff person responsible for supervising and supporting Skills Training participants. This person should be working full-time during the summer but does not need to be employed full-time during the year.

This grant does NOT fund: Scholarships or subsidies for children, General operating support and programming at camps, outside of the funds dedicated on staff training and fundraising capacity to meet the capital grant challenge requirements

Saving Data:

You can stop the application at any time and save your work up to that point.

The “Save-and-Resume” function (available at the top or bottom of this questionnaire) will allow you to save progress, and return to that exact spot in the questionnaire at another time. When you choose to “Save-and-Resume”, you will need to submit your email address and a password.
Thereafter, you will receive a link to access the incomplete application in the future. If you do not see the email in your inbox, please check your spam folder. This link can be accessed at any time by anyone with the correct credentials, and will save your work up to the exact spot where the questionnaire was saved when the link was sent.
When you get back to the application through the proper credentials, you will be dropped at the beginning of the application. Please note that as you advance through the application to get back to where you left off, your updated data will be in each question.
Once you have responded to questions beyond the exact spot where you left off, you will need to hit the "Save-and-Resume" button again to save any new work. You can go through the “Save-and-Resume” process as many times as needed.

Visit https://jewishcamp.org/funding-for-camps/community-care/the-yashar-initiative/yasharskills/ for full criteria, grant eligibility and program participation details. To see a PDF version of the full application, please click here. Please note all the documents you will need to upload during the application process.

If you have questions, please contact Maryn Mucasey at maryn.gordon@jewishcamp.org.

Please Note: Each question in the application is required for submission and consideration of the grant. If you do not have data for specific questions, please write 0 or N/A.

If you do not have data for certain questions readily available, you can temporarily insert an X as a placeholder text in order to continue the application and come back to complete it later. Please be sure to return to these questions to replace all placeholder text before submitting.

Form completed by:

This contact will receive the copy of the submitted application

First Name

Last Name

Job Title/Role

Telephone

Extension

Email

Page 2: Camp Information and Contacts

Camp Information

Day or Overnight Camp:

Camp Name

URL to Camp's webpage describing any existing Skills Training Programs (if you don't have one put camp's main URL)

Year Camp Opened

Camp E-mail Address

EIN

Executive Director/Camp Director

First Name

MI

Last Name

E-mail Address

Phone Number

Is this person the main point of contact?

YesNo

Main Point of Contact for Grant Application

First Name

Last Name

E-mail Address

Phone Number

Board President/Chair of Camp Committee

First Name

Last Name

Page 5: Project Information and Grant Request

Please describe the capital project this grant would be supporting. In the description, please include the need to be addressed with this project and detail the project goals. Please include information about staff/professional time that is dedicated to this capital project (from the facilities, operations, and disabilities inclusion teams)

Will this capital project increase camp’s ability and capacity to serve more adults with disabilities?

YesNo

If this building/project is part of a larger master plan, please attach the master plan.
Be sure to name your document with this specific label format: "Your Camp Name - Site Master Plan"

Please make sure your file does not exceed 35 MB. If your file exceeds 35 MB, please add it to a google drive or email and send to maryn.gordon@jewishcamporg

Capital Project Budget:
Please include dollar amounts below as a number. Do not include a dollar sign.

Total Capital Project Budget:

Total Grant Request:

How many square feet is the project? (if you can't answer this question yet put n/a)

Please attach an estimated capital project budget:

Please make sure your file does not exceed 35 MB. If your file exceeds 35 MB, please add it to a google drive or email and send to maryn.gordon@jewishcamp.org. If your budget changes during the application review process, you can send the updated budget via e-mail.

Is it a new building, expansion of an existing structure, renovation, or some combination of these project types?

How will this project enable your camp to better serve Skills Training participants and staff with disabilities? Please explain.

How will this project enable your camp to increase enrollment in your Skills Training program? Please explain.

Please describe how camp will change as result of this project (including facilities, layout of camp, programming, staff training, marketing & recruitment, etc.)

Page 6: Sources of Funding

FJC funding will be released in two phases. 60% will be released upon completion of the signed grant agreement and 40% after submission of a Project Completion Report (which camps can submit upon completion of the majority of the project).

This grant only covers 30% of the capital project cost. Capital grants can range from $50,000 to $450,000 but the average size of grants dispersed will be $300,000. Capital grants include costs for planning and building as well as "soft costs" such as personnel needed to ensure the success of the capital project. If your capital project is not fully planned out and ready to go, funding will be held back until you reach that point.

Since this grant covers 30% of the capital costs, FJC needs to understand how funds will be secured to pay for the remaining 70%.

How do you intend to fund the other 70% of the project? What are the anticipated sources of all funds, (e.g., individual donors, special fundraising campaign, board gifts, operating budget, etc.). You must have 25% of funds already allocated or committed to this project. Please be specific when sharing donor information.

Please complete the chart below and click on "Add another response" for each additional funder or source of funding. If you don't have any funding secured yet, please share ideas of how you'll go about finding it:

Include dollar amounts in the appropriate cells below as a number. Do not include a dollar sign.

	Name of Funder	Date of Pledge	Payout Period (# of years)	Pledge Amount	Payments Received to Date	Balance Owed

If you don't have any funders to share above please share details of how you'll fundraise, and what ability camp has to pay from operating budget if fundraising goals are not met.

Attach any fundraising plans or materials that will demonstrate efforts. Be sure to name your document with this specific label format: "Your Camp Name - Fundraising Plan"

Please make sure your file does not exceed 35 MB. If your file exceeds 35 MB, please add it to a google drive or email and send to yashar@jewicamp.org.

Page 7: Camp's Training and Culture

What steps has your camp taken in the last year to ensure a safe and respectful environment at camp?

In general, how does camp create a welcoming environment and atmosphere of inclusion for all campers and staff? Camps must demonstrate a commitment to being open to children regardless of affiliation, denomination, religious background, race or economic status and reflect the diversity of the Jewish community the camp serves. Be sure to include specific examples (i.e., how is staff trained, what is your messaging in your marketing materials, program design).

Please provide an overview of your camp’s Jewish mission, vision, and values; and how your camp brings your mission, vision and values to life. Please cite examples from programming, staff training, professional development, and share how Shabbat and Israel show up at camp.

Page 8: Required Attachments

Most recent audit or accountant's review and most recent financials (2 years of documents):

Be sure to name your document with this specific label format: "Your Camp Name - Audited Financial 1" and "Your Camp Name - Audited Financial 2"

Year 1 of Audited Financials