1. Women and Girls: Emphasizing programs and services that enrich, enhance, and inspire Jewish women and girls. Programs could be in any number of realms, including but not limited to Jewish continuity/identity, health, social justice, or basic needs. 

2. Jewish Continuity: Emphasizing programs and initiatives that seek to help strengthen Jewish identity through engagement, education, arts, culture, and beyond. 

 3. Justice: Emphasizing educational programs and initiatives that seek to promote tolerance, inclusion, and understanding with a focus on combating anti-Semitism, prejudice, racism and all forms of social injustice and inequity. 

*Women and girls refer to all cisgender women and girls, transgender women and girls, and non-binary people who are comfortable in female-centered spaces. 

Women's Giving Circle Impact - By the Numbers

2026 GRANT ALLOCATIONS
10 members
Total number of grant recipients: 9 
Total number of grant awards: $29,200

OVERALL IMPACT
Total Women's Giving Circle cohorts since 2017: 10
Total number of grant recipients: 75 
​Total grant funds allocated: $237,165

2. TischPDX
Ongoing Program Initiative. The Emerging Jewish Leadership Incubator (EJLI) is a redesigned leadership development program relaunching in 2026, building on five cohorts and 27 alumni since 2018. Drawing on alumni feedback, a qualitative study, and guidance from a Jews of Color-led consulting firm, the redesigned program will serve six leaders annually through a curriculum that integrates leadership training, Jewish literacy, facilitation skills, and project design, with a focused emphasis on bringing more Jews of Color into local leadership. Participants will receive stipends and mentorship and will be supported in designing and launching their own community-based programming, with alumni and guest teachers from local congregations serving as co-teachers. While the cohort directly serves six leaders per year, the ripple effect is significant, as alumni consistently go on to create Shabbat gatherings, learning spaces, justice initiatives, and cross-organizational collaborations. The program directly advances opportunities for women, transgender, and non-binary individuals (who make up 88% of participants), Jewish continuity, and inclusive, anti-racist leadership development. $2,700.

3. Sherie Hildreth Ovarian Cancer (SHOC) Foundation
  New Program Initiative. The Jewish Women's Running Team Pilot is a wellness, identity, and community-building initiative that engages Jewish girls (ages 13 and up) and women of all ages and fitness levels across the Greater Portland Jewish community, culminating in participation in the SHOC Sunset Run & Walk on August 1 at Tualatin Community Park. Participants will train together through optional meetups, receive educational email content highlighting Jewish women's stories and wellness principles, and represent a visible team at the event, including a booth showcasing ongoing women's programming. In partnership with SHOC, Hood to Coast, and the Jewish Federation, the pilot aims to build intergenerational community connections, promote physical and emotional wellness, strengthen Jewish identity through joyful public engagement, and establish a replicable model for ongoing women's wellness programming. Designed not simply to increase participation but to deepen impact, the program ensures that women and girls feel supported, connected, and empowered throughout the experience. $1,000.

4. Dignity Grows
Ongoing Program Initiative. Dignity Grows. Dignity Grows Portland Chapter addresses period poverty by assembling menstrual and hygiene totes in partnership with six local community organizations, including homeless shelters, school programs, community health centers, domestic violence shelters, and women’s empowerment groups. Through these partnerships, Dignity Grows provides menstrual and hygiene totes to women (and people who menstruate) who need these basic resources most. Young girls in school accessing food pantries, women living in homeless encampments across Portland, new immigrant mothers, women escaping domestic violence, and women working to make new lives for themselves.

Volunteers from the Jewish community participate in hands-on packing and work alongside community partners to support vulnerable populations with essential menstrual and hygiene products. Each tote contains an evidence-based combination of supplies for one individual for one month. Our program, rooted in Judaic values of kehillah (community), tzedakah (justice and charitable giving), and tikkun olam (repairing the world), fosters social justice through direct action in our community. Through national collaboration, we inform broad social justice efforts while building deep, impactful community relationships and offering leadership opportunities within our Portland Jewish community. In 2024, volunteers and donors enabled Dignity Grows Portland Chapter to pack and distribute 2,304 menstrual and hygiene totes - that’s 2,304 women and menstruators in our community who had access to basic supplies that otherwise would not have. Dignity Grows Portland Chapter operates at no cost, using fundraising and grants to provide the products. $3,600. 
 

5. Jewish Association for Death Education (JADE)
Ongoing Program Support. Jewish Association for Death Education (JADE). Women are taking the lead in the emerging field of death-work & death-education: 90% of Jewish Death Doulas are women. Rachel Crawford, she/her, is  JADE's Portland-based death educator. Rachel designs and executes various educational programs in Portland to increase awareness and understanding of Jewish end-of-life rituals and traditions. JADE also has created an online resource called the Hineni Tool (hineni.jadeinfo.org) and offers monthly webinars to support this learning and the in-person programming.

Some of the desired outcomes of this work are (1) that Jewish community members leave the programming having a deeper understanding of Jewish end of life rituals and that they are empowered to consider how these rituals might be applied to their own ritual practice and (2) end of life professionals that are in a position to support Jews during the end of life stage have a reliable resource that can support them in understanding the diversity of Jewish ritual observance and expression.

The most apparent need that JADE seeks to address is the deficit in knowledge about Jewish end-of-life rituals among Jewish communities in the United States. Jewish death and mourning rituals, like so many of our other traditions, require communal support and participation. Before meaningful communal participation can occur, there needs to be a communal knowledge base around these traditions. The resources available on Jewish death and mourning rituals are limited and often lean heavily toward a specific Jewish denomination which alienates Jews that are not part of that denomination. Through JADE's local death-educators and online educational tools, we are working on addressing this need.

JADE's target population is vast—death affects everyone's life in a multitude of ways. JADE seeks to provide information to every Jewish person equally, from the ultra-observant to the unaffiliated and everyone in between. It’s JADE’s goal to educate and inform people about Jewish end-of-life practices. Whether and how they apply this information to their lives is a personal decision. $4,500. 

6. MJCC (Mittleman Jewish Community Center)
 

New Program Initiative. Pink Shabbat is a new two-hour Friday evening program to be hosted in the MJCC ballroom during October 2026 (Breast Cancer Awareness Month), in partnership with Sharsheret, a Jewish nonprofit organization supporting those affected by breast and ovarian cancer. The evening will include a sit-down Shabbat dinner with traditional rituals woven throughout, and a "fireside chat" style speaking program featuring one medical professional addressing screenings, genetic testing, and risk factors, and one community survivor sharing her personal experience. The program aims to acknowledge the disproportionate impact of breast and ovarian cancer on the Jewish community, particularly those of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry who carry a higher risk of the BRCA1/BRCA2 gene mutations, while providing education and resources to all who attend. Healing prayers, survivor recognition, and pink decor elements will be incorporated throughout the evening to create an atmosphere that feels both spiritually uplifting and medically empowering, balancing clinical information with emotional support in a sensitive and community-centered way. $3,000.

7.  Congregation Kol Ami
New Program Initiative. CKA School MLK Dignity Grows Pack. CKA's MLK Day of Service is an annual volunteer event held on the third Monday of January, during which community members come together to pack approximately 300 reusable tote bags for Dignity Grows, Vancouver's chapter of which has been housed at CKA for the past two years. Each bag contains a month's supply of hygiene products including pads, soaps, and sanitary wipes, with the goal of eliminating period poverty in underserved communities. The completed bags are then distributed through two local partners, Share Vancouver and the Family and Community Resource Centers (FCRC) within Vancouver Public Schools at Hudson's Bay High School. $3,400.

8.  The Oregon Hillel Foundation

Ongoing Program Support. The Oregon Hillel Foundation at the University of Oregon, Rosh Chodesh Program. Funding to support a monthly Rosh Chodesh programming at the University of Oregon occurs nine times per academic year. These gatherings are a meaningful space for women and all individuals who feel safe in a women-centered environment to connect, reflect, and empower one another. Rooted in Judaic themes and values, Rosh Chodesh provides students with a sacred pause from their daily lives, fostering community, resilience, and personal growth.

Programs are student-driven, with a staff member overseeing them to ensure guidance and support. U of O Hillel will employ two student interns responsible for peer-to-peer outreach and program development to cultivate genuine engagement. Additionally, for each session, a student leader is selected to take ownership of the event’s success. This approach ensures that our Rosh Chodesh programming is truly by the students, for the students.