JCA has not and will not ever fund any political campaign

The Jewish Communal Appeal (JCA) strongly rejects recent claims by a Journalist in the media that JCA has funded the “Yes” campaign for the Voice referendum and notes that any inference of general communal funds being used for such purposes are false.

JCA does not take political positions on any matter and never will. This impartiality is vital to the work we do and allows us objectivity in the distribution of donor funds in our local Jewish Community in NSW and ACT.

To be very clear: JCA has not and will not fund any campaign supporting or opposing The Voice. 

The newspaper article containing these claims is wrong and we are taking steps to address that.

We further note:

• JCA raises funds on behalf of the NSW and ACT Jewish Community to fund services and programs in our local Jewish community.
• JCA assists 25 organisations that support the Jewish community from security and advocacy to Jewish education, culture, engagement, and outreach, aged and community care and holocaust, history, and heritage.
• When allocating funds, JCA makes careful, rigorous allocations decisions based on evidence and data provided by our member organisations.
• Last year JCA distributed $14.3m which included supporting mental health initiatives, aged care, school fee assistance and security services. We are proud that the money we have raised through you has changed lives, and in some cases saved lives.
• We review applications for funding annually and ensure funds are applied for the purposes they were requested.
• Kol Halev, who held an event with speakers from the Yes Campaign for the Voice, is a national program with support from various donors and organisations including Stand Up, Jewish Community Council of Victoria, the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS), the National Council of Jewish Women, Bnai Brith and Shalom.
• JCA had no involvement in the event and no annual campaign funding we provide was directed to the event or the Kol Halev initiative.
• JCA funds NSW resources for Stand Up - a national organisation. The resources are dedicated to running engagement programs for youth in NSW including the Step Up B’nei Mitzvah program and the Derech Eretz volunteering program and social justice education in our Jewish day schools. These programs are focussed on Jewish engagement of young people in NSW on issues that matter to them, through these clearly defined programs. Over the past three years these programs have engaged 100s of Jewish NSW youth and taught them values of Tikkun Olam.
• Our community is proudly diverse and is made up of groups and individuals with many different views and needs. As a result, we expect a diversity of views and opinions on a range of political, cultural, or social issues of the day.

26-07-2023