Ed Samiljan honored for Camp Mountain Chai

Rae and Ed Samiljan
Rae and Ed Samiljan

AGAWAM, Massachusetts (Press Release)–  Jcamp180®, a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF), hosted more than 475 leaders from non-profit Jewish camps and other organizations during its 10th anniversary conference earlier this month. During the event, top individuals and camps were honored for their growth in managing their daily operations and for their collective effort raising $90 million through HGF’s matching challenge grant campaign to support Jewish children’s camps across the country.

Ed Samiljan, founder of Camp Mountain Chai, a San Diego based Jewish children’s overnight camp, was presented with the Philanthropist of the Year Award for his for his significant contributions benefiting generations of Jewish children. With the support of his wife, donors and partners, he founded Camp Mountain Chai from the top down in 2004, from securing camp leadership down to choosing its spectacular 7,500 foot property in San Bernardino National Forest. Now ten years since its founding, Camp Mountain Chai serves nearly 500 Jewish children each year, as Samiljan continues to work for and financially support the organization. Samiljan was at the Massachusetts conference to accept the award which included a plaque and $3,000 cash donation to the camp.

To date, Jcamp180® has contributed more than $13 million in matching grant funds and $11 million in consulting services, which equates to more than 75,000 hours, for Jewish children’s overnight and day camps. The result: Jewish camps have raised another $225 million on their own to be used for capital improvements, expansions, and endowments, helping Jewish camp attendance grow from 43,000 in 2004 to 70,000 campers across the nation today.

Today, Jcamp180® serves 115 camps. The goal of the program is to engage Jewish camp leaders in utilizing best practices, helping them to grow attendance by improving their facilities, better using technology and social media, and raising funds for scholarships, capital improvements and endowments.  Jcamp180® staff work onsite with camp professional and lay leaders to help with board development, governance, strategic planning, alumni outreach and other personalized organizational, recruitment, and fundraising initiatives. Participating camps take part in successive matching grant initiatives led by Jcamp180®.

“Jcamp180® has played a major role in transforming camps into more professional and sophisticated organizations,” says JCamp180 Director Mark Gold.  “This program has helped these non-profit Jewish camps raise more money in the last 10 years than they had in the previous four decades, thereby enabling them to better compete with other nonprofit and for-profit camps.”

During the 10th anniversary Jcamp 180 Conference, participants took part in training sessions, workshops, networking opportunities and speaking programs geared to help nonprofits better manage their operations. Keynote speaker Warren Berger, best-selling author of A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas, led a discussion on building a culture of inquiry by learning to ask and answer the right questions. Other topics covered included fundraising, board development, strategic planning, and technology.

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Preceding provided by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation