ALEF Fund Archives

Jun 07 2023

ALEF Fund Update

By Ben Bornstein ALEF Fund

ALEF Fund, Inc. (“ALEF Fund”) is pleased to announce it has successfully resolved recent issues related to the submission of pledges to the Department of Revenue this year. This resolution will provide full funding to ensure that all donations pledged to ALEF Fund for 2023 will be fulfilled and allocated to ALEF Fund’s partner schools for use in the upcoming school year. To help answer questions about these issues and the resolution achieved, ALEF Fund has prepared this statement.

During the ALEF Fund annual fundraising process this year, upload errors with the Georgia Department of Revenue resulted in denials or under approvals of some tax credit applications. Without these approvals, ALEF Fund would not have received all pledged amounts from donors and therefore would not be able to disburse those funds to its partner schools to fund student scholarships under the Qualified Education Donation Tax Credit program (now referred to as the PEACH Education Tax Credit).

Working together, ALEF Fund and its technology vendor that worked on the submission of pledges have reached an agreement for the recovery of $2.6 million that will fully and completely fund every dollar potentially lost as a result of these issues. This means that all donations pledged to ALEF Fund will be fulfilled and disbursed to partner schools in support of Jewish education scholarships, exactly as if the upload of tax credit applications been completely successful! We are continuing to work out final details, and more information will be provided soon about the distribution of funds, but this is a tremendous outcome that reflects the hard work and dedication of many people.

ALEF Fund wishes to acknowledge that this outcome would not have been possible without the full support of its technology vendor, and ALEF Fund thanks it for its efforts to reach a resolution and is grateful for its support of ALEF Fund’s mission to improve the affordability and accessibility of Jewish education. ALEF Fund is also very grateful for the support of Greenberg Traurig, including shareholders Ted Blum and Justin Victor, who partnered with ALEF Fund and invested significant resources to achieve this outcome.

ALEF Fund would like to thank the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, owner and operator of ALEF Fund, which provided the financial support to guarantee that schools would receive their funds no matter the outcome, enabling schools to continue to offer scholarships for next year while we worked to reach this resolution. The Federation’s dedication to their mission of strengthening our Jewish Atlanta community made it possible for us to continue our support for this community and our children during this time.

Lastly, ALEF Fund’s most important “thank yous” are to its valued donors, its partner schools, and to its leadership for their continued commitment to Jewish education. We have taken significant steps to ensure smooth operation of the ALEF Fund moving forward, and we look forward to being in touch early this summer with information on how you can make your 2024 pledges. Thank you for your partnership.

Oct 24 2022

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Why One Family is Grateful for ALEF Fund

By jewishatl ALEF Fund, Atlanta Jewish Community

epstein school - jewish atlanta Many families would love to give their children a Jewish education but doing so can be prohibitively expensive. That’s where ALEF Fund steps in.

Here is why one family is grateful to receive an ALEF Fund Scholarship:

“After a summer working at In the City Camp, our daughter wanted to continue her education among the Jewish students that she had gotten to know. As a family, we were looking for a school community that lived out Jewish values of tikun olam, education, and kindness.

On the other hand, as a family where both parents work for social cause organizations, we didn’t have the financial means to afford the full tuition of The Weber School. That’s where the ALEF Fund stepped in; its support was quite frankly the difference maker.

With the scholarship, we were able to afford a Jewish education and our daughter is now thriving, advancing her education, and feeling even more connected to her Judaism. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity and to all who support the ALEF Fund. It means so much to us.”

The ALEF Fund provides scholarships to pre-k, kindergarten, primary, and secondary public-school students who wish to attend participating Jewish private schools. This fund makes Jewish learning available to kids who otherwise would not be able to afford tuition to a private institution.

With ALEF Fund, you can support Jewish education in Georgia at virtually no cost to you. For your donation, you’ll receive a dollar-for-dollar Georgia income tax credit.

The ALEF Fund is accepting 2023 tax credit reservations now through December 31. Sign up today and get some credit for supporting Jewish education in our community.

Dec 23 2021

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Atlanta Day Schools Maintain Enrollment Uptick

By jewishatl ALEF Fund, Atlanta Jewish Community, Jewish Journeys, PHILANTHROPY

A unique silver lining of the pandemic has been a significant spike in enrollment at Atlanta’s Jewish day schools. Last year and this year, many Atlanta parents who were frustrated by school closings and virtual learning opted for the high-quality, in-person education found at our Jewish day schools.

Tallying re-enrollment and new enrollments, nearly all our day schools are seeing their highest numbers in recent history. The Davis Academy added an additional section of first grade last year. They now have 54 students in second grade. Enrollment at The Weber School is at an all-time high.

The Zalik Foundation’s Jewish Community Professional High School Tuition Grant has also been a driver. It offers full-time Jewish professionals, clergy, and educators up to a 50 percent tuition reduction if their children are currently enrolled or have been accepted to an accredited Jewish high school in Atlanta.

Prizmah, national Jewish day school network, confirms the trend. Their 2021 report said, “After two decades of slow erosion in the numbers of students enrolled in non-Orthodox Jewish day schools in North America, the 18 months since the onset of COVID-19 have seen an unanticipated change. Many schools have reported a spate of inquiries and enrollments among children transferring from public schools, sometimes in the middle of the year. Families noticed how well day schools were responding to the challenge of offering a solid and stable education during the pandemic. They preferred what they saw to what their children were experiencing in their previous schools.”

In-migration and remote working are also part of the story. Because of COVID, parents were able to work remotely and choose a community with great day school options. In the Atlanta Jewish Times, Erica Gal, a former admissions director at Atlanta Jewish Academy (AJA), said, “Though AJA did have families coming from local public school, we also had a lot of families move here from out of town.”

Here in Atlanta, preparing our schools to receive these new students and to operate in the COVID environment came at a cost. Jewish day schools received grants from the CARES Act and from Federation’s COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund to offset the increased cost of additional staffing, building adaptations, increased cleaning, PPE, and many other costs associated with safe operations. That investment really paid off.

It’s great to hear comments like this one from a new day school parent: “Ok, I can’t help it! I just have to tell you how insanely happy our daughter is this year already. She literally cannot wait to come to school every day, and when I pick her up, she is just going a mile a minute, telling me all about her day and how much fun she had. She absolutely adores her teachers, and so do we. They have just been so above and beyond in every way already.”

Another way to support our Jewish day schools is to make a pledge to the ALEF Fund to redirect a portion of your Georgia state taxes to become tuition scholarships. Hurry, the deadline is December 31, 2021.

Dec 18 2020

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Be Part of the Impact

By jewishatl ALEF Fund, Atlanta Jewish Community, CARING

When DeKalb County Public Schools announced that they would start the 2020-21 school year virtually, Susan and Scott Rosenbaum were worried.

“We were desperate for a safe, high–quality, face-to-face learning option. Our second-grade son had a miserable spring with worksheets and videos. He needed a small class and a real live teacher. Our daughter was entering kindergarten. We wanted her to learn with other kids, not on a computer. We toured The Epstein School and loved their model — two teachers in each classroom, small class size, and the wonderful mix of Judaics and secular studies. But tuition for two kids was not do-able for us. When we learned we qualified for scholarship support for both kids through ALEF Fund we were overjoyed.”

Susan and Scott were contributors to ALEF Fund even when their kids were in public school, years before they transferred to a Jewish day school. They knew it was an easy way to take the state taxes they’d have to pay anyway and turn them into scholarships supporting 20 different Jewish day schools and Jewish preschools in Georgia. “Everyone should support ALEF Fund,” Susan says. “Right now is the time to do it at aleffund.org.”

ALEF Fund has tremendous impact on Jewish education and depends on taxpayers like you to generate scholarship support. Hurry and renew your pledge. You have until December 31 to apply for a 2021 tax credit. Don’t miss this opportunity to support Jewish education.

ALEF’s website, aleffund.org, is open for pledges. Renewing is easy — just log on as a returning user and follow the prompts. If you need assistance, call Rachel Rosner at 404-870-1879 and she will be happy to assist you.

Dec 15 2020

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Virtual Learning Wasn’t Cutting it for their Kids: Thanks to ALEF Fund, they’re an Epstein family now

By jewishatl ALEF Fund, Atlanta Jewish Community, Jewish Journeys, PHILANTHROPY

When DeKalb County Public Schools announced that they would start the 2020-21 school year virtually, Susan and Scott Rosenbaum were worried.

“We were desperate for a safe, high quality, face-to-face learning option. Our second-grade son had a miserable spring with worksheets and videos. He needed a small class and a real live teacher. Our daughter was entering kindergarten. We wanted her to learn with other kids, not on a computer.”

“We toured The Epstein School and loved their model — two teachers in each classroom, small class size, and the wonderful mix of Judaics and secular studies. But tuition for two kids was not do-able for us. When we learned we qualified for scholarship support for both kids through ALEF Fund we were overjoyed. “

“This year at the Thanksgiving table when we went around to say what we were thankful for, my son said, ‘I’m thankful for my awesome school.’”

ALEF Fund needs you to support Jewish education! Hurry and renew your pledge. You have until December 31 to apply for a 2021 tax credit. Don’t miss this opportunity to support Jewish education. Our website, aleffund.org, is open for pledges. Renewing is easy — just log on as a returning user and follow the prompts. If you need assistance, call Rachel Rosner at 404-870-1879 and she will be happy to assist you.

As a past participant, you know that ALEF Fund is a win-win: redirecting state tax dollars to scholarships for hundreds of families a year.

Apr 20 2020

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ALEF Made Day School Possible

By jewishatl ALEF Fund, CARING, Jewish Journeys, People in Need, PHILANTHROPY

Educated and Empowered, Thanks to ALEF Fund

J. is a single parent and a survivor of domestic violence. She receives no financial support from her ex-husband, who was her abuser, and works very hard to make ends meet. One of the joys of her life is that her daughter is getting an incredible Jewish day school education at Atlanta Jewish Academy, thanks to scholarship support from ALEF Fund.

“When I moved back to Atlanta from out of state, I was pretty broken from my marriage,” she remembers. “As we looked at school options, I had concerns. Our zoned public school has an open campus and it worried me that someone could easily walk into the building off the street. When you’ve been in an abusive marriage you learn to be hyper vigilant and protective. I was thrilled to find a position at Atlanta Jewish Academy. The school was everything I dreamed of for my daughter — amazing facilities, Hebrew language instruction, Jewish values, and great campus security, with gates and intercoms and a culture of vigilance. But the cost of tuition put it out of reach. Then I heard about ALEF Fund.”

“When I learned about the ALEF Fund state tax credit, I opted in right away. “It makes me so happy to know that by participating in ALEF Fund I am paying it forward for others like me who depend on tuition help for Jewish schools. My small contribution helps fund substantial scholarships, so it feels like a win-win! I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do it!”

“My daughter is thriving at her school and every day she teaches me something new about Judaism. We were at Six Flags recently and she heard a family speaking another language, which she recognized as Hebrew. She went right up to them and introduced herself in Hebrew! The father was so impressed with her language skills. I was blown away!”

“I was lucky to attend Hebrew Academy as a child in Atlanta. It gave me foundational Jewish literacy and taught me to read and write Hebrew. Now my daughter has surpassed me in her Jewish education. I am so grateful to ALEF Fund, for opening these doors for my daughter. Knowing that she is educated and empowered is everything to me!”

Georgia taxpayers have until December 31, 2019 to make a 2020 pledge to ALEF Fund and redirect a portion of their GA state taxes to become scholarships at 18 Jewish day schools, preschools and high schools. Questions? Contact Nicole Flom right away!

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