Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation

Grant Guidelines: Wassermann-Streit Y'DIYAH Memorial Fund

Eligibility:

The Y’DIYAH (Hebrew for “learning”) Memorial Fund will support quality non-doctrinaire materials and projects that serve to educate about the heritage, history, customs and culture of traditional Judaism through music, arts, literature, theater, etc. Preference will be given to material and programs that most closely fulfill the goals of the Fund and reach out to the broadest-based secular community. All requests that fulfill the Fund’s goals, limited only by ingenuity and imagination, will be fully considered.

Individuals, educational institutions, cultural and entertainment venues, community centers, libraries and other not-for-profit organizations, principally in Berkshire, Columbia, NW Litchfield, and NE Dutchess Counties, may apply. The Fund would like to reach out in particular to those of high school age or older.

Note: Funding to individuals will require a fiscal sponsor. Please contact grants@berkshiretaconic.org to discuss.

Please note that requests for retroactive funding will not be considered.

Some grants that have been awarded to this partial listing:
The purchase of books, videos and CD’s in schools and public libraries; a multi-media presentation of Klezmer; an illustrated lecture by a popular cartoonist on the historic use of current printing techniques in the Jewish media; high school and college student concerts; student research, journals and writings on pertinent subject material; a synagogue-based interfaith program; a school project to interview, compile and publish history on the town’s Jewish residents, staged reading, theatrical performances; a popular exhibit on the contribution of Jewish immigrants on the Needle Trade; European cabaret artists of the 20’s and 30’s, and other excellent projects.

The Committee of The Y’DIYAH Memorial Fund has compiled a limited list of resource material and will attempt to keep it current for the convenience of applicants. It is by no means determinant but endeavors to suggest ideas that encompass the criteria of the Fund. Please contact Berkshire Taconic if you would like to have a copy sent to you.

Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation does not support organizations which in their constitution, by-laws, or practice, discriminate against a person or group on the basis of age, race, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, political affiliation or religious belief.

Awards:

Generally, grants up to $500 will be awarded twice a year.

Notification:

Applicants will be informed of Berkshire Taconic’s decision within two months of the deadline date.

Review Process:

Applications will be reviewed by the Y’Diyah Advisory Committee. Their recommendations will be reviewed by Berkshire Taconic’s board of directors.

Review Criteria:

Created in memory of the founder’s maternal family, in order to:

Mission Statement:

"The greatest evil is ignorance—the greatest good is knowledge." Socrates
Gisele and Paul Streit’s granddaughter founded the Y’DIYAH (Hebrew for learning) Memorial Fund, in 1999, in order to promote learning about Judaism, in the hope that it may contribute to understanding and curiosity, promote critical thinking, sound judgment and dispel prejudice and intolerance.

Would you like to help?

Contributions are invited to the Y’DIYAH Memorial Fund. Contributions may be made either to build the endowment or to be added to the amount for granting this year. Donations are fully tax-deductible. Please make your check payable to Y’DIYAH Memorial Fund and send it to Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation. For gifts of stock or to make a credit card donation, please call the Foundation at 413.229.0370.

If you have any questions about the fund, email us at grants@berkshiretaconic.org.

Please Apply Online.