Update

2020 Annual Report: Reflecting on the Past, Looking to the Future—and Responding to the Moment

This year was unlike any other. The effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on people’s lives and livelihoods were as widespread as they were devastating. No one community felt the effects more than older people. Around the world, aging communities lost access to the care and support they depended on. Populations that relied on direct services became largely homebound. Others lost access to food and daily essentials. And Dementia care patients lost the vital in-person, community connections they needed to stay well. But loss isn’t the full story of 2020.

It’s also a story about life. This year, the Sephardic Foundation on Aging’s grantmaking touched lives in 13 US states and four countries—Israel, Russia, Turkey, and Ethiopia. We delivered 78 grants, totaling more than $3 million in funding.

Our 2020 grants were classified into three categories: non-emergency grants, emergency grants responding to COVID-19, and scheduled grants. Though the majority of this year’s grantmaking focused on COVID-19, scheduled and non-emergency grants also played a vital role in maintaining quality care for seniors.

But it’s the people at the heart of these numbers that keep us committed to our mission. One of our emergency grants this year went to the Pledge to Protect Coalition, a partnership of Jewish Federations of North America, Jewish Funders Network and Kahal, which sources PPE for Jewish nursing homes and human services agencies. Through our grant, we provided:

– 19,249 surgical masks

– 17,995 N95 respirator masks

– 14,750 isolation gowns

– 7,500 nitrile gloves

Concerts in Motion, an organization that hosts concerts at assisted living centers, used our grant to them to take their concerts to Zoom. This provided an invaluable form of connection and stability for their audience who had become homebound. “I usually eat alone, but now I have company! How wonderful is that?” — Audience member, enjoying lunch over a 1 pm concert.

More than any other, this year crystalized the importance of SFOA’s grantmaking. We’re proud to have made the impact we did. And as we look to the future, we remain committed to supporting older communities with the services and funding they need to continue thriving. 

For more information on our grantmaking this year, please read our 2020 Annual Report

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Posted December 14, 2020