On A Roll - Hitting YES Fund Goals!

January 31, 2025Deb Lelchuk, WRJ Board Member

By definition, an honor roll is a list of the names of people who are celebrated for something they have done, such as doing very well in a sport or in school. For example, if you study hard, you can make your school’s honor roll.

Honor roll in WRJ world has a broader, more encompassing meaning. We celebrate your sisterhood or women's group when they earn a place on the WRJ YES Fund Honor Roll.

How, you ask? WRJ YES Fund Honor Roll recognizes sisterhoods and women's groups who have gone above and beyond in their YES Fund donations. All donations made by members of a sisterhood or women’s group are credited to the group’s honor roll status.  

Three levels of honor—Chai Honor, Special Merit, and Honor—have been established. Roll of Honor is recognized at $5 per member, the Special Merit Honor Level at $10 per member, and the Chai Honor Level is reached at $18 per member.

Contributions to the YES Fund support WRJ’s philanthropic endeavors to nurture the leaders of today and tomorrow in the Jewish community, reaching people at a local, national, and global level. In 2024-25, with $300,500 in grant allocations, WRJ provided 28 grants to Jewish organizations around the world, including:

WRJ remains dedicated to the future of the Reform Jewish Movement by supporting camp programs, teen leadership development, and egalitarian and emergency funding to Israel.  

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) also continues to be a foremost priority for WRJ. This year, WRJ funded nine organizations in North America, including renewing grants for The LUNAR Collective and Jewtina y Co. for their new initiatives supporting an Asian Jewish Community Fellowship and the formation of a Latina Rabbinic Council, respectively.  

In addition to YES Fund donations, WRJ is excited to share our newly designed Uniongrams and classic Goldengrams qualify as YES Fund contributions and count toward honor roll. These branded notecards are available for purchase by placing an order by phone at 212-650-4050 or sending an email to info@wrj.org.  

Your support of the YES Fund as individuals and as members of sisterhoods and women’s groups is vital to WRJ’s continued philanthropy throughout the Reform Jewish Movement and beyond.  

If your sisterhood or women’s group is looking to achieve Honor Roll, we hope you will consider a donation, or host a virtual, in-person, or hybrid event/fundraiser to meet one of the above Honor Roll levels. Doing so not only increases the engagement of your sisterhood members, but also reinforces the cultivation of sisterhood, spirituality, and social justice, all core to WRJ’s mission.  

Honor roll status reports will be sent this February to your sisterhood so you can track your progress. Honor roll is evaluated on a fiscal year basis, meaning you have until June 30, 2025, to make our list!  Looking to learn about the ways to host a YES Fund fundraiser and event? Please reach out to WRJ YES Fund North American Chair Deb Lelchuk at deblelchuk@gmail.com. If you have general questions about the YES Fund, reach out to Rachel Gebeloff, WRJ Philanthropy Manager at rgebeloff@wrj.org.

Related Posts

The Power of "Why Not?"

As a teenager, I thought I knew everything. Like most people at that age, I believed I had life figured out—fashion, politics, music, religion; you name it, I had my opinions, and I was pretty confident in them. When my senior year of high school rolled around, I decided to follow in the footsteps

The Value of Diversity for Jewish Youth

For Jewish teens of Color, navigating Judaism and racial identity can be a complex and isolating experience. Growing up as a Jewish person of Color, I have often felt like an outsider in Jewish spaces, surrounded by individuals who shared a fundamental aspect of my identity—our Jewishness—yet looked