What is Wigit?

Planning a wedding requires a great deal of compromise. Whether you are picking the menu, choosing the invite list or working out the ceremony details you have to give a little to get a little. As we talked about our wedding and our life together, however, we found one area where we did not need to compromise at all. Both of us share a strong commitment to tzedakah. Most recently, Jason ran a marathon to raise over $5,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and a few years ago Shira worked for Jewish Funders Network, a membership organization that helps family foundations and foundation professionals to be more strategic and effective in their fundraising.

We have often talked about our shared dream of managing a family foundation which could make serious financial contributions to causes which we support. At first we thought that this was an idea for when we were older. There was no way, we assumed, that two students with limited financial means could make a difference. Then we remembered the Chinese proverb that even a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. We decided to think big and find a first step that we could take today.

After some significant research we found an exciting opportunity through the Jewish Communal Fund to start a philanthropic fund of our own. Using a percentage of the cash gifts we received at our wedding, the Wigit Fund was born. Through the fund we plan to support organizations promoting education, peace and conflict resolution, soctial justice in the United States and Israel and causes dedicated to encouraging understanding and tolerance.