Key Features

“It would not surprise me if there is at least one parent in our small community reading a PJ Library book to his or her child every single night of the year. Do you know what that means to a small congregation? Every single night, there is a child in our community who is laughing, learning and experiencing what it is to be Jewish. Even better, they are getting that experience from the teachers who mean the most to them -- their parents.”—Rabbi from North Adams, MA

I: Subscription Costs

The cost of a PJ Library community subscription is $54. The Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF) underwrites the cost of each PJ Library subscription by $14, for the first 100,000 subscriptions (national-wide, not including metropolitan New York.) This reduces the local community’s cost to $40 per child per year.

II: Matching Funds for Professional Staff

Communities are strongly urged to allocate time for a PJ Library program professional.

Each community may apply for a 1:1 matching grant for the salaries being paid to professionals devoting work hours to The PJ Library, up to $10,000 per community per year for the first two years. This includes administrative and programming staff.

In processing your application and deciding your allocation, we will take into account the size of your community, the number of hours and the hourly rate of pay of the professionals. You may include two salaried professionals who will be working on The PJ Library.

III: Marketing Allowance

HGF allocates a marketing fund of $5 per child, based upon the first year’s enrollment goal. This allowance is granted in the first year, and may be budgeted over the first three years of the program. Local partners may use these funds to purchase brochures, flyers, and posters that HGF has designed, and which can be customized for each community. Partners may also purchase advertising space in local media, or design/print their own marketing pieces with appropriate HGF and PJ Library registered logos. Partners may also request reimbursement from HGF from their marketing allowance. The PJ Library logos, photographs, and suggested text are available from the national office.

IV: Community-wide Mailing (Paid for by HGF)

The purpose of this mailing is to:

Announce the launch of The PJ Library to every Jewish household in the community
Acknowledge the contributions of local organizations and donors
Provide families with eligible-aged children the necessary enrollment information

The mailing will include a letter (on a partner organization’s letterhead) introducing The PJ Library, a sample book with reading guide, and enrollment information. All materials, and the cost of the mailing, are paid for by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.

The mailing list of this outreach will include the Federation’s and JCC’s mailing lists, along with other community lists (synagogues, schools, havurot, etc.) that may not already be included. HGF guarantees that this list is not shared or used in any way other than for the purpose of the community-wide mailing; all lists are returned to the implementing organization (if on disk) or permanently deleted (if electronic) once the community-wide mailing has been received.

V: Renewal Policies

The PJ Library is intended to remain free for subscribing families. At the end of a participant’s first year in The PJ Library program, that subscription will be automatically rolled over to continue into the second year, and the local implementing partner will be billed $40. HGF will send a list to each community who will review the list and remove names of any participants who have moved out of the area, or aged out of the program.

At the end of the second year, families of participants will be contacted and welcomed to renew their children’s free subscription(s). Those families who choose to renew will be invited to make a donation to the program. Donations will be allocated to your local organization so that the community can offer free subscriptions to an even greater number of families.