We’ve all heard about the amazing work you do for young professional Russian Jews with RAJE. Today we would like to learn more about your former career as a writer for the Mishpacha Magazine and the Grant Writing work you currently do for over 70 shuls, schools, & non-profits throughout Maryland and beyond.
First of all, how did you get started as a writer?
I always enjoyed writing. As a buchor, I was the guy who wrote the Purim shpiels in yeshiva (and still continue to do so for Mercaz Torah u’Tefillah!). One Shabbos I heard an amazing miraculous story about a bus driver in Israel. My friend, the famous author, Nachman Seltzer, encouraged me to write the story. It was published by the Yated. That was the beginning of my writing career. A short time later the editor of Mishpacha Magazine saw a few of my samples and offered me a job on the spot. My first assignment was a bi-weekly column featuring kiruv organizations throughout the world. I was regularly featured in the Mishpacha and Hamodia Magazines for the next 8 years.
How did you start your Grant Writing career?
A senior grant writer for the Joint (JDC) in Israel gave me my first job grant writing for a unique job training program for Haredim in the IDF. I was later trained in security grants by arguably the best grant writer in New York, Shea Schwartz (father in law of Yoni Herman). When I finished a 3 year smicha program in Israel, I started a business doing freelance PR, copywriting, and grant writing for dozens of non-profits all over the world.
So how did you end up in Baltimore?
In many ways I was living the dream in Ramat Beit Shemesh – learning half a day, teaching in an American yeshiva at night, running Shabbatons for Birthright, while supporting my family as a writer – but I felt like I could do more for klal Yisrael. I was so inspired by the people I met through my writing work with non-profits and kiruv orgs that I eventually decided I didn’t want to sit behind a desk writing about people doing incredible things – I wanted to join them! After four years doing kiruv in Queens & Albany NY we decided it was time to settle down in community bigger than Albany and smaller than NYC. Baltimore made sense. In 2016, I started a program in UMBC and eventually opened the RAJE Maryland branch at the urging of a few Russian students I met on campus. B”H it was the best decision we ever made to join this incredible community!
What’s the history of Capital Grant Consulting?
During our first few months in Baltimore, Frank Storch introduced me to Ahavas Yisrael to help with a few grants. Word began to spread quickly, and in 2019, I did about 5 NSGP security grants for various shuls in town. I asked my wife Rachel to help since it was too much work for me to do alone while running my kiruv org. She ended up taking over most of the tasks with help from her Statistics degree. She really built up the business over the next few years. We have consistently raised $5-6 million each year ever since for over 60 shuls, schools and non-profits throughout the state and beyond! Our clients include most shuls in Baltimore in addition to schools like Torah Institute, Toras Simcha, Cheder Chabad, JEWELs, and Bais Yaakov of Baltimore as well as non-profits like Ahavas Chaim, Bas Melech, and Hatzalah.
What types of grants are available for our community mosdos?
Although we write several Jewish education grants each year, the majority of our work involves NSGP (Federal) and PAHC (State) security grants. Last year we successfully won 54 security grants for the majority of shuls in the community! Dalya Attar, Yitzy Schleifer, and Rabbi Ariel Sadwin are very supportive of our work and are always working tirelessly to help find funding opportunities – especially when it comes to keeping the community safe.
What items can shuls get from these security grants?
Organizations can typically get as much as $300,000 each year towards security expenses to fund structural target hardening installations like cameras, lights, alarm systems, intercoms, generators, bollards, fences, and secure doors & windows, in addition to security guards. Over the past few years there were multiple carjackings that took place outside Synagogues – including the recent robberies that occurred in Beazer in broad daylight. Given the 360% increase in anti-Semitism since Oct 7th, there’s really no reason why every single shul shouldn’t have a government funded security guard – provided their Rav is on board. Congress cut funding this year by 10%. That means increased FEMA scrutiny and competition this year so it’s essential to hire a professional and experienced grant writer to ensure maximum compliance to increase your chances.
How should our shul president or nonprofit organization get in touch with you?
Make sure to tell your shul president to contact us at Gavriel@capitalgrantconsulting.com ASAP if they haven’t already!
