Yiddishland - From Mess to Success!
Yiddishland California needs your support. Yiddishland is a cultural center, art gallery, event space, classroom, meeting place, and more, created to expand the understanding of Jewish culture’s many impacts on American life and history by working to preserve and promote Yiddish language and culture. Yiddishland is a project of the nondenominational nonprofit Yiddish Arts and Academics Association of North America (YAAANA), classified as a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization by the standards of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Our EIN is 85-2064877, and all donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by the law. Guests of all faiths, backgrounds, ages, and identities are welcome to appreciate our courses and events as well as the warmth of our La Jolla center.
In 2023, the Yiddishland family has watched one art gallery after another closing its doors, and many nonprofit organizations are facing challenges at this present time. Unfortunately, our organization is not exempt from these difficulties and is significantly impacted by the current economic situation in our country. As the Jewish year 5783 comes to a close, we find that our expenses are increasing while tzedakah is decreasing. Each of us recognizes that Yiddishland is operating in an expensive economy beyond our control, but if tzedakah continues to shrink we will need to relocate, most likely abroad.
Contributions toward operating expenses (rent, utilities, materials) are needed to sustain Yiddishland’s public offerings, such as classes and access to art collections. We are asking the public to support us with any possible donation to YAAANA — even the smallest amount can help.
We aim to keep the La Jolla location vibrant for as long as possible and need your aid! Yiddishland's current lease expires at the end of September 2023, and we are facing a funding gap to secure a renewal. If we do not succeed, it would result in a relocation of Yiddishland and its founder, Jana.
Your donations will allow YAAANA to continue:
- Increasing public access to YAAANA’s collection of Judaica, Jewish art, books and other ephemera (now totaling thousands of pieces)
- Hosting events and courses. From 2021 until now we hosted close to 600 events and courses, engaged with over 2,000 participants and served over 1,600 students from over 43 states (including California, Texas, and New York) and 27 countries (including South Africa, Canada, and the UK)
We don’t intend to stop here. Currently, YAAANA is working on digitizing our physical collection, scanning our gallery’s paintings and posting them online for anyone around the world to appreciate. This digital art gallery will also include information on the artists of each piece, which may inspire further exploration of the artist and their other works. It’s an ambitious project, and Yiddishland will see it through!
The online art gallery is just one of our projects for this year. We are intensely working with a team of architects and real estate advisors to pave the way for the creation of YiddishLAND, and we will update you on those plans towards the end of 2023.
Read more about our long-term plans here.
We hope you can join us on our journey! Here are some ways to contribute:
- Support us with a tax-deductible donation
- Become a member of Yiddishland California
- Purchase artwork and Yiddishland souvenirs
- Include us in your estate planning
- Donate monthly professional janitorial services
- Help us keep the door open by volunteering your time and skills
- Become a qualified intern or refer qualified interns for college and academic credit more information here
- Share this campaign with your friends and family
We look forward to continuing yiddishizing the public to ensure no end to Yiddishland!
The team of YAAANA and Yiddishland California
