(JTA) – The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles will distribute $8.5 million in funds for COVID-19 relief to support nonprofit organizations, both Jewish and non-Jewish, representing its entire grantmaking for 2020. Formally titled the COVID-19 Response Grants, the program’s first phase will focus on providing immediate relief to Los Angeles nonprofits  that offer direct services to those impacted by the pandemic. The second phase will support Jewish nonprofits locally and in Israel facing economic hardship due to the effects of the coronavirus in order to ensure their long-term survival.

So far, $2.5 million has been distributed to 22 nonprofit organizations, including a $1 million grant to the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. The foundation said in a statement that it consulted with more than 100 nonprofits locally and in Israel, as well as other foundations in the community, to gain a better understanding of the most pressing and evolving needs. “The devastating effects of COVID-19 and the financial crisis required us to re-imagine our institutional grantmaking to meet these unprecedented challenges,” the foundation’s CEO, Marvin Schotland, said in the statement.

Main Photo: The headquarters of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, which has received $1 million from the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles’ COVID-19 Response Grants program. (Photo/Google Maps)