HELP CAMP SHINE BRIGHT
Our campers and staff need a place to be their best selves, to find their people, to belong. As we head back to the Bubble for Summer 2022, we are looking to you to help camp shine bright for future campers! We hope you’ll consider a donation to help us ensure that every child who wants to come to camp is able to join us and make memories that last a lifetime. Your donation helps to grow and strengthen our camp community, and ensure a strong Jewish future!
We simply cannot do it without the generosity of our beloved donors.
Please note our new Mailing address:
URJ Eisner and Crane Lake Camps
PO Box 569
Great Barrington, MA 01230
When you invest in Crane Lake Camp you’re ensuring campers and staff have the opportunity to become the best versions of themselves. These opportunities will enhance each person, who steps through camps gates, to develop friendships, leadership skills, and Jewish identity.
Whether you choose to invest in our Scholarship Fund, Annual Fund or Chai Monthly Giving, you are living our mission and saying Hineini – Here I am.
With your support campers deliver the values of camp back home to our families and friends, college campuses, congregations and communities. These pivotal Jewish camp experiences create generations of teens, young adults and adults engaged in Jewish life, support Jewish causes, and leading their communities.
Annual Fund
Our Annual Fund supports scholarship, improving facilities, programmatic excellence and leadership training.
Scholarship Fund
Help ensure that every child regardless of financial situations, has the ability to experience the magic of camp. Your gift can make a real difference to a camper, or even to many.
SEE WHERE IT GOES
We can’t measure the value camp provides for our campers, but we can enjoy the beautiful space in which we make that impact. Take a virtual tour of Crane Lake Camp and see where the magic happens!
Kindness Stones
Make a lasting impression on camp by purchasing a kindness stone in memory and/or honor of you or your loved ones.
Monthly Giving
Giving monthly helps everyone! As little as $18 a month can support families in need of help to make camp a reality for their child.
Employer Matching Gifts
Many employers offer match programs for donations. Learn more about ways you can doubling your impact! Learn more by emailing Ray Kimmelblatt.
Gifts of Stock
A charitable contribution of long-term appreciated securities (i.e. stocks, bonds and/or mutual funds that have realized significant appreciation over time) is one of the most tax-efficient of all ways to give. Learn more by emailing Ray Kimmeblatt.
Legacy Society
To help ensure the long-term success of the camps, make Crane Lake part of your estate plan. We recommend speaking with your financial advisor to discuss what is optimal to meet your needs.
CLC Wish List
Help support CLC by purchasing an item on our Amazon Wish List, something we would love to offer our campers, but cannot purchase due to budgetary constraints.
B’nai Mitzvah Projects
Many of our campers choose to make Crane Lake Camp the beneficiary of their Bar/Bat Mitzvah projects. We are excited to offer ideas and support to our campers that choose to do so. We have examples of projects that have been done in the past, and are happy to share them with interested families. For more information on how to make Crane Lake Camp your B’nai Mitzvah project, please take a look below.
B'nai Mitzvah Project Ideas
Do you need an idea for your Bar/Bat Mitzvah project?? Here is a list of great ideas!
- Make a Bar/Bat Mitzvah website with a page dedicated to your project
- Use Crane Lake clothes and swag to make Crane Lake centerpieces, which can then be donated to new campers who cannot afford to buy Crane Lake items
- Collect empty bottles and cans at your temple, school, and other organizations, then use the money you get back from the machines at the supermarket to donate to camp
- Host a walkathon with your friends to raise money for scholarship
- Host a talent show at your temple and donate proceeds to scholarship
- Recruit donations from local businesses, then host an auction or a silent auction to raise money for scholarship
- Host a car wash or bake sale
- You are a Crane Lake camper, you have your own brilliant ideas!
Email Examples
If you are committed to making Crane Lake Camp the beneficiary of your Bar/Bat Mitzvah project, let us help you! Below, you will find examples of emails and invitation inserts that you can make your own!
Email text: Subject: Crane Lake Campers Need Your Help!
As you may know, I have attended Crane Lake Camp for [number] years and have been permanently impacted by the people I have met and the things I have learned. Camp has provided me with things that are difficult to find anywhere else, including a strong and loving community, the opportunity to develop a connection to Judaism, and a chance to learn and grow both Jewishly and as a an individual. As you can imagine, nonprofits and schools are facing a fundraising crisis. More families than ever need assistance to give their children the life-changing opportunities I have had at Crane Lake Camp. Camp has continued to allocate for scholarship in its budget, but will not be able to cover 100% of requests, and they expect the Scholarship fund to be significantly drained. The economy has put pressure on us all, but it is exactly for this reason that camp needs your help now more than ever. Every dollar helps! Last summer, more than 200 children were fortunate enough to experience URJ Crane Lake Camps because of generous donations like yours to the Scholarship Fund. For my [Bar/Bat] Mitzvah project, I want to help give more kids the opportunity to experience Eisner as I have. It really is a “summer that lasts a lifetime.”
You can donate online here: Donate to Eisner! OR Send a check to URJ Crane Lake Camp with “[Name]’s [Bar/Bat] Mitzvah Project” in the memo line to: URJ Eisner and Crane Lake Camps PO Box 569, Great Barrington, MA 01230 Thank you so much! [Your name here] P.S. URJ Crane Lake Camp is a registered 501c(3) non-profit organization, and donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.
Invite insert text: As you may know, I have attended Crane Lake Camp for [number] years and have been permanently impacted by the people I have met and the things I have learned. Camp has provided me with things that are difficult to find anywhere else, including a strong and loving community, the opportunity to develop a connection to Judaism, and a chance to learn and grow both Jewishly and as a an individual. This year, more families than ever need assistance to give their children the life-changing opportunities I have had at Crane Lake Camp. For my [Bar/Bat] Mitzvah project, I want to help give more kids the opportunity to experience Crane Lake as I have. It really is a “summer that lasts a lifetime.” Help me send a kid to camp!
A gift of $18 will provide an end of session banquet dinner. A gift of $40 will provide a trip day laughing with friends. A gift of $75 will provide a joyful Shabbat experience. A gift of $180 will provide a day at camp making memories. A gift of $740 will provide a chance to participate in Maccabiah (color war). A gift of $2,600 will provide a first time experience in K’tanim. A gift of $5,000 will provide a summer that will last a lifetime.
Donation Information:
Enclosed is my tax-deductible gift of: __$3,600 __$1,800 __$1,018 __$360 __$180 __Other $_____ Please make checks payable to URJ Crane Lake Camp Scholarship Fund, PO Box 569, Great Barrington, MA 01230 __I have enclosed a matching gift from my workplace Bill my (check one): __Mastercard __Visa __AmEx __once __monthly __quarterly for $____ Credit card account number: ______________________ Security Code: _____ Expiration Date: _____
____________________ Signature (indicates authorization to charge credit card)
__Please contact me regarding planned giving to camp URJ Crane Lake Camp is a registered 501c(3) non-profit organization and donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
Ray Kimmelblatt
Development Director
Legacy Society
Jewish camping is the strongest stimulus to building Jewish identity in today’s youth. Camp’s mission is to increase the self-esteem of our campers, strengthen their Jewish identity, and create a stronger Jewish community.
The Legacy Society for Living Judaism was formed to secure the future of Eisner and Crane Lake Camps. Through the inclusion of camp in the estate planning of its members, the long-term success of camp’s mission will be achieved for generations to come.
To make Eisner and Crane Lake part of your estate plan, and ensure the long-term success of the camps, let us know by completing a Letter of Intent. We recommend speaking with your financial advisor to discuss what is optimal to meet your needs.
To discuss your planned gift to camp, contact Ray Kimmelblatt Development Director.
“Just as they planted trees for me, I am planting trees for my children and grandchildren so they will be able to eat the fruit of these trees.”
-Honi, the circle maker
Chai Giving Circle
“URJ Eisner and Crane Lake Camps have had a significant impact on our family and friends. It is because of everything that camp has done for our children that our extended family is both intergenerational and spread all over the world. We want to make the same opportunities available for others to have similar experiences. Giving monthly is very convenient and the cumulative effect of monthly donations enables us to have a greater impact than writing a check one time a year.”
-Diane and Stephen Weitzman
Spreading your support throughout the year is a convenient way to include your donations into your personal budget. Monthly giving is also a cost efficient way to deliver your support.
- Great satisfaction. Every month, you will know you have contributed to make the Crane Lake Camp experience the best possible for more than 900 campers that attend each summer.
- Convenience. When you participate in Crane Lake’s Recurring Gift Program, your gift will appear each month on your credit card. In January, we will send you a summary of your and tax receipt to help in your tax preparations, and you will not receive phone solicitations or direct mail solicitations.
- Reduced paperwork and administrative expenses. Automatic monthly payments mean more of your donation goes to where it is needed most.
- Flexibility. If for any reason you wish to increase, decrease, discontinue your gifts, or change the credit card being charged, just e-mail our Development Director Ray Kimmelblatt or call 201 419 6549, and we will gladly accommodate you.
What is a recurring gift?
A recurring gift is a way to support camp by donating a specific amount every month. Your gift will be automatically charged to your credit card. Your recurring gift will be a dependable source of support that Crane Lake can count on throughout the year.
How do I sign up?
Right here online. You agree to a gift amount – as little as $6 each month – and it will be charged to your credit card accordingly.
If you need to change or discontinue your monthly gift for any reason you may do so at any time by emailing our Development Director Ray Kimmelblatt or calling 201 419 6549.