My epicurean tour of Greater New Haven continued this week, when I ventured down to the beach in West Haven and lunched outside under an umbrella at Jimmies of Savin Rock. It was a beautiful day and being right on the beach was a real treat. And no, I did not try the hot dogs.

Among the topics discussed at lunch was finding additional revenue sources for several Federation, JCC and Jewish Family Service programs. There is something called the Connecticut Neighborhood Assistance Act (NAA)Tax Credit Program whereby C Corporations receive business tax credits for making cash contributions to municipal and tax-exempt organizations. In a Simple Twist of Fate (for you Bob Dylan fans) when I got back to the office to talk to Scott about it, he informed me that he had just received a call from United Illuminating that they were going to contribute $7,000 to the JCC under NAA. Here is how you can help us. These days, more and more businesses are incorporating as an S Corp or an LLC and are not eligible for the tax break. We need help identifying C Corps that we can approach and solicit for donations under the NAA. If you know a C Corp and have a contact there, please pass that information on to me and we will go from there. But there is a caveat. The solicitation and the corresponding request for a tax credit must be completed and submitted by October 1. (In typical government fashion, the forms cannot be submitted before September 15 either.)

Our Major Gifts event is coming up in three weeks (Sept. 13) for donors who make a family gift of $5,000 or greater to the 2013 Campaign. Our special guest that evening will be Jourdan Urbach, a recent Yale graduate who uses his musical gifts to help others. In the last 10 years (he is only 20) he has raised over $5 million to help a variety of causes. In an interview last year he was asked how he became involved in philanthropy, his response was: “I was raised by my parents with the concept of Tzedakah, the Jewish ideal that a Mitzvah, a good deed, is not something that you should do, but is something that you must do.”  Jourdan is a shining example of what Jewish philanthropy and Federation is all about: doing good deeds and helping others. We feel that his message is so important that we have arranged for Jourdan to come up to the New Haven JCC early in the afternoon to speak to the students of the Jewish High School.

Shabbat shalom.