Moriah Fund Inc.

The Moriah Fund operates as a tightly held family foundation guided by the Jewish values of Tikkun Olam and Tzedakah. Founded in 1985 by philanthropists Robert and Clarence Efroymson, the fund has evolved through three generations of family stewardship. Gideon Stein, Robert's grandson, assumed the presidency in 2019, the same year Alice Johnson Cain joined as Executive Director, bringing over 30 years of public service and policy experience at organizations including the Children's Defense Fund and Teach Plus. In August 2024, Talia Wujtewicz joined as Program Associate & Grants Manager — the most recent staff addition to a deliberately small team.

The most critical strategic reality: Moriah Fund does not accept or review unsolicited proposals. Grantmaking is strictly by invitation. Organizations cannot self-nominate, submit a letter of inquiry, or cold-apply through any portal. The fund proactively identifies and approaches prospective grantees.

What this means for grant seekers: visibility and relationship development within Moriah's orbit is the only viable entry path. The grantee portfolio reveals consistent network patterns — Civic News Company (chaired by Gideon Stein) received a $51,500 grant; the National Partnership for Women & Families (where board member Judith Lichtman served as president) received $250,000 cumulatively; and Fund for Global Human Rights (co-founded by the late Chairwoman Emerita Mary Ann Stein) received $750,000 across five grants. Building authentic relationships with existing anchor grantees — Chalkbeat, New Israel Fund, Narrative 4, or Teach For All — can help surface an organization to Moriah's attention organically.

Once invited, the fund strongly favors general operating support over project-restricted grants. Of the top 50 grantees in the database, nearly all list "GENERAL SUPPORT" as the grant purpose. This trust-based philosophy reflects the founding belief that grantees possess "the wisdom, dedication and creativity to make a difference."

First-time invited applicants should understand that Moriah rarely writes one-off checks. The top grantees show 4-11 multi-year grant relationships — New Israel Fund (7 grants, $2,925,000), Narrative 4 (11 grants, $1,316,650), Chalkbeat (9 grants, $1,230,000). An invitation is the beginning of a potential decade-long funding partnership, not a one-time transaction.

Geographically, the fund concentrates on New York (130 tracked grants), Washington DC (82 grants), and California (46 grants) — together accounting for 79% of its tracked portfolio. Organizations headquartered in or running significant programs through these three metros have a structural advantage.

Moriah Fund's grantmaking has undergone a dramatic structural contraction over the past decade. At its peak in FY2012-2013, total annual giving exceeded $15.6 million, with grants paid of $13.9-14.6 million. By FY2023, total giving had fallen to $4,994,929 with grants paid of $3,365,533 — a reduction of approximately 70% from peak levels. Assets have also declined from $82.6 million (2015) to $66.7 million (2024), reflecting distributions that have outpaced investment returns in recent years.

The most recent three complete fiscal years show a narrow band: FY2023 ($4,994,929 total giving), FY2022 ($5,373,068), and FY2021 ($5,246,507). This $5.0-5.4 million range appears to represent the fund's current stable giving floor. The FY2024 990, filed November 2025, shows total assets of $66.7 million and revenue of $3.4 million, but full giving figures were not publicly available as of April 2026.

From the tracked grantee database (325 grants, $18,066,108 total), the average grant is $55,588 with a median near $25,000. This reflects a bimodal distribution: anchor grants of $100,000-$460,000 to flagship grantees alongside smaller supplemental grants of $5,000-$50,000. The top three cumulative recipients — New Israel Fund ($2,925,000 across 7 grants), Narrative 4 ($1,316,650 across 11 grants), and Chalkbeat ($1,230,000 across 9 grants) — each reflect multi-cycle, multi-year partnerships.

By program area, Israel absorbs a disproportionate share: New Israel Fund and PEF Israel Endowment Funds together account for approximately $3,950,000 (roughly 22%) of the $18 million tracked total. Education is the broadest category: Narrative 4, Chalkbeat, Eagle Hill School ($1,012,580), New Classrooms ($800,000), Teach For All ($625,000), iMentor ($513,168), CityBridge Education ($450,000), and Education Reform Now ($500,000). Women's Rights grants are smaller per award but consistent across cycles: National Partnership for Women & Families ($250,000), Planned Parenthood Metropolitan DC ($120,000), DC Abortion Fund ($105,000), NARAL ($65,000). Civic Engagement includes Civics Unplugged ($475,000), Voto Latino ($150,000), J Street Education Fund ($107,500), and Education Leaders of Color ($110,000).

Geographic breakdown across 325 grants: New York (130), DC (82), California (46), Massachusetts (14), Maryland (11), New Jersey (10), Maine (7), with Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, and select international grantees forming the tail. A New York, DC, or California organizational address is nearly a prerequisite for funding consideration.

Moriah Fund occupies a mid-size position in the family-foundation landscape, with $66.7 million in assets and approximately $5 million in annual giving. Its closest peers share a Jewish philanthropic identity, social-justice orientation, or civic engagement focus.

Moriah's closest functional peer is the Bauman Foundation (Washington, DC) — both are sub-$100M foundations prioritizing democracy, civic engagement, and human rights through strictly invitation-based models. The Nathan Cummings Foundation shares Moriah's Jewish philanthropic identity and social-justice orientation but operates at roughly 7x the asset base, with heavier emphasis on climate and environmental issues. Schusterman Family Philanthropies dwarfs Moriah in scale but overlaps substantially on Israel programming and education reform.

Moriah is distinctive among these peers in maintaining a dedicated Women's Rights program area — which neither Schusterman nor Bauman replicates as a standalone focus. For organizations at the intersection of reproductive rights, civic engagement, and education, Moriah offers a rare programmatic combination. Notably, the New Israel Fund is simultaneously a Moriah grantee (receiving $2,925,000 cumulatively — the single largest cumulative recipient) and a peer institution serving Israeli civil society through its own competitive grantmaking programs.

The most recent formal activity on record is the filing of Moriah Fund's FY2024 Form 990 on November 12, 2025. That return reports total assets of $66,681,338 and total revenue of $3,444,931; full grantmaking figures for FY2024 were not publicly available as of April 2026.

On the personnel side, Talia Wujtewicz joined as Program Associate & Grants Manager in August 2024 — the most recent staff addition to what remains a deliberately small team. Her background spans over a decade of grant-making, fundraising, and nonprofit operations at a global grant-making nonprofit. This hire suggests Moriah is investing in grants administration capacity even as the overall portfolio has stabilized below $6 million annually.

The passing of Mary Ann Stein (1943-2023), co-founder and Chairwoman Emerita, closed a 35-year chapter of founding-generation leadership. Mary Ann co-founded the fund alongside her husband Robert and led it for 35 years; she also co-founded the Fund for Global Human Rights, a long-standing Moriah grantee. The current governance structure — Gideon Stein (President), Dorothy Stein (Secretary), Judith Lichtman (Vice President) — represents a stable post-transition arrangement with no publicly announced board changes in 2025-2026.

No new program announcements, strategic pivots, or major 2025-2026 grant announcements have been surfaced in public records or web searches. Moriah maintains a deliberately low public profile consistent with its invitation-only model — no RFP publications, minimal social media presence, and no press-release record of new grants. Researchers seeking current grantee data should monitor ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer for annual 990 updates, which typically appear 12-18 months after fiscal year close.

Since Moriah Fund operates on a strict invitation-only model, effective strategy requires a two-phase approach: earning an invitation first, then executing a technically strong submission.

Phase 1: Earning an Invitation

The fund does not advertise grant cycles, publish open RFPs, or review LOIs. Entry runs entirely through relationship and organizational visibility:

• Cultivate relationships with anchor grantees — Chalkbeat, Narrative 4, New Israel Fund, Teach For All, iMentor — whose leadership networks overlap with Moriah program staff and board members
• Engage with Gideon Stein's public work: he chairs Civic News Company and is active in education reform and civic engagement circles; presenting at relevant convenings or publishing in spaces he follows creates organic proximity
• Connect with Don Futterman (Director, Israel) if your work involves Israeli civil society, democracy, or human rights
• Send a brief organizational introduction to grants@moriahfund.org — this does not substitute for an invitation but establishes a record of interest
• Ensure your organization's lobbying footprint is clearly limited; Moriah explicitly prohibits funding lobbying, partisan politics, or political campaigns

Phase 2: Executing a Strong Submission

When invited, apply these specifics:

• Favor general operating support framing — the vast majority of Moriah grants are for general support; frame around organizational capacity and long-term mission trajectory, not a single project
• Narrative length discipline: General Support grants — 7-page maximum for requests at or above $50,000; 3-page maximum for under $50,000. Project grants — 5-page maximum for at or above $50,000; 3 pages for under $50,000
• Required attachments: revenue/expense statements for prior year, current year, and projected next year; list of major institutional funders with corresponding amounts; most recent audit with management letter; board of directors and key staff list with affiliations; lobbying statement
• Lobbying statement formats accepted: separate budget line item, dollar-amount or percentage notation, plain statement that no Moriah funds will support lobbying, or notation that the project contains no lobbying activities
• Limit supplemental documents to 5 pages (reports, articles, brochures not required by guidelines)
• Use Tikkun Olam and Tzedakah language — the fund expects resonance with Jewish ethical frameworks of justice and self-sufficiency, not just programmatic fit
• Think in multi-year terms: top grantees average 5-9 grant cycles; proposals should reflect an organizational trajectory, not a one-time need