Andrea Arkow new director of philanthropy at JFCS

Jewish Family & Children’s Service provides support and counseling to more than 40,000 people in Maricopa County each year, largely enabled by financial support from individuals and corporate entities.

Andrea Arkow joined JFCS in June to ensure the continuation and growth of that financial support. As the new director of philanthropy and donor engagement, Arkow is responsible for generating annual, major and planned gifts to support JFCS’s mission and vision.

“One of the reasons that I love philanthropy and love working with individual donors is because it gives me the opportunity to connect them with the causes that they care about and, ultimately, to help them make a meaningful difference in other people’s lives,” Arkow told Jewish News.

She also manages the JFCS Professional Leadership Group, an eight-month program each year that provides a cohort of emerging leaders the opportunity to make a difference in the community by becoming JFCS ambassadors and philanthropists.

“In many ways, they are kind of the future of the organization,” she said of the participants.

Arkow grew up in Greater Phoenix and said it is meaningful to be working in her home town with an organization rooted in the same Jewish values with which she was raised.

“What I love about JFCS is that it’s not just one area, one demographic or one age group that we serve; it’s truly helping individuals of all ages, backgrounds and faiths,” she said.

Before joining JFCS, Arkow was an individual donor manager for Invest in Kids. Her previous philanthropic experience includes positions with Colorado “I Have a Dream” Foundation, United Nations Entity for Gender Quality and the Empowerment of Women and The HALO Foundation.

Arkow brings a “unique combination of strategy and experience to the position,” according to Gail Baer, JFCS’ Vice President of Philanthropic Services.

Arkow received her Bachelor of Science in integrated marketing communications from Ithaca College and a master’s degree in sustainable international development from Brandeis University. JN