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One in six couples in the Jewish community suffers from infertility.
Factors such as genetic disorders and biology put Jews at a much higher risk of being infertile compared with the national average.
Elana Frank, CEO and founder of the nonprofit Jewish Fertility Foundation (JFF), is on a mission to combat those numbers and help the Jewish community grow their families — and she has now expanded her Atlanta-based operation to South Florida.
JFF soft-launched here in August 2024, offering grants and conducting local support groups. And this month, they officially entered South Florida, partnering with clinics to provide the full scope of its services to patients in both Broward and Miami-Dade counties. This marks their ninth expansion in the United States.
Frank is no stranger to infertility. She has three children conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Her first two children were born in Israel, where IVF treatments are completely free. So it wasn’t until she moved back to the United States that she realized the financial toll of IVF.
Sitting in a JCC baby pool with two other mothers over a decade ago, Frank learned that while the bulk of their experiences with IVF had been the same — the rollercoaster of emotions and the exhausting month-after-month of treatments — something they didn’t share was the financial weight.
“The biggest thing was them talking about how much their babies cost. One was $60,000 and one was $20,000,” Frank recalled. “I realized there was nothing in the Jewish community that helped pay for IVF, and I decided it wasn’t fair that money should stop anyone from growing their family.”
That’s how the Jewish Fertility Foundation was born in December 2015.
With a background in nonprofit and fundraising, Frank knew what it took to create her organization. And as a Jewish communal professional for over 25 years, she knew she wanted to focus her efforts on local Jewish communities.
“There are higher rates of infertility within the Jewish population,” Frank said. “There’s genetic issues, and we are an educated population, and age doesn’t wait for us, so it was important to me that, yes, our grant money is specific to the Jewish community. But our education and emotional support is open to everyone, everywhere.
“If we are able to help out people within our infertility club, even if they aren’t Jewish, that’s important to our mission as an organization.”
JFF doesn’t just choose anywhere to expand their services. It starts with someone in the community reaching out to them. For South Florida, it was one of Frank’s board members, Shari Seiner, who lives in Hollywood. Seiner previously worked as a director of development for JFF, becoming a board member upon her retirement. She connected Frank with the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, which started their expansion into the area.
The federation utilizes the Hebrew Free Loan Association of South Florida, which offers interest-free loans for people trying to grow their families with their service, Making Miracle Babies.
The Jewish Fertility Foundation also uses the Hebrew Free Loan as part of their model, allowing their expansion into Miami-Dade County to be a seamless one.
“Our missions aligned,” said Frank. “Once that connection was made, the Miami federation was like, ‘Let’s do this.’”
But they still needed an investor. The Greater Miami Jewish Federation introduced Frank to Monica Peisach Sasson, a philanthropist and Miami resident.
“From the bottom of her heart and her own personal connection to her children, who she used a surrogate for, she believed it was a beautiful way to help people on their path to parenthood while helping Jewish people grow,” Frank said. “She became our first investor in South Florida.”
As an investor, Peisach Sasson says her goal is to expand the JFF’s impact by providing financial assistance for surrogacy, ensuring that those unable to conceive on their own have the opportunity to welcome biological children.
“I am deeply committed to helping bring Jewish children into this world,” Peisach Sasson said.
JFF does three main things: It helps financially, emotionally and educationally.
It offers three grants, one for Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) and two grants for up to $10,000 for IVF. The grants are based on financial need and the viability of success. They also partner with local fertility clinics so patients can receive 20% off the total cost, in addition to the grant. Prospective parents also may get an interest-free loan through the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Miami, as well as discounts from local labs and pharmacies.
Emotionally, the nonprofit foundation provides support through its Fertility Buddies program, which matches patients undergoing similar treatments, whether that’s IVF, IUI, or embryo donation.
“You can grab coffee or talk on the phone. It’s for when you don’t want to burden your friends and family anymore but you need one-on-one support,” Frank said.
They also offer Instagram live support groups, blogs and a podcast hosted by Frank, so those going through fertility treatments can find a community.
Their education facet focuses on clergy training, working with reproductive endocrinologists and doing panel conversations. To qualify, patients must live in a community that the foundation currently services and already be receiving treatment or seeing a fertility doctor. There also must be at least one Jewish parent with the intention of raising the child Jewish.
The Jewish Fertility Foundation has been working over the past decade to create their model, and are now looking to expand nationally.
“We are very focused on the communities that we are serving and feel honored to enter South Florida and continue to give out grants and offer support,” Frank said.
If you are interested in learning more about their local services, contact Efrat Yuzefovich at efrat@jewishfertilityfoundation.org. For more details about the Jewish Fertility Foundation, visit jewishfertilityfoundation.org or call 754-307-6854.
