After a period of ongoing decline, Jewish Federation’s annual campaign has finally snapped its losing streak.

The Jewish umbrella agency reported a brightening financial picture with increases across all its revenue streams in 2012, according to figures released this month. Those figures showed a jump of nearly a quarter for the organization’s annual drive.

“We hope that the strategies and strategic plan we’ve put in place, the economy, our new marketing and everything that we’re doing is going to encourage increased donations in the future,” said Ruth Lederman, Federation vice president and director of development. “We’re very confident in the direction that we’re moving.”

Not all of the largesse was spread equally, however. Most of the boost came from restricted funds, dollars that are earmarked for certain priorities. That category brought in $4.21 million, a sharp increase of more than two-and-a-half times last year’s figure.

By contrast, unrestricted funds, which make up the bulk of the campaign, saw a much more modest bump of 1.3 percent.

The combined total of the two moved from just over $11 million to $13.73 million.

Traditionally, the Federation has announced the unrestricted figure as the campaign total. However, going forward leadership said they would include both categories in the campaign numbers, a reflection of the growing role restricted dollars, which totaled only about $1.67 million last year, are playing in fundraising efforts.

“This was an area we focused on expanding,” said Federation Chair Bob Millstone. “We madethe decision to spend more energy on restricted efforts, and those efforts certainly paid off.”

The campaign’s unrestricted totals broke $11 million in 2007 but have fallen on hard times since then. Last year, those figures bottomed out at $9.4 million, which represented a nearly 15 percent shrinkage to a low not seen in more than a decade after four consecutive years of painful contraction which set in with the economic crisis.

This year, the bleeding has stopped and the unrestricted drive recovered slightly to $9.52 million although the effort remains well below its highs.

“It still emphasizes the importance of the unrestricted campaign,” said Lederman, “because that is what we use to help our agencies to give out those allocations and make sure we have a community that is able to respond to emergencies but also to deal with strategic issues that come the community’s way.”

With the restricted funds added in, however, the campaign netted significant growth. Lederman credited the new push on designated giving with a fair amount of success, noting that dollars earmarked for popular programs like Birthright Israel helped ignite donor passions. She also cited the Federation’s efforts in helping raise funds for the newly created Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School, which merged out of its two predecessor institutions last year.

Both of those line items also fell within Federation strategic plan priorities, areas where the agency has pushed hard to direct funds as part of a new strategy on how it raises and uses dollars. This year’s allocations have yet to be decided but last year’s showed a pronounced move to designating money for projects in sync with the plan’s goals. Despite dwindling dollars that motivated significant cuts to unrestricted allocations last year, organizational funding hardwired to strategic plan priorities grew by almost a fifth.

Last year, the Federation distributed about $8.5 million, a 6.5 percent decrease over 2011.

“I think this idea that when something falls into the strategic priorities, the Federation will really put their fundraising muscle behind it has really helped to build different kinds of partnerships than we’ve had in the past,” said Lederman.

Lederman said donors like seeing those sorts of collaborations as well as knowing the Federation is using funds in a focused manner.

“Hopefully, community members are understanding exactly how we’re using their dollars whether restricted or unrestricted,” Lederman said. “If someone gives an unrestricted dollar now, they know we have six priorities and we’re going to use that dollar for those priorities. A clear vision and marketing of that clear vision is hopefully resonating with our donors.”

Longer-term fundraising, which includes endowments and legacy gifts, also figures into the picture. The Federation collected another $12.5 million brought in by the ongoing Create a Jewish Legacy effort, which has now garnered more than 400 gifts totaling more than $23 million.

CJL worked with 18 agencies and congregations last year. Lederman said that number will increase to 25 in view of the positive response they’ve seen.

The total picture for Federation fundraising for the year now stands at $26.6 million, a $1.2 million jump from last year. However, Lederman said as more numbers trickle in, that sum will probably top $27 million.

Lederman said that her job was not as tough as it has been in the past few years.

“Having those conversations was easier this year,” she said of talking to donors, “not in the fact that those conversations are ever easy but I just got the sixth sense that people weren’t hurting to the degree that they were in years past.”

Still, she said it remains an uncertain environment and she couldn’t say that local philanthropy was back on its feet yet.

“One indication of that is that our donor base hasn’t come back to its previous high levels,” she said. “I do believe people are still hurting but I do see some positive momentum in the other direction.”

But restricted or unrestricted, long-term or short, Lederman said she hopes the community understands the importance of the money.

“The numbers are a means to an end and the end is the services that our agencies provide for our community members both here and in Israel,” she said. “I never want to lose sight of the fact that the dollars are a means to an end.”