Isn’t a Dollar a Dollar?

The AFP 45th International Conference on Fundraising is underway in sunny San Diego, California. And, for the first time ever (or certainly in recent memory) we have both a presentation and an affinity session devoted to Jewish Philanthropy! eJewish Philanthropy is appreciative to Dr. David A. Mersky and Dr. Amy L. Sales of the Fisher-Bernstein Institute for Jewish Philanthropy and Leadership for the opportunity to post the power point of their presentation this morning. The Abstract: The success of Jewish fundraising has an almost mythic quality yet, for better or worse, Jewish nonprofits have struggled to adjust to significant changes in Jewish philanthropy. The successful ones have grasped the Jewish philosophy that underlies charitable giving and have adapted to changes in their environment. This... Continue Reading

Free Corporate Grants Info

The NonProfit Times announced the launch of an online portal that gives free access to corporate donation data for fundraising research to nonprofit grant writers and others researchers. The address is www.nptgrantsearch.com. The research portal was launched with more than 4,300 searchable records of corporate donations valued at $1 million or more to U.S. charities.   The only free service of its kind, users can search, view and save information about the corporate donor, recipient organization, size of gift, and year of donation.   It’s already live at www.nptgrantsearch.com or from NPT’s home page, www.nptimes.com.   [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

4 Conferences, 3 Continents

This is a busy ten days: from Oxford University to Tel Aviv; from San Diego to Jerusalem we’ve got you covered. Over this week, eJewish Philanthropy will bring you a combination of on the spot coverage, conversations, complete presentations and links. Check back often as we highlight goings on in the world of philanthropy. For those of you with an interest in Social Entrepreneurship or Social Philanthropy, the gathering these past few days of the 5th Annual Skoll World Forum at Oxford University will be of interest. Some background: The Skoll Foundation, was established in 1999 by eBay founder Jeff Skoll in order to promote social entrepreneurship. In 2003, the Foundation established Skoll The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford. As part of its aim to advance the field of social... Continue Reading

The Contrarian

We all know by now that last week the prestigious Israel Prize (for Lifetime Achievement) has been awarded to the Jewish Agency in honor of 80 years of service. The UJC has sent their congrats as has Keren Hayesod. And of course Haaretz has weighed in with their perspective… “I don’t know if anyone ever tried to work out the average age of Israel Prize recipients, but the profile is fairly standard. A man or woman in their seventies or eighties, hailed for decades of service in academia or some other worthy pursuit and for his or hers past contribution to Israeli society. Sad but true, this is usually a pre-obituary, almost-last honor, to a deserving individual long past the prime of life. The occasional practice of rewarding an organization with one of the prizes, is fairly ridiculous. Founded... Continue Reading

The Tribe: a Social Networking Update

Back in December, I wrote about viral marketing and the preview launch of this site. At the time, I mentioned a conversation I had a few weeks before with Carlton Evans, Marketing Director for The Tribe and how by using only a viral marketing campaign they won film festival awards and reached success on iTunes. Being curious four months later, I decided to check-in and see how this word-of-mouth, a.k.a. ‘viral’ phenomenon has proceeded. You can judge for yourself: The Tribe hit the number 1 position on iTunes most downloaded film list Reached over 150 thousand people Won 11 awards including Grand Jury and Audience prizes Screened at over 80 film festivals plus over 100 additional public screenings Translated into 6 different languages Acquired by over 100 universities and other institutes... Continue Reading

First the Queen; Now the P.M.O.

As we wrote about on December 23rd in, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II Takes Up YouTube, today we find a very different use for this video channel as governments are learning to leverage the Internet and control their own message. The Office of the Prime Minister (here in Israel), has now followed suit. According to Haartez, “The government recently posted three videos showing images from the terror attack at Jerusalem’s Mercaz Harav Yeshiva earlier this month in which eight students were killed.” The paper continues, “TheMarker has learned that the Prime Minister’s Office was actually behind the uploads to the popular video site. This is the first time that a government body has used the site in response to a terror attack. The first film features graphic and bloody... Continue Reading

Learning To Give

From Ghana to Venezuela to Israel, 10 Brandeis University undergraduates have been selected to participate in social justice internships around the world this summer. Through The Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice, established by the generosity of an anonymous donor on the occasion of Justice Brandeis’s 150th birthday, the students are provided a $3,500 stipend to alleviate costs associated with an unpaid internship in a social-service agency that addresses issues of social justice. “There is in most…some spark of idealism, which can be fanned into a flame. It takes sometimes a divining rod to find what it is; but when found, and that means often, when disclosed to the owners, the results are often most extraordinary.” (Justice Louis D. Brandeis) Meet the inaugural... Continue Reading

High Tech High Touch

Times have changed. The new donors of today and the donors of tomorrow are far different than the donors many nonprofits have become accustomed to. These up and coming donors are tech savvy. They grew up with video games and the World Wide Web. They are comfortable completing entire conversations and interactions via e-mail or text message. They instant message and talk on their mobile phone while browsing the Internet and reading up on the latest news. According to Darryl Gordon, a vice president at Kintera in San Diego, this is a lifestyle not imagined or experienced by the typical baby boomer donor. But the baby boomer donors of today are going away. Taking their place is the always connected and always accessible younger generation that has come of age in a fast-paced society. Nonprofits need to... Continue Reading

Baby Boomers Next Career, Maybe

Among the 78 million baby boomers in the U.S. today, are 32 million who are over 50 and moving toward retirement – and many of them are seeking a new career opportunity. Interestingly, over the next decade, according to research by the Bridgespan Group, nonprofits with revenues of $250,000 or more will need to attract and develop 640,000 new senior managers (about 2.4 times the number currently employed). If you are exploring your options, two resources that might be helpful are a recent Financial Times article, High-flying individuals on a different path, and a monograph prepared by Americans for the Arts, Business Boomers Penetrate Arts Leadership. [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

Innovate. Collaborate. Create. Take Initiative.

At the 2008 Summit in Washington, D.C., last night, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life announced a $10.7 million grant from The Jim Joseph Foundation to expand the Experiential Educator Exemplar (E³) Program and to support the Campus Entrepreneurs Initiative. This is the largest single grant in Hillel’s history. “This generation of students, the Millennials, learn through their hands, their hearts and their minds,” says Hillel President Wayne L. Firestone. “By providing them with immersive experiences in which they are exposed to Jewish history and tradition, such as Taglit-Birthright Israel and social justice alternative breaks, they are beginning Jewish journeys that will continue back on campus with E³ educators and CEI students.” “We are pleased... Continue Reading

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