Archive for May, 2008
Israel @ 60 in Words, Pictures, and Music
A video slide show celebrating 60 years of Israel
A collaboration between Bonnie Goodman and Professor Gil Troy (McGill University) in honor of Israel’s 60th Birthday. This is Bonnie’s artistic rendition of the updated version of Professor Troy’s article “Why I Am A Zionist”, first published in 2001.
Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem
Blackbaud Announces Acquisition of Kintera
Blackbaud, Inc., the leading provider of software and related services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations, announced yesterday that it is acquiring Kintera, Inc., a pioneer and leading provider of a Software as a Service solution to the nonprofit and government sectors.
The news is attracting concern among some nonprofit leaders.
The anonymous fund raiser who writes the blog Don’t Tell the Donor writes that while Blackbaud’s “press release seems almost giddy, I’m not so sure nonprofits will be thrilled that their viable options for major providers continues to shrink.”
Facing Tomorrow: The Panels
updated 1 June:
The official website for the Facing Tomorrow Conference has posted a list of the various panels, a brief synopsis, the participants, and in many cases transcript highlights. You can locate these here.
It appears that videos from most of the panels have now also been posted. This is what is available.
Social Media for Social Good
“Social media’s awesome power can really take your breath away when you take a second to step back and see the change that it can cause in the world. Many brands and traditional media companies are focused on social media’s effects on their relationships with consumers.
Yet it is social media’s ability to fundamentally shift how people discover, connect, communicate and interact with each other that what makes the space so powerful…
Because of social media, not only can people in need… publish their stories and have them read, but these platforms actually make it possible for people to band together to make a difference…
Can social media make charitable giving market efficient? With less bureaucracy, more transparency into the actual effect of your dollars, it would seem that improving the efficiency of charitable giving is not only possible, but likely.”
Read more from Joe Marchese, president of socialvibe, on the contribution social media are beginning to make in the cause world.
image source: Mark Spangler
Making News This Morning
From The Jerusalem Post, Globes and Haaretz, respectively; on-point stories on our core themes.
Analysis: Misunderstanding the rich American uncle
American Jewish giving, like American philanthropy generally, is based on a culture of personal generosity that Israelis have never encountered and don’t understand. The American philanthropic industry is so large and sophisticated that an entire profession of highly-trained professionals, with advanced degrees in economics and management, exists to assist wealthy people (and literally thousands of American Jewish foundations) in giving away hundreds of billions of dollars each year in effective ways.
The Haaretz article Haviv refers to in his story is from May 12th: Let’s be done with all the Talanskys
Jerusalem is full of wheeler-dealers, functionaries, lobbyists, donors and philanthropists. There are rich men and middlemen, envoys and delegations, many of them with good intentions, but some without.
They wheedle and schnorr and contribute to various causes. It’s the kind of schnorring that begins with Shaare Zedek Medical Center and could end in court.
Knesset adopts tough anti-spam legislation
The Knesset yesterday passed in its second and third readings of a bill banning the sending of advertisements by SMS, e-mail, fax, and automatic dialing systems without the prior consent of the addressee.
and two very different articles on Birthright Israel:
Millions of dollars, thousands of participants… but it’s not clear that programs like Taglit-Birthright and MASA make the impact the founders intended.
We want the non-committed Jews
Free trips to Israel? That’s exactly what Taglit-Birthright Israel was born to provide, it appears. But program co-founder Charles R. Bronfman isn’t dismayed by the hordes of kids who see the program as a vehicle for a free vacation. On the contrary.
“I think that’s great. That’s our target market. We weren’t after the committed Jews. Nobody needs to use public money on people who are already committed,” he says gleefully. “The people we wanted were those who were not committed. The only thing that would get them to Israel is a free trip. Then Israel does its magic, and all of a sudden they change as human beings.”
Steinhardt’s Latest
Michael Steinhardt, money manager turned philanthropist dedicated to creating a renaissance in American Jewish life, is chartering new waters. The venture, announced yesterday, is for New York City’s first publicly funded school devoted to Hebrew language and culture. Planned for Sheepshead Bay (Brooklyn) and a targeted Fall 2009 opening, the school’s goal is to provide “academic excellence and kids fluent in Hebrew.”
From Anthony Weiss in The Forward:
“A group of individuals with financial backing from the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life is prepared to submit an application on June 4 to the New York City Department of Education and the New York State Board of Regents to open the Hebrew Language Academy Charter School in Brooklyn.
According to Steinhardt’s daughter Sara Berman, a trustee for the foundation and the lead applicant in the effort, the school’s curriculum would incorporate Hebrew language instruction, as well as classes in Jewish culture and history and modern Israeli society.”
Read the complete article.
A Conversation Begins
Idealism. Digital fluency. Immersion in social causes. Each attribute is essential to bringing about positive, lasting change. So imagine what can be accomplished when all three combine.
That’s the idea behind Social Citizens (Beta), a new discussion paper from the Case Foundation about the potential impact of the Millennial Generation on the civic landscape.
The report asserts that this younger generation has great new ideas for using technology and modern communications to help further the missions of non-profit organizations and advocacy groups.
The key: organizations need to adjust their strategies to be able to more effectively communicate with members of this generation.
The study was authored by social entrepreneur and writer Allison Fine, the keynote speaker at next Thursday’s JCSA’s 2008 Annual Program, LINKED: Maximizing technology for the future of the Jewish community.
The Social Citizens Study is available for download here, on the far right side, and as a streaming document (iPaper) on the Social Citizens Blog.
Click Here. Now Here. Wait. Click Here.
You’ve added a donation button to your Web site. That means you can sit-back, relax and watch Seinfeld reruns while the money flows into your organization. Right?
Wrong.
“Online donations are something that a lot of organizations really want to do, but there is, unfortunately, really complicated stuff that you need to understand to effectively make choices,” said Laura Quinn, director of Idealware, a Portland, Maine nonprofit that provides software reviews for other nonprofits.
Read more from Laura about the nuts and bolts you need to know here.
High Impact Philanthropy: The 2008 JFN Conference
We would like to thank the Jewish Funders Network for providing this Conference summary to us. The audio files are available here in the right side-bar.
2008 Conference–A Few Highlights
Top-level presenters, artists, politicians, and thought- leaders, “seminar on wheels” site visits, and a turnout that meant the David Citadel, Jerusalem, was bursting at the seams were all part of the scene at the 2008 International Conference.
It was a rare opportunity to network with a dynamic, multigenerational group of Jewish philanthropists from around the world, and an experience that by all accounts re-energized giving, helped form powerful new collaborations, and suggested new philanthropic strategies for improving impact across a range of initiatives.
We are working to share the contents and outcomes of the 2008 International Conference with you! Spin-off programming is also in the works so check JFN’s website for updates!
2008 Opening Plenary: The Elusive Common Ground?
This plenary explored the relationships between members of the global Jewish community through the prism of the place of Israel in our individual Jewish identities, asking questions like: is Israel at the center of a Jewish People? does it even matter? can we move forward together if we don’t have a common understanding?
Isaac Herzog, Minister for Social Affairs and Services and for Diaspora Affairs; Leonid Nevzlin, Nadav Fund; Raya Strauss Bendror; David Shneer, University of Denver; Moderator, Yaacov Ahimeir
Philanthropy in Israel: Reflections on a New Era
The emergence of a unique Israeli philanthropic community is one of the great stories of the last decade. Conference delegates heard insights from some of the world’s most engaged Jewish philanthropists who discussed a set of central questions about giving in and to Israel and about the quality and growth of Jewish philanthropy today.
Is the emerging Israeli philanthropy unique - and if so, how? What are the biggest obstacles to philanthropic activity in Israel? What is Jewish giving - and is Israeli giving Jewish? Do Israeli philanthropists see a role for themselves outside of Israel? Ought Israelis be involved in alleviating global Jewish issues? Are non-Israelis too involved in funding in Israel?
Danna Azrieli, Azrieli Foundation; Charles R. Bronfman, Chair, Andrea & Charles Bronfman Philanthropies; Avner Stepak, CEO, Meitav Investment House; Moderator Dana Weiss
Power and Philanthropy
To quote Spider-Man, with great power comes great responsibility. As funders, our wealth brings us power and access, and we make an impact with more than just our grants. How we act as grantmakers— both publicly in how we give and to what we give, and privately as persons of influence — has its own effect. How do we fulfill our responsibility honorably and use our power wisely? Where is the line between a project of personal interest that serves a purpose and a vanity project? When does a funder need to hear “no”?
Rivka Carmi, President, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; Dov Lautman, Chair of Executive Board, Tel Aviv University; Eitan Wertheimer, Chair, IMC; Moderator Dalia Yairi-Dolev
The Agony & the Ecstasy: A case study in driving change in a foundation
Managing change in a foundation is no easy task. In this session John Healy used his experience at The Atlantic Philanthropies as a case study for unraveling the complexities of how to organize a foundation’s work to make significant and sustainable impact.
As CEO and President of The Atlantic Philanthropies, John Healy managed the foundation’s successful transition to a more focused model, including the decision to spend down its remaining endowment of approximately $4 billion by 2016.
We’ve Come A Long Way
It seems like yesterday, but it has been six months since we went live with eJewish Philanthropy. We set some pretty ambitious goals, and thanks to you - our readers, we’re well on our way.
We are gratified by the significant number of guests, from five continents, who visit our website every day; for those who have signed up for daily updates or RSS feeds, and most of all to the many who have offered valuable suggestions, leads, background materials, etc. to assist us in fulfilling our mission.
We are appreciative of the positive encouragement and support we have received from the organized Jewish communal world, foundations and leading academic institutions.
We would like to acknowledge recognition from Alltop, We’ve Got Non-profits Covered, for considering us a ‘Best of the Best” for our posts and picking up our feeds on a continuing basis.
And most of all, we are grateful to the incredibly talented and innovative new young entrepreneurs who have shared their dreams and stories and given us their time, along with unprecedented access to projects, both present and future.
For those who have been following us since the GA, you will have noticed our scope has broadened. We regularly check our web analytics (trying not to be obsessive!) looking for trends. Which posts receive the most interest, which the least. Trying to connect the dots and looking for patterns in your web views while crafting our near-term future direction.
We’ve developed a Resources section of links and articles in the areas we write about; check often as it is regularly updated.
And just this week, we launched, Symposia and Much More; a place for us to examine issues of interest and provide greater concentrated depth than possible in our blog posts.
So, this is where we are today; and as I wrote back in November, ejewishphilanthropy.com has ambitious plans; this will be our continuation.
Please visit us frequently as we share helpful tips on using the Internet to advance the causes we are all dedicated to and follow the latest happenings in our global Jewish communal world.
One final note; June is quickly approaching and with it summer. Here in Jerusalem, one of the harbingers of the season is the arrival of two outstanding and innovative programs: the ROI Summit and The PresenTense Institute.
So stay tuned for The Summer of Innovation featuring continuous and in-depth news about the young innovators shaking up our world. And along side, within the month, we will premier a major initiative, our most ambitious, and so far no-name project: a look at the new and innovative entrepreneurs, the endeavors they are creating and a reference library of the various organizations and foundations involved in Social Entrepreneurship and New Leadership Development on three continents.