New Economic Challenges, New Opportunities: The Unfolding of the Third American Jewish Revolution

by Prof. Steven F. Windmueller Over the past year, and more directly over the course of these past months, we have been witness to the unraveling of the global economy and more directly the American enterprise. This economic “tsunami”  will lead to a fundamental reordering of the structural and financial well-being of many core institutions. In particular, this upheaval will have a profound impact on the American Jewish community. Over the past quarter-century the Jewish community experienced extraordinary institutional growth and communal innovation. The “Second American Jewish Revolution” which this writer has written about in other contexts, represented the confluence of new wealth and technology in alignment with the emergence of a generational renaissance of Jewish activism. That “revolution”... Continue Reading

Passover 2009 – A Critical Observation

I went online over the weekend to look for some interesting Seder ideas and, while doing so, checked out how Jewish organizations were communicating to their various publics about Passover 2009. A Google search for “Passover” offered the usual online resources – Chabad, My Jewish Learning, Jewz.com and a few lesser known and less dynamic sites. They each offered some fresh ways to celebrate the holiday and many had great lists of new videos both funny and helpful. A search for “Jewish in….” (name your city) usually delivers near or at the top of the list, the local Jewish federation. So, I looked at about a dozen federation sites to see what these bastions of Jewish community were offering visitors to help them celebrate Passover 2009. Notable among them are: the Jewish Federation of... Continue Reading

7 Keys to Effective Branding in a Social Media World

by Nancy Schwartz As the nonprofit landscape gets increasingly complex, money and attention are tougher than ever to get. And, because your org is discussed on infinite communications channels, it’s more important than ever to brand your organization, programs, and campaigns. When you do so – conveying credibility and value in a way that’s easy to remember and repeat – you’ll build long-lasting relationships with donors, volunteers, members, the media, clients and more. But it’s more challenging than ever in our 2.0 world. Here are seven keys to effective branding in a social media world: 1. What a nonprofit brand IS NOT Not what your organization stands for in the mind of your network Not your organization’s self-image, mission or logo 2. What’s a... Continue Reading

Pardes Institute: Yom Iyun Shel Chessed

In August, 2002, I was a participant in a solidarity mission sponsored by the now moth-balled Alliance for Educational Programs in Israel. We departed from JFK just a few days following the tragic suicide bombing at the Sinatra Cafeteria on the Hebrew University campus. As the Pardes Institute was one of the six member organizations of the Alliance, those of us who traveled on this mission attended the memorial service held on the plaza outside the cafeteria. It will forever be in my memory. Now, every year, the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem organizes a day of social action in memory of the two students, Marla Bennett z”l and Ben Blutstein z”l, who were murdered in that terrorist bombing. This film shows the activities organized as part of the seventh annual Yom Iyun Shel Chessed (Focused... Continue Reading

ePhilanthropy: Going Where Donors Are

At the AFP Conference taking place in New Orleans, Sage North America announced they will soon introduce a low-cost “viral fundraising” tool that will allow nonprofit organizations to cost-effectively increase their donations using the Internet. Employing the concept of contextual giving, the new ePhilanthropy offering is designed to help organizations quickly create donation forms that can be placed within any Web page, as well as link their e-mails to the campaign-specific content page on their site. The embedded forms allow donors to fully complete the transaction within the content that inspired the gift, so organizations can secure higher conversion rates and larger gift sizes. According to Krista Endsley, senior vice president and general manager for Nonprofit Solutions at Sage, “Using... Continue Reading

Rebuilding The Wiesel Foundation

Wiesel Rebuilds, With Unsolicited Help So far, the The Wiesel Foundation for Humanity has received a total of $400,000; some of which was donated directly to Wiesel and his wife, Marion, but which the couple turned over to the foundation. “At any moment it would have been an amazing outpouring of generosity,” Marion Wiesel says. “Specifically, in these times, it’s so amazing, and it continues. People have sent money [to us], strangers, and we have given it to the foundation. … We’re fine. It was a very bad blow, but we’re okay.” …Barrett Wissman, chairman of talent-management agency IMG Artists, called the Wiesels shortly after reading about their Madoff losses and offered to enlist some of IMG’s clients pro bono in a fundraising event. Wissman... Continue Reading

Jewish Organizations Grew Online Revenue 32 percent in 2008

This past Thursday, Convio, Inc. announced the results of its annual Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Study. The study also looked at 14 industry sub-groups, and provided those results to their clients. Here, provided exclusively for our eJewish Philanthropy community are highlights of what Convio learned from their Jewish organization clients: Jewish Philanthropy Taking Leadership Role Online For the third year, Convio has published a comprehensive study which looks at the online marketing results for nearly 600 nonprofit organizations. The study compiles a series of benchmarks for evaluating fundraising, email, advocacy and marketing success online. This year’s study also includes the addition of a “Jewish” vertical, which focuses on organizations that provide human services, aid to Israel... Continue Reading

If You Have an American Friends Organization, Do It Right

We think… The role of “American Friends of …” organizations in overseeing their grants to the Israeli affiliate by David Roth and Ardie Gelman You may have noticed that American donors and foundations that fund programs and projects in Israel outside of the Federation/UJC framework usually make the actual contribution to an “American Friends of” organization rather than directly to the Israeli amutah (nonprofit organization). The term “American Friends of” is not statutory in nature, but rather is the common term that refers to any U.S. nonprofit tax-exempt 501(c) (3) public charity whose primary purpose is to raise funds in the United States to either carry out activities overseas or to make grants to an organization located in a foreign country.  Interestingly,... Continue Reading

Timing is Everything

from The NonProfit Times: A Cheat Sheet For A Down Economy Stop worrying about the economic mess and start doing something concrete about it. If you’re a CEO or member of a board committee, call in your top financial person and ask them the questions in this column. If you’re a streetsmart nonprofit executive or a manager, take the CFO out to lunch and put this cheat sheet on your lap. (Look off in the distance occasionally to make it look like you’re thinking deeply.) Or, see if you can get someone else to ask the questions. How Liquid Are We, Really? Cash is king, or queen, depending on the realm. As long as you have sufficient cash you can outlast most blows the environment delivers. But you need to be sure that the things listed as cash really are cash. [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

Getting the Word Out

Haviv Rettig on the front page of today’s Jerusalem Post: The little foundation that could As news of the Lappin Foundation’s closure reverberated throughout America’s Jewish communities – though small, it was widely seen as a harbinger for what was to come – the community it had served for so long came to the rescue. Spectacularly. …”The silver lining to all of this is that the foundation is receiving national and international attention as a result of being victimized by Bernard Madoff,” [Debbie] Coltin [Lappin's executive director] said. “Our previous attempts at sharing our incredible success via the Jewish media have been negligible,” but no longer. Coltin wants the foundation to use the attention to show the Jewish world what the charity... Continue Reading

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