[eJP note: Dan Pallotta created two huge charity initiatives - AIDS Rides bicycle journeys and Breast Cancer 3-Day events. These initiatives raised $108 million for HIV/AIDS and $194 million for breast cancer. Both had their best years in 2002 … and then Pallotta’s nonprofit went out of business. In the final session of TED2013, Pallotta shares why that happened: Major sponsors pulled out following a slew of bad press over the idea that his organization was investing 40% of their gross into recruitment and customer service. Today, with donors across the board zeroing in on 'impact' we continue the conversation on eJP. As always, comments are encouraged.] by Naomi Korb Weiss The next time you look to donate to a nonprofit, don’t ask about the rate of their overhead - ask about the … [Read more...]
The University Education and PresenTense
by Ariel Beery In my opinion, there are few things more enjoyable and more rewarding than teaching a person new skills that can help them make an impact on the world. Over the past five years, since we established the PresenTense Institute for Creative Zionism (and with it our program for social entrepreneurs in communities around the world), I've had the privilege to teach hundreds of entrepreneurs and organizational professionals tools and tricks for how to start social ventures. But it wasn't until this year that our unique curriculum was honored by being included among college courses - available only to honors students, no less. In the fall semester of 2012, the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya (known as the IDC, and one of Israel's leading undergraduate institutions) offered A … [Read more...]
My Second Aliyah
by Guy Spigelman Officially I made Aliyah on the 4th of April, 1994 - that’s almost 19 years ago (in case you were wondering I’m about to turn 41), and frankly, at the time, I was exhausted with being “Jewish.” I just wanted to “be”, and thought that the simple fact of living in Israel, voting, paying taxes, doing the army, having a family would surely be enough. Before I made Aliyah the first time, I spent almost every waking hour at Habo (that’s Habonim Dror in Australian), planning camps, madrichim meetings, education programming, sending groups to Israel, meetings of the State Zionist Council, Israel advocacy and on and on and on ... Aliyah seemed like the only way to escape. So living in Israel, starting a family, making new friends, working in cool companies, enjoying … [Read more...]
Insights from Applications to PresenTense’s 10 Local Fellowships
by Simi Hinden PresenTense just closed applications for its local fellowships in 10 cities around the world. Applications season is always an exciting time, as coordinators and steering committee volunteers put in many hours recruiting local entrepreneurs or aspiring innovators. After the application deadline closes, in each city, the coordinators and steering committee decide who to advance to the speed-interviewing stage, and afterwards chooses its cohort. (While several of our cities have already chosen their cohorts, we're waiting until all cities have done so before making one announcement.) We've collected some basic statistics on fellowship applicants and their venture ideas, to better learn what populations the programs are reaching, what ventures focus on, and to glean any lessons … [Read more...]
Bringing Friends Along for the Ride
The message is clear: if you are passionate about a cause, you must bring others along for the ride... Maybe they need to be inspired. And maybe they just need you to pick them up at their front door. by Sara Weinreb Life hasn’t felt normal in a while. Between Hurricane Sandy and the situation in Israel, I feel on edge. Worried. What is this world coming to? Is discomfort and displacement the new normal? As someone prone to hurricanes, Sandy was unfortunately not a new situation for me. Evacuating Tulane on my freshman move-in day for Katrina allowed me to understand the situation all too well. There was one big difference here: after Katrina, I wasn’t allowed into New Orleans for months. I could only read the news and advocate from afar. But five days after Sandy I went to Target, … [Read more...]
Our Vision for PresenTense
by Naomi Korb Weiss and Shelby Zitelman As newly appointed co-Directors, we have been asked this question many times over the past month. And when discussing the opportunity to publish with Dan Brown, he suggested that we share our vision as the basis of this article. But when we sat down to write, we realized that we wouldn’t be sharing any break-through concepts that Ariel Beery and Aharon Horwitz have not already articulated. We subscribe to Ariel and Aharon’s vision for PresenTense, and our organization’s impact in the community. So instead of focusing on our vision for PresenTense and how the values of entrepreneurship and innovation and investing in inspired, passionate creators can transform Jewish communal engagement, we would like to provide some transparency regarding our … [Read more...]
