Though the term “innovation” has become an overused buzzword in both the Jewish and general worlds, it nonetheless has become apparent that, like people, organizations need to continually progress in order to survive and thrive. What remains elusive, though, is how to focus resources and energy on growth and change initiatives in order to render them successful. In a recent article entitled “Managing your Innovation Portfolio” in the Harvard Business Review, authors Bansi Nagji and Geoff Tuff present a formula for allocating resources towards innovation, which they argue is necessary for those companies that wish to flourish in the long term. They explain that, for most companies, innovation is most successful when 70% of resources are allocated to innovations related to the company’s … Continue Reading
Funders and Apes: Seven Steps for Constructive Failure
by Andrés Spokoiny Friday, I wrote a bit about how funders, like all humans, are programmed by millions of years of evolution to hate failure. But our DNA hasn’t kept pace with the changing times. If our brains were adapted to the modern world instead of the prehistoric reality of the first apes with opposable thumbs, we would have created different neurological and chemical reactions to failure. We would have realized that in these times our survival depends on embracing productive failure. Until that realization occurs, we need to trick our brains into interpreting failure differently. For philanthropists and funders, embracing failure means creating a culture change. In complex endeavors, failure is a given. Here are seven strategies to help capitalize on the inevitable. Remain … Continue Reading
What Do Donors Want? Are Nonprofits Listening? Are Compromises Possible?
by Robert I. Evans and Avrum D. Lapin Nonprofit leaders face tremendous pressures today: living, operating and succeeding in a competitive marketplace of ideas, programs and services presents innumerable challenges. Donors who are guided by a passion for certain aspects of an agency’s mission and vision might be unaware, or unconcerned, about the everyday deliverables the agency must produce to achieve certain goals. Keeping both supporters and constituents happy is often a delicate dance. Nonprofit leaders must continuously upgrade and strengthen their abilities to translate their mission into a “selling proposition” for a variety of interest groups. This selling proposition involves creating a case for support that clearly communicates what the agency does, their goals, and the … Continue Reading
Funders and Apes: Our Troglodyte Approach to Failure
by Andrés Spokoiny Last year, influenced by the hype around Darwin’s 150th anniversary, I developed an interest in evolutionary theory. I read a few books about it, including the masterful Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, and since then I’ve been kind of obsessed. I usually find myself in odd moments trying to analyze human behaviors and traits, especially emotions, focusing on how they would have helped us survive and evolve in the savanna hundreds of thousands of years ago. What is the evolutionary reason for, say, love, or envy, or solidarity? Is art a “byproduct of evolution” or is it an extension of the capacity for communication and expression. As part of our new innovative content, this year’s Jewish Funders Network conference featured a forum on failure. While digesting the … Continue Reading
Limmud FSU Princeton: A Profound Self-Discovery
by Yoram Dori Limmud FSU is always a special experience for its participants. Limmud FSU Princeton, held from May 11 to 13, at Princeton University, was an especially unique event for me. As usual, I learned more than I taught. Some 650 young Russian-speaking Jews, originally from the former Soviet Union, paid good money to hear about Judaism, to learn about Israel, to meet their brothers and sisters, all in a pluralistic spirit, without coercion and without pressure. The lecture topics were determined by the young people themselves, and the theme this year was Albert Einstein, the father of modern physics who lived, taught and died in Princeton. Unlike other Jewish conventions that I’ve attended over the years, since I served as the Jewish Agency chairman’s spokesman in the 1980s, most … Continue Reading
Thinking about the Goals of Jewish Service-Learning
by Jon Levisohn Jewish service-learning is a hot topic, and rightly so. Funders, policy makers and academics have noticed a groundswell of activism and energy in the Jewish world, especially among young people, and have hopped on board. This has led to an expansion of service-learning opportunities for young Jews. This is a good thing. But what are the goals of service-learning? Service-learning is, obviously, related to service, and dependent on it, but they are not the same thing. The goal of service is to benefit the person or community served. The goal of service-learning is, in addition to the service performed, some kind of learning from the experience. The person who is doing the service ought to undergo some growth or beneficial development. What can we say about that growth? To … Continue Reading
A Conversation about the Relevancy of Denominations and 21st Century American Jews
by Robert I. Evans and Avrum D. Lapin Do lines really matter today between the various denominations of Judaism? That was the out-front question debated by four prominent rabbis in front of over 250 attendees at a panel discussion last week convened by the Philadelphia Board of Rabbis and moderated by Temple University Professor Lila Berman. Top U.S. rabbinic leaders participated in a lively two-hour dialogue: Rabbi Rick Jacobs, new President of the Union for Reform Judaism; Rabbi Steven Wernick, Executive Vice President and CEO of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz, President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College; and Rabbi Michael Balinsky, Executive Vice President of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, representing the Orthodox perspective. “I think … Continue Reading
Three Steps to a More Inclusive Community
by Ruthie Rotenberg In March, at the JFN Conference in Israel, I was privileged to join a group of funders on a site visit to several inclusive programs in the Tel Aviv area. Each program we visited was incredible in how they focused on creating a more inclusive community, supportive and inclusive of individuals with disabilities and their families. From world-renowned playgrounds that are fun to play on for all children, to finding ways to allow adults with disabilities to live independent lives - we saw a cross section of the incredible work happening in Israel. Since that visit, I have been thinking of ways we can all bring these lessons home, and make our own communities more inclusive. Today I offer a challenge to all funders, especially those who don’t focus their funding on … Continue Reading
Free Hebrew-language Children’s Books Program Expands Across U.S.
Sifriyat Pijama B’America strengthens connections to Jewish values, the Hebrew language, in local American communities Israeli-American and Jewish-American families across the United States are participating in a new children’s program through which they are mailed monthly - for free - a quality Jewish children’s book in Hebrew. Through Sifriyat Pijama B’America (SP-BA) young Jewish children, ages three to six, will be able to receive free storybooks in Hebrew. The program is designed to strengthen participants’ Hebrew language proficiency and connections with Jewish values and culture, as well as develop a channel through which young Jewish children can spend more quality time at bedtime with their families in a positive, educational manner. Through the tradition of bedtime … Continue Reading
America’s First Female Rabbi Reflects on Four Decades Since Ordination
In an interview with JointMedia News Service, Rabbi Sally Priesand discusses the obstacles she overcame to attain ordination and find her own pulpit, as well as how the presence of women has changed the nature of the rabbinate. by Michele Alperin JointMedia News Service Rabbi Sally Priesand, America’s first seminary-ordained female rabbi, decided at age 16 to pursue her calling. “I always wanted to be a teacher of whatever was my favorite subject,” she tells JointMedia News Service. “In the end, I decided to become a teacher of Judaism.” June 3 will mark the 40th anniversary of Priesand’s historic ordination at the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College (HUC). Fortunately, her parents were firmly behind her four decades ago. “I feel that my parents gave me one of the … Continue Reading
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