Are you looking to sharpen your web skills and business astuteness? Feeling the need for an inspirational jolt? PresenTense's new School for Pioneering, is a community-driven university model in which individuals who have special talents and professional experiences teach classes for the general community and provide practical tools to social entrepreneurs. Registration is now open for the pilot semester. Don't delay - for more info and to register, check out this exciting new venture. … Continue Reading
Innovation Drives the Entrepreneurial World
PresenTense launches School for Pioneering 2009 Pilot Semester: An innovative swap of local skills to the professional Jerusalem community PresenTense, a grassroots organization that fosters social innovation and entrepreneurship within Jewish and Israeli communities, is launching a six-week semester of courses hosted at the PresenTense Hub. The 'School for Pioneering,' is a community-driven university model in which talented professionals teach classes handpicked by and for the general community. These classes, taught in the evenings either every week for three weeks or every other week for six weeks from the first week of May, will span the spectrum of the latest web technology, to business ethics and strategy implementation, to inspirational ideas for the frustrated entrepreneur. Small … Continue Reading
JFN 2009: Mark Charendoff’s Vision
by Mark Charendoff “You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant Walk right in it's around the back Just a half a mile from the railroad track You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant” As a young boy, a very young boy mind you, growing up in the sixties, Alice’s Restaurant held a very special place in my heart. It was clever and ironic and captured the spirit of those days. You may remember the red VW micro bus, the shovels rakes and implements of destruction, and the twenty seven eight by ten color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us. You may even remember the people on the bench marked Group W. So if you … Continue Reading
Philanthropy in a Flat World: Inspiration Through Globalization
You have a choice. Put your head in the sand and pretend the world is still round and suffer the consequences, or take advantage of this incredible opportunity. Philanthropy in a Flat World: Inspiration Through Globalization is your insider guide to meeting and exceeding your nonprofit's goals for decades to come. I haven't yet had the opportunity to read this just released book - but having worked on a project with author Jon Duschinsky in Amsterdam a few months back, I can say that not only is he energetic and motivating, but he truly understands the art of fundraising. From the Inside Flap According to Thomas Friedman, our world is now flat - with lowered trade and political barriers and unimagined technical advances that have made it possible to do business, or almost anything else, … Continue Reading
State of the Jewnion
It’s been a week since the Jewlicious Festival ended. I thought some kind of broad recap would be in order and might even prove to be somewhat instructive to those of you out there who are into that sort of thing, like readers of eJewish Philanthropy or the Fundermentalist. Both of those aforementioned blogs deal with issues related to Jewish philanthropy as well as with organizations and projects they fund. Both have also expressed an interest in issues related to youth, innovation and social entrepreneurship - buzz phrases that one often hears uttered by Jewish organizations both large and small. As far as the Festival goes, it was in almost every respect a smashing success. We had nearly 1000 Jewish students and young adults enjoy a weekend full of fun, food, music and over 120 individual … Continue Reading
Online Comic Breaking Chains: ‘Get’ this Empowering Tale of a Young Jewish Woman
This past June, following a protracted struggle spanning several years for her emancipation, 28 year old Ariella Dadon managed to receive a get (a Jewish divorce) from her violent, abusive husband. "Unmasked: The Ariella Dadon Story" is the poignant story of Ariella, a courageous woman who continues her struggle for the assisting of agunot and mesoravot get (women denied a Jewish divorce). The cartoon is inspired by the genre of political cartoons, such as: "Waltz with Bashir," "Maus" and "Persepolis". By utilizing this medium, the creators of this cartoon, Inbal Freund-Novick and Chari Pere, wish to bring to light Ariella's story to an audience that had previously not been exposed to the issue of such women who are in need of assistance. "Ariella described her story to us in a lucid and … Continue Reading
Jerusalem Panel on Philanthropy and Fundraising Today
You are invited to attend Forum ha'Chalutzim: Philanthropy Panel, this Tuesday, March 3, 7:30 pm at PresenTense's Jerusalem Hub. This Leaders in Philanthropy Panel will bring together three leading Israeli foundation executives Alan Gill, Executive Director of International Relations for the JDC-Israel, Avraham Infeld, Former President of the Chais Family Foundation and Nirit Roessler, Director of the Pradler Program for NGO Empowerment. Moderated by Karen Brunwasser, Program Officer for the Schusterman Foundation-Israel, panelists will share their experiences approving funding for the best and the greatest Jewish causes, reveal insider fundraising secrets and discuss the Jewish philanthropy climate during the financial crisis. Q&A session will follow. The program is in Hebrew. RSVP … Continue Reading
Applications Open for 2009 ROI Summit
It's that time of year again! The Center for Leadership Initiatives and Taglit-Birthright Israel are proud to announce the opening of applications for the 4th Annual ROI Summit, to be held June 28-July 2, 2009 near Tel Aviv, in honor of that city's 100th anniversary. For this fourth year of the program, applications will be open only to those who haven't participated in previous summits. This will keep the summit fresh and invigorated, bring new people into their growing community, and, in turn, enhance the ROI network and its potential. For complete requirements and application information, visit the 2009 Summit Information page. about: ROI Summit attendees are Jewish leaders and innovators who represent the diversity of Jewish experience around the world. Connected through their … Continue Reading
Going Forward
Like many others involved in the Jewish communal world, we've been pre-occupied these past two weeks with the Madoff scheme and the resulting fall-out. Among other things, this has caused us to reduce posting on other subjects. At least for "new news" hopefully the worst is behind us and we can begin the process of picking up the pieces. Taken together with the losses in the capital markets earlier this year, the past several months have not been easy on the entire philanthropic world. One of the areas we intend to begin speaking about is the effect of the recession on fundraising. We began collecting both articles and research earlier in December to share with you - and plan to begin this week. To paraphrase a colleague with a similar agenda, the purpose will be to speak about what is happening … Continue Reading
Why YOU Need an E-mail Service Provider
Marketing via e-mail is one of the most powerful and cost effective tools open to non-profit organizations today. And as strange as it may seem to some, using Outlook (R) or even Yahoo (R) or Hotmail (R) for this purpose is doing e-mail poorly. These applications were not designed for marketing and have significant limitations that can actually be a negative to all of your hard efforts. As the U.S. Postal Service says in ads, the mail must get through. Having your e-mail opened is another challenge; first it needs to land in the recipient's "In box". Here are our top reasons why you need to use an e-mail marketing service: 1. You must be CAN-SPAM Compliant. Period. No ifs, ands or buts. Even if your nonprofit is sending from / to a country without regulations, those in the know, know. At the … Continue Reading
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