by Rachel Levin, Josh Miller and Adam Simon Back in 2010, when Facebook had but a meager 300 million users and the concepts of Google Plus and Pinterest were not yet on the horizon, there was a desire bubbling up within the Jewish community to capitalize on the new media and technological innovations happening across so many facets of our lives. How could we channel all of these new platforms to strengthen innovation within the Jewish community? How could these tools enable Jewish communities spread all over the world to reach, teach, learn, create and affiliate in unprecedented ways? With these questions in mind, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, Jim Joseph Foundation and Righteous Persons Foundation joined together to design and unveil the Jewish New Media Innovation … Continue Reading
Innovating on Tradition: Reflections on the Jewish New Media Innovation Fund
by Lucy Bernholz and Conan Liu Introduction Every day we hear about new digital applications that make it easier to compare products, find news, animate books, and play games. We also hear from the creators of these tools that they want to do more than just build the next best shopping site; they want to do something that matters. At the same time, most organizations that serve our communities struggle to maintain working technology infrastructures, let alone to experiment and imagine how to achieve their missions in a digital world. Bridging this gap between media innovation and mission accomplishment was the core goal of the Jewish New Media Innovation Fund (the Fund), a pilot launched in 2010 by the Jim Joseph Foundation, the Righteous Persons Foundation, and the Schusterman Family … Continue Reading
South By SouthWest, With a Twist of ROI
by Rebecca Youngerman This past week in Austin, Texas, 20 young Jews from cities as diverse as San Francisco, Tel Aviv, and Berlin wrote a new chapter of the ROI Community story, introducing the 2012 South By SouthWest (SXSW) conference attendees to a different meaning of ROI Community. As part of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation’s pilot initiative in Austin, ROIers traded falafel stands for food trailers, setting out to create, connect, learn, and innovate our way through the Interactive, Film, and Music components of the annual conference. The experience of SXSW reminded me of Open Space, a signature exercise that the ROI Community engages in each summer at their global Summits in Israel. Open Space puts forth two simple guidelines: whoever shows up is exactly who’s … Continue Reading
Amuta21c Conference Gives Israeli Third Sector Chance to Network and Hone Skills
by Abigail Pickus Over 200 people gathered in Jerusalem on Sunday to participate in Amuta21c, a day-long conference aimed at giving Israel’s third sector (amuta in Hebrew) recognition as a valuable entity, and the tools and shared space to further their goals and work together. “We’re doing something very meaningful here,” said Jonny Cline, who co-organized the conference with Shoshanna Jaskoll, from Reach3k. A nonprofit strategist, Jaskoll launched the conference for he first time last year under the name, Future of Nonprofit Summit - Israel (FONSI). “There was a vacuum in this arena,” Cline, the Director of UK Toremet, later told eJP. “As opposed to other professional groups, the nonprofit sector has never really shown a tendency to cooperate and share knowledge.” The … Continue Reading
Putting the People Back in Peoplehood
This essay is from The Peoplehood Papers, volume 7 - Reinvigorating Jewish Peoplehood: The Philanthropic Perspective; published by the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education. by Lisa Eisen Rachel Brody, 26, always knew she was Jewish, but growing up in Houston, Texas, it did not mean much to her. She was much more focused on the parts of her identity that drove her to working with students with special needs. She never realized the connection between the two until she visited Israel in 2009 as part of the pilot cohort of our Foundation’s REALITY Israel Experience, a program that brings Teach For America corps members to Israel to explore the Jewish values that undergird their commitment to public service. “It left a profound impact on me,” said Rachel, who is now working on a … Continue Reading
Bikkurim Releases Pivotal Study That Identifies Unique Needs and Characteristics of Jewish Post-Start-Ups
New York, NY, March 14, 2012 - To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Bikkurim: An Incubator for New Jewish Ideas has released a pivotal study conducted by Wellspring Consulting that identifies characteristics of successful start-up organizations and highlights the unique needs and challenges that Jewish “post-start-up” organizations face. A cohort of post-start-up (also known as mezzanine or second-stage) organizations has grown over the past seven years, and has gained traction within the Jewish community as offering significant, new entry portals into Jewish life. They have secured initial funding, are growing rapidly, and are strong in transformational potential - but their success is far from assured. From First Fruits to Abundant Harvest: Maximizing the Potential of Innovative Jewish … Continue Reading
A New Look at Israel Education: Mapping the Field and Charting the Future
by Anne Lanski Yesterday, in partnership with the Schusterman Family Foundation, the Jim Joseph Foundation, the Marcus Foundation and the AVI CHAI Foundation, the iCenter hosted iThink: A New Look at Israel Education. For a full day, more than 80 organizational leaders, Jewish and Israel educators, funder representatives and scholars reflected on the emergence of the field of Israel Education and envisioned what the future could look like. The basis for this conversation was Mapping the Field, a new report commissioned by the iCenter that documents the growth of the field of pre-collegiate Israel Education over the last 10 years and offers recommendations and goals for building on our progress. Mapping the Field follows a report commissioned by the Gilo Foundation 10 years ago, which found … Continue Reading
Jewish South African Innovation: From the Goldmines to the Garden Patch
by Seth Cohen The South African Jewish community, like all Jewish communities, is filled with knowledge, creativity, chesed and, of course, complexity. It is one that has a rich and proud history, bringing its unique Jewish spirit to a continent that is rife with challenges and ripe with opportunity. Within the community, there is an array of individuals as vibrant and varied as the African fauna that surrounds them. From the exceptional community of Johannesburg, a city of commerce and insight near the great goldmines of South Africa, to the community of Cape Town, which started out as a Dutch veggie patch and now is known worldwide as an amazing center of creativity, and every point in between - innovators, activists and entrepreneurs are reshaping the South African landscape to reflect the … Continue Reading
Boldly Going Where No Jew Has Gone Before
by David Jacobson “The world is defined by change and choice. We have to inspire people to see being Jewish as relevant.” This was the challenge thrown out by philanthropist, Lynn Schusterman, at the opening of the Schusterman Family Foundation’s South African Young Jewish Innovators Gathering, held in Johannesburg on February 11-12. Innovation is defined as “the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new.” As remarkable as our South African Jewish community is, I am not sure that the innovation we bring to our lives as individuals has translated into the more closeted confines of our community. It strikes me that we humans do not naturally take that well to change. We prefer to stick with what we know rather than take a risk. “Better the devil … Continue Reading
Inspiring Jewish Connections
by Wendy Kahn A weekend devoted to innovation; 24 hours devoted to stretching the mind, broadening experiences and challenging assumptions. A space in time to think differently and be exposed to diverse individuals from different backgrounds, with rich experience and perspectives. I gained so much from the Schusterman Foundation’s South African Young Jewish Innovators Gathering on February 11-12. The weekend provided an opportunity to be exposed to remarkable individuals, each inspiring in a unique way. We were introduced to a vast array of impressive projects that are making a meaningful difference to the country in which we live. Some of these projects operate within our community, some in the broader South African environment. The Schusterman concept highlights these projects and becomes … Continue Reading
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