by Aharon N. Harris How about this year we ... Forget the funky buzzwords (that no one wants to admit they truly do not understand)! Forget the “innovation/networks” speak (some of the articles I read make my head spin)! Drop the acronyms! And get out of our “Jewish bubble” that is centered in New York City, large-sized Jewish organizations, and projects funded by mega-philanthropists. The Jewish community is basically organized in two ways: Longstanding Jewish communal institutions (Federation, synagogues, JCCs, etc.), and New “start up” organizations impacting Jewish life. I have a sad “not so secret” secret - the vast majority of Jews in America are staying away from both! The problem with the first group is they are still doing and funding much of the same … Continue Reading
Internalizing Innovation
by Evonne Marzouk Our recent investment in Jewish innovation has caused a proliferation of small, scattered non- profits organizing individual programs and competing against each other for scarce funding. Caryn Aviv and Shawn Landres have recently written important articles about this Jewish innovation landscape. Shawn Landres argues for impact investing as a new paradigm. Caryn Aviv suggests the possibility of “for-profit” organizations. Both of these are valuable potential models for future Jewish innovation. In this piece, I’d like to suggest another potential model for bringing innovation into existing Jewish institutions. One of the challenges of this burgeoning innovation sector is that, as a Jewish community, we’re losing focus. Young Jews are connecting to smaller and smaller … Continue Reading
Increasing Supply, Not Only Demand
by Shawn Landres People sometimes ask me how Jumpstart balances what appear to be the competing dimensions of our work: global vs. local, research vs. advocacy, startups vs. the “establishment,” and, most fraught of all, funders vs. grantees. The thing is, we just don’t see our work that way. In our effort to help make Judaism & Jewish life vibrant and relevant, we know we gain strength and purpose by working together. Changemakers with shared visions shape the world with the tools they have available, whether those tools are financial or programmatic, operational or intellectual. I was struck by Yoni Gordis’s observation to a roundtable on innovation and philanthropy moderated by Seth Cohen, just published in the October 2011 issue of Sh’ma: “...We’ve done a great deal … Continue Reading
An Innovation Tale: Learning the Science and Art of Networks
by Bill Robinson, PhD As they saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Four years ago, Bob Sherman and I came to the Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York (newly rebranded as The Jewish Education Project). Serving a catchment area containing over 800 different early childhood centers, congregational schools, youth programs and day schools, we quickly realized that we did not have (nor conceivably) would ever have the resources to work 1 on 1 with each of these programs in the standard manner that has been the modus operandi of central agencies - teacher education and curriculum consultations. Add to that the new trend - the seeming need to offer organizational coaching - and we were doomed from the start. In the day school area alone, our catchment area was the size of the … Continue Reading
The Innovation Sector and the Synagogue
by Ramie Arian Many who are concerned with the continued vibrancy of the Jewish community in North America will be heartened by the recent release of the 2011-12 version of Slingshot’s Resource Guide for Jewish Innovation. The Slingshot Guide highlights 60 innovative organizations - in the words of eJewishPhilanthropy.com - “that work to ensure that Jewish life isn’t left behind as the world moves forward.” Indeed, the Guide presents a rich array of exciting projects that span the diversity of the Jewish community, putting forward an inspiring portrait of the so-called “innovation sector” in Jewish life. Among the Slingshot Guide’s many notable features, one in particular stands out: the near-total absence of any mention of the synagogue. The synagogue has long been - and … Continue Reading
One Take on Slingshot: Why Rabbis are Still Important
Rabbis lead eleven of the sixty organizations named yesterday to the annual Slingshot Guide of the most innovative Jewish organizations. Four of these organizations are new additions to the list this year. An additional two organizations were led by rabbis at the time of the application. “The Slingshot Guide recognizes that rabbis continue to be inspirational and innovative moral and spiritual leaders,” said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America, through which more than 1800 rabbis advocate for human rights in North America and Israel. “As the Jewish world has changed, rabbis have continuously drawn on our long history of wisdom and tradition to respond to the most pressing questions of the moment.” This year’s list continues a trend … Continue Reading
Introducing the Slingshot Class of 2011-2012
Slingshot present’s the seventh annual edition of Slingshot: A Resource Guide for Jewish Innovation, featuring 50 inspirational organizations in Jewish life in North America; and for the first time ever, 10 projects which have helped define Slingshot for the past seven years. While many lament the changing nature of Jewish life and long with nostalgia for a simpler time of more automatic Jewish unity, Slingshot celebrates the relative peace and prosperity that Jews enjoy in the United States and Canada while highlighting those organizations that work to ensure that Jewish life isn’t left behind as the world moves forward. While Slingshot ’11-’12 may be optimistic, don’t allow its self-confident portrayal of Jewish identity to mask the concern of the social entrepreneurs, start-up … Continue Reading
The Case for Multi-Generational Philanthropy
by Tamar Snyder What are the most effective ways to transmit your philanthropic values to your children and grandchildren while also ensuring that your charitable legacy within the Jewish community continues to endure? That’s one of the key questions on our minds here at Jewish Communal Fund, the donor-advised fund of the Jewish community of greater New York, which distributes an average of $250 million in grants to thousands of charities annually. A growing percentage of our fund holders are third generation members of charitable Jewish families, and we’ve been hard at work exploring the best ways to engage the NextGen in open and honest conversations around their values and how those values connect to their charitable giving. We established the Center for Next Generation Philanthropy last … Continue Reading
Young Funders: To Innovate or Not to Innovate: That Is the Question
by Erica Schacter Schwartz Is funding innovation economy-sensitive? Does it flourish during good times and wane during an economic downturn? Has the relationship between young funders and innovation been a mere fling that is likely to unravel from the pressures of a new economic reality? Based on conversations with some young funders and professional staff from across the Jewish philanthropic landscape, the answer appears to be “no.” The interest of young funders in innovation seems to be stronger and more long term than a fling. Through collective philanthropic funds, family foundations, and as individual donors, young funders who have pursued innovation during periods of economic growth have continued to pursue innovative projects and organizations during today’s more challenging … Continue Reading
What Will the Jewish Community Do?
by Ruthie Warshenbrot I was surprised and disappointed to hear of the recent closing of one of the Jewish community’s darling innovative organizations, JDub. I have great respect for my colleague Aaron Bisman, and have enjoyed watching JDub’s growth and reach over the past almost-decade of its existence. This big news makes me wonder how the organized Jewish community will react. I suspect that JDub’s closing will result in a flurry of reactions via social media, articles, op-eds, and even obituaries, potentially touching on the following topics: Was arts & culture programming actually a good entry-point to Jewish life, especially for young adults? Many studies emerged just as JDub was gaining popularity that supported its mission, almost verbatim and JDub’s own numbers in its … Continue Reading
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