by Robert Lichtman Thanks to Dawne Bear Novicoff and Adene Sacks who posted their thoughts about the value-added of philanthropic advisors (What Would Rambam Think About DonorsChoose.org?). I am not such an advisor, but I do believe that making significant investment decisions that impact our future is not a DIY activity. Theirs is a complex argument which they attempted to frame using Rambam’s handy-dandy Tzedakah Ladder. If you don’t know what that is, your philanthropic advisor does. And the extent to which is it applied or misapplied is the issue. According to the famous hierarchy of giving habits and attitudes developed by Rambam in the 12th century and still hyper-relevant today, the highest form of tzedakah-giving is when one helps a person out of poverty or joblessness with a … Continue Reading
Everyone is a Philanthropist
[eJP note: AJWS recently launched Where Do You Give? - a conversation about where, why and to whom American Jews donate money. This is cross-posted from their blog.] by Erika Davis How do you make giving meaningful? Tzedakah, the Jewish commitment to righteous giving, is something that most people are familiar with. Tzedakah boxes are things of childhood memory for many Jews, except me. I tithed. Growing up with a Baptist mother, a Methodist father and educated in Catholic schools, the idea of giving charity was not lost on me. I can remember my mother reaching into her pocket book every Sunday morning to fish out crisp dollar bills for my sister and I to put in the collection plate that was passed around. I don’t remember what it felt like to put that money in the shiny gold plate, because … Continue Reading
Tzedakah: Kindness by Choice
by Emily Goldberg Life is unpredictable. Some days, we experience the blessings that life has to offer, varying from successes, new opportunities, and happiness. For most days, we can consider ourselves quite lucky when reflecting on the positive gifts that we receive, such as good health, fortune, shelter, and family. Despite the fluctuating economy, many of us are still able to return home each day with a guaranteed hot meal on the table and a stable roof over our heads. Dining at elegant restaurants is not a financial sacrifice for many, and being surrounded by family and friends is just another aspect of life. On those days, we can afford a perfect world. Other days, however, are not as fantastic. Economic failures, destructive hurricanes, divorces, and illnesses can enter our lives … Continue Reading
The Power of the Global Pushke
by Juan Mejia Rabbi Yehuda Hannasi said in Pirke Avot: “Be careful in performing a light mitzvah as a weighty one, for you know not the reward of each mitzvah.” In the area of philanthropy we could render his thought thusly: “Be mindful of small gifts as well as of big gifts, for you know not the impact of each gift.” Small gifts, which have the potential of being overlooked, end up silently building the lion´s share of American philanthropy, not only in the Jewish world but in the non-Jewish world. The collection platter or, in our own Jewish context, the Pushke (with its new virtual incarnations) is the mighty yet unsung hero in the world of philanthropy. Yet, in a world, in which givers are ever more increasingly controlling on where their giving goes, how can the Pushke (anonymous, … Continue Reading
Helping Funders Make Good Decisions
by Amy Rabbino Helping funders make good decisions is not just a grant-making transaction. As an adviser to philanthropic families, I’ve come to learn that effective philanthropy has a double bottom line: donor satisfaction and impact for the greater good. Key to successful relationships with philanthropists is a significant investment in listening and engaging the donor (or donor family) in a process that elicits the donor’s personal objectives and motivations for giving. Beyond any expertise in specific areas, analytic insight, vision, or conviction, listening may be the most important skill for an adviser to philanthropists.(1) While the obligation of tzedakah is deeply felt by many donors, donor satisfaction also plays a motivating and self-reinforcing role. While that satisfaction is, … Continue Reading
Shattering Stereotypes: The Newest Philanthropists
by Rachel Levenson In “Rethinking American Jewish Giving,” Larry Moses leaves the reader with important questions about how to reconcile the differences between traditional concepts of tzedakah and the more modern American model of philanthropy. Tzedakah, as Moses reminds us, is a commandment required of all Jews - even those who are receiving help. But most Jewish communal philanthropic organizations (such as federations) have typically operated like a club reserved for an elite group of people with money. The list of people making the most important communal decisions often reads like a “who’s-who” directory of individuals with impressive resumes and/or the potential to be big donors. Although young Jews are taught about their obligation to help others, Jewish communal grant … Continue Reading
The Guide for the Perplexed Donor: Tzedakah as Jewish Identity
by Noam Zion “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” - Anonymous Bombarded by requests for help from worthy causes, how does a philanthropist choose? The answer resides not only in the nature of the cause and the effectiveness of the organization, but also in answering certain questions: Who are you as a giver? What is your reason for giving? And, what is your vision? Beyond personal biography and a rigorous process of due diligence, a donor may be enriched by understanding the collective cultural and religious roots of giving in the Western world. But how do we set priorities among all the truly valuable projects? Effective, professional giving is essential, but it must be translated into a value language in order to explain it - especially, to explain one’s … Continue Reading
The New Social Economy: A Broader Mix of Players
by Lucy Bernholz What does it mean to be Jewish and philanthropic in 2011? Larry Moses wisely addresses this question from the perspective of the Jewish tradition of tzedakah. I am not a religious scholar; I am a philanthropy wonk. I study, write about, and consult with philanthropists on the changing ways we can create, fund, and distribute shared social goods such as education, health services, elder care, and cultural and artistic endeavors. My perspective on this question is to look at the modern business of giving, and to seek to apply those tools to the pursuit of justice. Moses notes, “The interplay between tzedakah in its traditional formulation and Jewish philanthropy as it is practiced today prompts a rethinking of American Jewish giving.” He asks us to consider how the different … Continue Reading
Israel: Where Aniyei Ircha Kodmim Meets Tikkun Olam
by Dyonna Ginsburg In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in the pursuit of Tikkun Olam, defined here as Jewish moral responsibility to the non-Jewish world, both among young Jews and in Jewish philanthropic circles. As more and more Jewish resources - time, manpower, and money - are being pumped into alleviating the suffering of non-Jews, the question of priorities is becoming more acute. Should our Tzedakah go to relief efforts in the developing world or to subsidies for low-income families at the local Jewish day school? Should our college kids spend spring break repairing churches in hurricane-ravished New Orleans or volunteering in the neighborhood’s Hebrew home for the aged? Proponents of giving (almost) exclusively to the Jewish community cite the Talmud’s … Continue Reading
Thinking of Tzedakah as a Spiritual Expression
The essential premise ... is that recent decades have brought about social and economic changes within the Jewish community generally, and Orthodoxy in particular, that generate a need to revisit issues relating to Jewish charity and philanthropy. Toward a Renewed Ethic of Jewish Philanthropy: a book review by Tevi Troy For a group that makes up only 2-3 percent of the total U.S. population, Jews represent a disproportionately large share of the wealthiest Americans (about a quarter of the Forbes 400) and of the nation’s biggest donors (four of the country’s top seven donors in 2009 were Jews). Nearly half of the 40 billionaires who have signed the Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge - to give at least half of their wealth to charity - are Jewish. Much has been written about these twin phenomena … Continue Reading
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