The Week That Was: November 20-26

In today’s world, no nonprofit organization would think twice about collecting, and hopefully analyzing, information about their donors. So too, with website traffic. For how else can one effectively judge site visitors’ demographics and interests?

Based on site and RSS feed analytics, here – in descending order – are the five most popular posts on eJewish Philanthropy last week:

Getting it Together
by Chip Edelsberg, Ph.D.

The world has obviously changed in dramatic ways in the fifteen years during which I have been privileged to work in Jewish philanthropy. One of the single most pronounced of these shifts has been from bureaucracy and organizational hierarchy grounded in analog-based communication to a networked universe powered by digital technology.

Jewish Organizational Equality Index Launched
by Adam Simon

We believe that our Jewish tapestry is stronger because of the richness and diversity of the people who comprise it – and we have heard from countless organizational leaders who agree with us. Who lament that they want to be inclusive beyond a rainbow sticker and a few comments from the bimah. Who ask how they can be as inclusive as possible, even if they don’t have throngs of LGBT individuals at their doors every day.

On Leaders and Lions
by Idit Klein

[T]here were many people at this year’s GA who, like me, felt the social and socioeconomic limitations of the federation world. One Jewish communal professional in her late 30s told me privately, “Even though women are here, it still feels like an old boys’ club.” Another colleague, a Hillel professional in his 40s shared, also confidentially, “I’m part of the ‘organized’ Jewish community, but I feel turned off when I’m at the GA. There’s a clear message that the more money you give, the higher your status.

Avi Chai: Shifting the Spend-Down into High Gear
by Joel L. Fleishman

For the past three years, I have been chronicling the ongoing process of spend-down at AVI CHAI, a foundation located in Jerusalem and New York with programs in Israel, North America, and the former Soviet Union. The third annual report, titled Shifting the Spend-Down into High Gear: A Foundation Begins Implementing Its Strategy, is now available.

Planting Seeds: A Response to James Hyman
by Anne Lanski

What makes great Israel education? It has to be learner-centered. It has to be taught by passionate and knowledgeable educators engaged in their own Israel story and able to evoke it in their students. It has to be integrated with the rest of Jewish education. It has to bring together the people, land and state of Israel as a totality.

Click the red tab above for previous weeks most popular posts.