In a generational change at the top of B’nai B’rith International, the organization has tapped Evan Bernstein as its next CEO, the group exclusively told eJewishPhilanthropy on Thursday, as the longtime communal professional looks to breathe new life — and a spirit of innovation — into a 182-year-old legacy organization.

Bernstein, 51, will take the reins of B’nai B’rith on Aug. 24, succeeding longtime CEO Dan Mariaschin, 77, who has led the organization since 1999. Bernstein brings with him 25 years of Jewish nonprofit experience at a host of communal organizations, including serving as the inaugural CEO of Community Security Service and in leadership roles at the Jewish Federations of North America, the Anti-Defamation League and AIPAC. In his first interview since accepting the position, Bernstein discussed how he will use his connections at past agencies to cultivate new partnerships for B’nai B’rith and how he will bring a startup mentality to the world’s oldest Jewish service organization.

B’nai B’rith “has a legacy unlike any other Jewish organization,” Bernstein told eJP. “It has just such a rich and deep history, but it’s not just domestic, it’s international, and the partners that the organization has developed across Europe, South America, really around the globe, [are] really enticing and interesting and really unique.”

Founded on the Lower East Side of Manhattan by a dozen German Jewish immigrants in 1843, members of B’nai B’rith (“sons of the covenant”) originally organized at a network of lodges where members created initiatives that combated antisemitism, supported the sick, widowed and orphaned, and provided disaster relief. Today, the organization continues to fight antisemitism, advocate for Israel, support seniors and offer disaster relief around the globe.

Bernstein is especially excited to visit Europe, where members continue to meet in lodges, a trend that began to wane in the U.S. in the mid-20th century and eventually ended. These lodges, he said, create leaders who are strong advocates, especially in communities where few Jews remain.

Bernstein brings with him decades of relationships throughout the Jewish world that he hopes to tap into in his new role. “I’m one of the few community professionals now that’s worked for JFNA and ADL and AIPAC, so I’ve worked with a lot of legacy organizations. Those are all opportunities for partnership.”

Post-Oct. 7, legacy organizations “are looking at things from a different lens,” he said. “I read a lot recently, especially about legacy organizations, how ineffective they are and how changes need to be made.”

Legacy organizations have “a very important role in the Jewish communal world,” he said, “whether it’s in the Diaspora or in Israel, and it’s the job of the legacy organizations to get more nimble, to get thinking a little bit more startup, but they have these immense connections and immense histories and large volunteer networks that are critical to making change.”

While Bernstein has worked for several legacy organizations, he also spent years working as national director of development for The David Project, an Israel campus advocacy group, and grew CCS from an organization with $350,000 in revenue to over $5 million and a national footprint.

“Every major Jewish organization right now has to look at how are they doing their business, how are their programs being effective, how are they really implementing metrics of success?” he said. 

No longer can things be “business as usual,” Bernstein added. “With limited resources and limited volunteer hours and limited things across the board, you want to make sure the things you’re doing are going to be as close to best in class, if not best in class, as possible to really hold value for the supporters, the organization and the investors.”

Bernstein has seen new leaders thrust changes onto organizations before understanding the landscape, he said, and “that ultimately hurts an organization.”

He plans to do a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis of the organization. “I want to talk to internal staff, internal players, external stakeholders, people [who] are involved and not involved with the organization, [who] are in the Jewish communal space, to get a sense of what’s needed. What are people thinking about B’nai B’rith? What are some areas of opportunity? What’s working? What’s not working? Once we have that information, then we can make smart decisions about the organization and looking at things from either a rebrand or programmatic reevaluation.”

The board “sought a leader who understands B’nai B’rith’s legacy of leadership in meeting our community’s needs and the vision to help B’nai B’rith lead the response to the needs of today and the future,” Robert Spitzer, the organization’s president, told eJP. “Evan has a deep understanding of the Jewish world and a record of achievement, as well as the imagination and drive to help B’nai B’rith work to strengthen our sense of community, bringing Jews closer together in the U.S., Israel and around the world.”

The organization, he said, is one of the few legacy organizations that is not seen as leaning too far to the left or the right politically, and he hopes to maintain that view.

“We have an office in Israel,” he said. “Everything that’s done in the Jewish communal space is intertwined with Israel. It’s a critical component. My family’s in Israel. I have family in Bnei Brak, in Har Nof, part of my family is in Tel Aviv. Israel and Jews — it’s intertwined.”

Bernstein is not intimidated by having to fill Mariaschin’s shoes. His predecessor stepped down in June after serving B’nai B’rith for 37 years, as CEO for 27 of them. 

Both Mariaschin and Bernstein have plenty in common. Both grew up in New England, and both worked for ADL and AIPAC and in Jewish communal security. Their similarities have allowed them to build a strong connection, and Mariaschin plans to remain with the organization in a consultant and mentor role, helping Bernstein learn the ropes and tap into relationships.

One way Bernstein has watched the Jewish community shift during his time working for Jewish nonprofits is the way organizations are funded. No longer are there “thousands and thousands of donors,” he said. “Major gifts right now are really coming from private family offices and private family foundations… You have to build relationships with those people, understand what they’re looking for, try to find commonality there, and try to find funding streams that will allow you to enhance your mission, but doing it in a programmatic way that’s going to feel like it’s a good investment for these foundations.”

Donors are not “giving money willy-nilly” just because an organization is a legacy organization, Bernstein said. “They want to give money to things that are going to feel innovative, that have metrics of success and that are going to be able to move the needle.”