Introducing the Slingshot Class of 2012-2013

Slingshot present’s the eighth annual edition of Slingshot: A Resource Guide for Jewish Innovation, featuring 50 inspirational organizations, in Jewish life in North America. Fourteen additional organizations have been identified as the Standard Bearers, having been previously listed in at least five editions of Slingshot. These Standard Bearers continue to exemplify Slingshot’s core criteria of innovation, impact, leadership and organizational efficacy.

Slingshot organizations grapple with concerns in Jewish life such as identity, community, social justice and tradition, each with different missions, perspectives and strategies. The Slingshot resource guide is distributed to 7,500 funders, foundation professionals and organizational leaders annually, in addition to tens of thousands of online downloads. Readers use Slingshot to identify the most inspiring projects,and programs in the North American Jewish community today. Since its inception, Slingshot has highlighted 173 innovative Jewish organizations in North America.

Slingshot organizations are selected from among hundreds of nominees based on their strength in four areas: innovation, impact, leadership and organizational efficiency.

Selected Trends and Stats

  1. Since 2007, women have headed approximately 50% of the organizations and projects listed in Slingshot; this year that figure has increased to 64%.
  2. Since 2009, the number of Slingshot organizations or projects headed by ordained rabbis has been on the rise. This year’s figure is 18%.
  3. The five most frequently self-selected program areas in Slingshot ’12-’13 are Jewish Education, Community Building, Leadership Development, Social Justice and Arts and Culture.
  4. There are 19 organizations or projects listed in this year’s Slingshot guide that have not been recognized in prior editions; the average inception year is (approximately) 2008 and average budget size is around $308,000. Half are either initiatives of larger organizations or independent projects supported by local Federations.

Here are this year’s 14 Standard Bearers followed by the Slingshot 50 (all in alphabetical order):

  1. Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community
  2. Bend the Arc
  3. Encounter
  4. Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life
  5. Hazon
  6. IKAR
  7. InterfaithFamily
  8. Keshet
  9. Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh and Education Center
  10. Mechon Hadar
  11. Moishe House
  12. Moving Traditions
  13. Reboot
  14. Sharsheret: Your Jewish Community Facing Breast Cancer
  1. A Wider Bridge
  2. ACCESS, AJC’s new generation program
  3. Amir
  4. Ask Big Questions, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
  5. BBYO Panim Institute
  6. Be’chol Lashon
  7. Bible Raps
  8. Challah for Hunger
  9. CommunityNEXT
  10. Council of Jewish Émigré Community organizations (COJECO)
  11. Eden Village Camp
  12. Footsteps, Inc.
  13. Gateways: Access to Jewish Education
  14. G-dcast
  15. Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation
  16. GLOE – Kurlander Program for GLBT Outreach and Engagement
  17. Haggadot.com
  18. Havuraj Summer Program/Camp Tel Yehudah
  19. Hebrew Senior Life Chaplaincy Institute
  20. Hidden Sparks
  21. Innovation: Africa
  22. J’Burgh
  23. Jewcology
  24. Jewish Community Action
  25. Jewish Education Project, The
  26. Jewish Farm School
  27. Jewish Meditation Center of Brooklyn
  28. Jews for Racial & Economic Justice
  29. Kavana Cooperative, The
  30. Kevah: Making Space for Jewish Learning
  31. Matan
  32. MazelTot, an initiative of Rose Community Foundation
  33. MyJewishLearning, Inc.
  34. National Yiddish Book Center
  35. Or Tzedek: Teen Institute for Social Justice
  36. OurJewishCommunity.org
  37. Pearlstone Center
  38. Rabbis for Human Rights – North America
  39. Rabbis Without Borders
  40. Ramah Service Corps, The
  41. Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council
  42. Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists
  43. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
  44. Tarbuton, Israeli Cultural Center
  45. Tribe, The
  46. Urban Adamah
  47. Uri L’Tzedek
  48. Wilderness Torah
  49. Wise Aging, a project of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality
  50. Women’s Jewish Learning Center, The