We’re delighted to see the Joshua Venture take this next step as they proceed to formally return to our Jewish world:

Joshua Venture, a Jewish social entrepreneur fellowship program, seeks an Executive Director to be responsible for leading Joshua Venture as it builds upon its assets, strong brand, and past successes. This is a unique and innovative professional opportunity for an experienced, creative and talented leader to have a major impact on the North American Jewish community through helping to launch and establish new organizations and entrepreneurial ventures and by advancing the concept and role of social entrepreneurship in the Jewish community.

The mission of Joshua Venture is to reinvigorate and expand the Jewish community by cultivating the leadership and management capability of young Jewish social entrepreneurs and investing in their visions and the growth of healthy and sustainable organizations. The fellowship provides seed funding, organizational and professional development support and communities of practice. It also confers legitimacy upon the fellows and their ventures, and expands their networks within the Jewish world.

The Executive Director will develop strategy, set goals, redesign and implement the program, including the recruitment and mentorship of the fellows, and manage performance. S/he will create and maintain sound business and organizational models that promote and support the organization’s mission and vision, a positive and supportive atmosphere, and financial accountability and will serve as the organization’s representative in a wide variety of settings. Joshua Venture seeks a candidate who can be both a strategic thinker and hands-on leader and manager. Knowledge of, and experience in, nonprofit management, adult learning, the Jewish community and Jewish organizations and the ability to move comfortably between traditional and non-traditional organizational and community circles is critical.

Please send recommendations, referrals, and resumes to Susan Sapiro at ssapiro@drgnyc.com or Daniel Ripps at dripps@drgnyc.com.

about: Joshua Venture’s mission is to reinvigorate and expand the Jewish community by cultivating the leadership and management capability of talented passionate young Jewish social entrepreneurs and investing in their visions and the growth of healthy sustainable organizations. Joshua Venture offers a fellowship that provides seed funding, organizational and professional development support and communities of practice. The fellowship also confers legitimacy upon the fellows and their ventures, and expands their networks within the Jewish community.

Joshua Venture was originally founded in 2000 by three leading American Jewish foundations and ran two 2-year fellowship cohorts of eight fellows each. The majority of these ventures continue to operate across a variety of fields, and have been recognized for their innovative contributions to the Jewish community, being named to the Forward 50 and listed in Slingshot, among others.

In 2005, Joshua Venture suspended its operations and a small group of leaders spent the next two years evaluating the program’s effectiveness, restructuring its governance, program and funding model and building a strong financial foundation. In 2008, a group of philanthropists including the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Lippman Kanfer Family Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Stanford and Joan Alexander Foundation committed to funding Joshua Venture’s core operations for five years, with an average annual budget of $800,000. A new, independent Board of Directors that does not include direct representation of the funders has also been recruited. The re-launched Joshua Venture will be based in New York City and will be staffed by the Executive Director and a Program & Administrative Associate.