Faced with a daunting list of challenges — the COVID-19 pandemic, Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks and Israel’s ensuing wars, and the surge in antisemitism that accompanied them — Jewish philanthropy has been forced to react rapidly in recent years.

If anyone can provide a deep context about the long arc of Jewish philanthropy and the forces at play in this fraught moment, it is Jewish historian Jack Wertheimer, a longtime close watcher of giving trends, whose 18th book, Jewish Giving: Philanthropy and the Shaping of American Jewish Life, was released in July.

Through hundreds of interviews with professionals in the field, Wertheimer provides an in-depth cross-section of the current world of Jewish funders, grantees and nonprofit professionals. At the same time, the work offers a wide scope, examining the trajectory of the field from the colonial era to today. 

Recent challenges have led many to question Jewish philanthropy’s relevance and ability to meet the current moment. But Wertheimer, taking the long view of history, paints a more nuanced and positive picture of the field and its ability to adapt.

Wertheimer spoke with eJewishPhilanthropy following the release of the book about current trends in philanthropy, communication gaps between grantees and grant makers and the inspiration behind the book. 

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Nira Dayanim: As a community, we’re at a time of significant and often volatile change. Faced with that, it can be difficult to see the forest from the trees, if you will. Having written this book, what are some of the changes in the Jewish philanthropic space over the last few years that you think people might be overlooking or missing in the midst of the chaos?

Jack Wertheimer: That’s a great question. In part, it’s premature to answer because we don’t have a lot of data yet, specifically about post-Oct. 7 developments in the philanthropic world. But the turmoil, if you will, in American Jewish life didn’t begin on Oct. 7, it goes further back than that. The upsurge of antisemitism was evident already. There was all kinds of other turmoil that we experienced as a result of COVID-19 and the extent to which that shook things up too. So, there are certain data points that we don’t have available yet to measure precisely what’s happened philanthropically. That said, there have been broader trends that have been indicative of what’s been happening in American Jewish life. 

To begin with, a basic issue, the sums of money that Jews are giving to Jewish causes has increased quite dramatically. By my estimate, in the early 2020s, it was at least double what it was thought to be in 2014. We don’t know what it was in 2024 let alone 2025 yet. But in 2020-21 or so, my best estimate is that somewhere between $13 billion and $14 billion was donated by Jews to Jewish causes, which includes Israeli causes. That is considerably more than the sums that had been donated as few as six or seven years before. That’s the good news story. 

The not so good news story is that the base of donors who are contributing that sum is continually shrinking. More and more money is being raised from fewer people. What has dramatized this, to my mind, is the 2020 Pew study, which found for the first time in many, many decades, probably historically, only a minority — 48% of Jews who were surveyed claimed that they had given to a Jewish cause during the previous year. That may have changed post-Oct. 7, we don’t know yet. There is anecdotal evidence of Jews who were giving most of their largesse to nonsectarian causes who have begun to shift since Oct. 7, giving more of their largesse to Jewish causes. That gets to the question of sums of money, but we also don’t know whether a higher percentage of Jews have been giving to Jewish causes than when the Pew study was conducted in 2020. That’s also indicative of what’s been happening in American Jewish life, where you have a stronger core of more committed people, on the one hand, and a significant population of Jews who seem to be drifting further away and losing interest in American Jewish life. So in that sense, philanthropy serves as a bellwether of the developments that we know have been going on.

What I’ve tried to do in the book is not to isolate Jewish giving, or, Jewish givers from the recipients, from the grantees, but to see them in the round. The sums of money that are being given are also having an impact, obviously, on the grantees. What we have seen is the continuing proliferation of grantees in American Jewish life. Right now, there’s a lot of concern about just how many organizations are involved in combating antisemitism, and to what extent they’re competing with each other, cooperating with each other, stepping on each other’s toes. But that’s not a new complaint. There have been similar complaints about other areas in American Jewish life, where the proliferation of Jewish organizations has led to such a level of decentralization that we don’t know to what extent the entire enterprise is inefficient. Right now the focus is on possible inefficiency in addressing antisemitism, but in other periods of time, as I point out in the book, there were concerns about inefficiencies in providing social services, providing shelter for the for the homeless, finding food support and so on for Jews and Jewish immigrants in an earlier period of time. But that’s kind of built into the American system of volunteerism, where the ethos of America is that you volunteer to support or to not support, to be involved or not to be involved. And while some people find this very disturbing, this is the reality of American life, not just American Jewish life. 

ND: So building off of that, in the book, you describe this catch-22 that some legacy Jewish institutions face, where many 21st-century Jewish philanthropists prize innovation and view established institutions as perhaps too inflexible to make it, while at the same time limited funding is a contributor to that inflexibility. I’ve also heard numerous times about this sense of “great waste” or redundancy of efforts in the world of Jewish philanthropy and nonprofits. It seems there’s a push and pull amongst philanthropists on whether it’s better to splinter or consolidate. And I’m wondering what you make of it. Which is closer to true?

JW: Well, to answer that question, we also have to be sensitive to what we mean by philanthropists. Staffed foundations primarily have been the most concerned about this issue of redundancy, but we have to understand that the foundations represent a relatively small minority of the dollars that are raised to support Jewish causes. Most Jewish philanthropy is given by people of some means, but not of staggeringly huge means. By that, I mean people who are capable of giving $10,000, $20,000, $50,000, $100,000 annually. And that makes an enormous difference. They are the ones who support and sustain the main institutions of Jewish life.

Foundations play a very different role, and that’s one of the one of the other areas that’s often not understood. Foundations see themselves as the so-called “passing gear.” They provide the opportunity to innovate and to take risks in investing in risky enterprises. That is separate from the vast majority of Jewish organizations, some of them with a long history, a 100-year history, if not more than that. Other organizations have been established much more recently, but all of them are dependent upon philanthropists who sustain them, who see the value of the work that these organizations do. What has to be added here is that in supporting some of these organizations, these philanthropists also become “machers” in those organizations. They get catapulted into status positions within those organizations. And while some people may frown upon that, I don’t. One of the motivations of people who give philanthropy is that they are seeking status, among other things. And there’s nothing wrong with that, from my point of view. 

To come back now to the foundations, they are interested in innovation, primarily, not in sustaining. What gets really complicated, because there’s no way to trace this easily, is that many of the people who establish foundations are also sustainers of existing organizations, but they don’t necessarily support them through their foundations, but rather by writing checks, personal checks. It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to really trace that. So while we know a large foundation might be giving in support of a particular initiative, we don’t know what the board members, let alone the founder of that foundation, may also be giving through personal checks to sustain institutions such as that person’s local synagogue, local day schools, federations, social service organizations, organizations involved in combating antisemitism. That money is not channeled through the foundation, but the same people give from different pockets, if you will.

ND: So with larger funders, it’s different arms of the same organism acting differently?

JW: Yes. And one could also speak here about a division of labor that’s taking place. There are funders who are particularly interested in sustaining institutions that they value. They are frowned upon by some people who study philanthropy because they’re not being strategic, because they don’t have a great initiative that they’re supporting. But from their point of view, they’re supporting their local synagogue, they’re supporting their local day school, they’re supporting their Federation, and by doing so, they’re supporting Jewish life. That’s their strategy, and there too, I don’t frown upon that at all, even though there’s some who study the field who do frown upon that kind of non-strategic giving. But again, we have to understand that there is a division of labor, and were it not for this, American Jewish life would collapse. It can’t be sustained just by the foundations. And the proof of that came during COVID-19 because foundations suddenly realized that they had to be sustainers too, otherwise the summer camps and the JCCs and the day schools and synagogues would collapse.

ND: In your book, there’s a chapter titled “What grantees and grant makers say about each other.” I found that really interesting as someone who also spends a good amount of time listening to both. In the process of writing this book, what are some of the biggest disconnects you’ve noticed between the two? What aren’t people saying to each other? Why?

JW: What became clear to me was that there are expectations that grantees have of their grant makers, which are not realistic. Grantees often hope, for very understandable reasons, that their grant makers will provide continuing financial support. That’s just not realistic for many foundations which have a limited sum of money to distribute and are interested in continually finding new worthwhile initiatives to support. If they continue to support the same organizations and the same projects, then they’re obviously not going to have the funds available to support new types of causes.

The other thing that’s often been stated is that grantees often come to funders with a laundry list of possible projects. “These are different things that we could do. Why don’t you tell us what you’d be interested in funding?” That’s not exactly the way most of these foundations, especially staffed foundations, operate. They usually have very specific strategies that they develop on their own, and then they seek out possible grantees who can enact those strategies for them. So there’s a misunderstanding often on the part of grantees about the role of large funders, especially of staffed foundations. 

On the other side of the equation, there also are frequently voiced complaints — and this is not unique to the Jewish sector at all — that the demands of funders for the time and investment of energy and coming up with new proposals often is not commensurate with the funding that’s available and is unrealistic about the staffing that not-for-profits have, because the staff members don’t have time to fulfill all of the requirements that funders are asking them to do just in order to apply for for a grant, let alone to eventually demonstrate the way the grant has been used. 

The other point that I would add to this is that there are relatively few people who’ve sat on both sides of the table and understand or see things from both sides. And what became dramatic to me was the few examples of people who told me how shocking it was to suddenly be placed in a very different situation. In other words, someone who worked for a foundation suddenly was working for a grantee organization and was surprised at what was being asked of this particular person by funders. That’s a long-winded way of answering your question.

ND: Something I found particularly interesting in the book was the discussion of staff conformity at foundations. Specifically you touch on generational gaps and how they impact how foundations operate. I’m wondering if you can tell me a bit more about how that shapes the philanthropic ecosystem for better and for worse.

JW: I can speak about the more recent past. The unknown is the extent to which there has been a responsiveness on the part of foundations to this concern that I’ve raised and that others have raised also, and that they’re working harder to educate their staff members, and therefore some of the issues that I heard about when I interviewed people, three, four five, six years ago, whether they’ve lessened as a result of that. Certainly, one of the ways in which the ecosystem has been affected is that professionals working for Jewish not-for-profits have been leaving because the culture in which they have been working has been unpleasant, has been stressful. 

I spoke with people, and I quote such individuals — people who’ve been professionals working for Jewish organizations for decades — who have said to me, “I can’t believe how I’m spoken to by younger people who are relatively fresh out of college, have very little experience with the Jewish community and treat me as if I’m a moron, and they know all the answers.” That is demoralizing, clearly, and the responsibility of the staffed foundations is to educate their younger staff members that they don’t know it all, and that there is a wisdom that long-time professionals working for Jewish organizations have that they may be able to learn from. But until that happens, clearly there will be some people who just will give up and decide to find employment working for nonsectarian organizations where they’re treated more respectfully. So that’s certainly one way in which the ecosystem has been affected. But I don’t want to overdo this or exaggerate this, because there have been concerted efforts to try to address this particular challenge. 

The other aspect of this is the unpleasant experiences that professionals working for Jewish not-for-profits, have with some funders who throw their weight around and have unrealistic expectations of how they want to be treated, and who, in some cases, as I write about, behave in an abusive fashion. There, too, a lot of work has been going into both educating funders as well as enlisting funders to speak as peers to others who may be misbehaving. So this is a work in progress.

ND: This is an uncertain moment for the Jewish community, and many are searching for clarity about what lies ahead. While it’s impossible to predict the future, when you think about the moment that we find ourselves in, in the Jewish nonprofit space and in the communal ecosystem, what points in history come to mind, and what do you think we could stand to learn from them?

JW: Obviously, what I’m going to say now is speculative, because I’m not a prophet. Much depends on how Jews will respond in the longer term to the crises of the current decade — and by crises I’m referring first to COVID, which we still haven’t fully recovered from, especially in terms of mental health issues, certainly the surge of antisemitism and anti-Israelism in this country, and third of all, the crisis of Israel and the relationship with Israel. We know that there has been a segment of the American Jewish population that has been rallying to greater interest in being Jewish as a response to these crises. The Jewish Federations of North America has labeled this a “Surge” of interest, and there is evidence that some institutions have seen an upsurge of interest of Jews who want to learn more about their Jewishness, about Judaism, about Israel, about the Middle East, about American Jewish history. There’s also evidence that particularly amongst the younger cohorts of Jews, there is a either a distancing from Israel, for a whole range of political reasons, or a sense that, that “what’s happening in the streets and the universities of this country, is just so disturbing that that I just want to step away from the whole thing.” That kind of mentality.

What we don’t know is the proportions between these two — the proportion of the “Surgers,” as opposed to those who are distancing themselves, if not checking out completely. It’s difficult at this point to predict that. That having been said, on an anecdotal level, there are remarkable incidents that we hear about of people coming out of the woodwork during COVID-19 and certainly after Oct. 7, who had not given before, who were eager to give to federations as an example, eager to give to Jewish organizations, eager to give to Israeli organizations. So in terms of philanthropy, we’ve seen that kind of surge of interest amongst people who had not been on the radar of many Jewish organizations in the past. We hear about an upsurge of interest in conversion to Judaism, in some cases, on the part of non Jewish spouses of Jews who want to publicly identify more strongly with with Jews, and at the same time, we also hear about or read about some disturbing data about Jews who are, as I’ve used this term several times, already distancing themselves because the whole thing is just too overwhelming to them or too disturbing to them. So I wish I could give you an upbeat answer to your question about what the future holds. We’re seeing both of these trends occurring, and at this point, it’s hard to anticipate which one will be the dominant trend.

ND: My biggest takeaways from reading your book was the way that Jewish philanthropy has acted historically as an ark for Jews in distress abroad, and helping Jews domestically overcome barriers due to discrimination. Today, it feels like we’re faced with amorphous challenges, likely because in many cases we don’t yet have the solutions. For you personally, does having a sense of the broader history of this topic make you more or less hopeful that we can meet today’s challenges?

JW: When it comes to philanthropic giving, there’s reason to be hopeful about the generosity of a certain sector of Jews who are prepared to give to aid Jews abroad, specifically in Israel, and are prepared to give to support organizations that are addressing antisemitism and anti-Israelism in this country. 

But there’s a whole other challenge that we face, which some would claim is the much greater challenge. That is the challenge of what used to be called Jewish continuity. That term has fallen into disuse, but certainly there is a challenge of educating and providing a compelling experience for younger Jews so that they will choose to join in and participate and remain engaged with Jewish life. And there are some sectors of the Jewish community that are far more focused on that than on antisemitism. For example, that’s an area where the Orthodox community has shown its strength. The Orthodox community is much more likely to invest its philanthropic support in its Jewish educational institutions than is the case with non-Orthodox groups, the Conservative movement, the Reform movement, Reconstructionist movement, these movements have had far more difficulty attracting support.

The question that I have in my mind is whether, in light of the of the deep concern that Jews are feeling about the Jewish future, whether they will rally and come to the conclusion that the best investments are in the education and the engagement of the younger generation of Jews, who, after all, represent the future.

ND: So the last question that I always like to ask is, if there’s anything that I didn’t. 

JW: The one question I was expecting you to ask me, which you didn’t, is, “Why did you write this book?”

ND: I’d love to know the answer. 

JW: So I wrote the book in part because I tend to do research and write on topics that I’m curious about, in other words, that I want to learn about for myself. That’s been the case with other things that I’ve written also, and I’ve been curious to understand what this whole enterprise of Jewish philanthropy is all about. 

But the second reason that I wrote about it is because there was a time in which Jewish philanthropy was something that the Jewish community felt very proud about, and I write about this in the introduction to my book. Non-Jews also have expressed admiration, as they still do, for not only the sums of money that Jews are prepared to to invest in Jewish institutions, but also the mechanisms that have been created by the community to enrich Jewish life in the United States.

But in recent years, rather than looking upon this whole area, the Jewish not-for-profit area, with pride, there’s been a lot of negative commentary that’s been offered about it, that we’re living off of the 20th century, and the institutions of the past are not meeting the needs of the current century. They’re 20th-century institutions, and the money that’s being invested is being wasted. There are two opposite types of arguments being made. Jews are giving too much money for Jewish causes. They should be much more concerned with tikkun olam and saving everybody else in the world. Or Jews are giving away too much of their largesse to nonsectarian causes, not paying enough attention to Jewish causes. But the good feeling, the positive feelings that Jews have had about the philanthropic causes and the Jewish ecosystem that it supports, seems to have dissipated. So one of my other motivations was to try to understand what has been created in this country and what continues to be sustained in this country. And my conclusion, as you will note in the last paragraph of the book, is that I think it’s really quite impressive what has been accomplished by the American Jewish community, which is not to say that there aren’t areas that warrant criticism. We’ve spoken about some of them today. I certainly write about some of them. But the infrastructure of Jewish life and the supporters of Jewish life, I think, deserve to get their due, their credits. That’s one of the reasons I wrote this book.