Your Daily Phil: As Gruss Life Fund sunsets, its spinoffs look to rise
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on a new study by Blackbaud Institute on giving trends from 2024 and the recent “sunsetting” of the Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Life Monument Fund. We examine three upcoming Supreme Court cases that may have an impact on Jewish institutions, and the Israeli National Security Council’s travel warnings for Israelis and Jews ahead of Passover. We feature an opinion piece by Maxyne Finkelstein calling on funders to seize the moment rather than go dark (on multiple levels) in the face of complex times; and one by Noam Weissman about important progress being made and goals that still lie ahead in the field of Israel education. Also in this newsletter: Robert Russell, Millie Phillips and Noah Efron.
What We’re Watching
The Jewish Theological Seminary will host Avichai Mandelblit, the former attorney general of Israel — among other top legal roles — and current dean of Israel’s College of Law and Business, for a conversation titled “Legal Reform or Regime Revolution? Defending Israel’s Separation of Powers and Democracy” as part of JTS’ upcoming convening, “Israel at a Crossroads: Navigating Religion, Democracy, and Justice.”
Former Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, who served as President Joe Biden’s antisemitism envoy, will be feted at a Georgetown farewell party this evening. The gathering is hosted by former U.S. Ambassador to Romania Alfred Moses and his wife, Fern Schad, as well as Aaron Keyak, who served as Lipstadt’s deputy special envoy, and Avi Goldgraber. Lipstadt is returning to Atlanta, where she will be back in her longtime position as a tenured professor at Emory University.
NFL team owners are meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., this week for their annual gathering.
What You Should Know
Overall charitable giving rose 1.9% in 2024, effectively returning it to the record high that was set during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite concerns that last year’s presidential election could lessen donations to nonprofits, according to a new study by the philanthropy-focused Blackbaud Institute, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
The peak in charitable giving was set in 2021, which saw an 8.9% increase in giving from 2020. The following year saw a slight drop of 2.2%, followed by nearly no change in 2023 with a 0.2% decrease.
In 2023, most fundraisers — 53% — expected to see an increase in 2024, according to Blackbaud. “Looking at the data, this optimism was warranted, even against the backdrop of an election season some feared would divert energy and resources,” the study’s researchers wrote.
The study, “2024 Trends in Giving,” was based on data from 8,674 nonprofits, totaling over $55 billion in fundraising revenue.
The institute found that the 2024 presidential election not only did not affect overall giving for last year, but it also did not have an impact on year-end giving, with 34% of all giving in 2024 occurring in the final three months of the year, “in keeping with trends of the past decade, including the past two election cycles,” the study found.
In addition to looking at overall charitable giving, the researchers examined online donations during the same period — some $3.4 billion in online fundraising revenue from 5,151 nonprofits — finding that they followed a similar trajectory overall but with certain differences in particular fields, namely the types of sectors that were supported and the size of the donations. The mean overall gift in 2024 amounted to $937, while the mean online gift was $197.
Apparently reflecting the priorities of younger generations, whose members are more likely to make donations over the internet, online donations to “international affairs” causes grew in 2024 by 2.7% but dropped 8.5% overall. “Spikes in online giving to International affairs organizations coincided with key moments in the conflicts in Gaza and [Ukraine], with 8.7% of online giving occurring in February of 2024 and 21.5% in October,” the researchers found.
On the flip side, overall donations to health-care-related causes grew by 11.3% last year and to K-12 education by 5.1% as they decreased online by 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.
TURN, TURN, TURN
As Gruss Life sunsets, its Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education spins off and looks to rise
After more than 30 years of operations, the Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Life Monument Fund tied up its loose ends in December 2024 and completed the process of “sunsetting,” deliberately shutting down and dispersing its resources to other organizations. The fund’s benefits program for teachers, a core feature of its work for over 30 years, was handed off to UJA-Federation of New York, alongside an endowment of over $15 million to support the project. And the Center for Initiatives and Jewish Education (CIJE), which emerged as the fund’s flagship program in 2008, has spun off — armed with a similar sum — and will continue operating independently of the foundation, Jason Cury, the former president and CEO of the Gruss Life Monument Fund and current president of CIJE, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim.
Get ready for takeoff: According to Cury, around five years ago, as CIJE’s growth outpaced that of other initiatives supported by the foundation, Gruss Life decided to focus primarily on the project. The consolidation of efforts ultimately led to Gruss Life’s decision to sunset. “Most of what we were doing was in the area of the engineering sciences, math and so forth, and we just felt that it wasn’t necessary for us to devote a lot of time to doing other aspects,” said Cury. “The programs that we had, while still beneficial, were really not as much of a priority as the need to do the STEAM programming that we’re now doing, and so we decided to sunset Gruss Life.” According to Philip Brazil, CIJE’s vice president of development, though CIJE continues to expand, the parting $15 million donation from Gruss will only provide a runway of three to four years before the organization will need to find new sources of funding.
CHURCH AND STATE
Jewish groups urge Supreme Court to weigh in on three religious liberty cases
Some Jewish groups are urging the Supreme Court to weigh in on a series of cases related to religious liberty and separation of church and state before the justices in the current term, reports Marc Rod for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
On the docket: In one case, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond, the justices are being asked to consider whether a state may exclude religious schools from its taxpayer-funded charter school program based on concerns around the separation of church and state. The Oklahoma charter school, if established, would be the first case in which public funds would directly fund a religious school. “The Supreme Court has already ruled multiple times that state and local governments cannot engage in legislative acrobatics to exclude religious schools from public funding opportunities that are available to others,” Nathan Diament, the OU’s executive director for public policy, said in a statement. “We hope the Court will use this latest case to drop the hammer and declare without question that religious discrimination is unconstitutional.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
TRAVEL WARNING
Iran, ISIS plan to target Jewish tourists over Passover, Israel says
Iran and global terrorist organizations, including ISIS, plan to target Jews and Israelis traveling during the upcoming Passover holiday, Israel’s National Security Council warned on Tuesday. “Iran is the central generator of global terror, directly or through its proxies, against Israeli and Jewish sites around the world,” the council said in a statement released before Israeli schools go on Passover break at the end of this week, reports Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov.
‘An atmosphere of hate’: The NSC said that “with the collapse of the ceasefire [last month] and the return to fighting in Gaza, an increase is expected in efforts to attack Jewish and Israeli sites abroad, including through local or individual initiatives.” Canada and Australia were singled out as potentially dangerous due to spikes in antisemitic attacks, including the burning of a Jewish preschool and a synagogue in Sydney, and the throwing of Molotov cocktails and shootings at Jewish schools and synagogues in Montreal and Toronto. “The bottom line is that there remains a high motivation and activity of different terrorist factors to advance terrorist attacks against Israelis and Jews around the world,” the NSC statement reads. “An atmosphere of hate in many countries against Israel and Jews in light of the war continues to increase the motivation for individuals and independent cells to attack.”
AGENTS OF CHANGE
On philanthropic responsibility, hope and ‘vice signaling’
“Philanthropists have been given, or have created, powerful ‘megaphones’ that can be used to support positive social order and bring hope for the future — or they can choose to remain silent and allow events to unfold without intervention,” writes Maxyne Finkelstein, president of the Morris and Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation and volunteer chair of the Global Ambassadors for Global Jewry, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Complex but not hopeless: “We are bombarded with messages that the world is deeply broken — that everything is wrong, and we should despair and be depressed and disgusted, while placing our confidence in leaders who promise to fix what is broken. The world is rife with ‘vice signaling’: relentless critiques of what is wrong with everyone and everything they create. While virtue signaling may be irritating, vice signaling fosters anger, selfishness, disrespect and deteriorating confidence in others — and even in oneself. It is like a virus, and its spread accelerated rapidly in the past year. But our world is not inherently horrible or rotten. It is complex and challenging. Those invested in social change and working toward the greater good are the lead actors in this unfolding historical narrative. We must recognize that we live within history, not outside of it. Our value lies in shaping the present in ways that ensure a better future.”
LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARD
Israel education: What’s next?
“Four years ago, Brandeis professor Jon Levisohn wrote about the goal of Israel education, emphasizing the need to move beyond Israel-immaturity or Israel-sentimentality toward what he called a ‘mature love of Israel,’” writes Noam Weissman, executive vice president of OpenDor Media, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Over the past decade, we have made great strides toward making this ‘mature love’ the norm. We are asking tough questions. We are encouraging students to explore multiple perspectives. We are integrating Israel education throughout our institutions. In short, there is much to celebrate. And yet, there is still much more to do.”
For instance: “While many schools take Israel education seriously, it often occurs in a fragmented way, with topics scattered across history, Ivrit (Hebrew language), Zionism and co-curricular activities. Schools need to shift intentionally toward a more holistic model — one that allows us to clearly and authentically identify where and when Israel education is happening for our students. Institutions should invest in creating multigrade scopes and sequences to ensure our literacy goals for Israel education for our students are being met.”
Worthy Reads
Lost and Found: On the “Rebooting Jewish Life” blog, artist Robert Russell discusses the significance of his most recent two sets of still-life paintings. “My previous body of work focused on porcelain figurines produced by Porzellan Manufaktur Allach, a German porcelain factory founded by Heinrich Himmler in 1935 to produce tchotchkes for the Nazi elite. The factory was soon moved to Dachau, where Jewish prisoners and other forced laborers were made to work on these objects. The Allach porcelain pieces are creepy. They appear delicate and refined and grotesquely cutesy. But their apparent charm is inseparable from the conditions of their creation… In contrast, my newest still life paintings of Judaica from the now Muslim world explores a different kind of loss. These objects were once part of thriving Jewish communities that no longer exist in their original context. These ritual objects were once embedded in Jewish life, yet they have been orphaned… At the core of these recent bodies of work is my ongoing exploration of dematerialization and sanctification through still life painting. Abraham Joshua Heschel writes about the sanctification of time rather than space—about holiness not as a fixed location, but as something that exists in the marking of moments in time. Painting these objects is a way of engaging with this idea.” [Rebooting]
Immigrant Song: In The Times of Israel, Kally Rubin Kislowicz writes about the push and pull of being an oleh (immigrant) in Israel. “Last week, I was invited to a city council meeting to take part in a panel about immigrant services… After a few shared anecdotes and questions regarding how best to help new immigrants adapt to life in Israel, one of the Israeli women leading the panel asked, ‘Are you motivated to become Israeli?’ I spend a lot of time thinking about my experience as an immigrant, but this question gave me pause. I collected my thoughts and answered her in Hebrew. ‘It brings me tremendous joy that my children are Israeli, but I grew up somewhere else, with a completely different language and culture. It doesn’t matter how good my Hebrew is or how motivated I am to change, I don’t think I will ever be Israeli, and I’m not sure that’s my goal.’ She nodded politely and moved on. But the question kept nagging at me… I’m motivated to learn the language and to interact with Israelis. I’m motivated to function well in Israeli society. And while I try to avoid embarrassing my children with the sheer American-ness of my being, I am not ashamed of who I am, nor am I trying to become someone else… The State of Israel is currently tearing itself apart over its own identity. Those of us who have come from afar, whose identities are also in flux, and who never forget how lucky we are to be here, we can be part of the path forward.” [TOI]
A Perspective-Taking Exercise: In The New York Times, Texas-based writer Carrie McKean reflects on the loss of trust in public health agencies in her region and beyond, an issue of concern for health-focused funders and nonprofits as well as everyday Americans. “There’s a tendency to assume the worst about people who don’t trust public health authorities’ advice about vaccines. At best, they’re dismissed as backward and stupid; at worst, selfish and unempathetic. I feel the pull to dismiss some people as all those things, such as the pastor in Fort Worth who bragged that his church’s school had the lowest measles vaccination rate in Texas. But while smugness might feel good, it doesn’t help anyone understand the average vaccine-hesitant person’s perspective, and it doesn’t solve our collective problem. Eroded trust in our public health institutions harms us all, and in order to get back on track, we need to understand how we got here.” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
Following a lengthy court battle, most of Australian mining magnate Millie Phillips’ $62 million estate will be directed toward establishing a charitable foundation focused on combating antisemitism in Australia…
The Weill Family Foundation, in collaboration with Princeton University, the Rockefeller University, Weill Cornell Medicine and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, has launched a major immunotherapy research hub for cancer research. The foundation provided a $50 million gift to establish Weill Cancer Hub East, with matching funds from each partner institution, bringing the total investment to over $125 million…
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has awarded Bar-Ilan University a $6.6 million grant to establish a research lab complex focused on advancing efficient and eco-friendly battery storage and fuel cell technology…
The United Arab Emirates’ Abu Dhabi Federal Appeal Court sentenced three citizens of Uzbekistan to death on Monday for the November murder of Zvi Kogan, a 28-year-old Israeli-Moldovan Chabad rabbi. A fourth defendant received a life sentence for involvement in the killing, which the court ruled was carried out for a “terrorist purpose”…
The Jewish Theological Seminary is launching a new MFA in creative writing, a two-year, low-residency program for emerging writers headed by Israeli author Etgar Keret…
Rabbi Joshua Herman will step down as executive director of Hillel Milwaukee to become head of school at Milwaukee Jewish Day School, starting July 1…
The Free Press argues for due process in the deportation of holders of foreign student visas or other legal resident status…
A new poll from the Associated Press/NORC found that a majority of Americans — 54% — disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; two-thirds of those surveyed said that Israel was a close ally or friendly with the U.S….
Jewish Insider reports on the Columbia University Jewish community’s “wait-and-see” stance on Claire Shipman, as the former ABC News correspondent and co-chair of Columbia University’s board is named to replace interim President Katrina Armstrong, who stepped down on Friday…
Harvard University is the latest university to have its contracts and grants reviewed by the Trump administration’s Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, which is examining over $8.9 billion in funding due to concerns about the university’s response to campus antisemitism…
In an apparent bid to gain favor with Jewish voters in Melbourne’s Macnamara electorate ahead of Australia’s election in May, Labor Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and local MP Josh Burns announced an $18 million investment to establish the Jewish Arts Quarter in the area. Once a safe Labor seat, Macnamara may shift in light of Jewish disillusionment with the party’s stances on Israel and antisemitism…
The Globe and Mail reviews the story of the visas issued by Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who served as vice-consul in Lithuania during World War II, helping save Jews from the Holocaust and leading them first to Japan and eventually to Canada…
Monetary gifts in the fourth quarter of 2024 rose 21% compared to the third, according to the latest GivingPulse survey by GivingTuesday, which also examined donor-advised fund sponsors and event fundraising trends…
Pic of the Day
A view from the Mount Scopus camps of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which marks its centennial today.
“For a hundred years, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has been home to exceptional individuals — those who question, who break conventions, who innovate and redefine boundaries. It all began with a pioneering spark in the heart of Jerusalem, shaping the academic landscape of Israel,” Asher Cohen, president of the Hebrew University, said in a statement about the anniversary.
In the most recent episode of his “Promised Podcast,” American Israeli historian and Bar-Ilan University professor Noah Efron quotes the articles from the time about the thousands of people who attended the inauguration of the Hebrew University — roughly one in every 10 Jews living in then-Palestine — and the speeches that were delivered at the event. “Hebrew will be the language of its schools and colleges, but a university is nothing if not universal,” Chaim Weitzmann, a world-famous scientist who would later go on to become Israel’s first president, said at the event. “Within the precincts of these schools, political strife and division cease, and all creeds and races will, I hope, be united in the great common task of searching for truth.”
Reflecting on this a century later, Efron notes that while this sounds grandiose and fantastical, it has in many ways come to pass. “The thing you get most from reading all of those speeches and articles from 100 years ago this week is how much, how many of them, what they said, it more or less happened the way that they said they would,” Efron said, citing the university’s century of academic achievements — in Jewish and general fields — as well as its diverse student population. “We are surrounded by things that have turned out splendidly, that have succeeded beyond what our parents and parents’ parents and their parents too ever expected… And yet we do not see these splendid things. We have taught ourselves not to see them.”
Birthdays
Producer and director of film and television including the “Men in Black” trilogy, Barry Sonnenfeld…
Physicist and 1997 Nobel Prize laureate Claude Cohen-Tannoudji… Psychotherapist in South Florida, Annie Schlachet Garfield, LCSW… Former member of the Knesset for the Likud party, he is a nephew of Moshe Dayan, Uzi Dayan… Former Sephardic Cchief Rrabbi of Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar… Research professor at Boston University noted for her studies in relation to parrots, Irene Maxine Pepperberg, Ph.D…. Former president and CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy, she was previously a Democratic member of the Michigan Senate, Gilda Z. Jacobs… Professor at SUNY New Paltz, her writing is focused on presidential war powers and national security law, Nancy Kassop… Singer-songwriter best known as the original lead guitarist for Sha Na Na and as the youngest person, at age 18, to play on the main stage at Woodstock in 1969, Henry Gross… Lecturer at Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism, he is a columnist for Straus Media, Jonathan P. Friedman… Six-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida, he is the founder of the Ben Gamla Charter School in Florida (2007) and now lives in Ra’anana, Israel, Peter Deutsch… President of Baltimore-based HealthSource Distributors, Jerry L. Wolasky… Author of over 200 children’s books, Mark Shulman… Former member of the Knesset for the Kadima party, she made aliyah from the Soviet Union in 1979, Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich… Vice president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress and a leader of the Jewish community of Kyiv, Alexander (Aaron) Levin… Lawyer, turned political thriller novelist, Brad Meltzer… Israeli writer, speaker and blogger, Daniel Ravner… Senior policy advisor to then-VPOTUS Kamala Harris, earlier she was the COO at J Street, Jessica “Jess” Smith… Professor at Villanova University, he won a gold medal in soccer at the Pan American Maccabi Games in 2008, Bret Myers… Associate director of major gifts at American Friends of Magen David Adom, Dawn Harvey Saidel… Four-year star basketball player at the University of Maryland including a national championship (2006), she was drafted by the WNBA but played mostly in Israel, now a venture capitalist, Shay Doron… Film and television actor, Joshua Ryan Zuckerman… Associate at Debevoise & Plimpton, Noah L. Schwartz… Assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Treasury, her grandmother is noted philanthropist Lynne Honickman, Julia Aviva Hahn… Ronald Lippman…
