A few weeks before the New England Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons in 2017’s Super Bowl LI, Meir Kalmanson, better known as Meir Kay, was walking through New York City when he noticed a man on the sidewalk holding a cardboard sign. “I don’t want food, I don’t want a drink, I just want to be seen,” it said, so Kay invited the man for a meal and the two got to know each other. With the experience top of mind and nearing game day, Kay began to think of all the people without friends or family during what has become an unofficial national holiday. When Super Bowl Sunday arrived, Kay showed up to his friend’s rooftop house party alongside half a dozen homeless individuals he had invited from around the neighborhood. “It was amazing,” he recalled to Tori Bergel for eJewishPhilanthropy. “It wasn’t about watching the game or even having a hot meal, which is important, of course, to have that, but it was the interaction, the connection, the eye contact…how these guys [walked] in and how they left, as a whole, was a massive obvious shift.”

Digital boost: Kay posted a video of the party on YouTube; it quickly went viral. A professional filmmaker at heart, Kay started his channel, which has amassed 324,000 followers since its creation in 2008, to spread joy and kindness. The following year, Kay began fielding calls from people wanting to get involved with his next event. “They wanted to bring it to their own town, and honestly, I can’t say it was my intention. I was like, ‘OK cool, I did this thing, it was nice and amazing, but…’ But I realized there was this demand, people wanted to help and there was a need for this,” Kay said. By 2019, he had filed to become an official nonprofit, and Super Soul Party was born.

Expanding partnerships: This year, in addition to the organization’s typical fundraising, Super Soul Party formed partnerships with four outside organizations — Hanes For Good, the clothing company’s philanthropic branch; Elitra Health; In Search of More; and 7th Heaven Chocolate. Kay chose to cap festivities at eight cities in order to restructure the nonprofit toward sustainability and allowing room for more events throughout the year. “We’re restructuring it in a way that we’re fundraising, we’re getting those resources, so I could hire a backend of people so we could grow the nonprofit a little bit more slowly and we can also have more impact, not just once a year, but throughout the year too,” Kay said.

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In the most comprehensive and far-reaching collaboration between the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and one of its funders, the Diane & Guilford Glazer Foundation has committed $4 million over the next three years for programming to work with young adults, care for Holocaust survivors and expand the federation’s work in the wider L.A. community, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Esther D. Kustanowitz reports.

Talking about this generation: Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of the L.A. federation, explained that in Los Angeles, organizations create programs that compete with each other. “Everyone seems to want to create their own project.” But, he said, there’s a “generational shift” underway in the Jewish community. “Our generation feels that collaboration is the future, not competition, and that we have to find synergy points, because [the old] model doesn’t just cost too much money, it’s too inefficient. It drives prices up and creates animus in the community,” Farkas noted.

Leveling up: The L.A. federation has had a relationship with the Glazer Foundation for more than two decades, but now is an opportunity to “reenvision and to create a federation that really serves and leverages not only our infrastructure, but also how we want to show up in the world,” said the federation’s vice president of community engagement, Joanna Mendelson.

Caring community: Farkas added that the grant will help the federation’s Community Engagement initiative — which runs community service days as well as the cohort-based Rautenberg New Leaders Project (NLP) for young adults, among other programs — to increase the number of Jews engaged in civic life and advance partnerships with civic and religious leaders across the region. One concrete way that the funding will extend the federation’s reach is the increase in the number of service days, in which people volunteer to help the community in various capacities. In 2022, the federation offered six service days and reached about 4,000 people; in 2023, it has scheduled 18 service days.

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In the hours and days since a massive, 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey last Monday, dozens of Jewish and Israeli organizations — along with aid agencies from all over the world — have dispatched teams to help with relief efforts as the death toll climbs above 24,000. “Israel’s proximity to Turkey is undoubtedly one reason so many of our Israeli partners were able to get to the scene so quickly after the devastating disaster,” Naomi Lipstein, the communications manager for Olam, a network of Jewish and Israeli relief groups, told Madison Hahamy for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Added need: Sheba Medical Center, the largest medical center in Israel, is another Israel-based organization that has dispatched teams to provide medical humanitarian relief, recently operating in Ukraine and Kenya. In Turkey, there are around eight medical reserve officers assisting in the Israeli Defense Force’s humanitarian effort — in the next month, the IDF plans to rotate out and Sheba will begin running the Israeli humanitarian operation, according to Yoel Hareven, head of Sheba Global. Brian Abrahams, the CEO of American Friends of Sheba Medical Center — the fundraising arm of Sheba Medical Center — noted that Sheba’s sees its “mandate in the world” as being part of humanitarian relief efforts. This mandate, he added, has only increased over the past few years due to the coronavirus pandemic, war, and an influx of natural disasters.

Back to basics: The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as The Joint, has worked specifically with Turkey’s Jewish community and population more broadly to assist with previous earthquake and other disaster responses. In response to last week’s catastrophe, they immediately sent a team to the disaster zone to help distribute blankets, food and direct survivors to shelter. Leora Wine, JDC’s director of disaster response, arrived in Turkey 33 hours after the earthquake initially struck. The initial response, she said, is focused on attending to people’s most basic needs — the “bottom of the bottom” of the Maslow pyramid — and making sure that people afraid to sleep in their homes have hot soup, water, blankets and a general feeling of safety. She noted that these efforts are often communal and not just relegated to foreign humanitarian organizations— everyone who is able to help does what they can.

Long-term plan: ??IsraAid has worked in over 60 countries. Similar to JDC, they focus both on immediate relief and long-term recovery and resilience. According to Yotam Polizer, the group’s CEO, the teams he dispatches will often spend five to seven years in one location, rather than just a few months. In Turkey, the organization has a team of nine people on the ground in two different locations, which includes trauma specialists, water engineers, and people with operations and logistics experience who are helping to provide immediate relief in the form of heating and winter clothing. At the same time, they are training local people to build capacity while also partnering with local organizations to help make the work sustainable. “This crisis in terms of Turkey, in terms of climate disaster, is the worst we’ve seen in years,” Polizer said, noting the widespread disaster and inaccessibility of many places. “People go to areas more accessible or highlighted on mainstream media, but if you go two miles down the road, there’s a small village equally devastated or more that has received zero support.”

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“The power of ChatGPT and the Jewish value of tikkun olam are two concepts that, at first glance, might seem unrelated. However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that these two ideas are in fact closely linked and share important similarities,” writes Bradley Caro Cook, executive director of CareerUpNow.org, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Making the world a better place: “Jewish nonprofits have a long and proud tradition of serving their communities with compassion and care. In an era of rapidly advancing technology, it is essential that these organizations embrace new tools to reach their goals. ChatGPT is one such tool that can help Jewish nonprofits to achieve their goals more efficiently and effectively.” 

Communication processes: “One of the key benefits of ChatGPT is its ability to understand and respond to natural language queries. This makes it easier for organizations to communicate with their constituents, answer their questions and provide them with the information they need. By incorporating ChatGPT into their operations, Jewish nonprofits can streamline their communication processes, saving time and resources while improving the quality of their interactions with their stakeholders.”

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“Philanthropy is about impact and donors want to know that their charitable gift – their investment in an idea or an organization – will have a meaningful and lasting impact,” writes Randy E. Spiegel, a consultant at R&D Philanthropy, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Competency: “While the trend has been to find ‘the next big idea,’ too often organizations hire young people full of passion and potential, who find themselves frustrated by researching, reporting and doing just about anything other than what they came in to do. Lean away from organizations that spend so much time trying to make their case that they squander the time, talent and resources they need to get things done.”

Capacity: “Target your charitable giving, by first considering only the organizations that align with your personal interests and values. Then apply the same due diligence you would in your own business; look for capable people with great ideas and assess their capacity and potential for success.” 

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“As we move well into the 21st century, American society, as has been documented, is rapidly changing, as has this nation’s politics. In response to these challenges, the Jewish community relations field is also shifting its focus,” writes Steven Windmueller, emeritus professor of Jewish communal studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.

New direction: “In December, Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) released a major policy statement in connection with its work, ‘The New Jewish Council for Public Affairs: A Changing Political Environment Brings a Strategic Reset.’ The document has drawn minimal response, with only few publications reporting on this transformational change.”

Opt-in focus: “What is core to this significant recalibration? ‘The reset takes place against a backdrop of rising antisemitism, racism, bigotry and hate, and polarization, and continued threats to our democracy.’ In this current context, national agencies and local community relations structures have been responding from the outside in, often pushing back against the statements and actions of organizations and political leaders who have been critical of Israel and at times hostile to American Jewish institutions and to core Jewish interests. This new framework will empower a nimble JCPA to develop national coalitions with an opt-in focus, to trend-spot emerging issues and demographic trends and provide to the community relations field opportunities for engagement around JCPA-focused issues.”

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