Your Daily Phil: Haas Fund to shutter, distribute assets among next-gen heirs
Add EJP on GoogleGood Thursday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we cover the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund‘s plans to sunset in 2028, share an exclusive on Mazon CEO Abby Leibman’s announcement to step down next year, and examine the initiatives that have so far come out of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s Voice of the People project. We feature an opinion piece by Uriel Dagan with insights for Israeli nonprofits suffering with a weakened dollar, and a piece by Steven Green and Stephanie Levin about the future of nonprofit consultants in the age of AI. Also in this issue: Mooli Lahad, Roey Kruvi and Courtney Tessler.
Today’s Your Daily Phil was curated by eJP Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross, Opinion Editor Rachel Kohn and Israel Editor Justin Hayet. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
Thousands of people are marching through Jerusalem today as part of the city’s annual March for Pride and Tolerance, this year under the banner of, “Demanding change.”
To mark Holocaust Survivor Day, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin is slated to meet today with survivors and their families at UJA-Federation of New York headquarters.
Elsewhere in New York, Tech Tribe is hosting a dinner tonight with Yossi Farro and Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone on the sidelines of NYC Tech Week.
In Geneva, UN Watch is holding its annual gala dinner. This year’s dinner will feature French journalist Abnousse Shalmani and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
What You Should Know
The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, a San Francisco-based funder of progressive causes, including Jewish ones, will shut down in two years, distributing its remaining assets to the three branches of the family, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
The shuttering of the fund, which launched in 1953 and became one of the Bay Area’s most significant foundations, comes amid a broader generational shift in philanthropy, as the children and grandchildren of many funders pivot to new ways of giving and new causes to support. This is becoming an increasingly acute issue in the Jewish community, as younger generations of donors have proven less likely to support Jewish organizations and initiatives, compared to their more particularist forebears.
News
EXCLUSIVE
Abby Leibman to step down as CEO of anti-hunger nonprofit Mazon next year
Abby Leibman, who as president and CEO of Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger presided over the organization’s significant growth and expanded its national policy footprint, will step down in mid-2027 after 15 years, the organization shared exclusively with eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim.
Good timing: “I firmly believe in the idea of the rotation and transition of leadership in the nonprofit sector, so 15 years felt like a very good investment of my time and energy,” Leibman told eJP. She added that the organization’s current position makes it an appropriate moment for transition: “Moving on and transitioning leadership at a time when the organization is really at a great strength moment… feels like a good spot.” The search process will take place over the coming year, with a successor expected to be named in spring 2027 and her final day set for June 30, 2027, Leibman said.
POLAR OPPOSITE
‘From Blueprints to Life’ showcases first year of Herzog’s Voice of the People
Just over a year ago, Israeli President launched his ambitious Voice of the People initiative to address the most burning issues facing the Jewish People. At a virtual event on Wednesday night, some of the of the 150 Jewish leaders from around the world came together to showcase several of the new programs that have emerged, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher reports.
Tension relief: Speaking at the event, Herzog stressed the threat of infighting and polarization, saying his greatest fear is that the Jewish people will “choke each other. I don’t sleep at night sometimes, and I say it seriously; I see it as the mission of my life, definitely in my term as president, to do whatever I can to lower the tension within our people.”
Opinion
DOLLARS AND SENSE
We already know how to strengthen Jewish continuity. So why aren’t we doing it?
“I recently met with representatives of an Israeli nonprofit in the healthcare field that secured a commitment last year for a donation of roughly $5 million. Between the commitment date and the date the money was actually received, the dollar exchange rate fell sharply; as a result, in shekel terms, millions of shekels disappeared from the organization’s operating budget,” writes Uriel Dagan, CFO of Startup Nation Central, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Plan for turbulence: “If a currency fluctuation can erase part of an operating budget, then this is a strategic problem. In a period of political and security uncertainty, interest-rate gaps and market volatility, currency risk management must become part of the third sector’s regular management routine.”
VALUE PROPOSITION
Nonprofit consultants in the age of artificial intelligence
AI is the latest new tool to be framed “as a remedy for capacity gaps,” write Steven Green, co-founder and partner at The Ask LLC, and Stephanie Levin, founder and principal of Ampersand Consulting Solutions, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “The implicit belief is that automation can compensate for understaffing, diffuse strategy and the growing complexity of donor ecosystems. But AI does not create time. It redistributes attention.”
The human element: “AI is not a replacement for people. It is an amplifier of how people — and organizations — already operate. For organizations already stretched thin, amplification without guidance risks accelerating inefficiency. With the right support, however, it can unlock meaningful gains — not just in output, but in impact.”
Worthy Reads
An AI Offensive: In Algemeiner, Jonathan Myers argues that the Jewish community’s approach to dealing with antisemitism — monitor, document, report — raises awareness but not influence. “What they should be investing in are advances in AI — particularly low-cost systems for repetitively targeting groups on social media with our narrative. We should use counter-messaging, as well, not to win arguments with extremists, but to shape how the wider audience, the moveable middle, interprets what they see and hear.” [Algemeiner]
Joyful Carelessness: In the Jewish Journal, Coby Schoffman argues that Jewish philanthropy’s pivot toward funding “Jewish joy” is a misguided retreat from more essential work. “A generation forced to choose between blind celebration and outright rejection will often choose neither. …. Jewish joy built upon avoidance is fragile. Jewish joy built upon truth is durable.” [JewishJournal]
Convenient Abandonment: In the Times of Israel, Israeli psychologist Mooli Lahad observes that the long-standing resilience of northern Israelis has paradoxically enabled their abandonment. “For decades, its residents developed a phenomenal ability to live under threat. They became so efficient at ‘coping’ that the state grew accustomed to the idea that they were simply ‘managing.’ And this is the trap: The more resilience a community demonstrates, the more the political leadership and the home front allow themselves to step back from responsibility.” [TOI]
Major Gifts
The Azrieli Foundation has renewed a $1.2 million grant to the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College through 2029 to fund the education of future cantors and the safeguarding of sacred musical traditions…
Michael Bloomberg committed a matching grant up to $25 million for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum’s $75 million fundraising campaign focusing on educational exhibits and classroom resources…
Melinda French Gates has donated an additional $50 million to women’s health and rights initiatives — targeting overlooked areas like menopause and maternal mental health — bringing her total independent giving in the sector to over $600 million since 2024.
Transitions
CThe PeaceWorks Foundation, founded by Daniel Lubetsky, named Roey Kruvi as CEO…
The American Friends of Bar-Ilan University hired Boaz Meir as vice president of principal gifts…
Courtney Tessler is stepping down from her role as the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Upstate South Carolina…
Word on the Street
In the wake of outspoken Israel critic Adam Hamawy‘s victory in the NJ-12 Democratic primary, Jewish Insider‘s Matthew Kassel reports on local Jewish leaders’ questioning of AIPAC‘s decision to stay on the sidelines in the race…
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to extend their ceasefire by establishing joint security pilot zones under Lebanese military control, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports…
The NYPD arrested an NYU student Wednesday for raising a flag that displayed swastikas and a Star of David atop a university building last month, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
A new report shows that while Israel has dramatically cut air pollution by switching to natural gas, the country still lags near the bottom of the OECD’s rankings in recycling and renewable energy usage…
Friends of Givat Haviva, an American support group for the Israeli shared-society organization, announced the launch of a national rabbinic cabinet, featuring 25 rabbis of all denominations from across the country…
Israeli forensic specialists are conducting DNA testing on bones found in Kfar Aza by relatives of Nirel Zini, who was killed in the Oct. 7 attacks; Zini, whose girlfriend, Niv Raviv, was also killed, was decapitated during the attack, and his family buried his remains…
Joseph Louis Fishman, a retired Manhattan law partner and former director of the Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, died on May 24 at 90…
Miami-based LGBTQ activist Ruth Shack died on May 23 at 94…
Phyllis Ford Victor, a classical pianist and supporter of Jewish Adoption and Family Care Options, died on May 14 at 99…
Pic of the Day
Police officers inspect the damage to a car owned by Israeli Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg after Haredi demonstrators attacked his home last night in the central West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut. The mob targeted Sohlberg as part of a broader attack on law enforcement after yeshiva students were imprisoned for refusing to respond to draft orders.
The assault on Sohlberg’s home, in which windows were smashed and his walls were vandalized while the family was inside, has drawn condemnation from across the Israeli political spectrum, amid growing division in Israel over the refusal of Haredi men to enlist in the military.
Birthdays
Artist and art educator, she was born in Kibbutz Beeri, where she currently resides, Ziva Jelin turns 64…
Co-founder of Boston Properties and owner of U.S. News & World Report, Mort Zuckerman turns 89… Professor emeritus of organic chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science and winner of the 2012 Israel Prize, David Milstein turns 79… Retired chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, Stephen J. Markman turns 77… Former judge on the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia, he was the longest tenured member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Mark B. Cohen turns 77… British journalist, author of 11 books and socially conservative columnist for The Times of London, The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Chronicle, Melanie Phillips turns 75… Lineman for the Miami Dolphins for 12 seasons, which included three Super Bowl appearances and four Pro Bowls, then a judge on the Miami-Dade County Court, Ed Newman turns 75… First-ever Jewish governor of Hawaii and then COO of Illinois, she serves on the board of directors of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Linda Lingle turns 73… President and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC until 2023, now president and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Daniel H. Weiss turns 69… Co-founder of Ripco Real Estate, Todd Cooper… Chair in human cancer genetics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Matthew Langer Meyerson turns 63… Law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Ayelet Shachar turns 60… French-Israeli entrepreneur, angel investor in over 360 startups, Jeremie Berrebi turns 48… Party photographer in Washington for the Washingtonian, Daniel Swartz… National politics reporter at The Washington Post, Colby Itkowitz… Israeli supermodel, Bar Refaeli turns 41… Clean energy portfolio planning program manager at Orange and Rockland Utilities, Adam E. Soclof… Director at Dentons Global Advisors, Jason Hillel Attermann… Managing editor at eJewishPhilanthropy, Judah Ari Gross turns 37… Gena Wolfson… Coordinating producer at MS NOW, Emily Gold… Vice president of government relations at UJA-Federation of New York and former Member of the New York state Assembly, Daniel Rosenthal turns 35… Ken Moss…
