Good Wednesday morning!

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) will devote $175,000 to a new fellowship for Jews of color to combat hate through arts and education, eJewishPhilanthropy has learned.

The fellowship, called “Collaborative for Change,” is based on the idea that “antisemitism and racism overlap and intersect in ways that are uniquely harmful to Jews of Color,” according to an ADL statement. It’s ADL’s most focused program on Jews of color to date.

The cohort will be led by Tema Smith, a biracial Jew of Ashkenazi and Caribbean-American descent, who was recently hired as ADL’s director of Jewish outreach and partnerships. Smith told eJP she sees the fellowship as “an opportunity at ADL to round out our narrative and understanding of antisemitism, by expanding it beyond a very majority experience of antisemitism.”

The six grantees aim to create projects or curricula that explore the experiences of different non-white Jewish communities. Three of the fellows will produce documentaries or interview-based projects, and three will create educational materials (including one with video content). The fellows are Sara Yacobi-Harris, Jared Chiang-Zeizel, Carmel Tanaka, Deitra Reiser, Isaac de Castro and the Mitsui Collective — a Jewish spiritual community led by Yoshi Silverstein, Kohenet Keshira HaLev Fife and Enzi Tanner.

“By understanding these stories we get a sense of compassion, get a sense of understanding of people we didn’t have before, and by doing so we break boundaries and break stereotypes,” said de Castro, a Sephardi Jew who grew up in Panama, who will interview Jews from Colombia, Cuba and Venezuela about their immigrant experiences. He said that while the people he’s interviewing may not personally identify with the term “Jews of color,” he feels “we benefit from bringing Latino Jews into the conversation.”

TAKING THE REINS

Forging connections drives new Covenant exec Joni Blinderman

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As she takes over as executive director of the Covenant Foundation, Joni Blinderman appears focused, at least for now, on weaving the Jewish community back together after nearly two years of pandemic disconnection. The new round of grantsmade last week by Covenant, a foundation that seeks out innovation and excellence in the field of Jewish education, puts a premium on what people seem to crave now after two years of pandemic pivots: connection, or more precisely reconnection, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Esther Kustanowitz. 

Dipping into renewal: “People need community right now,” Blinderman said. “They always do. But it’s really important right now. They need healing, they need renewal, they need to be heard and to gather in whatever ways we can gather.” Blinderman said that two multi-year grant recipients who created mikvah projects – at Adas Israel in Washington, D.C., and at American Jewish University in Los Angeles – are examples of how Jewish educators aim to address community needs and questions highlighted by the pandemic. 

Spotlighting leaders: As a relatively small foundation that awards an average of $1.7 million a year, Blinderman said, Covenant aims to make an outsized impact with its grantees, including boosting the visibility of grantees in the Jewish media and recommending them as speakers at workshops or conferences relevant to their projects and expertise. “Beyond the checks we’re writing, this is a way to lift them up and to shine a light on them in their work, as leaders and as Jewish educators whose projects we’re supporting,” she said.

Signature support, igniting ideas: The Covenant Foundation is best known for its Pomegranate Prize for emerging Jewish educators and its multi-year “Signature” grants for more established organizations and programs. Its “Ignition” grants, which fund “relatively untested” ideas, are much lower-profile, Blinderman said. The Jewish Farmer Network’s Farmer Torah Initiative, for example, will establish regional cohort-based learning for Jewish farmers to build cultural literacy and identity at the intersection of Judaism and agriculture. Shutaf’s Training for Inclusion Success, a disability inclusion program, will provide online training materials and resources to North American Jewish camp, religious school and youth program professionals.

Expanding the tent: Blinderman said that Covenant has always had a big tent, “from the far reaches of one corner of our community to the far reaches of another corner. All of these people want to be part of our community. They want to belong, to feel wanted, be part of something that they feel is their birthright.” As an example, she mentioned Theater J’s “Expanding the Canon” program at the Edlavitch DCJCC in Washington, D.C., which will engage seven playwrights who are Jews of color with the goal of creating racially and ethnically diverse Jewish narratives. Such grants provide an opportunity to reach more American Jews, she said. “These [grants] are ways to embrace people and bring them in.” 

Read the full interview here.

ECHO CHAMBER

The lessons Big Duck can learn

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“Earlier this month, we learned that Big Duck, a marketing firm in Brooklyn with a sizable Jewish clientele, chose not to take on as a client the Shalom Hartman Institute, a think tank focused on Jewish peoplehood and Middle East peace through dialogue and mutual understanding, due in part to each group’s position on Israel. There was a backlash. Big Duck walked back the move. And yet…,” writes Archie Gottesman, co-founder of JewBelong, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.

With us or against us: “In our polarized political environment, where traditional and social media businesses have abandoned objectivity for algorithmic profit, shades of gray have all but disappeared. You’re either on the left or the right, for social justice or against it, a victim or an oppressor, either with us or against us.”

The powerful and the powerless: “The progressive left has helped create a new awakening to racial injustices in America. This is a good thing. However, rather than parlay this opening into an expansive, inclusive dialogue that brings people together, some have taken it in the opposite direction. They’ve drawn divisive, angry lines in the sand. They’ve mapped the world into the Powerful and the Powerless and are asking us to choose one side or another in every decision we make. This could be called foolish if it weren’t so dangerous. Any such rigid orthodoxy that preaches a world of binary extremes is exactly that: extremism.”

Read the full piece here.

KEY BENCHMARKS

Family foundation endowments: Top 3 takeaways

eJP archives

“While the new year has arrived amid exceptional challenges and market volatility, high-net-worth family philanthropy fortunately remains strong and a driving force for social change,” writes Hannah Shaw Grove, chief marketing officer at Foundation Source, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Growth from multiple sources: “Family foundation endowments enjoyed double-digit growth in 2020 and 2019, helping to fund the increase in grants seen in 2020 and set the stage for future giving. Part of the growth was fueled by investment returns… Growth was also the result of new contributions from funders who replenished an average of 57 cents for every 83 cents they disbursed in grants and expenses, which indicates ongoing charitable intent.”

Equities dominate: “Across our study sample, equities were the endowments’ largest portfolio allocation at approximately 55%, which is consistent with a long-term horizon and institutional-caliber investment strategies.”

Read the full piece here.

Worthy Reads

Teens and Giving: The Jewish Federation of Cleveland recently convened its Saltzman Youth Panel of high school juniors and seniors to educate students about the philanthropic process. The 22 panelists worked together to understand community needs and then make a formal recommendation to the federation’s Board of Trustees on how to distribute up to $45,000 in grant funding, developing leadership and group consensus-building skills in the process. Participant Lia Polster of Shaker Heights said, “While it was difficult, working in the large group taught me the importance of communication and collaboration. If I want other people to hear what I have to say and vote for what I believe in, I have to use my voice to make my opinions heard. While using our voices to speak up is extremely important, it is equally as important to listen to what other people have to say in order to reach a consensus where possible and a compromise where not.” [JewishCleveland]

‘Apprentice’ Fundraisers: Billionaire businessman Lord Alan Sugar, host of the U.K. “The Apprentice,” appears in an “Apprentice”-themed fundraising video for his synagogue, Chigwell and Hainault Synagogue in Essex, charging members to help match his £600,000 ($678,000) donation for the shul’s refurbishment, reports the U.K.-based Jewish News. “The light-hearted video shows two teams from the shul arriving with suitcases, brainstorming ideas to raise money, including offering free cholent and kugel for each donation and selling lost property… ‘But behind the entertaining film is a serious message: we have a huge amount to raise to transform our community for the coming decades and we need all our members to play their part,’ [synagogue chair Lindsay Shure said].” [JewishNews]

Pic of the Day

Cerissa photography

Sarah Michal Waxman, founder of At The Well, and Britt Binler celebrated their wedding outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. The chuppah was made by Sarah’s grandmother, Barbara Goldberg, and they were the 29th couple to marry underneath it.