By Jon Marker on May 7th, 2013
My journey throughout my twenties has not been so different from others. I searched for meaning and purpose in my professional and personal life, including the relationship between my religion and my identity. This was not a linear process, one easily measured by traditional Jewish population surveys. Rather, the journey had “twists and turns,” but ultimately I found a connection between Judaism and the outdoors, food, and environment. I felt compelled to explore how questions of sustainability and environmentally conscious values intersected with my Judaism, and how my Judaism as a result would influence other components of my life. I am not alone in finding and acting on this connection. Over the last few years, thousands of others have participated in ...More
By Dawne Bear Novicoff on April 17th, 2013
Jewish parents with young children are at a pivotal point in their connection to Jewish community and to their own Jewish identity. The “disruption” of a couple becoming a family provides an opportunity for the Jewish community to offer services, social networks and educational programming (What Makes a Difference, and What Difference Does It Make?, Levisohn, 2013). Recognizing the unique opportunities for engagement and education of this population of young Jews (both adults and children!), the Jim Joseph Foundation has awarded grants to a variety of Jewish early childhood education initiatives, totaling $6.2 million over six years. Among the Foundation’s earliest investments was the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI), a national entity with a regional agenda focusing on developing models of ...More
By Josh Miller on April 8th, 2013
Editor’s Note: This blog was cross-posted in eJewishPhilanthropy. Jewish teens seeking to explore their Judaism and connect with Jewish peers have a menu of program options from which to choose. Nationwide, tens of thousands of teens enroll in Jewish high schools, take classes on Jewish topics, participate in youth groups, attend Jewish camps, travel to Israel, and sign up for a range of other ongoing and immersive programs. Research demonstrates that these experiences significantly influence participants and lead to further involvement in Jewish life. On the surface, the narrative is one of success and – for funders investing in the future of Jewish life – is heartening. We are compelled to support these opportunities for Jewish teens to ensure that ...More
By Multiple Authors on February 27th, 2013
By Josh Miller, Steven Green, Leah Nadich Meir and Joel Einleger ................................................................................................................................... Collaboration and partnership have become the buzzwords of our time. The business world as well as the nonprofit sector heralds the advantages of collaboration: sharing resources, bringing multiple perspectives to address difficult issues, eliminating duplication, learning from one another and pooling assets. The Jim Joseph and AVI CHAI Foundations, as funders interacting with multiple organizations across sectors, have a bird’s-eye view of what can result when organizations function from within their own separate silos: duplicate efforts on the one hand and unaddressed needs on the other. This led us to ask: can we, as funders, use our resources and influence to catalyze collaboration? And taking that ...More
By Renee Rubin Ross on January 24th, 2013
This weekend, as we celebrate Tu B’shvat, the “birthday of the trees,” we would do well to look to the world of trees to think about how the Jewish world is growing and changing. An individual tree follows a cycle of birth, growth, and eventual decay. Each tree continuously sends out small shoots nearby that eventually replace the older tree. The survival of a forest depends on each tree’s individual growth, and its ability to send out seeds that will create a new set of trees that survive and thrive in the current conditions. What’s the connection between Jewish life and those trees? In my opinion, while we work to help those 500-year-old redwoods grow taller, we should focus on the ...More
By Sandy Edwards on January 2nd, 2013
Cultivating a collaborative funder-grantee relationship takes a concerted effort on behalf of both parties to build trust, value transparency, and share knowledge. In 25 years of grantmaking experience (more than six at the Jim Joseph Foundation), I have also seen how multi-year grantmaking is a catalyst in cultivating this type of relationship, which both helps the Foundation achieve its strategic priorities and vision and can be a key element for a grantee to achieve success. The Jim Joseph Foundation had key decisions to make when it was founded in 2006 and deciding to focus on multi-year grants was a major one. There is no right or wrong way to do it, but for the Foundation it seemed the most viable way ...More
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