Finding New Paths for Teen Engagement and Learning: A Funder Collaborative Leads the Way
April 21st, 2015
In 2013, about a dozen funders from across the U.S. began meeting together to better understand how to develop and invest in local opportunities to educate and engage Jewish teens. Convened by the Jim Joseph Foundation, members of the group were already supporting teen programming but seeking ways to do it better in order to significantly expand teen involvement in active Jewish life. By the end of 2014, the group had developed into a Funder Collaborative in which at least half of the members were in the midst of or ready to begin grantmaking to support comprehensive, innovative and sustainable new community-based teen initiatives. Ultimately, the Collaborative hopes its work will reach beyond the initial participating communities, leading to adaptations of the pilot experiments in other communities across the country and in the offerings of national providers of Jewish teen education and engagement experiences.
Internally, the Funder Collaborative intends for this examination to help inform the ongoing growth and functioning of the group, which expects to continue until at least 2018. Externally, by documenting the lessons learned from this unique Funder Collaborative, they hope to inform future co-funding and shared learning efforts, both within and outside of the Jewish philanthropic community.
Finding New Paths for Teen Engagement and Learning: A Funder Collaborative Leads the Way, January 2015