News & Blogs Category: From the Foundation Team

The following message was included in the August 2018 Jim Joseph Foundation newsletter.

With the new year approaching, many of us will both reflect on the year that was and think about what we hope to accomplish in the year, or years, to come. In other words, we will do some type of planning.  At the Jim Joseph Foundation, one tool we use to support grantee-partners in this regard is investing in strategic and business planning, which we do within a relational-grantmaking approach that establishes and strengthens long-term relationships with grantee-partners to foster trust and open dialogue, build capacity, and help scale.

In 12 years of grantmaking, the Foundation has made 15 grants for strategic or business planning. While each organization conducts a planning process unique to its specific needs, common to each is that the grantee-partner, funder, and consultant each have an important role to play. Through our experience supporting strategic and business planning, we have learned some important lessons—what our role should be; what our role shouldn’t be; where we can add value; the context in which these processes are most likely to succeed—that we believe may be helpful to others as well.

Getting Started
From the earliest conversations, the Foundation stresses that the grantee-partner owns the process. It selects the consultant. It fully maps its strategic direction. It sets the multi-year budget. It owns the plan. Though it is the Foundation’s funding that enables the grantee-partner to hire a consultant, our voice is only one of many that warrants consideration. That said, our experience allows us to guide and support our grantee-partners along the often complex and time intensive journey.

In the early stages, this guidance and support can take many forms. As just a few examples, the Foundation:

• Educates grantee-partners about which type of planning is right (strategic, business, etc.) for them and what the expected deliverables are of each
• Helps grantee-partners develop their RFPs to share with potential consultants
• Suggests potential consultants for the work based on specific needs and culture fit
• Reviews proposals and provides feedback if the grantee-partner ask for that support

From there, the grantee-partner selects the right consultant for its organization and plan. A more recent pivot of the Foundation is to advise its grantee-partners to contract directly with the consultant (as opposed to through the Foundation, which was done in our early years). This further puts the grantee-partner in the driver’s seat, exactly where they belong. This hands-off approach comes as a surprise to some but it works because of the relationship building and trust that was developed well before the planning process began.

Stepping Back
As the work unfolds, the Foundation largely stays out of the way. The consultant leads the grantee-partner through the process with the Foundation staying engaged primarily when key decision-making meetings occur or when key deliverables are drafted. One may assume that the work eases up after the consultant is brought on board. In an article last year, Elie Kaunfer of Hadar cautioned against this thinking while also highlighting one of the benefits of the planning process. Elie noted:

 …one of the most significant unintended outcomes of this process was the space it offered for some staff members to shine. Individuals who would not have normally stepped forward to play a role in organizational direction exhibited creativity, foresight, and, of course, strategic thinking. This is especially important because, as we learned, even with expert consultants, board and staff still have to do much of the heavy lifting.

This is indicative of something the Foundation has come to not just understand, but to appreciate: there are numerous positive influences and outcomes—sometimes unexpected—from a strategic planning process.

Importance of Engaging Funders
Of course, the most important outcome is the end result for the grantee-partner—a usable and fundable plan. It is critical for the grantee-partner to right-size the plan to realistic fundraising expectations. Designing a growth plan that is twice as expensive as funders are willing to support, for example, renders the plan useless. To assess potential interest, it is important to keep key funders and stakeholders engaged throughout the process by sharing updates and seeking feedback. The first time a prospective major funder learns about an organization’s new strategic direction should not be at the pitch meeting. We, too, are an important stakeholder in this regard. After all, funding the strategic planning process does not signal what we may, or may not, do to fund the plan itself. When appropriate, the Foundation looks to convene conversations with funder colleagues to solicit reactions and gauge potential interest in funding the plan. Being in dialogue with our peers, and at times, as a group in dialogue with the grantee-partner, strengthens the plan, aligns expectations, and sharpens our thinking. A best practice generally is for a funder to provide general operating support to maximize the flexibility for the nonprofit. “Buying” pieces of the plan can be problematic.

Concluding Thoughts
Supporting a grantee-partner through a strategic or business planning process at the right moment is a worthwhile investment when both parties are positioned for the project. A strong funder and grantee-partner relationship, open and ongoing communication throughout, clear understanding of what the roles are through the process, selecting the right consultant, and having a clear vision of the desired outcomes are what we have found set the project up for success.

Strategic planning of course does not occur overnight, is not always an “attention-grabbing” investment, and sometimes can reveal more challenges than solutions. But, the Foundation sees time and again that this investment, when made with a trusted grantee-partner who is positioned to undertake this endeavor, can chart a path forward that propels the organization to new heights.

Aaron Saxe is a Program Officer at the Jim Joseph Foundation

For an organization to reflect upon and convey its impact effectively, its leaders must be willing to accept and admit its imperfections. Inherently, these leaders put themselves in a vulnerable position when they take seriously the need to reflect, to assess their impact, and to share their findings.

I learned this firsthand when I partnered with Keshet to obtain stories of impact from Keshet’s Leadership Project. To do this, I interviewed eight leaders who had engaged in the leadership program and drafted summaries of their experiences. While I knew it would be difficult to work around issues of confidentiality, I did not initially realize the high level of vulnerability I was asking not just of Keshet, but of the leaders of these participating organizations. Grantee-partners of the Foundation often are interviewed and asked to present their authentic selves. But now I was requesting this vulnerability of others, outside of the Foundation’s direct grantees-partners.

I feel it only fair to share in this vulnerability, not only with Keshet, but with the field, so we may all grow and learn together. Through this process—and level of openness—I experienced my own learning and growth, in addition to gaining valuable information for Keshet. What became apparent to me were my own limitations and knowledge in the space in which Keshet operates.

To be clear, I always considered myself an inclusive person and an ally of the LGBTQ community. Through friends, family, LGBTQ trainings, and my background in psychology, I thought I was aware of the issues facing the LGBTQ community in the United States and Israel (where I completed my master’s degree). With that said—and similar to the individuals of the organizations I interviewed—I realized how much more I had to learn.

This realization first occurred to me as I began to send the summaries I had drafted to the interviewees for approval. While I know that gender identity is fluid, and an individual’s pronouns cannot be assumed, I found myself questioning if I had done just that.  Prior to each interview, I conducted a brief preliminary search of my interviewee, reading at least their biography and scanning their organization’s website to grasp a bit of the background. Once I had drafted and sent the summaries, doubts began to fill my mind regarding my own word choice. I used a feminine pronoun in one of the summaries. Had I assumed this person’s pronouns based on their name or did I understand their pronouns from their biography or our conversation? Here I was working with an organization to spread awareness and fight for LGBTQ inclusion and I, myself, had to admit I felt some uncertainty in my proficiency to navigate these situations.

Regardless if I had made an error or not, this in-depth exposure to Keshet’s work adjusted my approach and thinking. Prior to this project, I would not have asked myself the kinds of questions that began to consume my mind like how to properly reference or address someone. This experience serves as a reminder, not only of the importance of inclusion and continued learning, but also of the value in giving oneself fully to an experience. As a part of the funder community, I have spent much time reading reports and learning from grantee-partners. What I gained from immersing myself in this evaluation process, however, was invaluable. It is not enough for funders to expect vulnerability from grantees. They also need to reciprocate that vulnerability for shared experiences and learning, which can have significant benefits for the grantee, the funding organization, and the specific individuals involved in this work.

I am proud of the leaders of the organizations I interviewed, who not only took action in their own communities, but were willing to share this vulnerability in order to inspire others. I am grateful to Keshet for welcoming me to engage in this process with them. While there is much work to be done, I feel encouraged to know organizations like Keshet are making small (and larger) progress every day.

Rachel Halevi is a Program Assistant at the Jim Joseph Foundation. This is the third in a series of pieces from Foundation professionals sharing their experiences engaging with grantee-partners. Here is the first piece and second piece in the series.

One of our favorite thinkers, Buckminster Fuller, once said, “There is no such thing as a failed experiment, only experiments with unexpected outcomes.”

At the heart of this quote is the notion that experiments are about learning – and learning should never be regarded as failure.

Indeed, what would it mean for the Jim Joseph Foundation to begin to invest in some small experiments as a way of learning about the creativity and innovation that is happening in the Jewish world? Further, for a Foundation accustomed to awarding grants in the millions of dollars, what would it mean for us to make smaller bets?

These questions have been guiding our work as the Foundation explores its next chapter. Further, there is a sense at the Foundation that many organizations need support and do good work but are not equipped, or ready, to take on a large investment. However, a small investment with an approach of “let’s experiment” can be more aligned with the organization’s needs in the moment and begins to build an effective and meaningful funder–grantee relationship.

In addition, there is a nimbleness to these grants. They can be awarded relatively quickly and in response to what’s happening in the field and on the ground. More so, as the Foundation continues to work to understand and build relationships with organizations doing good work in Jewish education, vis-à-vis small grants we are inherently engaging with more organizations, more types of Jewish life and learning, more visionary leaders and educators, and more strategies and models. These touchpoints are leading to more learning here at the Foundation, which we then can share with the field.

One example of this work is a small investment to At The Well, an organization that “brings women together at the intersection of wellness and Jewish spirituality.” Founder and Executive Director Sarah Waxman describes At The Well as an organization that “connects women to body, soul, and community through wellness education and Jewish spirituality.” As wellness through a Jewish lens, delivered with Jewish wisdom, is a growing node within the Jewish education landscape, a small grant will enable the Foundation to stay proximate to this exciting work.

Another example is an investment in a new Cross Community Learning Exchange that creates a peer learning cohort so Jewish Early Childhood Education (ECE) educators in Denver/Boulder and Chicago can share their talents and increase their knowledge. Senior Program Officer Lisa Farber Miller of Rose Community Foundation, which also is supporting the Exchange, explains, “Jewish ECE centers play an influential, yet often unrecognized, role in introducing children and their families to Jewish life and provide a venue for lasting Jewish friendships.”

Similarly small experimental investments to JPRO Network; to Board Member Institute; to The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) Women in Leadership; and to Jewish Interactive are relatively new and represent somewhat still unknown areas for the Foundation. All of these investments are less than $100,000.

This support comes as the Foundation sees the demand for these types of smaller organizations by their beneficiaries. These organizations almost inherently are focused on a specific area of Jewish learning or engagement and are therefore highly resonant with a specific audience. An investment in them can go a long way toward building their capacity so they can meet this demand while enabling the Foundation to learn about these organizations and the spaces in which they operate.

The Jim Joseph Foundation continues to evolve in the ways in which we stay current and stay in relationship with our grantee-partners. What we learn from these small experiments will undoubtedly lead to more and better knowledge on the dynamism in the Jewish education world and continued ways to find and fund this work more effectively.

Jeff Tiell and Seth Linden are Program Officers at the Jim Joseph Foundation.

Moishe House offers mindfulness retreats a few times a year to their residents and Moishe House Without Walls participants. This past fall I had the incredible opportunity to participate in one as someone from outside of the community.

An hour outside of Portland, in Vernonia, Oregon, 25 participants from all over the country (and two from Mexico) gathered in an expansive landscape with rolling dark green hills, a layer of mist and fog that hung low on the crests, and the smell of damp earth covered with yellow and red leaves. It was an ideal setting; the natural beauty was motivation to be fully present—and to fully engage in a silent retreat.

I had a chance to speak with people in the group before we entered into silence. From the palpable energy and excitement, I knew these retreats were a highlight for residents; a way to reconnect with long distance friends made on former retreats and to build new relationships with members of the larger community. I also realized that everyone I talked with had different depths at which they identified Jewishly; from almost no religious background, to very religious, to atheist. I am not Jewish; I was raised as an Anglican, but I am not observant.  Through my colleagues at the Jim Joseph Foundation, I have had the opportunity to explore and engage with Judaism. It was clear from the way the retreat was curated that Moishe House understood that people were coming from all different depths of engagement. The retreat incorporated Jewish elements in a very accessible way. I was able to enter the space and feel welcomed and equipped to be able to follow along.

The time came to surrender our cell phones. Over the next few days our journey would be guided primarily by Zvi Bellin, a Bay Area resident and Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor with a background in mindfulness meditation. We did various forms of meditation; standing, sitting, walking, yoga, prostrations, and mindful eating. Silence was both liberating and challenging. There was no obligation to make small talk, the focus was fully on the practice and content. However, there was no external outlet to help process the experiences as were asked not to read or write during our stay. The more I sat with that discomfort, the more I learned how to accept it; which as it turns out, is a part of the process of mindfulness.

One of the most notable moments for me happened during one of our free periods. I was seated on the living room couch staring at the wall for a few minutes. I realized that I had not been bored in this way in years. It made me smile. There hadn’t been a period when I didn’t immediately grab my phone for a distraction since the day I got my first smart phone. I felt free. I noticed my thought patterns were changing a bit. The way I was engaging with the world reminded me of when I was a child. I had to create my own fun. Boredom was only relieved with creativity inspired by my surroundings. The floor tiles, birds overhead, the sound of my boots on the ground; these ordinary things I typically ignore now became questions, stories, and games.

Moishe House cultivates something special through these mindfulness retreats. They provide yet another avenue for their residents to incorporate Judaism into everyday life and they do it in an inclusive and understanding way. Since the retreat, I try to have a mindful moment every day. In doing so, I feel like every day I create a small sense of that childlike curiosity and awareness that practicing meditation at the retreat had opened me up to. I left the retreat a day before my birthday and I have so much gratitude to have been able to start off a new year in such a positive space and have the tools to carry this practice in my daily life.

Mallory Morales is a Program Assistant at the Jim Joseph Foundation. This is the second in a series of pieces from Foundation professionals sharing their experiences engaging with grantee-partners. Read the first piece here.

My participation in PresenTense Colorado has had a large impact on my Jewish identity. Before, I had little idea of any engagement for Jewish teens outside of my synagogue, and the only other Jewish kids I knew were from my B’nai Mitzvah class. PresenTense opened me up to a whole Jewish network I had never previously considered.

This sentiment from Emily Winn of last year’s PresenTense Colorado – UpStart (PTC-U) cohort reflects the deep impact the program has on participants’ lives. This six-month fellowship for Jewish high-school students sparks innovation through entrepreneurial training and mentorship. Fellows have the opportunity to develop and test an idea that makes an impact in the Denver/Boulder community, and beyond. UpStart is especially well suited to offer this experience as one of the leading national innovators in the Jewish community.

Each year, a new cohort of Jewish teenagers who are passionate about creating social change through enterprises they envision and create apply to be part of this program. Those selected engage in six months of learning and prototyping that blends Jewish values with the skills of design thinking, problem solving, and program implementation. The unique experience brings together teenagers from a variety of Jewish backgrounds to develop both personally and with professional ambitions in mind – all rooted in UpStart’s methodology of entrepreneurial leadership development.

“We attract ambitious teenagers who want to develop skills and want to challenge themselves,” says Emily Winograd, Innovation Lead, Design Services, with UpStart.” All of the concepts we teach are relevant to their lives now and what they aspire to do in the future, and we frame it all through a Jewish lens.”

As an example, when teaching about prototyping, PTC-U shared with the teens the concept of “na’aseh v’nishmah,” which references the biblical moment when the Jewish People accepted the Torah before fully understanding it. The idea, Emily explains, is that it’s ok, even necessary, to experience something even if it is not perfect. Failing can be a positive experience that can build grit and resilience. And the only way to get feedback on a program or idea is to test it—which is exactly what the Fellows do.

According to Hillel International research, 70% of Jewish teens seek to create entrepreneurial ventures so they can experiment and fail forward. PTC-U was designed to meet this interest. As alumni participant Avi Kaye says, “Before PTC-U, I was never good at accepting failure. After this experience, I learned that certain “failures” are just steps to something greater and more refined.”

Now in its third year and with 16 teens in the program, PTC-U has a central theme grounding its work in 2018: “Welcoming the Stranger.” Emily notes, “This one theme creates a holistic connection for the teens around all of their efforts. Teens are creating initiatives and programs addressing everything from refugees to foster care to autoimmune disorders.”

A Structure of Support, Learning, and Growth

Teens in PTC-U are supported and resourced in numerous ways to make their idea for social change a reality. They first are divided into “design teams” based on shared interests. A coach – a skilled young adult – works with each team to design and implement their idea by participating in teens’ meetings and by connecting them to relevant resources. Other support comes from adults who work in “community partner” organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League or Jewish Family Service. Their deep subject matter expertise in teens’ areas of interests complements the general knowledge and support of PTC-U’s staff and coaches. Along with speaking to peers, the teens also speak with these adults as part of their empathy interviews, a critical component of design thinking and an important vehicle for garnering information about stakeholders’ experience with an issue or challenge. Additionally, an alumni mentor works with the design teams to offer peer mentorship and their own insights from having been in the program themselves. All of this support helps create a learning environment in which the teens gain the skills and strategies to effectively design a program to address a communal problem.

One teen comments, “The thing I found most valuable or helpful in this seminar was realizing that in order to solve a problem, you must clearly identify the question, and then the solution is the easier part of the equation. I had never thought of this before. I also liked that we could physically diagram out our problem and all of the people involved.”

Relevant Learning Leads to Meaningful Projects

Teens, as studies show, are highly ambitious personally and want to create change where they see wrongs in society. PTC-U captures their passion and empowers them to think strategically, facilitating productive brainstorming and progress as teens bounce ideas off of one another and draw upon a pool of collective resources and experience. And, in 13 formal sessions together as cohort, teens learn skills they need to take their projects public. Teams throughout the year engage their peers outside of the program at a number of touchpoints, including through empathy interviews, a prototyping seminar, and, most importantly, their pilot tests of their project.

One teen reflected, “I thought that learning about how to do a proper business pitch was extremely helpful to my overall understanding of the process of designing and implementing a project.”

Most teams aim to raise awareness among their peers about an issue with which they may not have direct experience. One team, for example, focused on youth unemployment and ran a successful pilot test with 12 of their peers. The test gauged peers’ reaction to a website they created that provides resources on youth unemployment. In galvanizing their peers, all the teams hope to mobilize them to action as volunteers and advocates for the projects.

Impact Felt in Numerous Ways

PTC-U is positioned to show teens the many ways Jewish learning can positively influence and add value to their everyday lives and identity. Jess Miller, of the 2017 cohort, remarked, “By learning how to apply Jewish principles to my entrepreneurial endeavors, I believe I can be a more ethical businesswoman.”

Emily adds, “We hear from teens that this is the first meaningful Jewish peer group they’ve been a part of socially. It’s inspiring for them to be surrounded by Jews of different observance levels. Teens who are Jewishly connected learn from their peers the diversity of ways that one can engage with Jewish life. And less connected teens grow to understand so much about Jewish values, community, and life. All of these teens get to know each other in an environment infused with learning and growth.”

As more teens experience the program, the impact is amplified throughout the community as they in turn engage more teens in their projects. In January 2018, 16 alumni from last year’s cohort of Fellows submitted their final reports on their projects. Cumulatively, they estimated that they engaged approximately 400 people in their projects, including peers, volunteers, and other stakeholders.

Emily Winn of last year’s cohort shares how the program influenced both her Jewish identity and her outlook moving forward:

I never realized that Jewish values were so applicable to my life, and I loved being able to use them in forming a group that mattered to me. It ended up being a really moving process where I got to learn more about the Jewish community and meet Jewish teens in the Denver/Boulder area. I’m so thankful to have had this opportunity, and I know I will carry lessons from PresenTense for the rest of my life.

Final Thoughts

Our two foundations – Rose Community Foundation and Jim Joseph Foundation – are proud to support this Jewish teen social entrepreneurship fellowship, one of the first in the nation. We know there are more teens who can choose to opt in to Jewish life and we hope PTC-U will provide new avenues to engage them. PTC-U empowers teens to create social change inspired by Jewish values and to engage their Jewish peers in new ways.

PTC-U continues to be part of an expanding and exciting landscape of offerings in the Denver/Boulder area. The multi-faceted Denver/Boulder Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Initiative (Initiative) – one of the ten community initiatives in the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative – supported by Rose Community Foundation, Jim Joseph Foundation, and others, is involving more teens in Jewish life, offering them new programs they find relevant, and helping them develop leadership skills. The Initiative wants to make the greater Denver area’s Jewish life relevant and meaningful to young people both now and later in their lives, with teens serving as active partners together with their peers, adults, and community leaders in shaping their own Jewish journeys. Our ultimate goal is that every teen can answer the question: How can my Judaism inform, inspire and advance the good I seek to do in the world?’ We know that PTC-U Fellows can affirmatively answer this question.”

Lisa Farber Miller is Senior Program Officer – Jewish Life, Rose Community Foundation. Jeff Tiell is a Program Officer at the Jim Joseph Foundation.

cross-posted in eJewishPhilanthropy

Technology is spreading at ever increasing speeds.  It took the smartphone ten years to become a cultural norm, less than a third of the time that it took other everyday technologies to hit the mainstream. Other technologies like online food delivery and automated cars are expected to account for larger shares of their respective markets. The practical applications of these technologies seem limitless and save users inordinate amounts of time and energy.

Yet as technology is advancing, what is happening to human culture and interaction?  As more products are ordered from a computer or cellular device, and reliance on those devices is increasing to higher plateaus, there is less opportunity for meaningful human interaction. In 1995, Robert Putnam wrote his initial essay that led to the award-winning Bowling Alone. Putnam was able to point to a 43 percent drop in family dinners and a 35 percent reduction in having friends over in the preceding 25 years. This did not even account for the introduction of Amazon and eBay, in 1994 and 1995 respectively, or the progression of the more recent 23 years. Putnam further elucidated this point in his 2003 book Better Together: Restoring the American Community.  

Many of the daily functions that Americans undertake are reduced to transactions. While this often improves the customer’s stated satisfaction, it is arguably inhibiting the customer experience. Sitting in one’s home and ordering clothing, a kid’s toy, or food online can be efficient. But, that experience is vastly different than going into a store, particularly a neighborhood store, and engaging with a salesperson—maybe even establishing an ongoing relationship—before making a purchase.

There has been a treasure trove of literature on transactional vs. relational approaches to marketing, customer service, and, of most interest for our purposes, grantmaking.  “Transactional” is more professional, formal, singular, and direct.  “Relational” is more cordial, informal, multifaceted, and flexible.  Each can be useful at different times.

In a transactional approach to grantmaking, formality reigns supreme.  Success and failure are clearly defined, and dollars are doled out for one and rescinded for the other.  There is a clear beginning and endpoint, and the negotiation of terms is in the hands of the grantmakers rather than the grantee.  In a relational approach, there is a sacrifice of control on the part of the grantmaker that often leads to a greater mutual respect and partnership.  There can still be measurable outcomes, but as circumstances oscillate, these are subject to change as well.  Failure is also not as clearly defined as formative assessments in these instances, which can allow for mid-course corrections and pivots.

When are transactional grants appropriate?  Whenever there is a one-off approach to a particular problem with a relatively concrete solution and limited oversight, a transactional approach works. It is more efficient, clear cut, and defined.  The Jim Joseph Foundation, which fosters compelling, effective Jewish learning experiences for young Jews, has made investments in this regard following natural disasters and other emergency situations (such as financial) where a grant can help people return to their daily lives, including Jewish learning for their families.

When are relational grants appropriate?  When a funder desires to establish a longer-term interactive approach with an organization or project and has the human capital to provide meaningful feedback and oversight, a relational approach works. Moreover, when a desirable outcome is the creation of a cohesive, ongoing, system of interactions, the relational approach is more likely than a transactional one to help create this environment. Simply, “Relational” is friendlier, iterative, and lasting.  For the Jim Joseph Foundation, relational grants with grantee-partners Hillel International, BBYO, Moishe House, Foundation for Jewish Camp, and others offer the right framework to share important lessons with each other and with the field over numerous initiatives and years. As a result of this approach, new initiatives are created, evaluated, and improved that advance the missions of all parties.

As technology brings new innovations at increasingly fast rates, the appeal of transactional experiences is likely to continue increasing as well. But, from a grantmaking perspective, we should not forsake the relational approach, even with its challenges and lack of immediate efficiencies. Depending on a funder and grantee’s goals and other organizational factors, both approaches should be considered as viable options that can serve both parties well.

Steven Green is Senior Director of Grant Management and Compliance at the Jim Joseph Foundation

cross-posted in GrantCraft

When a Jew visits Jerusalem for the first time, it is not the first time; it is a homecoming. 
– Elie Wiesel

25 years lies in between my first and second visits to Israel. The second came last summer when I participated in a Birthright Israel trip along with 40 other Jewish young adults from the Bay Area. I always felt a connection to the country through my family, but what had been missing was that personal connection, for which this Birthright trip allowed. I was taken back by the powerful and meaningful moments I had, and I am returning with my own experiences, reflections, memories, and stories that I will cherish forever.

Embracing Israel as a part of one’s Jewish identity can be challenging today, especially for young Jews. Anti-Israel sentiment and the BDS movement on college campuses has deterred some young Jews from being involved in Jewish educational experiences around Israel. While the topic of Israel can be divisive, I returned from my Birthright experience with a deeper connection to my Judaism through Israel.

My grandparents on both sides of my family were Holocaust survivors and moved to Israel where they raised my parents. The country has always been a symbol of safety, refuge, and hope for my family. My family is not religiously observant but provided me with an upbringing rich with Jewish culture, pride, and values. Because of my non-religious upbringing, there have been times where I did not know where I ‘fit’ in with my Jewish community and lacked a certain confidence around being Jewish. Being immersed in an Israel education experience helped me gain clarity around my Jewish identity. I had the realization that I connect to my “Jewishness” through Israel and community.  The sense of community I felt with the other participants on my trip was something I was not expecting. Being around other Jews and having the opportunity to have deep conversations about Jewish identity and Israel made me feel so accepted and empowered. Physically being in Israel was also very powerful for me. It seems impossible to have a strong connection to a land where you have never lived, but many of my fellow participants and I experienced our homecoming in Israel.

My experiential learning has made me realize the importance and place Israel has in our world of Jewish education. My commitment and passion for Jewish life and education is the focus of my work at the Jim Joseph Foundation. Yet now I have an even deeper sense of privilege for being part of an organization that is committed to broadening Jewish learning experiences for young adults. Having been a beneficiary now myself, I also have a greater understanding of what this work looks like on the ground, as the experiential learning occurs. Stepping out of the office and being a part of it myself offered me an entirely new and important perspective. Personally and professionally, I experienced the growth that I’ve read so much about in evaluations and reports. For this, I am especially grateful.

Nicole Levy is the Executive Assistant to the President and CEO at the Jim Joseph Foundation. This is the first in a series of pieces from Foundation professionals sharing their experiences engaging with grantee-partners. Read the second piece here.

Who is a leader?

We hear a lot about leadership these days. More tactically, what is leadership comprised of? What experiences help shape leaders and leadership? And what traits and characteristics do those leaders have?

In my conversations with nonprofit program providers, executives, and funders, I hear them asking these questions of themselves a lot. Namely – “How Do I Lead?”

These are questions with which I also wrestle. In searching for a community to do this wrestling with I found Rockwood. Or maybe Rockwood found me. Rockwood is a leadership training organization that focuses on six core practices – purpose, vision, partnership, resilience, performance, and personal ecology. Its training is meant to “strengthen your leadership to help you create more effective, sustainable, and humane lives and organizations.”

“Effective” and “Sustainable.” Great and great! These are two words I hear and use a lot in my professional life as a representative of a grantmaker. But “humane?” Interesting! But yes, that’s right, a leader is leading when she or he helps to create and foster more humane lives and organizations. We are leaders when we enable our shared humanity, when we lift up the humanness of our community. As a Jewish professional this ideal is especially relevant, as I see it as foundational to my work and the work of my colleagues. We are and our work is – at a basic level – about bringing forth and helping people to develop as human beings and to figure out what it simply means to be. This work is manifested at day schools, at Jewish summer camps, in emergent Jewish communities, and in so many other environments.

Throughout my time at a week-long Rockwood retreat, the words of Pirkei Avot echoed through me, “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.” Our field needs more leaders who engage more people to create more humane lives. To this end, the Foundation invests in multiple initiatives, including the new Fund for Jews of Color Field Building, which is designed to develop and train leaders and which presents an especially timely opportunity. Infused with resources from the Leichtag Foundation, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, and the Jim Joseph Foundation, the pooled fund, with its targeted focus, is positioned to create more shared humaneness. It elevates what brings us together as Jews, building bridges where differences may otherwise keep people apart, and shining a spotlight on the ways in which we as a Jews share meaning and faith across race and ethnicity. This work helps to create and build humane lives and organizations, because, organizations that are humane must be inclusive.

On the last day of my Rockwood retreat, we discussed what we would take with us from the retreat into our homes and places of business. In thinking about the lessons and learnings during the week, I continued to return to the notion of being a model for others. This is plainly what being a humane leader is to me—showing by example, letting deeds speak louder than words, and being the change one wishes to see in the world, both in life and work. The investment in the Fund for Jews of Color Field Building is part of the Foundation’s own learning journey and models desired change. Equally as important, the beneficiaries of the Fund’s investments are emerging leaders who will create more humane lives and organizations in the months and years to come.

Retaining and training early childhood educators is a serious and major challenge, and funders are beginning to be creative about their investment models to increase professional development and compensation for these educators. The Jewish early childhood education (ECE) space faces a similar challenge, with high stakes as well. Nearly two years ago, we shared a report detailing the Jewish Resource Specialist (JRS) Initiative in the San Francisco Bay Area, which produced a growing, networked community of educators who have enhanced Jewish ECE experiences in the Bay Area. The Initiative, led by the Early Childhood and Family Engagement (ECFE) Initiative of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties (the Federation), for which planning began in 2008, was an important addition to the growing field of Jewish ECE.

Over the last ten years, funders and organizations have helped to elevate Jewish ECE by investing time and resources to professionalize the field and support its excellence – from staff support, to curriculum support, to programs for families to help bring what is happening in the classroom back home. All of these advancements in the field reflect an increased understanding of the incredible opportunity Jewish ECE presents to engage families in Jewish life and for young learners to begin their Jewish learning experiences.

As the Jim Joseph Foundation continues to think about best practices in philanthropy and how to make the greatest impact in Jewish education, we increasingly focus on models of dissemination and adaptation. We believe these two ideas are inter-related, in that the first step in adapting a successful program model to a new city is to effectively disseminate the relevant findings from recent evaluation and research.

At the same time, we are thinking deeply about how to support and promote the most impactful inflection points along one’s Jewish journey. It is clear that raising young children is one of these such points in life. The numerous Letters of Interest (LOIs) focused on Jewish ECE that we received through last year’s open Request for Proposals (RFP) are indicative of rising interest and increasing demand for early childhood programming and funding both locally and nationally. Along with funder colleagues in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, New York, Washington D.C. and elsewhere, we meet regularly to share learnings from each of our local investments. Simply, there is much to do in this area and many good interventions and pilots bubbling to the surface. One way to reach the broader audiences and to expand this important work is to disseminate ideas and interventions that are ready to be tested and adapted in new and different settings.

With that in mind, and with an updated model documentation of the JRS Initiative from Informing Change (click for executive summary and for the full report) – shared recently and led expertly by Janet Harris and Denise Moyes-Schnur at the Federation – we are excited to see the continued positive outcomes of this Initiative. A third JRS cohort, which launched last year, brought to 21 the total number of Jewish ECE schools in the JRS Initiative. This latest cohort supports their school communities in the same ways the past cohorts did: They deepen Jewish learning; engage families in Jewish life; and receive ongoing coaching, mentoring, and resource support. Moreover, an independent evaluation of the JRS Initiative pilot validated the fruits of this labor. As just some examples, the JRS Initiative is linked to:

• Jewish content integrated into typically secular family programs;
• High parent satisfaction with opportunities to explore Jewish life;
• Teachers’ increased confidence in bringing Jewish content into the classroom; and
• Families participating in additional Jewish events around their community.

Change that Lasts

While we are of course pleased to see these positive outcomes, we want to focus here on a specific aspect of this model – one that the model documentation terms “change that lasts.” The Jim Joseph Foundation is especially attracted to investments in organizations, programs, leaders and educators, and systems that will produce positive outcomes even after the grant period has finished. The JRS model is proving to do just that. We believe this is a compelling case for potential funders and ECE programs that are considering a similar type of investment in other communities.

Continued Investment, Continued Impact

The ECE programs in the JRS Initiative say they continue to see benefits years after the end of their Initiative grant. Programs from the pilot cohort, for example, report that family engagement programs developed during their three-year grant period still serve new families at their centers. And new teachers still engage new families and continue classroom programs using resources and structures put into place by the JRS educator.

An especially important development is that ECE programs from the pilot cohort independently maintain a position in their schools – allocating the necessary financial resources – to continue encouraging and working with classroom teachers to deliver Jewish content, just as the JRS did. This position is usually held by a classroom teacher who is allocated six to ten hours a week to dedicate to this, but there are other variations, including sharing the work across two teachers and dividing the responsibilities between the school director and a teacher.

A Lasting Cultural Shift in ECE Programs

“Through JRS we established some parent programs that are now integral to who this school is.”
– School Director

Beyond these positive ongoing activities are even deeper cultural changes in ECE programs that were a part of the Initiative. School directors and JRS educators from past cohorts say that the Initiative helped to increase expectations regarding the quality of Jewish education in the classroom. These higher expectations remain – and continue to be met because systems and educational resources are in place. JRS educators developed new curricula, workshops, activities, and procedures to match their schools’ needs, which still support teachers and staff to offer Jewish learning regularly. And, the JRS educators continue to coach and offer new resources they create to more classroom teachers so they feel comfortable discussing Jewish elements of the curriculum with parents.

One school director commented that the ECE program has more frequent and more visible Jewish components – “There’s more of a Jewish flavor here” – even three years after the grant concluded. The model documentation reports that “increased levels of Jewish content are giving greater definition to the Jewish nature of these ECE programs.” Critically, school leaders also say that Jewish values are visible not just during specific program activities, but also as part of overall classroom management. In other words, Jewish learning and experiences can happen at any time of day.

Individual teachers also are benefitting from the JRS Initiative because of lasting cultural changes. As a result of their JRS educator’s efforts, teachers in ECE programs continue to be more open with each other. As one school leaders explains, “JRS inspired us to do peer-to-peer learning [among our teachers]. That changed the culture here. We now do more to support teachers to create in their own way and to help their peers.”

Continued Impact of Professional Development

Professional development (PD), including in-person seminars, individual coaching, and relevant site visits, was – and for some still is – an integral part of the Initiative. Since these PD opportunities are designed with the broader school in mind, not just the ECE program, they have resulted in some innovative school-wide changes still seen today. For example, after one school’s site visit to an urban Jewish teaching farm, the school’s educators realized they could use their own outdoor space to teach Jewish content. Following that site visit – and prompted by the JRS approach of engaging families and inviting teacher input and creativity school-wide – the outdoor space at the school is still transformed and still impacts the learning experience. A JRS faculty member says, “In the course of three years, a small side yard patch became a beautiful, natural garden. We could see that what they were doing three years later in the classrooms was much more nature–based. It has changed the school.”

Finally, when a JRS educator moved from her community the JRS educator took her learning and enthusiasm to an ECE program in her new community and, according to her former school director, the JRS approach “completely transformed” the Jewish content in that school, too.

Final Thoughts

As more communities around the country look to leverage the early childhood years to welcome families into Jewish life, the JRS Initiative offers a model with long-lasting impact. By offering Jewish resource specialists learning, support, and other PD opportunities over a multi-year period, they in turn positively influence their teacher colleagues, the children and families with whom they interact and – in some cases – the larger schools and centers in which they are housed. Together, funders and organizations can continue to elevate the place of ECE in Jewish life. For more information about the JRS Initiative, please contact Denise Moyes-Schnur at the Federation (denises@sfjcf.org).

There’s nothing new about the Jim Joseph Foundation investing in Jewish educators and in educator professional development (PD) specifically. In fact, some of the Foundation’s earliest and largest investments were in PD; investments which continue to be an integral part of the Foundation’s strategy, along with the rigorous evaluation of them. About a handful of Foundation-supported professional development programs are operated by our valued partners at any given time.

Yet, there is a certain “newness” to the latest set of investments following the Foundation’s Request for Proposals (RFP) for programs in Jewish Educator PD that differentiates it from previous Foundation grants in this space. First and foremost, the ten new initiatives all represent cohorts of educators, and the directors of these programs all comprise a Community of Practice (Cop) to learn together. This set of investments is a new structure in which the Foundation is operating, a change we made deliberately and after much thought.

Why This, Why Now

It is important to note that this investment approach is not replacing the Foundation’s other grantmaking in which an individual organization receives support. Yet this new approach begs the simple question, “why?” After more than a decade of investments in educator professional development totaling more than $70 million, why intentionally create cohorts simultaneously among numerous organizations? Learnings from previous investments—both those related to educator professional development and others—show clearly that a cohort-based PD program targeting in-service professionals offers significant benefits for Jewish educators, namely:

• The cohort experience in which people learn together, grow together, network, and support each other, is deeply impactful and effective. There are numerous examples that point to this; as just one, the recent evaluation of the Specialty Camps Incubator shows the added value of a cohort structure: Camp directors and assistant directors gained knowledge and insight by hearing one another discuss their challenges and solutions. These camp leaders also consider their cohort to include the Incubator staff and mentors, reflecting a strong sense of belonging to a larger community of Jewish camp professionals.
• Professional development opportunities offered while educators are in-service (as opposed to before entering the workforce) increase educator morale, educator skills, and the likelihood that educators will advance and remain in the field.
• By design, educator professional development programs tend to be relatively small in number. These are intense, immersive programs, tailor-made for participants with one-on-one mentoring, travel, and opportunities to return to their educational settings to apply learnings and to reflect (employers and supervisors are an important piece of this too). This also means that from a sheer numbers standpoint, in order to truly impact the field, the Foundation needs to fund a set of programs to reach a tipping point that engages a significant number of educators.

Of course this latter point also means that educator PD done in this manner is expensive, plain and simple. Yet the Foundation has learned that the high cost per person is worth the investment in high-quality programs. So we have—and continue to—bet on individuals who are committed to their practice and want to advance and improve in their work. The training they receive emanates out from their practice, to their workplace, and to the entire field of Jewish education.

A PD Cohort of Diverse Educators for Diverse Learners

While all of these learnings informed how the Foundation designed the RFP, there was no way of ensuring the quantity and high quality of proposals received. And indeed, the Foundation was fortunate to receive both a high number and high quality of proposals from a range of organizations. As a result, the organizations represent a diversity of missions, types of programs, and types of educators who will benefit. Thus, the ultimate infusion into the field of 500 professionally developed educators will come from different types of PD interventions. And from what we know, this makes perfect sense. Learners in one setting—whether camp, school, cultural settings, and others—will engage with educators who received training that may look quite different compared to a learner and educator in a second setting.

Again, this set of investments, in addition to creating cohorts of educators, also creates a CoP among the directors of these PD programs. While the Foundation has seen the benefit of interventions premised on close collaboration, this also is a new approach for us in educator PD—about which we are excited and eager to learn. The CoP will include in-person and online convenings, smaller working groups, networking opportunities, and an overall structure for problem solving and support.

Laying the Groundwork for More Learnings and Outcomes

Over the next four years, as these programs and the Foundation’s support structures for them are implemented, an external evaluation will offer important learnings about the results of the cohort as a whole (as opposed to just each program), similar to the evaluation of the Specialty Camps Incubator.

The Foundation knows the importance of—and has deep respect for—the educator. Numerous studies and evaluations in both the Jewish and the secular education arenas show that the learners’ experience, and the impact of the learning, is significantly dependent on the talent of the educator. And educators are better when they are supported, networked, and trained in ongoing ways. On a large scale, we want to help develop talented, dynamic, and committed educators, with a deep passion for Jewish life and learning who will ultimately each reach a wide circle of students. This latest big bet is part of that endeavor.

Midway through the Jim Joseph Foundation’s fall Board meeting, members of the professional team stepped outside to call representatives from 21 different organizations who were receiving grants following their submissions to the Foundation’s Requests for Proposal (RFP). It was the culmination of a new and different grantmaking process for the Foundation—and the beginning of the next stage of implementation for these initiatives. While certainly the organizations being invested in expressed excitement on the phone—as they should—I also saw genuine excitement in those Foundation professionals delivering the good news.

This Foundation prides itself on relational grantmaking going hand-in-hand with long, steady development of grant proposals. So we understood that the RFP process would be a departure from this approach, as it inherently put the onus almost exclusively on the grantee to craft and refine the proposal. Thus, the Foundation somewhat became the bystander on the sideline, albeit one “cheering” people on as initiatives were submitted for funding consideration. At the same time, we’ve learned that relationships cannot be entirely separated from any grantmaking process, including the RFP. As certain organizations progressed from initial inquiries, to submitting official Letters of Inquiries, to submitting full proposals, to eventual selection for grants, a different type of relationship between funder and grantee organically emerged. Those phone calls made regarding the awarding of funds were indicative of that.

Any time an individual or organizations tries something new, there are things one knows, things one doesn’t know, and things one doesn’t know they don’t know. The sense of excitement was unexpected. I shared some other initial learnings midway through this process, many of which continued to crystallize through the end of the selection. We look forward to gleaning more learnings through a survey recently distributed to organizations that submitted a proposal. As the Foundation continues to think about the most effective ways to cultivate and support effective Jewish learning, we want to be unafraid of the unknown. Risk-taking, failing forward often leads to the most substantial learnings that can guide future work. And the largesse of modern day realities—from the changing landscape of Jewish life to the heated and sometimes hate-filled rhetoric prevalent in society—demand action that inherently has risks.

The Foundation welcomes that challenge, with a humble understanding that we don’t know what we don’t know. We are excited that the 21 new grants into the portfolio, by far the most new investments for us at one time, are vehicles to address the two primary areas we identified—Jewish Educator Professional Development and Leadership Development in Jewish Education.

At the same time, we want to continue to push ourselves to try approaches that will lead to more uncovering of unknowns in Jewish education and philanthropy. We feel a pressing need to be experimental in our approach, embracing an increased level of risk with the opportunity for great returns. Grantee partners, peer funders, and independent consultants will continue to play key roles in our grantmaking and evaluating endeavors moving forward. Together, we can have a profound influence on the lives of young Jews.