News & Blogs Category: From the Foundation Team

As Jews around the world soon sit down for Seders, we are reminded again of our tradition’s powerful message to welcome the stranger. Some heed this call year-round; others do it once a year; still others maybe never have, but commit to do so now. While we rightfully focus on this message, we also should remember to welcome in those in our community in meaningful, sustained ways.

At the Jim Joseph Foundation, welcoming in others in our community is a core principle of our relational approach to grantmaking. Often this philanthropic approach is interpreted as grantmaking implemented with a funder and grantee coming together for a deep and meaningful relationship. While this relationship is a critical component of this strategy, it is by no means the only one. Rather—and in particular to meet 21^st century challenges—the funder-grantee relationship is just one of many that comprises relational philanthropy. The Foundation is determined to plan for and implement effective grantmaking strategies by welcoming in, and building long-lasting relationships with a range of key funder colleagues, other organizations, and individuals.

Here is a snapshot of what this strategy looks like, and the reasoning behind it:

The Jim Joseph Foundation is continuously experimenting with meaningful ways to engage not only with grantees but with evaluators, technical assistance experts, and other foundations. We are pursuing myriad configurations of stakeholders in problem solving conversations both to hone our critical thinking and to expand the network of resources we bring to our work as well as to that of Foundation grantees. The goal, in this regard, is ultimately to improve the effectiveness of the Foundation’s philanthropy.

 – Working in a Relational Way, Edelsberg, October 2012

This excerpt is from my “madrich” narrative that I presented to the Foundation Board at the 2012 Fall Board meeting. Nine other selected thought leaders did the same, all with the intent of answering the question: What “big idea” for supporting Jewish education would you propose the Jim Joseph Foundation fund?

I tried to present a vision then of a Foundation deeply committed to working with others for everyone’s benefit. Not only do I believe that relationships premised on knowledge-sharing, with different partners bringing different expertise to bear, are mutually beneficial; I believe they are wholeheartedly necessary to achieve lasting success in our field. As I noted in that madrich narrative:

The Jewish people value education and cherish life-long learning. The interplay of accelerating global interdependencies, decentralizing of authority, democratizing of knowledge, and peer networking lead me to propose my big idea for the Jim Joseph Foundation to ponder. It is this: the Foundation and its grantees as well as its technical assistance providers and funding partners must come together in much more highly interactive, problem solving, knowledge producing ways.

As I reflect back three and a half years ago, I can point to substantive progress we have made in our relationship building efforts by welcoming in various members of our peer funder community. In just over the last three months, these relationships have yielded important knowledge sharing, necessary to both advance the Foundation’s specific efforts, as well as the interests of many others in the field of Jewish education.

We welcomed Marina Yudborovsky of the Genesis Philanthropy Group to our offices for a full day of meetings so our professional team could hear directly from her about their approach to Russian-speaking Jews. This is her specific area of expertise. This demographic is the sole focus of the group of funders who she represents. We had much to learn from her in the way of thinking about and developing grants with this demographic in mind.

In another instance, Rella Kaplowitz of Schusterman Family Foundation came to the Foundation to share her deep knowledge about data and evaluation—an increasingly important area of the Foundation’s efforts as we seek to foster our evaluators consortium and the cross-community evaluation of the teen initiatives in which we are involved. I believe that Rella is one of the few individuals in our field with a true expertise in evaluation. The Foundation, I believe, is fortunate to have another in Senior Program Officer Stacie Cherner. The two of them learn with and from each other in an ongoing manner. As always, however, nothing substitutes for face-to-face interactions, offering other members of our team the opportunity to learn from Rella as well.

Finally, the Foundation also was privileged and proud to host Jon Aaron, Board Chair; Darin McKeever, Chief Program and Strategy Officer; and Kari Alterman, Senior Program Officer; of the William Davidson Foundation. The day long meetings allowed time for the foundations to thoroughly familiarize one another with respective strategic grantmaking priorities, to discuss common grantees, and to begin conversation about potentially productive ways to work closely with one another in the future.

These are critical, lengthy interactions among peer funders. Of course they take time, resources, and planning for them to be as rewarding and as mutually beneficial as possible. But again, they are necessary if we as a field hope to achieve sustained success.

Reflecting on these recent meetings on the heels of the JFN conference emphasizes even more the approach to relational philanthropy now engrained in the Foundation DNA. At JFN, the Jim Joseph Foundation was represented by eight professional team members, four board members, and our incoming President and CEO. We participated in four different panels, sharing our experiences in early childhood education, collaborations, evaluation, and organizational and institutional capacity building. We held numerous formal and informal meetings with peers.

Thankfully, none of these interactions feel like an exception; they are how we try to operate every day. As I survey the field, and our involvement in it, there are important developments occurring now in early childhood education and young adult engagement—led not just by one or two key funders, but by a committed larger group determined to build those respective areas in strategic ways, positioned for the long-terms.

Fall 2012 seems like a long time ago. But the rapidly changing and interconnected world I described then has only increased in that manner. On Passover, this world seemingly comes to a head: we ask questions together, we seek answers together, we tell a story together. Whoever is at the table—regardless of age, experience, background, or knowledge—does this questioning and answering and storytelling with the group. Such is the case for the Foundation, as it seeks the big answers in Jewish education while deeply engaged with peers and other stakeholders in the field daily. We know that sharing our knowledge, learning from others, and being transparent about both successes and challenges advances us all.

Chag Sameach.

Editor’s Note: The Jim Joseph Foundation was represented at the Jewish Funders Network conference by eight members of its professional team, four members of its board, and its incoming President and CEO. Below, three members of the Foundation’s professional team share their reflections on the conference—what they learned; what they enjoyed; what surprised them; and how the entire experience will inform their work moving forward. We share these insights with the belief that understanding what individuals take away from conferences and convenings helps all in our field plan and design meaningful, impactful face-to-face opportunities to learn and to share knowledge.

If there was ever an event that combined the simcha of a wedding and the camaraderie of camp, I’d say it was the Jewish Funders Network Conference. My first Jewish communal professional conference – and being a representative of one of 500+ Jewish funders – was at times intimidating and exhilarating. Being part of a large Jim Joseph Foundation contingency made conversations easy. Above all the joyous hugs and kisses, however, what I found most telling was the sense of optimism in the meetings, workshops and conversations. One of my favorite sessions was on Jewish Wisdom, led by the esteemed professionals of the Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah. The beautiful outdoor setting in the crisp Torrey Pines air certainly added to the bliss, as we discussed the relationships of gratitude, blessings and memory. The workshop weaved together various themes throughout the conference, including those of Jewish values, that struck a chord with me at this time in my life. I feel so fortunate to work in a profession and with a team that shares these same values.  I wake up each day privileged to interact with and support talented Jewish educational professionals, many of whom I met for the first time in San Diego.

One of my takeaways was that while Jewish values of simcha, Shabbat, and tikkun olam infuse my personal life, it is more often the case that discussions of budgets, sustainability, and program outcomes dominate our professional discourse. What if we found a way each day to include a gratitude blessing, or began our meetings with a short D’var Torah—as we do sometimes, but not all the time? These are little things, but given the honor we have to shepherd another’s fortunes to improve the lot of the Jewish people, it is something I hope we as Jewish funders can be more mindful of ourselves. I learned a lot from the JFN Conference – the power of big data, the challenges of Jewish leadership, the opportunities of scaling ideas – yet my biggest lesson learned is the ability to turn inward, to appreciate, to give thanks, and to remember what brought me here in the first place.

– Seth Linden, Program Officer

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As a newer member of the Jim Joseph Foundation team, the Jewish Funders Network Conference contributed to my continued onboarding as a foundation professional. From the thought-provoking plenaries to the informative breakout sessions to the ample networking time, I left the conference better prepared to perform the duties of a foundation program officer. Though I could touch on any number of moments that for me made the conference a success, I will focus here on the people in attendance – both those I knew and those I met.

Upon seeing the names and organizations of the more than 500 people who were present, I had two opposing reactions. First, everywhere I went, I interacted to some degree with professionals whom I have worked with on co-funded projects, foundation teams who had spent a day visiting our offices, or grantees who are in my portfolio. The conference was a unique opportunity to deepen relationships, learn together, and discuss existing or potential projects. And, for those I had not met prior, I was able to put faces to names and learn more about the professional and personal backgrounds of so many whom I will likely work with in the future. Given the number of people I already knew, the conference had a familial feel. As a colleague from another foundation put it, “this is great, we’re with our friends!”

I credit the Jim Joseph Foundation’s emphasis on collaboration for much of the reason why I, as a newer team member, arrived at the conference knowing so many people and feeling at home among my Jewish funder peers. But, I also noticed how many funders I didn’t know. And, how many funders with whom the Jim Joseph Foundation can still develop relationships. This demonstrated an incredible opportunity for the Foundation broadly, and me specifically, to develop new relationships with foundations, big or small, to better understand shared strategic priorities and potential synergies. As new foundations emerge, existing foundations evolve, and new professionals join the field, deepening relationships with other funders remains a priority.

– Aaron Saxe, Program Officer

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It didn’t take long at JFN before I learned something new. In the Pre-Conference Seminar: Scaling Up on the role funders have served to support – and sometimes hinder – successful scaling I learned a new word. The word fructify. What you ask, does the word fructify mean? It is defined as to make something fruitful or productive. Indeed, as a first time JFN attendee as a foundation professional working for the Jim Joseph Foundation, perhaps no word captures the spirit of the three days I spent in San Diego than this word.

What does JFN stand for? Quite literally, Jewish Funders Network. In San Diego at this particular convening, as I would imagine others would agree, the concept of the “Network” was a central, guiding principle. And for good reason. Now 16 months into my work at the Foundation, the relationships that my colleagues and I build are key to the success of the Foundation’s work. At JFN, I met with and fostered relationships with familiar faces, and had the opportunity to connect with individuals and organizations for the first time. Given that this work is fundamentally relational and that the Jim Joseph Foundation sees itself as a relational grantmaker where rapport and knowledge sharing between partners is pre-eminent, Jewish Funders Network provides deep value to me and the work that I do.

I see the JFN Conference as a place continuing to construct, as MIT systems theorist Peter Senge notes, a “field of shared meaning” – a safe space where funders and professionals can reflect on and have conversations about the work in which we all are engaged. Reflecting after the conference, I’m struck by how intimate this space felt, while also thinking how as Jews and foundation professionals—operating with overlapping identities—we as a field co-create value, meaning, and common understandings of who we are as Jewish Funders. Certainly this is an open-ended topic, but I found JFN so refreshing because we were able to learn from individuals and organizations who have neither the word “Jewish” nor “Funder” in their bio. Indeed, I think the future saliency of the JFN conference is to continue to cross boundaries and provide learnings from a big tent being constructed.

– Jeff Tiell, Program Associate

As readers of this blog, you are likely aware that the Jim Joseph Foundation Board has selected Barry Finestone to be the Foundation’s President and CEO. I am excited for Barry; for the Foundation Board of Directors and staff; and for stakeholders in the excellence of Jewish education.

In preparation for the transition, I took a number of steps to bolster the organizational structure of the Foundation. Most important among these moves is expanded management responsibilities for various professional personnel: in supervising and talent management for Assistant Director Dawne Bear Novicoff; in Foundation strategizing for Josh Miller, promoted to Program Director; in grantmaking responsibilities for Stacie Cherner, promoted to Senior Program Director; and Steven Green, whose relations with grantees in a lead role has increased, resulting in a change in his title to Director of Grants Management/Program Officer. We are also accelerating the learning of Program Officers Aaron Saxe and Seth Linden and Program Associate Jeff Tiell to ensure all aspects of the Foundation’s philanthropy benefit from assiduous professional involvement and oversight.

With all the understandable excitement around the transition, I am proud that the Foundation professional team remains focused on and committed to its work. Last month, many members of the Foundation professional team participated in the Summit on Jewish Teens and BBYO’s International Convention. I was fortunate to attend as well, to be a part of these experiences that were remarkable both for their scale and for their substance of content.

At the Teen Summit, philanthropists, lay leaders, foundation and federation professionals, professional leaders, researchers, educators and—critically—teens joined together to learn, to strategize, and to hear about the latest developments in Jewish teen education and engagement. We spent concentrated time together charting a new path forward that essentially places teens at the center of the Jewish teen education and engagement experience. Teens rightfully so had a prominent place at the table in all of these conversations.

This atmosphere, and this emphasis, was completely different from teen engagement efforts of a generation ago. As a community, we are growing to understand the “whole” teen, recognizing that a Jewish journey does not take place in a vacuum; rather, a Jewish journey is part of a greater life’s voyage, replete with peer and parental influences, successes, challenges, hobbies, and all that life offers. Jewish experiences designed by teens, or deeply informed by their thinking, reflect this reality.

The Foundation’s funding partners in the Summit—Maimonides Fund, The Marcus Foundation, Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Awards Committee, and Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation—created an environment that looked towards the future from a big picture perspective. Summit participants were challenged, for example, to double the number of teens engaged in Jewish life over the next five years. Yet, we are careful to balance this “counting of heads” with a goal to continue to enrich Jewish teen engagement and to enhance Jewish learning as part of that interaction. Across the country, communities now offer teen experiences that blend Jewish learning with technology; new media; sports; and guided workplace experiences that teens find valuable.

A key to the effort emphasized at the Summit is the collaboration among different kinds of funders and organizations to enhance the quality and diversity of teen offerings around the country. While the Foundation certainly recognizes the challenges of collaboration, the benefits derived from co-planning, co-funding, and co-implementation we are confident emphatically validate working together. Increased collaboration by Summit participants and others will amplify the increasingly dynamic and diverse teen offerings.

As the Summit was winding down, BBYO’s International Convention (IC) began. For those who have attended IC, they understand how difficult it is to capture in words the exuberance of Jewish life that IC represents. More than 2,500 teens gathered to explore and joyfully express their Jewishness. They heard from world renowned speakers; they dedicated themselves to causes; they planned how to engage more peers. Through it all, just as we had emphasized at the Summit, teens were the leaders of these experiences. And they will be moving forward.

Teens today are smart, inquisitive and unapologetic. They will question, they will affirm, and they will call out those for not being authentic. Teens want to lead—and many are exceptional leaders.

For the Jim Joseph Foundation, which has placed such a high priority on Jewish teen education and engagement, we returned from the Summit and IC with a sense of affirmation in our work—and with a renewed commitment to it. As the Foundation undergoes leadership transition, we will continue to work with our valued grantees, funding partners, and evaluators to foster effective and dynamic Jewish learning experiences.

“The children are the curriculum.” I read this quote on the wall of Ezra’s parent-teacher conference room, nodding in agreement and feeling grateful that my personal and professional lives have become so seamlessly intertwined.  In just over four months as a Program Officer for the Jim Joseph Foundation, I’ve become increasingly excited about how this new role combines my passions for education, philanthropy, and Judaism.

I was raised by a family of educators; my brother, both parents, and several aunts and uncles teach (or used to teach) at the early childhood through graduate levels. I arrived at the Foundation after nearly 20 years in education myself—first as a high school math and science teacher, then as a social entrepreneur co-founding and running Tutorpedia, a business with for-profit and nonprofit arms, providing personalized academic support to K-12 students.  My interest in philanthropy was engrained in me early on by my parents as well. Fundraising for Tutorpedia Foundation later in life further highlighted for me the challenges and opportunities in the world of philanthropy.  Finally, my 37 years of learning and living Jewish values – as a Hess Kramer camper, Camp Newman counselor, Tel Aviv University student, Temple Emanu-el Leadership Committee co-chair, and recent JCC preschool parent – have shaped my identity in numerous ways.

Now as a professional at the Foundation, I especially look forward to the opportunity to help research, review and identify potential new strategies regarding Leadership development.  The Foundation Board recently added growth of high-quality “Jewish education leaders” as part of the Foundation’s strategic priorities. Because of this, my onboarding process included researching our current and past grants to identify what investments the Foundation has made in the Leadership space. I learned of a range of investments that—while not focusing explicitly on Leadership—support leaders and leadership programs that train rabbis, heads of school, camp directors, teen educators, and senior nonprofit management. A few examples that highlight the Foundation’s work in the Leadership space:

• CEO Onboarding, in partnership with Leading Edge – a 12-month training program for new executives that includes professional coaching, management training, and Israel immersion;
• Community-Based Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Initiatives – a multi-faceted approach to improve teen education and engagement in up to ten local communities, each of which incorporate elements of leadership training for teen educators and teens.
• Repair the World Communities – a fellowship to build greater leadership capacity and a pipeline for service learning programs.

In my research to date, one of the many insights that stands out in describing leadership is the focus on Emotional Intelligence. This refers to one’s ability and capacity for self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.  What is immediately apparent about this short but definitive list is the focus on both the self (e.g., self-awareness, self-regulation and motivation) and others (e.g., empathy and social skills). One cannot be a leader in isolation, or in other words, “A leader is a person who takes you where you will not go alone.” It is humbling to work at a foundation with over $1.2 billion in assets that believes in the leadership ethos of relational philanthropy, i.e., working in close relationship with its grantees. This would no doubt please the Jewish leader and philosopher Martin Buber, whose I-thou dialectic emphasized the prominence of relationships in order to create meaning in our lives (and our giving). A transformative leader – whether a teacher, a parent, or a CEO – realizes and emphasizes these important relationships, and understands they are the bedrock to achieving the team’s collective mission and vision; i.e., we must work together for the effectiveness of the cause.

These insights and guiding principles are especially important to the field of Jewish education right now—estimates are that 75-90 percent of Jewish organizations will search for new CEOs in the next 5-7 years[1]. Of course the Jim Joseph Foundation is undergoing its own leadership transition, too.  A common element among all organizations that undergo this change is the critical nature of the change. Leadership, if nothing else, is effective change management.

“Leadership has to start at the top but it isn’t great unless it spreads throughout the organization. The most successful companies recognize effective leaders and harness them to maximize results.” With that in mind, I am eager and ready to support my professional colleagues and the Board as we further explore a Leadership investment strategy.  What I have learned as a teacher, parent, and entrepreneur has given me multiple perspectives on leadership that, I can only hope, will help guide the way.

[1]Bridgespan Group, “Program Proposal for a Jewish Nonprofit CEO Onboarding Program” (2014).

As the Jim Joseph Foundation has evolved and matured in its first decade of existence, the professional team has gained invaluable experience. Within the past ten years, both as a means for individual staff to develop professionally and to help meet the Foundation’s strategic goal of contributing tangibly to building the field of Jewish education, Foundation professionals have actively sought opportunities to share insights and lessons learned both at conferences and gatherings. I am pleased to offer a snapshot of this activity below.

At the Jewish Funders Network Conference in April, several members of the Foundation professional team will take part in panel sessions. Senior Program Officer Stacie Cherner will moderate a panel on how to “push evaluation to a new level.” Stacie’s training and experience in evaluation make her a key member of the Jim Joseph Foundation team, working continuously as we do to improve the Foundation’s approach to assessment and to support grantees in generating useful evaluation data and findings.

At this same conference, Foundation Assistant Director Dawne Bear Novicoff will offer a funder perspective on creating strong Jewish early childhood education settings and how those settings can be an entry point for ongoing family engagement in Jewish life. Dawne has been involved with ECE her entire career. She has played a leading role in the Foundation’s growing investment in this area, and she confers regularly with colleagues who are experienced in supporting Jewish early childhood endeavors.

I am looking forward to serving on a JFN pre-conference panel, Scaling Up—Ingredients for Taking Promising Initiatives to the Next Level. I will be joined by David Cygielman of Moishe House, Emily Hall of Olive Grove Consulting, and Aaron Bisman, founder of JDub Records.  This panel conversation will be an open and honest look at capacity building efforts in supporting Jewish education.

Prior to the JFN International Conference, members of the Foundation professional team will be at Foundation for Jewish Camp’s (FJC) Leaders Assembly. FJC has been a significant partner of the Foundation, spanning many years and over multiple grants. At the Assembly, we will have opportunities to share Foundation experiences with other funders, describing for them in detail what investment in FJC’s JWest and Jewish specialty camps incubators has taught us.

One of the Foundation’s founding principles is to share lessons learned in an effort to improve the field of Jewish education and, where possible, the broader philanthropic sector. From inception, the Jim Joseph Foundation has interacted extensively with funders and other organizations in the secular philanthropic space. Program Director Josh Miller recently participated in a panel with Lisa Farber Miller of Rose Community Foundation at the Grantmakers for Effective Organizations Collaboration Conference. Together they discussed the evolution of the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative. They shared some anticipated outcomes as the Collaborative continues to implement more community-based Jewish teen initiatives.

While Foundation employees’ status as professionals may not be a norm in the Jewish community, there is no doubt that self-reflection of one’s practices—and sharing of these insights in public settings—helps to make the Foundation program officer a more effective grantmaker.

Next month, I also will offer insights to non-profit organizations in the secular arena, as part of a seminar on The Performance Imperative at a conference hosted by the Sanford Institute of Philanthropy. I previously shared The Performance Imperative in this blog. At this seminar, I will discuss both internal grantee monitoring for organizational improvement and external evaluation of foundation-funded initiatives for increased mission effectiveness. This presentation will occur within the context of the seminar’s focus on the seven pillars of high-performing organizations.

Along with these in-person gatherings, the Foundation continues to post grant evaluations on its website. Over the last few months, we have shared evaluations on the Foundation’s Education Initiative—the $45 million investment to HUC-JIR, JTS, and YU to train more Jewish educators—and on the Jewish teen education initiative in Denver/Boulder. In a few weeks, we will feature a model documentation on a successful early childhood education initiative.

Learning individually, together as a Foundation staff, and with peers are critically important professional pursuits. “Ultimately, learning becomes consequential when it is taken up by a range of social groups and, thus, has meaning beyond the local learning community. This begins to stabilize and create value for practices that have become meaningful to a group of participants and are recognized as meaningful beyond the group” (Vadeboncoeur, A. Jennifer and Murray, Dale. “Imagined Futures in the Present: Minding Learning Opportunities.” Learning In and Across Context: Reimagining Education. NSSE, page 646).

The Jim Joseph Foundation team of grantmaking professionals looks forward to ongoing opportunities to reflect on learning, to share insights learned from that discovery, and to engage with colleagues, grantees, and communal leaders in a collective effort to continuously improve the work we do.

There is a great disparity between the nonprofit organizations that provide services ranging from hunger relief to the arts, and the traditionally slower-to-act philanthropic foundations that fund them. The fastest acting organizations deliver resources immediately to those in need; the more “tortoise”-like foundations engage in diligent planning towards long-term solutions. With this pace spectrum in mind, I think that all parties would benefit by meeting each other midway to work together for longer periods of time leading up to a grant’s proposal and subsequent implementation, creating a more coordinated funder-grantee relationship that enables deeper outcomes.

There are real challenges to operating in this manner, but, as part of my ongoing learning and reflection on our foundation’s work, I have identified certain strategies that could help to overcome those challenges to working in tandem earlier and longer.

Grants that incorporate planning and foresight help achieve a more coordinated approach between funder and grantee, and are more likely to enable development of strategies that address potential challenges. Often, a grantseeker will present a fully fleshed out proposal to a grantmaker’s program officer or Board of Directors. If the grant is awarded, the grantmaker’s involvement only starts at that moment. Accordingly, the grantmaker’s extensive due diligence in order to determine viability, feasibility, and necessity of the undertaking often prolongs implementation of the project.

Increasingly, the Jim Joseph Foundation and potential grantees connect at the idea phase, subsequently developing a grant that incorporates both a planning and implementation phase. To do this requires several factors not always characteristic of traditional grantmaking:

• Longer-term investment – This requires patience from the grantmaker since the grant may not yield many concrete results after a single year spent mostly planning. This year of planning also means that the grantseeker must have confidence and trust in allowing a grantmaker to see how “the sausage is made”—or at least planned. Timing is, of course, relative, but a long-term commitment can help create a more open and fruitful funder-grantee relationship.
• Larger dollar amount – This will account for the support necessary for proper planning, implementation, and assessment all tied together in one grant.  Speed does not mean efficiency. Rather than a race to the finish that yields immediate results, this style of collaborative work requires more patience, both by staff and board members of all parties involved
• Flexibility – In this type of model, flexibility is relevant specifically around programmatic objectives. With more time dedicated to planning, the outputs and outcomes may need to be adjusted because of a greater overall focus on strategy.   If a donor is funding towards goals not yet achieved, it helps to have a shared understanding that program-related objectives and measures of success may change over the course of the planning year.

Of note, the Jim Joseph Foundation board of directors awards grants that are often of four to five years. The foundation’s philanthropic strategy includes assessment or evaluation on the formative level so that there can be a continuous effort towards improvement.

An example of investment that would have benefited from a more significant, coordinated planning phase of the grant came in the early years of Jim Joseph Foundation’s grantmaking. The Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) approached us in 2007 with the theory that western camps receive less attention and support than their east coast peers. We recognized an opportunity to strategically fill this void. With our support, FJC launched the Teen Camper Incentive Initiative (later known as JWest Campership), a subsidy program for first time participants in Jewish overnight summer camps to attend one of 23 camps in the western U.S.  JWest Campership was an opportunity to bring 3,000 new participants into Jewish overnight summer camps and provide requisite training and enhancement for seasonal staffs at those institutions. We were the sole investor in this undertaking through a four-year grant of up to $11.2 million (all Jim Joseph Foundation grants are “up to” to help ensure a grant is implemented as planned). While the initiative included startup time, it was not truly dedicated to planning. The time was more geared towards building the infrastructure of the initiative.

If JWest Campership had been a one or even two-year grant, it most likely would have been deemed a failure by the funder and the grantee, as the grant failed to achieve camper enrollment goals. An independent evaluation in year two of the grant revealed that three obstacles stood in the way of a successful future for these investments. First, the requirements dictated that eligible overnight camps be at least three weeks long. However, school schedules in the western U.S. make a three-week camp commitment difficult for many youth. A second obstacle was the time period for which the financial incentives were offered. They were offered in decreasing amounts for two years, although parents found it more compelling if the same amount of money was spread over three years.  Finally, the goals for retention were taken from similar programs elsewhere in the country, not taking into account income levels and accessibility for west coast families. All of these changes were accounted for in a revised award letter in July 2009, which also included a no-cost extension of two additional years.

The end result of the grant, among other measured outputs and outcomes, was 3,342 first time campers who received JWest incentives (as opposed to a goal of 3,000) and 60% of Jewish campers who self-reported an increase in Jewish involvement in their personal lives.  A key learning from this investment is that even when adapting an existing program, a planning period should be included.  Thankfully, the openness of both the Jim Joseph Foundation and the Foundation for Jewish Camp allowed for the critical mid-course corrections.

But the key lesson is that these corrections might not have been necessary if appropriate time and resources had been dedicated to planning. This lesson informed how subsequent Jim Joseph Foundation grants were structured; perhaps this lesson can be the impetus for other grantmakers and grantseekers to work more closely together for extended periods of time. Both parties—and their grant beneficiaries—will be better positioned for success and long-term, positive outcomes.

As a Jew, I have always had a somewhat confused relationship with New Year’s Day. It is the secular new year, where champagne flutes abound, and the year begins anew. Where folks make proclamations and resolutions about how they plan to change in the coming year. Indeed, there is a brief societal moment of reflection – where we’ve been, what has happened, who has passed on – that then quickly leads into the flurry of January.

As a Jew, however, I find myself saying, didn’t I just do this a few months ago? Of course, the answer is yes, and yet given that we live in a secular, pluralistic society, there is a place in my head and heart to go through this exercise again. To reflect about the power and purpose inherent in the beginning; in the new.

Here at the Jim Joseph Foundation we hold “beginnings” in very high regard. The work that we are privileged to do together with grantee partners is greatly influenced by these beginnings. For many grants, a great amount of work is done before the grant is even awarded. These planning processes are pivotal in providing the necessary soil for an initiative or project to take root. Further, the processes and relationships that are undertaken and built after the grant award can make a pronounced difference in the success of the work over both the short and long-terms through the cultivation of trust between the funder and the grantee.

A great example of the significance of beginnings is the Jim Joseph Foundation’s recent grant to the Jewish Emergent Network (JEN).  Foundation funding will help pilot two cohorts of Rabbinic Fellows (14 total) to participate in a fellowship program – spending two years serving and learning under senior rabbis and executive directors from seven “emergent Jewish communities.” These communities include Los Angeles (IKAR); Chicago (Mishkan); New York (Lab Shul and Romemu); San Francisco (The Kitchen); Seattle (Kavana); and Washington D.C. (Sixth & I). The grant is designed to prepare the Fellows to assume leadership roles as innovative community-builders in all different types of settings—poised to educate, engage and serve an array of target populations, most importantly young adults and families with young children.

To lay the groundwork for this initiative, these communities strategized, strengthened their relationships with each other, and even worked together at times for close to two years before the Foundation invited a grant proposal. During this time, they had a robust dialogue about their vision for the future; often including the Foundation in their discussion: how they would work together to build this emergent Jewish field and engage in a planning process that incorporated the desires and concerns of all member communities.

As the planning processes for the JEN continue in earnest through the spring, the Jim Joseph Foundation continuously looks to establish practices that will positively influence our shared measures of success. This is integrally part of our work and identity as a relational funder. Our practice is nested in building strong and effective relationships with grantee partners. This practice is reflected in working together with the grantee on the award letter to co-create a document with which both parties feel comfortable. This process allows for mutual buy-in and a shared sense of identity in the actual mechanics of the grant.  So, too, for instance is setting up regular check-in calls every 4-6 weeks to look carefully at progress being made with grants implementation. This practice can have lasting implications for the health of the relationship, and thus, the strength of the initiative.

With our secular new year underway, we are reminded of the many types of beginnings – both in life and work – and how those beginnings serve and connect us to the shared success of our work.

2016 is unlike any other year at the Jim Joseph Foundation since I began working with Board Chair Al Levitt and the entire Board of Directors to build the organization that Jim Joseph, z”l, bestowed and envisioned. A schedule that calls for four of the Foundation’s Directors who were at the Board table a decade ago to rotate off the Board is now in effect. Dr. Susan Folkman concludes her dedicated service this first week of 2016. Dr. Folkman will be followed this year by Jerry Somers and Phyllis Cook, respectively (following the Foundation’s second and fourth 2016 Board meetings), each completing multiple terms as a founding Director.

In addition to Directors’ departures, this is my final year as the Foundation’s Executive Director. I am under contract until the end of 2016. But the Foundation’s search for its first ever professional Chief Executive Officer/President is proceeding smoothly, and it is conceivable the new CEO/President could begin onboarding in late spring.

At a time of transition such as this, I know it is critically important to have experienced staff positioned for future success. Fortunately, the current team of Jim Joseph Foundation professionals and our grants management and administrative staff works effectively together. It is a high functioning team, based on excellent results measurably achieved by most of the Foundation’s grantees and a comparatively small staff that implements the Foundation’s grantmaking. Continuity of personnel can be key to maintaining performance during a time of leadership change. I am confident my successor will find these talented professionals and skilled administrative team members to be the bedrock of the Jim Joseph Foundation’s philanthropic effectiveness.

It is a coincidence that as I prepare to work closely with my to-be-named successor that a new CEO Onboarding pilot program will be formally announced this month and launched in April. Funded by the Jim Joseph, Schusterman, and Weinberg Foundations, the CEO Onboarding program will be offered in partnership with Leading Edge (formally known as the Jewish Leadership Pipelines Alliance). At no other time in my 25 years of service to the Jewish community can I recall the level and intensity of focus that is being dedicated to talent-identifying, recruiting, employing, supporting and developing, promoting and retaining skilled individuals to undertake the work our community is compelled and required to do (Leading Edge, incidentally, will be experimenting with a new program of its own, called Leading Places to Work)

While governance, leadership, management and organizational change issues have consumed much of my time these past few months, the Foundation is poised to execute on an exciting slate of grantmaking opportunities in 2016.  The late March Board meeting grant docket is already full of several highly promising initiatives that are in proposal development. The Foundation is pursuing potential new investments in numerous areas of strategic interest, such as community-based teen education; Israel education; and Jewish overnight camping. The Board has asked its professionals to explore philanthropy in support of educational technology and new media, as well as research into Jewish education, broadly construed. We are also contemplating holding a few important convenings in 2016. As a professional team, we look forward to active participation in conferences such as JFN, JPRO, The General Assembly and NRJE. We plan to continue to blog regularly, with all Foundation professionals encouraged to share insights and lessons learned with the field. So, with the New Year just beginning, I have to say that it looks like it will be an eventful 2016 for the Jim Joseph Foundation.

As we approach the end of any year, I customarily take time to reflect on the Foundation’s efforts over the previous twelve months. In 2015, with dedicated grantee partners, the Foundation continued to pursue its vision of “increasing numbers of Jews engaging in Jewish life and learning.” There were landmark new grants; grants that concluded with goals exceeded; and evaluations that both offered key lessons and demonstrated outcomes achieved. 2015 also marked our tenth year of grantmaking, which the Foundation celebrated by honoring our founder and highlighting the important work of grantees and evaluators over the decade.

In this, my final blog of the year, I want to share some exciting developments around the Foundation’s Evaluators’ Consortium, comprised of the small number of highly skilled evaluators and researchers with whom the Foundation works. The Consortium’s efforts most likely are not well known to you. Yet the Consortium’s work is deeply important to the Foundation’s efforts and potentially could to lead to novel results in the measurement and assessment of programs in the field of Jewish education.

As we noted, the initial goal in forming the Evaluators’ Consortium evolved into something bigger: moving toward a common set of measures (survey items, interview schedules, frameworks for documenting distinctive features of programs) to be developed and used as outcomes and indicators of Jewish learning and growth for teens and young adults. The Consortium’s convening at the Foundation last month charted new territory for the Foundation in this important direction. For a day and a half, we explored how research and evaluation methods in other fields can be applied to the measurement of Jewish learning and growth. Participants and presenters included leading scholars and researchers from both the Jewish and secular education worlds.

We were fortunate to hear from Professor Christian Smith of Notre Dame University. Dr. Smith began the National Study on Youth and Religion in 1999, examining religious formation, identity, and engagement among predominantly (but not exclusively) Christian youth. His analysis of the habits of religious teens and their families—both Jewish and non-Jewish—along with his own evolution as a researcher examining this area were insightful and certainly will inform the Consortium’s future efforts.

Ms. Cinnamon Daniel, Director of Research & Evaluation for Girl Scouts of Northern California, shared the Scouts’ efforts to develop measurable outcomes across the broad array of scouting programs. Ms. Daniel cautioned about collecting too much data, while noting that data utilization over the long run holds genuine promise for improving the Girl Scout experience.

Professor Anne Colby of Stanford discussed her work in moral development of adolescents. She reviewed several research methodologies the Consortium could consider adapting. Professor Tomas Jimenez, also of Stanford, shared his highly regarded research on Mexican American identity, including that community’s own challenges with assimilation.

The presentation laden with the greatest implications for the Foundation was made by Professor Michael Feuer, Dean of the George Washington University (GWU) Graduate School of Education & Human Development, and Dr. Naomi Chudowsky of TrueScore Consulting. With funding received from the Jim Joseph Foundation, GWU currently is developing a common set of long term outcomes and shared metrics to improve the Foundation’s ability to look at programs and outcomes across grantees and over time. Meeting participants were especially excited to learn about Feuer and Chudowsky’s team’s plan to develop an online menu—in consultation with evaluation experts and practitioners—from which grantees can choose to measure their program outcomes. This would inherently mean that organizations would use common language and measures, a critical step for the field.

Frederick M. Hess, resident scholar and Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, observes:

The right mix of experts can help identify tensions, incentives and the contours of possible solutions…Expertise has a terrifically useful place [in problem solving], as long as we understand what the experts actually know, which is how to do specific, concrete tasks right.
– Hess, Frederick. “You say ‘expert,’ I say…not so much.” I used to think…And I now I think… Ed. Richard F. Elmore. pg. 79.

With that principle in mind, a diversity of great minds is critical to the Consortium’s evolution and its ability to pursue its ambitious mission. If you would like an in-depth look at this evolution, please see Cindy Reich’s abridged version of her dissertation, which is a case study on the Consortium. It is an informative document for the Foundation and, I believe, the broader field.

The Evaluator Consortium’s efforts are not front and center in the Foundation’s philanthropy. But the Consortium’s contributions to the Jim Joseph Foundation’s efforts to continuously improve its strategic grantmaking are critical.  What began as a collection of researchers and evaluators with an experimental idea of goals evolved in 2015 into a focused, collaborative effort that I believe puts us on the brink of producing highly valuable tools for Jewish education. Evaluators and grantees working closely with Jim Joseph Foundation professionals bring focus and sophistication to the Foundation’s grantmaking.

Wishing you a Happy New Year.

There is a great disparity between the nonprofit organizations that provide services ranging from hunger relief to the arts, and the traditionally slower-to-act philanthropic foundations that fund them. During my time in the nonprofit world, I have grown to appreciate that both sectors have valid reasons for operating at the pace at which they are comfortable. As a ubiquitous example, disease and famine plague populations indigenous to third world countries. The longer we delay sending resources, the more suffering will occur. While on its surface this example seems to be an argument for the “hare” approach—the fastest acting organizations deliver resources immediately to those in need—it also makes a case for the “tortoise” approach, which includes more diligent planning towards long-term solutions.

To be clear, I realize that neither foundations nor nonprofit organizations are monolithic. Some foundations of course act quickly, while some nonprofit organizations are slower moving operations. But, with this broad framework in mind, I think that organizations would benefit by slowing down their rush to the finish, and, conversely, that foundations might consider speeding up in order to “meet” the nonprofit organizations midway. There are real challenges to these adjustments, but, as part of my continued learning as Director of Grants Management and Administration at the Jim Joseph Foundation, I have identified certain strategies that could help to overcome them.

Perhaps one method to achieve a more coordinated approach is to incorporate greater planning into grant making. Typically, a grant seeker will present a fully fleshed out idea to a grantmaker’s Board of Directors, such that the grantmaker becomes involved  only when funding is needed to support the venture. Accordingly, the grantmaker’s extensive due diligence in order to determine viability, feasibility, and necessity of the undertaking often prolongs implementation of the project.

What if, rather than waiting to receive a completed grant proposal, the grantmaker and the grant seeker came together at the idea phase, subsequently developing a grant that incorporated both a planning and implementation phase? This would require several factors not always characteristic of traditional grantmaking:

1. Longer-term investment – This requires patience from the grantmaker since the grant may not yield many concrete results after a single year spent mostly planning. Timing is, of course, relative, but a long-term commitment can help create a more open and fruitful funder-grantee relationship. Of note, the Jim Joseph Foundation Board of Directors awards grants that are often of four to five years.
2. Larger dollar amount – This will account for the support necessary for proper planning, implementation, and assessment all encompassed in one grant.  The Jim Joseph Foundation’s philanthropic strategy includes assessment or evaluation on the formative level so that there can be a continuous effort towards improvement.
3. Flexibility – In this type of model, flexibility is relevant specifically around programmatic objectives.  If a donor is funding towards goals not yet achieved, it helps to have a shared understanding that program-related objectives and measures of success may change over the course of the planning year.

On the other side of the equation, a coordinated approach with an emphasis on planning may also require several factors not always characteristic of grant seekers, including:

1. Inclusion – This pertains to the inclusion of the grantmaker in the decision-making process, rather than waiting for the idea to be brought to fruition.  It involves requesting a strategic investment rather than just a tactical donation. And it requires confidence and trust in allowing a grantmaker to see how “the sausage is made”—or at least planned.
2. Time – In my various professional capacities, including working on behalf of a grant seeker, I came to understand that speed does not mean efficiency. Rather than a race to the finish that yields immediate results, this style of collaborative work requires more grantee patience, both by staff and board members. Perhaps more time than before would also be invested in brainstorming and assessment than in the overall implementation.
3. Adjusted Outcomes – With more time dedicated to planning, the outputs and outcomes may need to be adjusted because of a greater overall focus on strategy.  There has to be an appetite for this if one is to engage in an extensive planning process.

An example of this type of investment came in the early years of Jim Joseph Foundation grantmaking.  In July 2007, the Foundation for Jewish Camp launched the Teen Camper Incentive Initiative (later known as JWest Campership), a subsidy program for first time participants in Jewish overnight summer camps to attend one of 23 camps in 13 states in the western U.S.  The theory was that western camps receive less attention and support than their east coast peers. JWest Campership, therefore, would be an opportunity to bring 3,000 new participants into Jewish overnight summer camps and provide requisite training and enhancement for seasonal staffs at those institutions. The sole investor in this undertaking was the Jim Joseph Foundation through a four-year grant of up to $11.2 million. While the initiative included startup time, it was not truly dedicated to planning. The time was more geared towards building the infrastructure of the initiative.

That said, if JWest Campership had been a one-year grant, it most likely would have been deemed a failure by the funder and the grantee. Why? In 2008, 720 new campers were enrolled and incentivized in JWest Camps, as opposed to 1,000 set forth as the goal.  In 2009, 626 first time campers enrolled, 43% less than the 1,100 camper goal.  The retention rate of 1^st year campers was 58% versus a goal of 80%.

An independent evaluation revealed that three obstacles stood in the way of a successful future for these investments, some of which may have been discovered with even greater time dedicated to planning.  One obstacle was that the requirements dictated that eligible overnight camps be at least three weeks long. While this is a common camp session length in the east and Midwest, this requirement does not account for differences in school schedules in the west making three week sessions an unlikely option for many campers, excluding a large portion of the eligible pool.  A second obstacle was the duration of time for incentives.  They were offered in decreasing amounts for two years, although parents found it more compelling if the same amount of money was spread over three years.  Finally, the goals for retention were taken from similar programs elsewhere in the country, not taking into account income levels and accessibility for west coast families. All of these changes were accounted for in a revised award letter in July 2009, which also included a no-cost extension of two additional years.

The end result of the grant, among other measured outputs and outcomes, was 3,342 first time campers who received JWest incentives (as opposed to a goal of 3,000) and 60% of Jewish campers who self-reported an increase in Jewish involvement in their personal lives.  A key learning from this investment is that even when adapting an existing program, a period of planning should be included.  Thankfully, the openness of both the Jim Joseph Foundation and the Foundation for Jewish Camp allowed for the critical mid-course corrections.

But the key lesson is that these corrections might not have been necessary if appropriate time and resources had been dedicated to planning.  Perhaps this lesson can be the impetus for both grantmakers and grantseekers to work more closely together for extended periods of time. Both parties—and their grant beneficiaries—will be better positioned for success and long-term, positive outcomes.

One of the genuine privileges of working at the Jim Joseph Foundation is the opportunity to see the evolution of Jewish education—from changes that start as ideas and theories, to eventual on-the-ground learning experiences shaping Jewish journeys of our youngest community members. I routinely comment that nothing substitutes for leaving the Foundation’s office, watching talented grantees carry out this important work, and seeing contemporary Jewish education in action. Particularly special moments are when Foundation team members ourselves engage in these learning experiences.

Certainly over the last few years an exciting development in our field has been the growth and increased sophistication of the Jewish Outdoor, Food, and Environmental Education (JOFEE) movement. Along with other funding partners, the Jim Joseph Foundation has studied this field, supported its leaders, and watched as they engage increasing numbers of people in Jewish life.

In fact, months ago, as the Jim Joseph Foundation sought to schedule our fall community service outing, we settled on a JOFEE experience right in our backyard—Urban Adamah, one of four recipients of the Foundation’s recent JOFEE grant.

Our outing earlier this month to Urban Adamah was personally fulfilling and professionally important. Urban Adamah hosts a range of Jewish learning experiences—many centered around working on their farm—for Jews of all ages and from a range of backgrounds. Much of the work of Urban Adamah helps provide about 1,100 lbs. per month of healthy, organically farmed produce to nearby underprivileged communities.

In this context, as the entire Foundation team engaged in volunteer work, the funder-grantee relationship reached a new level of understanding and respect. Led by Urban Adamah’s talented team, we sifted soil and cleared space for new crops. All the while, a few things struck me:

First, we caught just a glimpse in our few hours there of the seamless integration with which Urban Adamah incorporates Jewish learning into these activities. While Urban Adamah offers a range of learning opportunities for various age groups, I appreciated the staff’s ability to naturally and effectively reference Jewish text and laws regarding food, treatment of animals, and the like. It reinforced the J in JOFEE.

Second, Urban Adamah’s Adam Berman started our time there with a blind-folded tour of the site—an exercise in truly using multiple senses as part of a learning experience. A farm lends itself especially well to a tour of this sort. We said the blessing and ate kale directly from the earth. Later, we held out our hands with seed as we waited for chickens to eat—all while blindfolded. Learners in many sites can literally get more in touch with their surroundings by an initial blindfolded tour. What a memorable, resonate way to experience a site and to build a personalized connection to it.

All of our work that afternoon occurred as Urban Adamah Fellows, high schoolers, were on the farm as well continuing their year-long experience. How great it was for our Foundation team to talk a bit with these youth as they neared completion of their program.

Earlier that same week, I was fortunate to interact with an entirely different group of Foundation beneficiaries at the second seminar gathering of Yeshiva University’s 5^th cohort of the Certificate in Experiential Jewish Education Program. When I recall what constituted experiential Jewish education just ten years ago, I am gratified with tangible advancements being made in building the field. Led by Shuki Taylor, YU’s EJE program has trained hundreds of individuals to be leaders and educators with the skills to impart Jewish learning in a multitude of settings.

Meeting with cohort 5 students and playing an active role in their seminar is one process by which the Foundation enacts its relational grantmaking approach. These interactions offer numerous benefits to the funder, the grantee, and the student beneficiaries. As just one example, Allison Rubin, Director of Institutional Advancement at YU, explained how the funder presence there helped the cohort members more deeply understand the growing educational movement of which they are now a part:

We saw Chip’s most recent visit as a powerful educational moment. We believe that as a part of the educative process, leaners must be exposed the ‘behind the scenes’ of what makes their education possible. The human, time, and financial resources that go into making such programs possible are enormous. Exposure to these resources allow learners to understand how design, objectives and outcomes serve as the foundations of the education we offer, while informing their own planning. 

Whether with an emerging field like JOFEE or a more established one like experiential Jewish education, at the Jim Joseph Foundation we believe in substantial engagement both with grantees and the diverse participants they serve. Other Foundation staff members recently shared their experiences interacting directly with grantees and making themselves available to participants and alumni of their programs. It is during these moments—when the Foundation is in the heart of Jewish learning experiences—that we reaffirm the purpose of our efforts and the inestimable value of strong relationships with the organizations and partners with whom we work.