Why It’s a Win for All: The Jewish Teen Funder Collaborative’s New Home at JFNA
November 8th, 2021
In 2013, the Jim Joseph Foundation wanted to understand and address the perpetual problem of teens dropping out of Jewish life following b’nai mitzvah. The Foundation posed some big questions to itself and to researchers it commissioned to understand the challenge. How could the Jewish community engage more — and more diverse — post-b’nai mitzvah teens in Jewish experiences that add meaning and value to their lives? How could we strengthen connections to and among Jewish teens that give them a sense of belonging?
After uncovering some potential answers, the Foundation began working with 10 local and five national funders to create 10 teen initiatives in communities across the U.S. Together, these funders and initiatives formed the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative, with the common goal to develop and invest in local engagement opportunities to create high-quality, relevant and sustainable Jewish education and engagement experiences. Importantly, the early commitment from the Jim Joseph Foundation provided matching funds that local communities used to leverage for fundraising and/or allocating significant funding themselves.
In addition to sharing a common goal, over time the communities would also share learnings, benchmarks, frameworks and measures of success. To varying degrees they each experimented with new approaches to reach diverse new audiences. While each initiative had the autonomy to create initiatives suited for and reflective of their community, undoubtedly they had a larger collective impact than they could through individual action. The Funder Collaborative built a powerful national network with deep cross-community relationships, and found relevant new ways to serve Jewish teens, such as elevating wellness as foundational to achieving teen education and engagement outcomes.
Sara Allen is executive director of the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative and associate vice president, community and Jewish life at JFNA. Aaron Saxe is a senior program officer at the Jim Joseph Foundation.