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