Announcing the Inaugural Israel Impact Grants Initiative Grantees

Two years ago, the Jewish Community Federation (JCF) launched an ambitious pilot to revolutionize its grant making efforts. Known as the Impact Grants Initiative (IGI), this new model adopted a venture philanthropy approach that offered high engagement opportunities for previously unaffiliated local donors and lay leaders while identifying high performing nonprofits that can make significant impact on local Jewish communities.

The concept of venture philanthropy, which combines theories and techniques used in venture capital strategies and business with philanthropic practice, provides a platform to highly engage donors and make strategic and tactical community investments. Typically, venture philanthropies focus on capacity building grants, instead of providing support for direct service delivery or general operations. They also provide funding as multi-year grants.

In January of this year, the IGI approach was adopted for an innovative partnership with the Israel Venture Network (IVN) to engage people in our local community in a unique collaboration with Israeli colleagues to identify and co-fund high performing social ventures in Israel.  The team is made up of a diverse group of talented and thoughtful individuals including business owners, non-profit leaders, and  high-tech entrepreneurs who spent months learning about Israel’s social issues and trends as well as the emerging field of social impact investment. This IGI culminated in a week-long trip to Israel to visit the seven enterprises under consideration and to make the final funding decision.

IGI team in decision-making mode

The team ultimately decided to fund three high-impact enterprises with the possibility of a fourth:

Susan’s House employs youth at risk in the production and sale of unique glass, jewelry and housewares.  This venture is run by a member of the ultra-orthodox community, who mentors and guides his program participants to develop self-esteem, communal values, interpersonal relationships and job skills.

Mitam provides a variety of human resource services to non-profits in a sector in Israel that typically lacks the knowledge and financial capacity to hire full-time HR professionals.

Jobs4Moms is an online job search platform geared toward mothers seeking quality full and part-time jobs that have the flexibility necessary to combine parenting and a career that utilizes their skills and experience.

Pending: Rakea aims to revolutionize academic studies for young Ultra-Orthodox students by weaving Torah studies into math textbooks. Typically, these students forgo the core studies in math, science and English for exclusively Jewish texts, and leave behind an education that’s critical for employment outside the yeshiva.

Not only did this experience yield three exceptionally effective  new Federation grantees representing an important and emerging sector in Israel, it also built and cemented bonds among the IGI team and created new relationships between the team and Federation.

For more information on the Israel Impact Grants Initiative, contact Siggy Rubinson at 415.512.6429.

Announcing the recipient of the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for Young Leadership

Each year we honor a recipient of the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for Young Leadership. Recipients are consistent leaders in our Federation volunteer community, have great potential for future leadership, and are 40 years old or younger. Please join us in congratulating this year’s recipient, Brett Goldstein.

Brett Goldstein

Brett Goldstein was born, raised and lived on the east coast until moving to San Francisco in ’03.  He began his engagement with the SFJCF in 2006 on the Tel Aviv One mission to Israel.  Since then, he has actively served as a lay leader in many different capacities throughout the Jewish community.  Currently, he serves on the JCF’s Executive Allocation Committee, as well as the Leadership Development Committee.  Brett is very proud to have helped re-establish the Fed-Fellows program this past year.  He participated on the first IGI committee and maintains an active role as a liaison with one of the agencies funded through the initiative (G-dcast).  Prior to his current JCF roles, Brett spent 3 years on the YAD board and as a member of the executive committee where he chaired the annual campaign.  In addition, he spent 3 years working on the Educating & Engaging Commission, as well as a Finance sub-committee that worked closely with struggling grantee agencies.  He currently serves on the board of the San Francisco Hillel on their executive committee and is the 2013/2014 incoming board President.

Brett was married to his best friend Marisa in July 2010. They have a 2-year-old daughter, Billie, and a 10-month-old son, Simon.  Marisa and Brett were married in New Jersey and their ceremony happened to be officiated by 2009 Dinkelspiel award winner Kevin Waldman.

The Impact Grants Initiative Brings Local Organizations Together to Engage Families in Jewish Life

The Impact Grants Initiative (IGI) is an engaged, empowered, and effective approach to grantmaking. In 2011, the Federation’s Board launched the IGI as a way to provide donor-participants with a “hands-on” way to make a real difference in our community by making high impact grants that focus on a pressing community need. Through the IGI approach we have provided innovative Jewish programs within traditional organizations or new nonprofits with multi-year funding to succeed, and capacity building support to thrive. And ultimately, the grants awarded as a result of this new model help build a more vibrant, connected and enduring Jewish Community.

Deborah Pinsky is the Executive Director of the Peninsula Jewish Community Center (PJCC).  The PJCC was awarded a grant from JCF’s inaugural North Peninsula Regional Impact Committee, for a project that will be executed in partnership with Kevah, an organization dedicated to fostering Jewish identity and community through the study of classical Jewish texts.  The two organizations, one an established institution, the other a younger “Up-starter,” are joining together to address a community-wide challenge – engaging North Peninsula families with young children and teens in Jewish life. Collaborative partnerships like these are just one example of the many benefits of the IGI approach.

Following is a conversation between Sara Bamberger, ED of Kevah, and Deborah Pinsky, ED of PJCC, on their IGI experience and their emerging fruitful partnership.

How is the JCF IGI process different from other grant application processes that you’ve been involved with?

Deborah Pinsky, PJCC: It’s rare that a large, local, deeply committed group of community leaders is involved “soup to nuts” in a grant process – from conception and framing of the RFP, to reviewing and evaluating the requests, to interviewing applicants and making grant decisions. One result, for us, was the committee urging us to put our heads together with Kevah, which had submitted a funding request with overlapping themes, ideas and methods. The resulting conversations turned into a joint proposal for Do Justice: Fighting Hunger; a project we expect to transform Jewish engagement and leadership development on the North Peninsula.

Sara Bamberger, Kevah:  While this is the first IGI grant we’ve received in partnership with another organization, this actually isn’t our first IGI grant — Kevah has been fortunate to receive IGI grants from other JCF IGI grantmaking groups. One of the things that makes the IGI grant process unique is the liaison piece.  Each grantee is assigned one or two committee members as ongoing liaisons during the life of the grant.  This means that the relationship between the funder, JCF, and the grantee, is deeper than simply the funder sending a check, and the grantee sending an end-of-year report. Rather, the liaisons are in touch with us throughout the year, to help us identify and address any challenges along the way, and ultimately ensuring the best outcomes for the project.  This is ideal for the organization implementing the program, and for the funder, which hopes to maximize outcomes.

How was the grant application process helpful to your organization?

Deborah Pinsky, PJCC: The process not only resulted in suggesting a possible collaboration, but gave us enough time to work with Kevah to conceptualize the new partnership and our joint proposal. We were strongly encouraged to be innovative and to think out-of-the-box, which is exactly what we did. The grant also commits funds to an expert-led process that will help us develop, measure and evaluate project outcomes in conjunctions with other IGI grantees in the South Peninsula. We’re looking forward to that. Finally, it’s exciting and unusual for applicants to be encouraged to request multi-year grants. In today’s environment, longer-term funding commitments are more crucial than ever for long-range success, especially for a project like ours that creates a partnership between organizations with very distinct profiles and cultures.

What was it like working with the IGI committee through the application and interview process?

Deborah Pinsky, PJCC: It was great. Both the staff and committee members were highly committed to a give and take process that could best lead to the outcomes they sought. One outcome, of course, was the PJCC-Kevah collaboration that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. The caliber of the committee members also led to a very thoughtful RFP and the knowledge that we had to come well-prepared for our “final interview”.

What does this grant enable your organization(s) to do that you couldn’t before?

Deborah Pinsky, PJCC: The Do Justice: Fighting Hunger project launches a robust multi-year effort combining so many great things — organic gardening; learning about and feeding the hungry; engaging in meaningful, interactive, family-focused Jewish learning about social justice and Tikkun Olam; giving families incredible hands-on experiences with Urban Adamah and Wilderness Torah; identifying and training new Jewish leaders; and enabling Kevah learning groups to become embedded for the long-term on the North Peninsula, with an on-site presence at the PJCC. It’s simply going to be transformational for our community.

Sara Bamberger, Kevah:  For Kevah, this grant offers a unique opportunity to enter a new market in an innovative way.  Also, we’ve never partnered with a JCC before, and we are thrilled at having the opportunity to use Kevah as a platform for the PJCC to deepen its ability to provide quality Jewish content, as well as a way to create ongoing programming that takes place outside the JCC’s walls.

For more information on the North Peninsula Regional IGI, contact Adina Danzig Epelman, Program Officer, Regional Grantmaking at 415.512.6216.

Starting the Conversation: Engaging More Families in Jewish Life in the South Peninsula

In late July, seventy people gathered at the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto.  It was mid-day, mid-week, in mid-summer but the room was buzzing with energy.  The crowd was eager to commence a community conversation on how to engage more families in Jewish Life on the South Peninsula.

SEE ALL THE EVENT PHOTOS IN OUR FACEBOOK ALBUM

The event was part of the South Peninsula Regional Impact Committee’s grantmaking process.  The Committee is one of JCF’s new regional grantmaking bodies employing innovative, high-impact grantmaking methods, aiming to achieve measurable impact and positive change in the local Jewish community.

Committee members, a group of 16 people from a variety of ages, backgrounds and denominations, had come together over the prior months to narrow options for which community challenge to focus this year’s grant round.  This year’s issue for the South Peninsula — “engaging families”– reflects a growing concern.  Each generation of Jews (with the exception of the Orthodox) is less and less engaged in their Jewish heritage and culture, and therefore less connected to one other and our Jewish community.  At the same time, many in the South Peninsula are looking for connection and relationships with like-minded people who share an interest in participating in Jewish life.

Who better to ask than the residents themselves?

The Committee invited the community and potential grantees to share in dialogue. The goal: for community members, the committee and those working on grant proposals to be in same room, associating with one another and gaining a deeper understanding of some of our local community challenges.  What works?  What is broken? What are some compelling solutions?

Each of nine small table groups sat immersed in deep discussion.  People were chatting with strangers from various areas of the Jewish community, having conversations and finding common ground with people who don’t intersect in their daily lives.

“The event was conceived of to enrich the proposal development process.  What we didn’t anticipate was how the conversation itself would be a meaningful connection for so many of us who were there.” ~ Adina Danzig Epelman, Program Officer, Regional Grantmaking

At the close of the session, participants were asked to share one word that described what they were thinking or feeling.

Connection.  Hopeful.  Possibility.  Relationship.  Empowered. Collaboration. Pride and Joy.

These were just some of the responses.  These words, and the significant attendance confirms that we are headed in the right direction.  Local Jews are hungry to connect and eager to share ideas.

This first South Peninsula Impact Grant Initiative (IGI) round will grant $500,000 over the coming three years. And we hope the next grant round will motivate even more conversation and collaboration.  There is much to do.  And it’s reassuring to know that there are so many of us out there who are interested and willing to add their voice.

IGI applicants meet members of the granting committee to ask questions and learn about the grantmaking process.

An Interview with an Impact Grants Initiative Grant Maker

The Impact Grants Initiative (IGI) employs a high engagement and empowerment approach to grantmaking modeled on social venture philanthropy. We launched the IGI last year as a way to provide donor-participants with a “hands-on” way to make a real difference in our community by making high impact grants that focus on a pressing community need. Through the IGI approach we have provided innovative Jewish programs within traditional organizations or new nonprofits with the multi-year funding needed to be successful, as well as the type of nonfinancial support that helps them thrive. And ultimately, the grants awarded as a result of this new model help build a more vibrant, connected and enduring Jewish community. In fact, the IGI approach has proved so successful that we have launched another grant round for engaging young adults, another to engage our young Russian community, and incorporated it into our current Regional Impact effort in the South and North Peninsula, and will soon launch one focused on Israel. We spoke with Lois Wander, a participant from the first grant round to get her feedback on her experience:

Lois Wander, a first round IGI Initiative committee member

How has being part of the first IGI grant round changed how you approach philanthropy?

“I really appreciate the new approach to treat the grantees as ‘investments,’ a la the venture capitalist model. It allowed us to select grantees that were innovative and new, yet with a solid business plan to help mitigate risk. A large focus of our criteria was to support organizations that were scalable and serving a current need. I think we achieved that with our grantees.”

How have you been involved with the grantee since they received the grant? What has that experience been like for you?

“Yes, I along with Brett Goldstein serve as the liaisons for G-dCast, led by Sarah Lefton. Sarah is a real dynamic leader, with tons of enthusiasm and skills. We’ve met with her several times the past year to hear her progress, provide suggestions and resources. We’re excited to follow her progress.”

Do you think the IGI is a good approach for a more hands-on approach to grantmaking?

“Absolutely! I really enjoyed the process of designing the application and goals and assessing the applications. I always appreciate hearing other people’s opinions and the lively discussion that inevitably ensues when strong minded, passionate people come together. “

What about as a way to involve young adults with the Federation?

“I think it’s a great way to get young adults involved with the Federation. You learn a lot about philanthropy, including new approaches, and get to know some great people in the process.”

Year-one reveals promising results

The Impact Grants Initiative committee met to review the seven grantees’ progress to date and their second year plans. On the whole, the grantees have made tremendous strides in building their own capacity to engage more people in the Jewish community. For example, Kevah expanded its services from 250 to 420 participants, the Idelsohn Society engaged 25,000 visitors through its Tikva pop-up store, and the Russian Moishe House has attracted 745 participants through nearly 50 programs. Other organizations took a little longer to launch, but they expect to make great progress in their efforts by the end of 2012.

IGI reflects the Federation’s move towards more results-oriented grantmaking and better positions the organization to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future. This effort is funded by a $1,000,000 allocation from the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, which will be distributed over a three-year period.

For more information on IGI: please contact Adin C. Miller, Senior Director of Community Impact and Innovations.

Redrawing the People of the Book

Sarah Lefton, Executive Director of G-dcast

Sarah Lefton has held some impressive titles – tech media producer, journalist, and entrepreneur are just a few. She was also named as one of the Forward 50 most influential Jews of 2009.

I heard a story from a friend that made me reply ‘Who knew that’s Jewish?’ said Sarah, “and that made me realize I could teach people things and start an interest in a learning adventure.”

That’s why since 2008, she and her crew of editors, animators, educators, and 55 diverse guest writers and narrators from across the globe have been working feverishly to restore credibility to the phrase The People of the Book. “Animation allows you to have fun because it’s playful,” she says.

Sarah’s goal is to raise basic Jewish literacy by introducing the building blocks that make Jewish life accessible. Her work has impacted everyone from kids to teachers, from secular to Hassidic, sometimes even people she wouldn’t expect to hear from.

To date, G-dcast has created 62 short films – all available for free on their website – based on Jewish texts that have been viewed nearly a million times on the web, social media networks and mobile devices. Their companion curricula are in use by over 3000 educators at institutions across the Jewish spectrum and around the world.

ABOUT G-DCAST: By making quirky and charming cartoons of our classic Jewish texts, G-dcast is animating today’s telling of the Torah. Their new division targets educators and parents of young teens by creating films explicitly for a young adult audience to encourage conversations about Jewish life. As an IGI recipient, G-dcast received a total of $150,000 from the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund which will be distributed over a three-year period.