I was 18 years old when I first traveled to Israel. I remember it clearly – landing at Ben Gurion, the drive to Yerushalayim. And the overwhelming feeling that I had was that I had entered the flow of Jewish history. I was in the place where Joshua crossed into the Promised Land, where David fought Goliath. I was walking on stones that the prophets had walked on. Where every village, every valley and every street sign conjured memory. My life in Toronto was part of Jewish history, but here Jewish history was being composed. These were the recollections of an 18 year old Zionist, fueled by an abundance of Bible and Leon Uris.

But romance gives way to routine and idealism yields to pragmatism. Life goes on. Today, trips to Israel – and life in Israel – can succumb to the mundane. Days are full of meetings – rushing from one appointment to the next. Cleveland with kosher room service.

Still, this trip has been different. There are moments that one looks back at and with the perspective of time we say, “things changed then”. After that, history’s course changed a little bit. Perhaps not with the drama of bringing down the walls of Jericho or creating a new state – but we can identify the moment where we reached a fork in the road, made a decision, and began down a different path. I believe that this could be such a moment. Yes, we are facing challenges – in Israel and in Jewish communities around the world. This is not new. What is new is that we are living at a time when we have the resources to address these problems.

Yes, we heard this morning that our communities are growing apart, that the very notion of Jewish peoplehood is eroding. This is not new. What is new is an emerging leadership that views membership in a larger Jewish people as a privilege and an opportunity – as a necessary part of our identity – an ideal worth struggling for.

Yes, we know that many of our institutions – governments and not for profits – lack leadership, effectiveness and a spirit of collaboration. This is not new. What is new is a cadre of people with talent, wisdom and power – many of whom are in this room – who are through with business as usual, who are as uninterested in institutional politics as they are in the phrase “this is how its always been done”. Who are results focused and filled with passion. They are philanthropists and foundation professionals, federation execs and not for profit staff. And if they are not the majority that’s ok – they are the ultimate coalition of the willing.

History is presenting us with a moment. What will be our response?

What brought us here today? For many of you this is your first JFN conference. For others, it’s been a year since we last saw you. What has that year looked like for us? What moments did we take advantage of?

Many of you first heard of JFN through our matching grants programs which have resulted in a unique approach that is changing the way the giving world looks at matching grants.  Our programs emphasize donor choice with regard to where the funds go—it’s an incentive structure that has re-defined the form.  Last June, we completed the Weinberg Matching Grants Initiative for the Jewish Elderly Poor for which the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation donated $2.97 million in funds to match $3.64 million in first-time gifts for a total $6.62 million to the field.  84 first time donors helped 55 non-profit organizations to address an urgently important, and sometimes hard to sell, giving area.

And in November, JFN and the Foundation for Jewish Camping launched the Matching Grant Initiative for Camper Incentives for which the FJC gave $1 million to match $1 million in first time gifts for a total of $2 million to the field.  28 donors gave to 19 camps and communities so a whole new crop of kids could experience Jewish life through summer camp.

 In January of 2008 we completed our second MATCH, the collaboration between JFN, PEJE and 5 member foundations. This year’s MATCH attracted 199 new major donors in 26 American states and Canadian provinces, and resulted in over $15 million new dollars to Jewish day schools.  Gifts ranged from $25,000 to over $100,000, with a record $6 million in pledges coming in during the program’s first hour.  This year’s MATCH was supported by The Gottesman Fund, the Rennert Foundation, The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, The AVI CHAI Foundation and an anonymous donor.

The first time we did one of these programs Arthur Fried said to me, “We better not be spending a dollar to get a dollar.” It turns out that we aren’t.  Avi Chai’s recent study of MATCH recipients tells us that MATCH has enabled school development directors to reach out successfully to donors with whom they had not previously worked— 44% of the MATCHed donors had not been cultivated at all prior to the MATCH incentive.  Our matching grants approach seems also to serve as catalyst for engaging donors for the long haul.  The same survey of schools tells us that 18 months after making their MATCH gifts, 77% of MATCHed donors have made additional gifts to their schools and that those post-MATCH gifts were on average 77% of their MATCH gift - a remarkable indicator of real philanthropic impact.

Speaking of match making, our efforts to make connections with and between our teenagers are also bearing fruit.  In March 2007 we launched the Jewish Teen Funders Network Pilot Incentive Grants Program, for which we received twice as many proposals as JTFN was in the position to fund—an early harbinger of the intense interest this program has been generating.  We gave out 10 grants of $10,000 each per year, for 3 years, to help launch new Jewish youth philanthropy programs around the country. In May, JTFN held its first Leadership Institute on Jewish Youth Philanthropy at which brought together nearly 50 professional and lay leaders of local Jewish youth philanthropy programs across the country for training and networking, and this June we’ll be holding another one day seminar in Atlanta called, “Best Practices in Youth Philanthropy.”
 
I don’t think it’s wrong to suggest that the eagerness with which these teens have embraced the opportunity to learn the art of giving ought to inspire those of us in the older set to learn a few new skills too.  One of the ways we’re challenging ourselves at JFN is to take hold of technological innovation—not because it’s trendy or flashy—but because we know that it’s one of the best ways to open up our network—to reach out to more people across our community, especially those in their 20s and 30s.
   
You’ll remember that last year was the first year we offered JFN Connect to our membership.  This year, we’re  working to integrate similar new media concepts to create a much more dynamic, interesting, and yes, good-looking website—a website that may well become your homepage—your one stop information destination. We’re working on partnerships with the Jewish Television Network, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and plenty of writers, bloggers, and designers to give you up-to-date philanthropy resources, and Jewish, national and world news right on our site, as well as conference and matching grants information. 

Of course, having a well-designed website will probably reduce the number of phone calls in which we’ve helped you find your way to our online information, but we’re confident that we’ll find other, better ways to cultivate that one-on-one interaction that we so enjoy having with our members.  We’ve just launched Quick Connect, our one stop philanthropy help desk to do just that.  It’s a toll free number and dedicated email address to which members can turn for all of their philanthropy questions, big or small.

One of the lesser known aspects of our work is something we call Foundation services. For the past several years we have been developing the capacity to allow JFN members to outsource their staffing needs to us. Today JFN serves a growing number of foundations, fulfilling all of their grantmaking needs. We help them to be more proactive in their giving, more strategic, and to leverage their gifts – getting more value out of each dollar.   With our help, these clients were able to grant about $9 million in projects in Israel and over $2 million in projects in the United States in 2007, and have taken advantage of several strategic partnerships with other members resulting in almost $4.8 million in total leveraged monies for both countries.  Next year will be even better, as we’ve received an anonymous grant from one of our members to grow the Foundation Services work we do.  This investment will enable us to hire additional grants management staff, expand our capacity, and continue to develop targeted, cutting edge resources and programming. We hope to be able to offer you strategic consulting on specific areas of your grantmaking or even on individual grants that you are contemplating or attempting to structure. We’ll be able to help you get the results you want at a value you can appreciate.

 Each year the number of Jewish foundation professionals continues to grow and so does our service to them. There were 120 Foundation Professionals at last year’s Conference in Atlanta, including 40 who participated in our first ever CEO session.  We also introduced our Foundation Professionals Resource Manual, for which we continue to get requests.   Last October, forty foundation professionals gathered for a retreat—almost twice the number of the year preceding—and had a strikingly open and honest exchange of information.  
But our programming is not for professionals only. Conference calls, regional events and monographs all continue to reflect our commitment to responding to current topics as we create our programs.  Staff are already deep into the planning of a one day funding seminar that will take place this May in Washington D.C., called iJew: Identity and Philanthropy in a User-Driven Society.

One example of an on-the-spot program response—one that shows how JFN’s commitment to growth through education and the JFN Network itself are inseparable—was the way JFN helped address the crisis in Sderot.  In response to requests from a number of members who wanted to know how best to help in Sderot, JFN organized a conference call in which several member Foundations spoke about the sociopolitical situation, their current work, and unmet needs. After the call, JFN was able to help the call speakers to organize their needs into a single document in which all of the projects were described and which ultimately received funding. It was one way that JFN could help its members to begin to address an urgent—and ongoing—need.

Which brings us once, again to the fundamental importance of our Network.  Larger, more open networks, with many different kinds of ties and social connections are more likely to introduce new ideas and opportunities to their members.  I’m therefore happy to announce that JFN has received a significant new grant to grow our network from the Alan Slifka Foundation.  The idea is to expand our presence outside of New York by creating “community based consultants” to help us promote membership in JFN and to provide a higher level of services for funders in these communities. If you are interested in helping JFN to further its reach in your community please let me know.

We have also received a grant from the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies that will allow us to round out our senior management team with an Executive Vice President.  Please join me in welcoming Ron Meier to our family.  The willingness of these member and donors to seed the expansion of JFN is a testament to their faith in us, and an extraordinary example of the strength of the network.
 
Then, again, all we really have to do is look around this very room.  When we decided to hold our annual conference in Jerusalem, we thought we’d attract 200 participants and managed our expectations accordingly. We were programming in Israel and we had very little market penetration here.  Today, a year later, there are over 350 of us here from the US, Canada, the former Soviet Union, The United Kingdom, Switzerland, Ireland, France, as far away as South Africa and Australia, and from all over Israel making this the biggest JFN Conference in history.  It’s extraordinary that so many, from so far, were able to be here in this room, together, today. 

That this conference has been so successful is a positive indicator that our two newest ventures are destined to succeed.  It’s my pleasure to announce that in 2008 the Jewish Funders Network will officially open an Israel branch and establish an office here.  This decision, made as a response to a request from a group of Israeli funders, will allow JFN to better meet the needs of its growing membership in Israel and the growing philanthropic community here.  The office will be funded in large part by its Israeli membership with seed funding being provided by the Schusterman foundation, the Nevzlin Foundation, the Recanati Foundation, the Strauss BenDror Family, and an anonymous donor.  Thank you all.

And just in case you’re worried that this new office might have a few early, idle, moments, I am pleased to announce that we will begin in full force. Our next matching grants initiative will be for Israeli philanthropists and to benefit Israeli school children.  Due to the generosity of The Chais Family Foundation and The Rashi Foundation, we now have a pool of 2 million dollars with which we’ll be able to offer a shekel for shekel match for an Israeli donor’s first gift to an Israeli school. We, together with the Chais and Rashi Foundations, believe that this program can help stimulate a wide range of Israeli philanthropists and inspire them to help schools, religious and secular, to focus on excellence. Please join me in applauding their vision and generosity. 

Lest the non Israeli’s feel left out, not to worry. We know your time here has inspired you and that you want others to view Israel as she really is, and not how she is often portrayed in the media. We know you are frustrated by the image of Israel as a land of strife – with only negative associations. We know you are concerned with the misperception that younger people are getting regarding this remarkable place. So, I’m happy to announce today that we are working with one of our member foundations to create our first ever matching grant for Israel advocacy. This program will begin with a minimum of $1million in available capital and will breathe new life and energy into a range of not for profits that are working tirelessly to improve Israel’s image in the Jewish and general community. Stay tuned for more details!

So, as you can see we are trying to take advantage of this moment – to create an environment that will help you to effect change – real change. How are YOU going to respond?

According to Winston Churchill, "Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on."

We have it within our power and within our reach to make a new beginning here today. 

We have it within our power and within our reach to work in the spirit of collaboration and not competition. 

We have it within our power and within our reach to operate like a business but not lose our humanity.

Most will respond to a difficult economy by becoming more conservative with their philanthropy. We need to be bold.

Most will cut back or delay their grantmaking. We need to increase ours.

Most will react to requests. We need to be strategic.

Most will go it alone. We need to reach out to our peers; to the people we met last night and this morning, to the people who we will spend the day with tomorrow and Thursday.

We need to focus on what the problems are and how we can solve them together.
If we imagine for just one moment that the next chapter in Jewish history was being written now, what would we want our contribution to be?  Years from now, a graduate student will be writing a paper and she'll reflect on a meeting in Jerusalem in April of 2008 where a group of funders got together to demand change. What would the next line be? If we are all determined, the next line will read, “and nothing was ever the same again".