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EVENTS
Grantmaking Pros Convening / Impact Investing Roundtable
THIRD-PARTY EVENTS
Program Models in Disability Employment (August 4)
NEWSÂ
JFN in the Headlines / We're Hiring!
NEWS FROM OUR MEMBERS
Natan Book Award / Jewish Communal Fund's New CEO / Members in the Headlines
FROM THE FIELD (CURATED ARTICLES)
Unless otherwise indicated, events listed here are limited to JFN members and those eligible for JFN membership. Eligible non-members must request permission and can attend a limited number of member events.
View the full event calendar.
Join us for a monthly virtual convening for grantmaking professionals where we will come together for shared learning and community-building. Facilitated by Mike Berkowitz and Jaré Akchin of Third Plateau Social Impact Strategies and Tamar Frydman of JFN.
Join JFN’s growing community of impact investors for a lively and action-oriented monthly roundtable, each featuring JFN members for shared learning and shared action. Each session is facilitated by JFN Board Member Vanessa Bartram of ZORA Ventures.
Read JFN's Guide to Jewish Impact Investing
This Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies webinar will focus on the findings of a recently completed study on best practice program models in disability employment. The initial idea for the study came about through discussions at a meeting of the National Affinity Group on Jewish Poverty and its Jobs workgroup! With funding from The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation (a JFN member), NJHSA developed and implemented a study on this issue in partnership with colleagues from the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce and Respectability.
In "Space at the Table for Everyone," published in eJewish Philanthropy (eJP), JFN member Kim Newstadt described the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati's experimental Reflect Cincy program. "What we learned after this project was well underway is that our model has a name: 'participatory grantmaking,'" she wrote. "When, this past spring, Jewish Funders Network (JFN) published the guide, 'Participatory Grantmaking in the Jewish Community and Beyond,' we discovered we are part of a small but growing community of Jewish funders experimenting with this approach." Learn more about Reflect Cincy in this webinar hosted by GrantED, a JFN project that seeks to strengthen relationships between grantmakers and grantseekers.
An eJP article about the economy and Jewish nonprofits quoted JFN President and CEO Andres Spokoiny: “In a time of economic crisis, philanthropy is part of the safety net.” Andres noted that during the pandemic, JFN's members gave 72 percent more than they had before. He also emphasized that it's too early to see the full impact of inflation and its processes, since “there are many things happening at the same time."
This full-time position will support JFN’s membership and program departments and will fulfill administrative duties for CANVAS, the Jewish arts and culture funding collaborative incubated at JFN. The assistant will also provide additional support for periodic event planning and our annual international conference. Applicants can work in New York City, Northampton, MA, or remotely.
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JFN member Natan and the JewÂish Book CounÂcil announced the Spring 2022 Natan Notable Book: Michael Frank’s "One HunÂdred SatÂurÂdays: StelÂla Levi and the Search for a Lost World." Twice a year, Natan Notable Books recÂogÂnizes recentÂly pubÂlished or about-to-be-pubÂlished nonficÂtion books that promise to catÂalyze conÂverÂsaÂtions aligned with the themes of Natan’s grantÂmakÂing: reinÂventÂing JewÂish life and comÂmuÂniÂty for the 21st cenÂtuÂry, shiftÂing notions of indiÂvidÂual and colÂlecÂtive JewÂish idenÂtiÂty, the hisÂtoÂry and future of Israel, underÂstandÂing and conÂfronting conÂtemÂpoÂrary forms of antiÂsemitism, and the evolvÂing relaÂtionÂship between Israel and world Jewry.
Rachel Schnoll became the new CEO of the Jewish Communal Fund, a JFN member, in June after more than 20 years at Goldman Sachs, where she served as Managing Director and Head of FinLife Partners at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management. She brings to JCF more than two decades of experience in asset and wealth management.
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation's extensive anti-poverty work in Baltimore, where it is headquartered, was recently highlighted in Inside Philanthropy. In it, Chief Program Officer Aaron Merkl explained the foundation's "real place-based strategies" in the communities it serves: "So not just writing checks to high-quality organizations, which we still do sometimes, and that’s very meaningful work, but actually deeply researching and defining problems because we want to help move the needle in a community.” The foundation also is doing just that in its work on Jewish poverty through its leadership, in partnership with JFN, of the National Affinity Group on Jewish Poverty.Â
eJewish Philanthropy recently featured the work of two JFN members: Sylvan Adams, who describes himself as a "self-appointed ambassador for Israel," and the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.
Sylvan, who spoke on a JFN panel in March about the Abraham Accords (members can find it in our Conference 2022 playlist here) is in France now with Israel's first-ever Tour de France cycling team, which he helped establish, and is using the event to raise money to build a bike park in Rwanda.  “I’m speaking for us, the Jewish people, for our cultural imperative that is an obligation on each of us to do something good in the world," he told eJP.
The Washington Federation made headlines for a new Israel grants program, in which a politically and religiously diverse task force of clergy, community members, and professionals made grants through a “Shark Tank”-style pitch process.
How Philanthropists Can Diversify Their Grantmaking Portfolios
Jonathan Schreiber & Erin Jackson-Ward, Harvard Business Review
It’s a New Era for Funding on Both Sides of Abortion Debate
Glenn Gamboa, The Associated Press
Philanthropy Should Heed What the Declaration of Independence Said About Giving Everyone a Say
Cynthia Gibson & Matt Leighninger, Chronicle of PhilanthropyÂ
Philanthropy Has the Tools to Protect Democracy. Let’s Make Better Use of Them
Carmen Rojas, Fast Company
