Two hundred people -- a mix of foundation professionals and individual funders -- attended the third Israeli Philanthropy Conference in Tel Aviv this week. 

Organized jointly by JFN Israel, The Forum of Foundations in Israel, Committed to Give, Keshet-DAF, and the Center for Law and Philanthropy at Tel Aviv University, the conference was made possible with support from the Ted Arison Family Foundation, Azrieli Foundation, the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation (Israel), Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and Yad Hanadiv.

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Episode 32 of What Gives? the Jewish philanthropy podcast from Jewish Funders Network.

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While generally not a fan of dystopian fiction, I recently fell for one such book: “The Second Sleep” by Robert Harris. A page-turner murder mystery, it takes place in 31st-century England, a time in which civilization has reverted to a new Middle Ages.

The narrator in the story has only a vague knowledge of our civilization but knows that it was a mighty one, full of hard-to-fathom technological wonders (although he struggles to ascertain the meaning of the “emblem of the bitten apple” that can be seen in bizarre artifacts ). Interestingly, in this dystopian future, there’s virtually no trace of our gravity-defying skyscrapers. As the narrator explains, our modern style of construction, with iron and steel beams inserted in concrete casing, is deceptively fragile. The glass that covers modern buildings doesn’t decay, but it breaks and falls off. When that happens, the building is exposed to the elements, small cracks in the concrete allow moisture to penetrate, and the iron beams end up rusting, eventually bringing down the entire structure. In the novel, London is dotted with reddish-brownish stains where skyscrapers used to stand, like monuments to the futility of human hubris.

From eJewish Philanthropy (October 4, 2022)

The nine teens were participating in their first session of LAunchpad, a new teen philanthropy program in which Los Angeles-area Jewish teens collectively decide where to allocate thousands of dollars.

After this exercise, Sadie expects that future meetings will try to create consensus around philanthropic giving.

“We probably won’t all agree on what we want to do, necessarily, so using consensus, we won’t do majority votes, but we’ll use it to pick something in a way that includes everyone and is a free-flowing conversation,” she said.

The program’s full name is LAunchpad: The Los Angeles Synagogue Incubator for Youth Philanthropy. It is an initiative of Honeycomb, the teen philanthropy arm of the Jewish Funders Network, and hopes to engage cohorts of adolescents to explore their community’s hyperlocal needs, strengthen leadership skills and learn to become changemakers.

Three L.A.-area Conservative synagogues — Adat Ari El in Valley Village, Congregation Ner Tamid in the South Bay and Sinai Temple in Beverly Hills — and one Reconstructionist congregation, University Synagogue of Irvine — are beginning the new Jewish year by launching this effort, hoping it will yield positive results for Jewish philanthropy in the future, as well as more immediate local impact.

 

• Read the full article by Esther Kustanowitz in eJewish Philanthropy.
• Learn more about Honeycomb.
• Register for Honeycomb's upcoming Youth Philanthropy Facilitator Training

From eJewish Philanthropy (October 4, 2022)

Once a hypothetical thing to worry about, climate change has become impossible to ignore, and while its effects are not shared equally, it impacts all of us. I feel it even in my comfortable suburban neighborhood in New Jersey, where each year we have to prepare for stronger and stronger storms that disrupt our power, flood our basements and sometimes kill with falling trees and flash floods.

I’m proud that my organization, the Jewish Funders Network, is one of 20 founding members of the newly launched Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition. Not only are we recognizing that climate change is a matter of moral urgency, but each member has committed to developing and implementing a climate action plan for our organizations. For many members of the coalition, these action plans will focus on reducing the organization’s carbon footprint – and that will certainly be part of JFN’s as well. We’re already greening our annual international conference, including drastically limiting the use of paper, encouraging participants to purchase carbon offsets for their travel, minimizing food waste, offering more plant-based options and limiting the use of plastic.

But as a network serving more than 2,500 funders around the world — a group we estimate collectively gives away $6 billion annually — the most important thing we can do is help those of our members who want to channel more of their resources into climate change prevention and mitigation. We are not just encouraging our members to donate more to environmental causes, but, we are offering them resources to do so as effectively and strategically as possible.

 

• Read the full op-ed by JFN Executive Vice President Rabbi Rebecca Sirbu in eJewish Philanthropy.
• Learn more about JFN's role in the Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition and watch a video about the coalition here.
• Learn more about Green Funders Forum and our free environmental consulting.

JFN’s annual international conference brings together the world’s most influential Jewish philanthropists for unparalleled learning, networking, and idea-sharing. Countless community programs and initiatives trace their beginnings to a JFN conference conversation or meeting.

Held at the storied Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona from March 19-21, our 2023 conference promises to be one of our most impactful ever – but the conference is only achievable through the generosity of our sponsors. Your sponsorship makes it possible for us to provide the kind of high-quality programs and speakers JFN is known for, in a setting that enables our members to immerse themselves in the conference experience.