New York—MATCH, a matching grant program designed to strengthen Jewish day schools by expanding the community of donors, will launch today for the fourth time since 2004. In partnership with the Jewish Funders Network (JFN) and the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE), the AVI CHAI and Kohelet Foundations will be matching the first $6 million of new donations to Jewish day schools throughout North America with an additional $3 million, thereby infusing the field with at least $9 million of additional funds.

By Michele Jolin, Paul Schmitz, Willa Seldon, The Bridgespan Group

eJewish Philanthropy.

Friday, I wrote a bit about how funders, like all humans, are programmed by millions of years of evolution to hate failure. But our DNA hasn’t kept pace with the changing times. 

eJewish Philanthropy.

Last year, influenced by the hype around Darwin’s 150th anniversary, I developed an interest in evolutionary theory. I read a few books about it, including the masterful Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, and since then I’ve been kind of obsessed. 

Eric Fleisch, Theodore Sasson, Maurice & Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University

Jewish Funders Network, Ruderman Family Foundation, The Jewish Federations of North America, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

Passover is a holidays of journeys. The journey of the Hebrews from Egypt to the Promise Land; the journey from Slavery to Freedom and the ultimate journey: the Jews' road to peoplehood. Somewhere along this momentous journey, a ragtag bunch of slaves become the People of the Book and gave to humanity the eternal ethical and moral values that guide us to this very day.

JFN President & CEO Andrés Spokoiny's address to the 2012 Jewish Funders Network International Conference.

A person is walking in the street and passes by a dance hall. The windows of the dance hall are very thick and soundproof, so he can’t hear the music. He only sees people making all sort of strange movements. He walks away, thinking he just saw a bunch of totally crazy people, maybe a mental asylum of some sort.

Purim is arguably one of the merriest holidays of the Jewish calendar. Because of that, perhaps, we don’t often reflect on its deep meaning and its contemporary relevance.