After more than a decade of outstanding service, Maya Natan will step down from her role as Executive Director of JFN Israel. While we will of course miss Maya, we're delighted that she is leaving JFN Israel in excellent and very capable hands: Sigal Yaniv Feller, the Deputy Director and Senior Director of Advisory Services at JFN Israel, will become JFN Israel's new Executive Director.

Maya’s contribution to JFN and to the field of philanthropy in Israel is truly beyond measure. She built a remarkable team and brought JFN Israel from a small, niche operation to a philanthropic powerhouse with enormous influence in Israel and beyond. 

Maya is not going far! She’s moving on to run Keshet-DAF, the first donor-advised fund in Israel, which JFN helped create together with our partners at Committed to Give and Tel Aviv University's Institute for Law and Philanthropy. Keshet was, in great measure, Maya’s brainchild, so it’s befitting that she becomes its first full-time CEO. For us, this means keeping Maya as “part of the family” and cementing our transformative relationship with Keshet.

Sigal joined JFN in 2016, and during her years here, she has assisted dozens of private funders, families, and foundations from around the world,  in developing philanthropic strategies for their Israel giving. She has developed a variety of philanthropic programs, content, field mappings, and guides for funders, such as the Guide to Funder Collaboration with the Government of Israel.

Before coming to JFN, Sigal served as the Israeli representative of KH-UIA (Keren Hayesod) in Hong Kong and the Far East, working with the Jewish philanthropic community in HK and Asia in relation to their Israel giving. She has over 20 years of experience with the Israeli and international philanthropic sectors; between the years 2001-2011, she served as the founding Executive Director of the Green Environment Fund (GEF), a unique philanthropic partnership model of several foundations, supporting the environment in Israel through a joint strategy. Over the course of these years, the GEF was a significant player and leader in building the environmental movement in Israel. In 2006, Sigal was chosen as one of the 10 most influential people on the environment in Israel by the “The Marker” Israeli magazine.

We hope you will join us in congratulating Sigal and welcoming her to her new role!

JFN Israel, established in 2008, enables Israeli funders to exchange ideas about their philanthropic involvement and expand their giving circles, both in Israel and overseas. JFN’s Israeli members enjoy a wide range of services and tools developed particularly for the Israeli philanthropic community. Israelis make up a quarter of JFN’s membership, and JFN’s international conference is held in Israel every third year.

JFN Israel’s staff offers consulting and expertise to all JFN members – regardless of nationality – who are interested in funding in Israel. JFN Israel is a leader in developing the philanthropic field in Israel by eliminating barriers to giving, bringing donor-advised funds to Israel, advocating for giving-friendly government policies, managing matching grants programs, mapping Israeli giving, and encouraging the growth of the Arab-Israeli philanthropic community.