Michael Lustig, the author of JFN's "Guide to Jewish Impact Investing" and the co-instructor of our upcoming Certificate Course in Jewish Impact Investing has published an op-ed in eJewish Philanthropy.

From eJewish Philanthropy (November 18, 2021)

JFN West's upcoming regional conference, "Be the Story -- Creating Inspired Philanthropy" was featured at the top of the eJewish Philanthropy newsletter.

JFN West, which is the organization’s first regional network, held its first conference remotely in December 2020. The theme of January’s event is “Be the Story — Creating Inspired Philanthropy,” and JFN expects between 50 and 150 attendees, including the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, the Diane and Guilford Glazer Family Philanthropies, individual donors and foundation staff.

“We know that storytelling is one of the most effective mechanisms for inspiring change,” said Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug, director of JFN’s West Coast office. “We will take a deep dive into the process of storytelling as a powerful philanthropic tool.”

Read the full article in eJewish Philanthropy.

From eJewish Philanthropy (November 18, 2021)

JFN members Stacie Cherner of the Jim Joseph Foundation and Menachem "Manny" Menchel of the William Davidson Foundation write about the "Career Trajectories for Jewish Educators" study they jointly funded and the programming it spawned, including a series of JFN webinars that you can watch here.

Our foundations learned a lot from each other during this research journey. We each started with different ideas about how the research would progress and the learnings we might uncover. These predictions were clearly products of our respective foundations’ lens of grantmaking—and they were proven to be too narrow. Through collaboration, the perspectives and experiences of the other grantmaker helped shape our own understanding of the research and how the findings could be relevant and usable in our work. Because of the tangible benefits we experienced, we want to continue learning with more funders and practitioners. We want more convenings and communication with other leaders. The challenge of creating a reliable pipeline of Jewish educators demands a response inspired by a larger collective. Collaboration certainly comes with challenges—we experienced those too—but, ultimately, it leads to higher quality research insights that better benefit the field.  

Read the article in eJewish Philanthropy.

From eJewish Philanthropy (November 12, 2021)

JFN's new Certificate Course in Jewish Impact Investing was featured at the top of eJewish Philanthropy's daily newsletter. 

The Jewish Funders Network (JFN), known for offering its members classes and resources about philanthropic practices and issue areas, is offering an eight-week class about impact investing with New York University (NYU), its first-ever course in partnership with a university, JFN CEO Andres Spokoiny told eJewishPhilanthropy.

“The field of impact investing has grown enormously in the last few years, and this is another milestone in our community benefiting from this emerging practice,” Spokoiny said.

An introduction to investing in ventures that pursue both profit and social goals, the course will also serve as a professional credential. It was designed by Michael Lustig, a philanthropist and proponent of the practice who is a professor of finance at NYU’s Stern School of Business.

JFN board members Vanessa Bartram and Douglas Bitonti Stewart have also helped encourage a conversation about impact investing among JFN’s members, who give a minimum of $25,000 a year in the name of Jewish values. JFN hopes the course will inspire more foundations to consider impact investing, Spokoiny said.

From eJewish Philanthropy (November 11, 2021)

In this op-ed, JFN President and CEO Andrés Spokoiny shares the philanthropic lessons that can be learned from former JFN Board Chair Georgette Bennett's book, "Thou Shalt Not Stand Idly By." As he notes, the lessons are "not unique to a civil war or a natural disaster but can be applied to any philanthropic field."

Read the article on eJewish Philanthropy.

From eJewish Philanthropy (October 26, 2021)

JFN's Israel Ideas Festival was featured at the top of the daily eJewish Philanthropy newsletter.

The Jewish Funders Network’s (JFN) two-day “Israel Ideas Festival” began yesterday online and in-person in both Tel Aviv and New York. It will attract a combined audience of about 350 people, a majority of whom are participating online.

Yesterday’s programming was focused on Israel’s relationship with the Arab world and with international Jewry, with a focus on the implications of the Abraham Accords. Israeli comedian Guri Alfi, whose four-part television program “The New Jew” explored American-Jewish life, spoke in Tel Aviv on the subject of Jewish peoplehood.

Today’s program offers sessions on specific issues, such as at-risk women, the elderly and workforce development. A discussion about impact investing features Diane Isenberg, founder of Ceniarth, who is known for tackling the question of whether such investors must accept possible sacrifices to financial returns in pursuit of social good.

The festival was intended to be an in-person, international event in Tel Aviv that would celebrate the end of the COVID era. Israel’s seven-day quarantine requirement compelled JFN to rework its plans.

JFN members can watch videos of most Israel Ideas Festival programs on our Members-Only Videos page.

From The Algemeiner (October 13, 2021)

The Algemeiner's list of the top 100 people includes JFN President and CEO Andres Spokoiny, along with several JFN members: Felicia Herman of the Maimonides Fund, Terry Kassel of the Paul E. Singer Foundation, Stacy Schusterman of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and Ariel Zwang of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

Read the full article in The Algemeiner.

From eJewish Philanthropy (October 12, 2021)

This article is about efforts by Tali Yariv-Mashal, an active member of JFN's Green Funders Forum, to encourage Jewish and Israeli philanthropists to address climate concerns. Tali, Director of the Beracha Foundation and Chair of the Israel Forum of Foundations, helped draft an international pledge that aims to persuade foundations to integrate environmental awareness and action into their work. The “International Philanthropy Commitment on Climate Change,” was created under the auspices of WINGS, an international membership organization that supports foundations and facilitates collaboration between them.

Read the article by Helen Chernikoff on eJewish Philanthropy.

From J: The Jewish News of Northern California (October 6, 2021)

This article about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's first Jewish gifts -- and efforts to woo Jewish Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to support Jewish organizations -- quotes JFN President and CEO Andres Spokoiny.

With a few notable exceptions, Jewish Silicon Valley entrepreneurs like Zuckerberg have not emerged as major philanthropists in the local Jewish community. Andres Spokoiny, president of the Jewish Funders Network, said this was partly because many are not connected to their Jewish identity.

“To think that somebody who has been estranged from the Jewish community all their life is suddenly going to respond to an appeal because their name finishes in ‘berg’ is a mistake,” Spokoiny said.

Read the article by Dan Pine in J: The Jewish News of Northern California.

From Insights, the newsletter of Indiana University's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy (September 14, 2021)

In this essay, Wayne Green of JFN's Honeycomb, writes about the importance of Jewish youth philanthropy programs in shaping the next generation of committed Jews and Jewish funders.

What does our giving say about us? This is a good question for teens to ask themselves as they begin their journey of learning to do philanthropy well.

As adults and educators working with teens, there are important questions to ask ourselves as well. How do we represent our experiences and learnings from childhood with the teens with whom we work? What are the core principles of religion, ‘ah-ha’ moments from our experiences, stories shared from grandparents and ancestors long gone, and the family and faith traditions that inspire us to act to make change for good today? How can we inspire youth to draw on these questions during their philanthropic journey?

Read the full piece here.