Since March, when we made the difficult decision to cancel our annual conference, we’ve been responding to the ever-changing realities, particularly giving funders the tools to respond effectively to the growing needs. We’ve also focused on preparing ourselves, and the larger Jewish community, for a variety of scenarios.

At the JFN 2019 International Conference in San Francisco, Yossi Klein Halevi, a leading Israeli writer and analyst, and co-director of Shalom Hartman Institute’s Muslim Leadership Initiative, discussed the need of the Jewish people to find in its national movement a “third way” between the impulses toward tribalism/ethnocentrism or a multicultural paradigm that demands people shed their particular identities. Rabbi Noa Kushner, Founder of The Kitchen, an independent religious community in San Franciso, spoke to the possibility of another identity and group-building rubric, one centered on Jewish experience, mission and commitment. How do Jews in Israel and the Diaspora alike navigate the perplexity and complexity of these issues as the Jewish people navigate painful differences and seek a common story, a common purpose, and a common identity?

Dr. Tali Sharot spoke at the Jewish Funders Network 2019 International Conference in San Francisco in March 2019. These are brief highlights of her talk. 

Video: At the JFN 2019 International Conference, Jay Kaiman, President of The Marcus Foundation, thanks Judy Mann (retiring COO of Jewish Funders Network) on behalf of the whole JFN community, for her many years of dedicated work and wisdom.

David Rittberg, Director of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation's U.S. Jewish grantmaking portfolio, was presented with the 2019 JJ Greenberg Memorial Award at the JFN 2019 International Conference in San Francisco. The award honors foundation professionals engaged in grantmaking, age 40 and under, who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership in Jewish philanthropy. Felicia Herman of NATAN presented the award.

Etgar Keret, internationally-acclaimed Israeli writer, addresses the Jewish Funders Network 2018 International Conference in Tel Aviv.

Dalia Fadila addressed the Jewish Funders Network 2018 International Conference in Tel Aviv.

Dan Senor addresses the Jewish Funders Network 2018 International Conference in Tel Aviv. He is co-author of Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle, a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post bestseller. Start-Up Nation has been translated into 30 languages and has been on bestseller lists in China, India, Brazil, Singapore and Canada.

At the Jewish Funders Network 2018 International Conference, Dr. Kira Radinsky (Chief Scientist and Director of Data Science at eBay) discussed her work using data to predict events and issues from ebola and cholera to genocide and riots, and model complex systems of causality like drug effects.