And the winners are . . .

The members of JPEG are thrilled to announce that we have selected the charities to which we will be making our grants.

From the 60 or so with which we started, we narrowed it down to 13 finalists. We contacted each organization and developed an in depth profile of their financial situation, their work, their long term goals, and their organizational philosophy.

After nearly a month of research, introspection, and much discussion, we decided to award each of the following organizations $1000 to help them continue the outstanding work they do.

The grant recipients are:

1) Citizen Schools: Citizen Schools operates a national network of apprenticeship programs for middle school students, connecting adult volunteers to young people in hands-on learning projects after school. At Citizen Schools, students develop the academic and leadership skills they need to do well in school, get into college, and become leaders in their careers and in their communities. We run our programs at 44 locations in seven states, serving an estimated 4,500 students and engaging approximately 3,200 volunteers. But we aim for even larger impact. Our program is a model of how out-of-school time can be a powerful opportunity to re-imagine learning, bring communities together, and increase access to the American Dream. Through unique volunteer engagement, staffing strategies, program models, and advocacy, Citizen Schools is at the forefront of a movement to transform education.

2) Footsteps: Footsteps provides educational, vocational and social support to those seeking to enter or explore the world beyond the insular ultra-religious communities in which they were raised. People from the ultra-orthodox and Chasidic communities who choose to enter mainstream America currently do so as new immigrants in every sense. They face cultural disorientation and isolation coupled with a lack of practical and marketable skills. Founded in December 2003, Footsteps aims to assist individuals who choose to make this difficult transition.

3) Shalom Task Force: Shalom Task Force is a leading social service organization that aims to promote healthy marriages and peaceful relationships. They maintain a domestic abuse hotline, educational programs for young women and men, workshops for engaged couples and provides professional training for Rabbis, Kallah (bride) teachers and mental health professionals.

Thank you so much to all the JPEG members for their outstanding effort, collaboration, and charity. We are thrilled to have completed this giving cycle and are interested in starting anew in the coming months.

If you are interested in contributing to any of these organizations along with us, or in becoming a member of JPEG or starting your own philanthropy circle, please contact us at the email address listed at the bottom of the page.

Additionally, if you are interested in learning more, members of JPEG will be presenting at the 2008 Limmud NY Learning Conference over Martin Luther King weekend. For information on attending the convention, please follow this link.

Developing Nations Charities Have Been Selected

We have finally completed our initial round of philanthropy selection!

The developing nations organizations that we are considering further are: Carolina for Kibera (http://cfk.unc.edu/index.php), American Jewish World Service (AJWS) (http://ajws.org/), and Global Partnership for Afghanistan (http://www.gpfa.org/).



We are thrilled to have found so many outstanding charities doing so many incredible things out there. Now, from these 13 charirities, we will begin the difficult process of selecting only 1 or 2 to which we will make our gift.

We have selected our three semi-finalists from the category "Jewish People/Jewish World"

We have selected our three top organizations from the Jewish world. The organizations that we will further consider for our grant are: Matan (www.matankids.org), Moving Traditions (http://www.movingtraditions.org/index.php), and Footsteps (http://www.footstepsorg.org/).

Thank you to everyone who brought in all of these amazing organizations!

Economic crisis and the giving response

Ruthie taught us about how "the end of the world as we know it" (read: the critical state of today's economy) affects the philanthropic world in a major way.

We learned about the massive hit charities took both from a loss in individual gifts from donors as well as from endowments.

Finally, Ruthie shared with us some Judaic sources on our obligation to giving; namely, our obligation to give regardless of the circumstances (though not to the point where we ourselves become impoverished).

Meeting with Naomi Levine

Last Wednesday evening, 8 members of JPEG had the unique opportunity to meet with Naomi Levine, the chair and academic director of the Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising at NYU. We spoke with her about her career, values, and views on philanthropy. Everyone who attended agrees: the experience was phenomenal. We all feel very privileged to have been able to chat with someone so knowledgeable and influential in the philanthropic world.

Thank you to all who helped make this meeting possible!

Highlights from the meeting to follow.

Domestic Abuse Prevention Charities Selected

We have completed yet another round of narrowing down our charities. The two DV charities that we will further consider for our donation are Shalom Task Force and the NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project.

Group Learning: Emily Highlights the Talmud's Views on Our Obligation to Give

The texts used in the discussion were Deuteronomy 15: 7-8; and Talmud Tractate Ketutbot 67B.

The question posed to the group was, "What does it mean to give charity to a person according to that person’s own need?"

R’ Hillel provided status of wealth as a form of charity for a formerly wealthy man, to give to him according to that man’s need. The text raised all types of questions about what it means to give charity to people other than impoverished people. Should we support formerly rich people to help them live as they are accustomed to live, or do we expect people to live according to modest standards? How do we justify giving charity to all types of organizations when there are truly impoverished people in the world? Does all charity need to go to the poorest people, or is there a value in supporting people and causes that deal with people from a variety of socio-economic circumstances?

Thanks to Emily for sparking some lively and very thought provoking debate.

Israel Charities

JPEG has completed its second round of charity discussions and has selected three Israeli charities we plan to consider further.  Our top three Israeli charities are: Gesher, Shutaf), and Yad Eliezer.

Education Component: Amy teaches us about the nuances of giving.

At out most recent meeting JPEG member, Amy Schiller, facilitated a learning conversation about strategic philanthropy. This conversation served a dual role, giving us food for thought about how to be more strategic with our individual giving, as well providing us with a shared language about different philanthropic strategies as they relate to our group's grantmaking.

To illustrate her points, Amy shared two excerpts from Inspired Philanthropy, written by philanthropic advisor, Tracy Gary (www.inspiredlegacies.org).

Idea #1 Moving from "obligatory giving" to "inspired giving"

Here's the quick summary. Most of us give most of our charitable dollars to organizations we feel socially obligated to give to and give far less money to organizations we are most passionate about and which we believe have the power to be truly transformative.

Part of the process of us become more strategic in our individual giving involves turning this model upside down. This means investing the bulk of our philanthropic dollars with organizations we believe to be transformative and which we are most passionate about. Gifts we feel personally or socially obligated to make can still make the cut, but should be minimized.

Idea #2 Tracy Gary's Levels of Philanthropic Intervention

• Needs Philanthropy (immediate and recurring needs)
• Empowerment Philanthropy (empowers individuals to care for themselves)
• Capacity-Building Philanthropy (expansion of services or growth of numbers served)
• Systemic Philanthropy (develop systemic solutions to collective problems)

JPEG talked about the challenges and opportunities of each of the philanthropic levels. This shared language will be useful to us as we continue to evaluate prospective grantee organizations.

Education Charities

We have successfully narrowed down the education charities to which JPEG might donate.  The two charities (down from eight) we are considering further are Jumpstart (www.jstart.org) and Citizen Schools (www.citizenschools.org)  

Topics of Focus

The JPEG members have narrowed down our areas of focus for our first giving cycle! Our donation(s) will go to charities that fall into at least one of these areas (in no specific order):

1) Developing Nations
2) Domestic violence
3) Education
4) Israel
5) Jewish people/Judaism