A New Effort to Diversify Jewish Organizations Starts With Philanthropy

When I first interviewed Ilana Kaufman, then executive director, now CEO of the California-based Jews of Color Initiative in 2021, I was surprised and somewhat embarrassed by what I didn’t know about the diversity of the American Jewish community. My interview with Kaufman taught me that at least 12 to 15% of American Jews are Jews of color.

Part of the reason that I, and l likely others, are unaware of this reality is that those numbers aren’t reflected in the leadership of Jewish organizations. Synagogues, JCCs, religious schools and other Jewish institutions remain overwhelmingly white and overwhelmingly unsuccessful at making Jews of color feel welcome in Jewish spaces. If you don’t believe me, take a look at JoCI’s recent “Beyond the Count” study. The report found that 65% of the Jews of color surveyed said that Jewish organizational leaders are doing a “poor” or “very poor” job of dealing with issues of race. As we Jews would say, Oy vey!

Since its founding in 2017, JoCI (formerly known as the Jews of Color Field Building Initiative) has been working to change the status quo through research, education and leadership development. And while JoCI wants to encourage and train Jews of color to pursue careers as direct service providers at JCCs, religious schools and human service agencies, the nonprofit fund is especially motivated to bring Jews of color into professional roles in the Jewish philanthropic sector. After all, as more philanthropic institutions are finally starting to accept, diversity and equity starts upstream.

To that end, JoCI recently announced its inaugural philanthropy fellowship. Funded by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, the Crown Family Philanthropies and the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, the Jews of Color Philanthropy Fellowship is meant to “infuse the Jewish philanthropic field with new leaders,” said JoCI Senior Program Officer Gabi Kuhn, who will oversee the program.

“At the moment, our foundation staff doesn’t typically represent the diversity of the Jewish community and the multiracial reality of the Jewish community,” said Kuhn. “Not only do we feel it's important to have more Jews of color working in philanthropy — specifically resource sharing, building up communities and building out the field for Jews of color — but also just working in Jewish philanthropy as a whole. As we think about diversifying our Jewish philanthropic portfolios across the ecosystem — and the JoCI specifically does grantmaking that is laser focused on Jews of color — there's also a need to have more Jews of color helping to build the table, if you will, and being in the rooms in which philanthropy is moving forward and helping support our ecosystem.”

The year-long program will train fellows to become highly skilled grantmakers, and begin to grow a pipeline that will help create “a more racially equitable and representative Jewish community,” Kuhn added.

Initially, fellows Santy Barrera, Ilana Ybgi and Maya Katz-Ali will take part in a curriculum-based program run by JoCI’s Grants Team, which will teach them about a range of issues related to philanthropy. The second part of the fellowship will be spent putting into practice what they have learned. That means learning to do program evaluations, execute and draft grant applications, and how to run an RFP process.

Upon completion of the fellowship, Kuhn said that the JoCI will help to place fellows in philanthropy positions. “We can’t guarantee placement… but we certainly believe that fellows will have an abundance of opportunity once they complete the program,” she said. “The goal is ultimately [for] them to be working in a Jewish portfolio at a Jewish foundation.”

In addition to training the cohort, Kuhn hopes the fellowship will bring attention to the field of philanthropy as a career path.

“I think many people don't realize that philanthropy is a professional career, especially Jewish philanthropy. [For instance], people don’t necessarily say, ‘I want to be a program officer when I grow up.’ And it's a really important role. It is really a changemaker role, and I think it's really important that all of these kinds of roles that are shifting power and resources reflect the reality of our community.”

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation has maintained a strong partnership with the JoCI since 2019. Weinberg funded the initiative’s first demographic study, “Counting Inconsistencies,” and has also supported leadership training programs. All told, Weinberg has provided $2 million, plus an additional $200,000 for the new philanthropy fellowship.

The Weinberg Foundation’s primary role is meeting the basic needs of people experiencing poverty, which represents the bulk of its funding. But within the foundation’s U.S. Jewish portfolio, Weinberg reserves a small amount of funding to strengthen the Jewish nonprofit sector, including building racial equity and diversity of leadership, according to Weinberg Program Director Jon Hornstein.

“It's really important that leadership mirrors the diversity of the community that it aims to serve. But as you look around, we don't see the number of Jews of color that should be in strong leadership positions. We're really hopeful that this program can be a successful intervention to diversify the excellent leadership within the Jewish community, within the philanthropic sector.”

In an email, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, another JoCI fellowship funder, said that the foundation invests in Jewish experiences that connect diverse young Jews to the community, along with initiatives to strengthen professionals and leaders at Jewish organizations. The new fellowship sits at the intersection of these priorities.

“We are excited to be partners in this pilot and to learn alongside the fellows and JOCI leadership about the impact it can have on talent pipeline strategies. We hope that it is able to provide the broader Jewish sector with a roadmap for investing in skilled, diverse leaders that are truly reflective of our community.”

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