Retreat II: Navigating the Ecosystem
Key Objectives:
Gain a more profound understanding of the Jewish Philanthropic ecosystem
Gain awareness of the roles within that system and how to use privilege and power effectively
Grasp the characteristics of systemic challenges and why it is so difficult to change
Learn tools and tactics to make progress on systemic challenges
Pre-Retreat Work
Friday
For “Our Moment in Time: Exploring Our Ecosystem”
Read “Counting Inconsistencies”
Read “Money, Gender, Power” pg. 8, 9, 28, 29
Read Bios of All Speakers
Optional: Bring your favorite recipe to share
Over Shabbat
Sunday
For “Power & Inheritance Workshop”
Read Giving Guidelines
Read “SRE Summary Report”
Read Case Study: “Equity + Justice in Alabama”
Read Bios of All Speakers
Day 1 Schedule: April 30th, 12pm-4pm EDT
12:00pm: Welcome and Opening Activity
12:30pm: Our Moment in Time: Exploring Our Ecosystem
An overview of the non-profit ecosystem, focusing specifically on Jewish communal infrastructure. We’ll discuss how funders/philanthropists/board members can help organizations thrive and succeed, especially as we emerge from the pandemic.
Presenter: Gali Cooks, President & CEO, Leading Edge
Required Preparation:
Gali is the founding president and chief executive officer of Leading Edge, an organization formed to influence, inspire, and enable dramatic change in attracting, developing, and retaining top talent for Jewish organizations. To Leading Edge, Gali brings extensive professional experience in the nonprofit, public, and private sectors.Her career began in DC, where she was a speechwriter at the Embassy of Israel and worked as a Legislative Assistant at AIPAC. She was Founding Director of the PJ Library at the Grinspoon Foundation and also served as Executive Director of the Rita J. & Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation, overseeing the distribution of millions of philanthropic dollars. In the private sector, Gali was VP of Operations at an ed-tech startup. Gali has served on the boards of Exponent Philanthropy, Keshet, and the NYC Venture Philanthropy Fund. She holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.
Optional Preparation: Think about an organization you care about or are involved with. Do you have questions about how you can help them be successful? Or how you can support them? Or as a funder, what your role can be in 2021, with the pandemic’s effects still very much a factor? Write these questions or thoughts down to bring and discuss with Gali.
1:10pm: Break
1:15pm: Deeper Dive into the Jewish Communal Ecosystem and Racial Equity
Presenter: Ginna Green, Advisory Board Member, Jews of Color Initiative and Partner + Chief Strategy Officer, Uprise
Ginna Green is a strategist, writer, movement-builder, consultant, and Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Uprise. At Uprise, Ginna leads the practice on diversity + equity + inclusion and philanthropic advising within the Jewish community, and is a principal strategist for its progressive movement communications clients. Previously, she worked as Chief Strategy Officer at Bend the Arc: Jewish Action where she managed the communications, advocacy, electoral, rapid response and racial equity teams from 2018-2020. Prior to Bend the Arc, Ginna was Managing Director of the Democracy Program at ReThink Media, and spent several years on staff at the Center for Responsible Lending. She is a frequent speaker and writer on democracy, race, racism in the Jewish community, Jewish community diversity, and leadership, and has been published in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, and Salon; heard on NPR, KCRW, KQED, and CNN; and seen on local, national and international television and film. Ginna is a Fellow at the Kogod Research Center of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, and sits on the boards of Bend the Arc, Women's March, Political Research Associates, the Jews of Color Initiative, the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable, and Jewish Story Partners. An alum of the Jeremiah Fellowship and the Selah Leadership Program, a Schusterman Senior Fellow, and a Jewish Orthodox Feminist Aliiance 2020 Notable Woman, Ginna is a native southerner and the mother of four amazing kids.
Required Preparation: Read “Counting Inconsistencies” and Ginna’s Bio
2:00pm: Break
2:15pm: Embarking on a Hopeful Path Toward Social Change
Philanthropy seeks to turn the resources you have into what you need to create the kind of world you yearn to see. In this session, you learn how to follow a path toward social change — adapting practices and approaches from philanthropists who seek to be true partners in social change.
Required Preparation: Read “Money, Gender, Power” pg. 8, 9, 28, 29
Presenter: Tracy Mack Parker, Founder & Principal, Citizen Philanthropy
For all of my life I’ve searched for purpose. My calling toward philanthropy was sparked at a young age listening on those Sunday mornings when our visiting priest shared stories of his humanitarian service and travels around the world. I imagined what a meaningful life could look like. And I learned there is no one, straight path to purpose. I’ve come to see that resourceful people and resilient communities abound. I find hope in the wisdom, agency and dreams of citizens working together toward a shared vision. I believe each one of us can turn the resources we have into what we need to create the world we want to see. Today, I facilitate learning journeys for individuals, families and communities who, like me, seek to find purpose and commit to the change they believe in. For over 15 years I’ve delighted in advising individuals, families and communities on their philanthropy. Most often I facilitate immersive vision trips and learning journeys that help people see the possibilities and find their own way to being true partners in social change. I began my philanthropy career as a senior officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts where I encouraged donor collaboratives in the arts, education, health and land preservation. I then served with The Philanthropy Workshop from 2011-2017, ultimately as CEO, guiding a brilliant staff and network of 450 philanthropists from 22 countries. I’m grateful to remain a senior advisor to this dynamic organization and its members. Citizen Philanthropy is now my portal to co-creating and facilitating learning journeys for people committed to positive action for the good, including philanthropists in these impactful networks: The Philanthropy Workshop, Women Moving Millions and Global Fund for Women. On my own journey toward purpose, I’ve come to bring a feminist consciousness to all I do. I believe making more freedom and love in the world is our collective calling. My academic life includes earning a bachelor’s in literature, with honors, from Miami University; and a master’s in journalism & law degree from The Ohio State University. Reading, reflecting and writing is my daily sustenance.
3:30pm: Closing
4:00pm: Optional Hang Time & Recipe Share
Spend some unstructured time together just hanging out! Bring along your favorite recipe to share with the group – food, dessert, or cocktails, they’re all welcome! This is completely optional, we know it’s been a long day.
Shabbat Work: Our Personal Ecosystem
Based on guidance provided during Day 1, you will explore your family ecosystem in new ways using art materials and/or meaningful objects to map your connections.
Day 2 Schedule: May 2nd, 12pm-4pm EDT
12:00pm: Welcome Back & Opening Activity
Spend time reflecting with your peers on the ways in which your Shabbat activity shifted your perspective and surfaced new insights.
12:30pm: Case Study: Developing Ways to Support Social Change
We provide you with a case study on a particularly challenging societal issue. In small groups, applying the Hopeful Path for Social Change as a framework for your analysis, you co-create a strategy you would support to make progress on the issue and share back with the full group.
Presenter: Tracy Mack Parker, Founder & Principal, Citizen Philanthropy
Required Preparation: Read “Case Study: Equity + Justice in Alabama
1:30pm: Break
1:35pm: Social Justice Philanthropy: Redistributing Wealth & Power
Staff organizers and member leaders of Resource Generation will introduce social justice philanthropy and redistribution as strategies for transformation. This workshop will be an opportunity to reflect on our families’ histories accessing and accumulating wealth, and to discuss steps we can take individually and collectively to redistribute wealth and power in building a more just and equitable world.
Resource Generation is a multiracial community of 1200+ wealthy young people (18-35) committed to the equitable distribution of wealth, land and power with 17 chapters throughout the US.
Presenters: Nora Leccese, Resource Generation High Net Wealth and Family Philanthropy Coordinator; Nadav David, Resource Generation New England Regional Organizer; Noah Schoen, Resource Generation Member
Nora Leccese (she/her) joined the Resource Generation staff in January 2019 as the High Net Wealth and Family Philanthropy Coordinator. She was politicized in the environmental justice movement and has deep respect for land and indigenous peoples from whom it was stolen. The student climate movement taught her about disruption, working in faith based advocacy showed her the possibility of transforming institutions, and organizing white people to flank the Movement for Black Lives taught her about solidarity, risk and rigor. As a young person with class privilege, Resource Generation showed her how to be honest with her community and invest in movements like she believes we’ll win.
Nadav David (he/him) first got involved with Resource Generation as a member in 2017 and joined staff as the New England Regional Organizer in April 2020. He is a multiethnic Jewish organizer living in Boston (on Massachusett land), who was born in Jerusalem and grew up in the Bay Area. His organizing journey has been shaped by weaving together cultural traditions and histories from his Mizrahi (Iraq) and Ashkenazi (Poland/Belarus) families. Nadav’s political and spiritual home is Kavod, a community that integrates Jewish practice and social justice organizing. Over the last several years, he has been part of building networks of solidarity economic systems and safety/security strategies and co-facilitated a Jews of Color, Indigenous Jews, Sephardim and Mizrahim (JOCISM) caucus. He is a Steering Committee member of the newly launched Jewish Liberation Fund, which is focused on providing resources to sustain and grow a progressive Jewish movement for justice and liberation.
Noah Schoen is a community organizer and oral historian based in Boston and Pittsburgh. He has spent his lifetime in Jewish communities and the last ten years moving them to heal from antisemitism and take action against injustice in the U.S. and in Israel/Palestine. Noah's current project, Meanings of October 27th, is an oral history archive that explores Jewish and non-Jewish Pittsburghers' life histories and reflections on the 2018 synagogue shooting at the Tree of Life building. He is a proud four-year member of Resource Generation.
Molly Schulman has been a member leader in Resource Generation for 2+ years. She has participated in and facilitated several praxis groups and attended three national Resource Generation conferences. Apart from her work with RG, Molly serves on the JOIN for Justice’s board of directors, sings in a cover band, facilitates a monthly Rosh Chodesh gathering, is an alumni of the Chordata Capital fellowship, and is currently facilitating a course at Hebrew College called "Transformative Philanthropy: Grounding in Jewish Tradition to Give for the Long Haul." She is thrilled to share her passion for wealth redistribution, her grounding in Jewish resistance, and commitment to building compassionate cross-class relationships.
2:35pm: Break
2:45pm: The Founding of the Safety, Respect, and Equity Coalition
A conversation with Lisa Eisen on the founding of the Safety, Respect, and Equity Coalition.
From the SRE Website: The SRE Network (then SafetyRespectEquity Coalition) was launched in 2018, as the “Me Too” movement, created in 2006 by a survivor and activist, Tarana Burke went viral, and a global movement around sexual violence emerged. With support from Jewish foundations across the United States, our early investments focused on documenting their testimonies, developing robust organizational policies for Jewish institutions, supporting respectful workplace training, improving hiring and advancement practices, and furthering gender equity in the rabbinate. Since that time, SRE Network has invested over $2.8M in efforts to advance gender equity in Jewish spaces, published groundbreaking research, and our Standards for Safe, Respectful, Equitable Workplaces, adopted by our 125 member organizations, provides a roadmap toward making lasting change.
Optional Preparation: This is a special opportunity to hear directly from a funder about the nitty gritty of systems change. What do you want to know? What worries do you have? Bring some thoughts about your own hopes and ask questions of Lisa to help you in your work to achieve those.
Presenter: Lisa Eisen, Co-President of Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
Lisa Eisen is Co-President of Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies and leads our U.S. Jewish, and Gender and Reproductive Equity Portfolios.
Lisa spearheads efforts to strengthen the Jewish community by supporting initiatives around the world that engage young Jews in service and social action, help people experience and learn about Israel and support efforts to welcome all who seek to participate in Jewish life. In this capacity, she oversees our Jewish and Israel Education grantmaking, Schusterman Fellowship and REALITY program.
Lisa also leads initiatives to advance gender and reproductive equity, as well as empower women and girls in the U.S. and around the world. She founded the Safety Respect Equity Network, which promotes women’s leadership and addresses sexual harassment and gender discrimination in Jewish workplaces, and she chairs the Advisory Board. She is a member of the Global Leadership Board for TIME’S UP Foundation and TIME’S UP Now, organizations that fight for safe, fair and dignified work for all. She also serves on the Advisory Committee of the Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity, which mobilizes funders to protect and advance gender and reproductive equity.
Lisa was founding board chair of Repair the World and the iCenter, and she continues to serve on their national boards. She was also the founding board chair of the Israel on Campus Coalition. Lisa serves on the boards of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO), Leading Edge, the Israel Institute and OLAM. Lisa has helped to expand Schusterman’s grantmaking over the past 19 years, serving as its National Director and then as Vice President. Prior to joining the organization, she served for nine years as Executive Director of Project Interchange Seminars in Israel, an institute of the American Jewish Committee (AJC). She has also held positions as AJC Area Assistant Director and as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Representative Bart Gordon.
Lisa is a frequent presenter in the fields of philanthropy, Jewish service, Israel education, and women's rights and leadership. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and earned her Master of Arts degree with honors in Israeli and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The proud mother of three adult children, Lisa is a certified yoga teacher, and she enjoys vinyasa yoga, community service, trekking and international travel.
3:30pm: Closing & Next Steps
4pm: Close
“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?”
Pirkei Avot 1:14
Copyright © 2021 Slingshot Fellowship all rights reserved.