Jewish funders flocked to the desert to meet, greet and be inspired

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Nearly 700 members of the Jewish Funders Network (JFN) met in Phoenix for three days last week to talk about pressing global issues, learn best practices and discuss how they can improve the philanthropic work they are already doing.

JFN describes itself as “a global community of private foundations and philanthropists whose mission is to promote meaningful giving and to improve philanthropy in the Jewish world.”

When Marcia Riklis, JFN board chair, took the stage, she spoke of the conference as a place to move that mission forward by facilitating “connections and collaborations.” She described it as a place for experienced funders with a wealth of philanthropic practice to impart their know-how to those new to the game, as well as a place for veterans to learn innovative ideas from the novices.

Zoya Rains, conference co-chair, went further, calling these three days an opportunity for inspiration — when people, whose passion and values align, find each other.

“Ultimately, we are all here for the shared purpose of creating a stronger Jewish world through strategic and impactful philanthropy, and JFN is evidence that we can achieve more together than on our own,” she said.

Among the 690 members who gathered at the Arizona Biltmore March 19-21, were Gayla Brockman, Judy L. Smith and Blair Harvey, representatives of Chicago’s Michael Reese Health Trust, a public foundation focused on housing and homelessness; community and domestic violence; developing a healthy health care workforce; and honoring its Jewish legacy.

This was the trio’s first JFN conference, though Brockman and Smith are longtime philanthropy professionals. It was an opportunity to “go deep” in exploring the Jewish legacy portion of the foundation’s portfolio.

“I finally have time to focus primarily on the Jewish community,” Brockman, Michael Reese’s president and CEO, told Jewish News.

The past seven years of her tenure as CEO have been consumed by taking the foundation public, building new systems and changing the overall culture. Coming to the conference and convening with Jewish community funders will “help generate ideas and vision,” she said.

The three took a divide-and-conquer approach for most of the conference, which was split between many sessions and workshops, with various breakout options. Topics ran the gamut from examining the relationship between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora; discussing the challenges of climate change, poverty and antisemitism; and the weaponization of humanitarian aid in global hotspots like Syria and Ukraine.

One of the most meaningful sessions Smith, a Michael Reese board member, attended was a conversation about the importance of African American and Jewish communities working together.

“It’s all about power sharing and I learned a lot,” she said of the session that directly affects her work because of the foundation’s many partnerships with Chicago’s Black community.

While Smith was new to the conference, she has a deep knowledge of philanthropy in her Jewish community. In fact, she already knew several other attendees thanks to her volunteer work. Even some people she hadn’t met, she realized she had a connection with them.

Early in the conference, people were asked to talk to someone new. Smith approached a woman who told her she was originally from Toronto. Smith asked the woman whether she knew of a certain Jewish couple in the city. Not only did the woman know the couple, it turned out they were her parents. Smith quickly realized she had met this woman many times — even had Shabbat at her house — albeit when the woman was still in diapers.

“I mean, talk about chills. I texted my husband and she called her mom. It’s a very small Jewish world,” she said.

Harvey, on the other hand, is relatively new to her role as chief program officer and to philanthropy itself, especially Jewish philanthropy, not being Jewish herself.

She was startled to see the amount of security at the conference; Smith explained it’s par for the course at any large Jewish gathering.

“Welcome to the world of Jewish fundraising,” Smith told her.

“I’m learning more about the Jewish funders’ landscape and the culture of what it means to be a Jewish funder, the values and the diversity of the landscape, which is fascinating,” Harvey said.

During that morning’s breakfast discussion, Harvey spoke with several people focused on health care, her area of expertise.

“It was helpful to speak with people about infrastructure development and how we build health equity within different communities,” she said.

She noted a lack of policy discussion throughout the conference, which she would have found helpful. Smith, too, was nervous to find some of the talks “somewhat elementary.” Thanks to Brockman, “who constantly pushes us and brings the newest ideas to us,” the team has a high level of sophistication regarding many of the topics covered during the conference, according to Smith. “I had heard a lot of the information presented on the first day before.”

However, an “amazing” and “sophisticated” session on impact investing put her at ease. Brockman agreed, saying, “it gave us great ideas about what’s going on and how to think about our work.”

Other sessions gave Smith ideas about governance issues and “sticky issues like transferring power between a board and a grantee and how to equalize that power,” she said.

“From a board member perspective, I’m learning more about new approaches that I can use when talking to my fellow board members about moving our work the right way,” she said.

Even with three people on their team, they couldn’t gauge the measure of the entire conference. There was too much going on at once.

Riklis noted the growth of this year’s conference, the largest on record. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, JFN’s membership has grown by 39% overall and some of the funders’ interests and priorities have shifted.

Panelists for “Climate Change: How Can Jewish Philanthropy Matter?” were thrilled by the number of people in the session. A few years ago, maybe 10 people would come to such a discussion and now the room was full.

After the presentations, the room was divided into two groups to talk about ways of working together on certain environmental issues.

They discussed how the issue touches so many of their other priorities such as homelessness, poverty and refugees. There is no protection for people fleeing climate change, said Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS, a Jewish nonprofit providing humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees since 1881. “Everyone fears climate migration but nobody is preparing for it,” he said.

Sunday morning before the conference officially began, Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, president and dean of Valley Beit Midrash, arranged a bus for attendees to talk to refugees staying at Monte Vista

Baptist Church in Phoenix and a homeless encampment in The Zone, which spans roughly from Jefferson to Jackson streets and ninth to 15th avenues in downtown Phoenix.

“People were engaged with many questions as we discussed how the perils of climate change are affecting those suffering from homelessness and how new natural disasters are causing a global increase in refugees,” Yanklowitz said.

Brockman was one of 55 participants who accompanied Yanklowitz. While others were a bit nervous about talking to people in The Zone, she didn’t hesitate. “It’s because she’s so close to this work,” Smith said.

Brockman also appreciated the chance to get to know her colleagues more informally. It was enlightening to see that so many of the people doing “powerful and important work” at the helm of influential foundations are very kind and unassuming people, she said. “People here want to make the world a better place.”

When Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, Paula Pretlow, trustee of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and Eric Goldstein, CEO of UJA-Federation of New York, discussed the role philanthropy can play in addressing the world’s challenges during the second plenary, Brockman found herself excited and wanting to yell out: “It’s about developing wealth!”

Listening to three influential funders talk about the same things she’s been pushing for in her foundation, like trustbased philanthropy and funding general operating budgets, she was “revved up.”

Just the mention of it sent Brockman, Smith and Harvey into a detailed discussion of these ideas and how instrumental they could be in making progress among the Chicago communities they work with. Getting into the weeds of Jewish philanthropy is exactly why they came, and though the conference didn’t hit every note they hoped it would, they have a helpful list of suggestions for next year’s meeting. JN