November 16, 2009

Noble goals are not always enough to sustain a nonprofit, and ideas lose momentum when the realities of money and practicality come into play. The road to a failed nonprofit is paved with good intentions, to paraphrase the axiom.

Enter Jewish Jumpstart, a one-stop shop for Jewish social entrepreneurs, whose mission is to act as an incubator, catalyst, think tank and advocate for sustainable Jewish innovation.

The innovation begins with Joshua Avedon and Shawn Landres, co-founders of Jumpstart, who started the project in 2008 after their work with Synagogue 2000 — now Synagogue 3000 — brought to light the gap between Jewish entrepreneurs with benevolent ideas and those ideas actually coming to fruition. Since beginning this venture, Landres has been named one of The Forward 50, demonstrating that Jewish professionals are paying attention to Jumpstart’s initial vision.

Earlier this year Avedon and Landres released a report, based on the 2008 Survey of New Jewish Organizations, which demonstrates the importance of nurturing Jewish nonprofit startups. The Jumpstart report, “The Innovation Ecosystem: Emergence of a New Jewish Landscape,” published in partnership with The Natan Fund and The Samuel Bronfman Foundation, shows that more than 325 innovative nonprofit startups are not a fringe phenomenon, but are the leading edge of the American Jewish community’s transition into the 21st century.

“We have to raise the visibility of this sector,” Avedon said. “You can’t do that by just tinkering at the edges of it; you have to really be willing to change the conversation.”

Following this year’s shuttering due to financial problems of the Professional Leaders Project (PLP), an L.A.-based national nonprofit that recruited and trained future Jewish leaders, and a shrinking pool of funds — due in part to the recession and the impact of the Bernard Madoff $50 billion Ponzi scheme — Jewish nonprofit startups are facing greater hurdles than ever before.

The pressure is on Jumpstart, a startup in its own right, to move beyond rhetoric and into action.

Jumpstart’s daily operations are currently focused on offering strategic support to groups and getting the conversation rolling by holding forums.

Maital Guttman, co-founder of L.A. Moishe House, has attended several Jumpstart workshops and hopes to work with the organization in the future. But she says the burden is now on Avedon and Landres to take their vision to the next level and make it a reality.

“There’s a lot of potential, and for them to provide incubation and mentorship would be critical,” she said. “But they have to prove themselves now.”

Without PLP, Guttman says, there is added pressure on Jumpstart to fill the void.

“I think because they [the PLP] no longer exist, there’s an even greater need for support for young Jewish entrepreneurs and leaders,” she said.

Jumpstart believes there’s a need for Los Angeles to have a network of Jewish entrepreneurs and thinkers, the way San Francisco and New York do. Avedon and Landres are of the mind that Los Angeles has the potential to be an incubator for organizations that have yet to reach their full potential.

Although they admit the economic crisis came at an unfortunate time for their endeavor, the pair remains optimistic and asserts that poor economic conditions actually shed light on the importance of organizations like Jumpstart and the nonprofits they support.

“L.A. is the most creative place in the country,” Avedon said. “We’re sitting on top of a kind of oil well of innovation that just hasn’t been tapped yet.”

They believe that collaborations among different organizations and the potential for connections could help fill the gaps they see.

“I think we’ll be able to make L.A. … a destination for Jewish innovators,” Landres added.

Jumpstart’s founders said they will work with Jewish nonprofits, philanthropists and foundations that support innovation, and organizations that want to foster innovations and entrepreneurs. Avedon and Landres step in to help with problems that occur when there’s no clear direction post-startup.

“There’s a missing piece in this pipeline of innovation, and Jumpstart is looking to fill that hole,” Avedon said.

Jumpstart has raised more than $500,000, which includes funding from The Natan Fund and a three-year $250,000 Cutting Edge grant from the Jewish Community Foundation it received in October.

The men describe their day-to-day duties as threefold. The first part of their jobs consists of talking directly to individuals, helping them make business arrangements and decisions, and generally providing assistance to new start-ups.

The second facet of Jumpstart is conducting research on an organization’s area of expertise. By studying the inner workings of the businesses they advise and the relationships between them, Avedon and Landres say they are better equipped to offer quality assistance and sound suggestions. “This validates the work we’re doing,” Landres said.

The final piece of their work is making and hosting public presentations on the subject, which allow them to open up dialogue and inspire thought and action. These forums have included helping coordinate a meeting at the White House between Jewish social entrepreneurs and Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships representatives; two professional development workshops at the ROI Global Summit for Young Jewish Leaders in Israel this past summer; and a Nov. 19 forum in Los Angeles, “Transforming the Landscape: Social Entrepreneurship’s Impact on the Jewish Community.”

Although both Avedon and Landres are partners in this venture, they divide up duties as director of strategic initiatives and director of research, respectively. Jumpstart has also teamed up with Community Partners, a Southern California-based nonprofit incubator. Together they have launched The Project Partnership, “the first full-service fiscal sponsor for Jewish initiatives,” and through that collaboration Avedon and Landres are able to offer both their expertise and a well-established organization’s infrastructure to their clients.

“They had everything they needed in the way of effective outreach and the instincts themselves. What they lacked was a kind of infrastructure we spent 18 years building. [I thought] maybe there’s a way we can lend this infrastructure and [they] can do what [they] do so well and not have to invest right off,” Community Partners’ president and CEO Paul Vandeventer said.

While monetary and technical assistance tend to be more concrete sources of support for entrepreneurs, Vandeventer said Avedon and Landres are well beyond the average social entrepreneurs.

“Rarely do I see two people as oriented and grounded as they are, as intellectually adept at understanding the opportunities for innovation and as committed and credible in the community they keep,” he said.

Jason Ramin is eagerly waiting to be matched to a Little Brother by Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles. The 24-year-old marketing consultant and Beverly Hills resident envisions taking his Little Brother to Magic Mountain, to the movie theater or just hanging out, providing him with a positive male role model.

“I would not be the person I am today if I didn’t have my dad,” he said.

Ramin, however, has been waiting more than 11 months for a Little Brother, a process that normally takes only a couple of months. For the first time in the history of the agency, which was founded in 1915, there is a shortage of Little Brothers. The private, nonprofit agency has historically had a shortage of Little Sisters, President and CEO Margy Feldman said.

There are 23 confirmed and trained Big Brothers and 28 confirmed and trained Big Sisters as of Oct. 31, plus another 14 “in the pipeline,” Feldman said. And currently only four children are awaiting matches.

Feldman attributes the unprecedented shortage, which she traces back to April 2009, to the fact that single mothers, who predominantly initiate the request for a Big Brother, are overwhelmed with basic necessities — working, caring for their children and managing a household. “It could be that they see having a Big Brother as a luxury,” she said, adding that the agency does cross-gender matching.

Generally, Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles makes about 80 new matches a year. They are based on compatibility, including levels of Jewish observance and geographical proximity. This year, with less than two months remaining, only 47 matches have been finalized. That brings the agency’s total number of this year’s new and ongoing matches to 198.

To qualify as a Little Brother or Little Sister, a child must be age 6 or older and Jewish or being raised Jewish. Often the father or other male figure is absent from the family. The child could also have a challenging family situation, such as a disabled sibling, and benefit from having a Big Brother or Big Sister as a special friend. Additionally, a same-sex couple could request a Big Brother or Big Sister to provide an adult mentor of the opposite sex.

And while the majority of Little Brothers and Little Sisters come from disadvantaged circumstances, it’s not a prerequisite. Additionally, there is no cost.

A Little Brother or Little Sister generally meets with the Big Brother or Big Sister twice a month, for a couple of hours each visit. The relationship can continue until the child turns 21, with many lasting an entire lifetime.

The benefits for a Little Brother or Little Sister, according to a study done by the nonprofit organization Public/Private Ventures in 1995, “Making a Difference: An Impact Study of Big Brothers/Big Sisters,” are significant: 52 percent are less likely to skip school, 46 percent are less likely to begin using drugs, 27 percent are less likely to begin drinking and 33 percent are less likely to act out violently toward others.

Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles is one of only three Jewish Big Brother Big Sister programs nationally that are affiliated with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and that require the Little Brothers and Little Sisters to identify as Jewish. (Locally, because of a prior arrangement with Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles and with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, the organization accepts only Jewish children or those being raised Jewish.)

The Jewish Big Brother Big Sister program in Baltimore is not seeing a shortage of Little Brothers, though the waiting list is not as huge as it’s been, according to Beth Hecht, senior manager for volunteer services of Jewish Community Services. In Cleveland, The Jewish Big Brother Big Sister Association has been experiencing a shortage of both Little and Big Brothers over the past six months and an increase of Little and Big Sisters. “I don’t know why,” said Rachel Duber, the program’s executive director.

On the local nondenominational level, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and the Inland Empire is not experiencing a shortage of Little Brothers, President and CEO John Malcolm said. Rather, the agency is always grappling with an insufficient number of males, particularly men of color.

Meanwhile, Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles is getting out the word, which is challenging in the far-reaching Los Angeles Jewish community.

“We don’t know how to find a lot of people who need our services as they don’t necessarily go to temple,” Feldman said. “But we know they’re out there.”

For more information or to refer a child as a Little Brother or Little Sister, contact Susan Berk at (323) 761-8675, ext. 220, or visit Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles at jbbbsla.org.

I think I may have hit a new low. It felt as if I was channeling my parents as I heard myself complaining about how I miss the “good old days” — when people actually wrote me letters and cards, rather than texting me on my cell or sending online evites to parties and events. Call me old fashioned, but there’s something nice about opening up a letter and reading a handwritten note from a friend. Nowadays, the only thing that fills my mailbox are bills and a host of requests for donations from organizations in need of help.

Over the past few years, those requests have grown exponentially, especially in light of the economic crisis that our country has been living through. Unemployment is at a record high, the housing market has suffered a devastating blow, and many Americans have lost their homes, medical coverage and confidence that they will be able to hold their lives and families together. All of which makes me feel more responsible to give to worthy organizations that are struggling to keep their doors open to the many who need their help.

Which leads me to ask some hard questions about charitable giving: How much should I give? Should it be related to the amount I earn? How do I prioritize my gifts? Should I support Jewish organizations first and then donate to other charities after, if I have anything left? Should I give up something I enjoy — a dinner out, theater tickets, a trip — to make a more substantial contribution this year? 

There is no word for charity in Hebrew. Instead, we speak of tzedakah, which literally means “righteousness.” Tzedakah is the counterpart to tikkun olam, the Jewish obligation to act as God’s partner in repairing the world. Both affirm our responsibility to distribute a part of what we have to take care of others because our own wealth is viewed, not as a right or entitlement, but as a form of responsibility and stewardship to care for the world. The Torah teaches: “If there is a needy person among you, any of your brethren in any of your cities in the Land that God has given you, you shall not harden your heart or close your hand against him. Rather, you shall open your hand and lend him whatever he is lacking” (Deuteronomy 15:7-8).

Jewish law is fairly specific in its answer to the question of the amount we should give. Maimonides established specific parameters for giving: 10 percent is average, 20 percent is ideal, but we should not give more, so that we don’t become impoverished ourselves.

But 10 percent of what — gross pay, net income, your entire estate? While there are differing opinions, it is generally accepted that maaser (tithing) is calculated based on net income. Think of it like this: God is your business partner, and you can deduct the same business expenses, such as income and sales taxes, insurance payments and travel expenses, that you would in any legal partnership. If you want to learn more, you can go online and find a maaser calculator to figure it out.

In terms of prioritizing our gifts, the general rule is that “the poor of your own town come before the poor of any other town,” but priority is given to the poor living in the land of Israel. We start with our own family, town and community and then reach out into the larger world, which includes Jews and non-Jews alike. The Talmud specifically recognizes that any needy person who lives peacefully with us is worthy of charity because of the “ways of peace.”

Another bit of wisdom comes from the Chofetz Chaim, a pious 19th century rabbi and ethicist, who taught that it is better to give smaller sums frequently than a lump sum annually, in order to encourage us to regularly think about the needs of others.

But does giving tzedakah have to hurt? Should I be required to give up something I want in order to make a meaningful gift? The answer is no, and yes. To give in a Jewish way is to act out of a sense of justice and responsibility — not guilt or dread. Jews neither give because it feels good, nor until it hurts. We are obligated to give because the need exists. But if we have committed to giving by making a pledge, either privately (in our own minds) or publicly, we are obligated to fulfill it even it if “hurts.”

Moses offered the Israelites a wonderful piece of wisdom when he told them to bring gifts to build the Tabernacle: “Take from among you gifts to the Lord: everyone whose heart so moves him shall bring them …” (Exodus 35:5). When we give, Jewish tradition asks that we give from our hearts — because it is from our hearts that we need to lead, rather than our heads. When we look upon the world with heartfelt compassion, we are more inclined to see the real needs of others and make a gift that is truly meaningful.

During our lives we will have times when our income may be limited or our resources depleted. An unexpected tragedy, the loss of a job, or an illness can reduce our estate such that it seems nearly impossible to give. But tzedakah is an “equal opportunity mitzvah” and applies to everyone, no matter how much or how little we have. If we are unable to give of our money, we can give of our time, talents, wisdom and compassion. That is why our sages assured us that everyone is capable of giving, when they said: “To the one who is eager to give, God provides the means.”

Amy Hirshberg Lederman is an award-winning, nationally syndicated columnist, author, Jewish educator, public speaker and attorney. Her book, “One God, Many Paths: Finding Meaning and Inspiration in Jewish Teachings” (Wheatmark, 2008) is available at When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Giving Read More »