Chapter IV: Epilogue

What We Have Learned

Activity on Two Axes

In retrospect, we realize that we could not have effected such significant change without simultaneous intensive activity on the axes of dynamic solutions and awareness. In our area of activity, it is extremely important to offer options tailored to the needs of the beneficiaries, but it is also necessary to change awareness and bring about social change, with emphasis on getting rid of invisible and overt stigmas. We found that a combination of traditional and new media was vital, both as a driver of change in the public discourse and as a catalyst for addressing needs and devising solutions relevant to the target populations. Because decision makers attribute great importance to media reports, placing the subject on the public agenda enhanced our ability to exert an influence and to create the desired change.

Values

Our years of philanthropic activity have been based on strong, solid values. We have encountered many opportunities, complex challenges and situations in which we had to make decisions, minor and fateful alike. Reliance on the Foundation’s value system was a highly significant anchor for our philanthropic work and, thus, our social and moral compass delineated the work process for us, from determining our vision and goals, to devising the strategy and allocating resources and, ultimately, to designing our main activities. The integration of Jewish values, such as “Every person was created in God’s image” and mutual responsibility with universal values such as social justice, rights and equality made us who we are and helped us establish our unique brand.

Activism and Philanthropy

We believe that the traditional working assumption that the role of philanthropy is to support social action organizations behind the scenes, while encouraging and helping them to promote social change, is not enough. As we see it, philanthropy should effect decisive change, and it must use the various tools available to achieve the desired results. Despite the technological progress that has occurred in the twenty-first century, social disparities still exist and are, in fact, becoming wider. In addition to financial capital, philanthropy offers symbolic and public capital and multi-sector ties that greatly enhance its impact. Philanthropy has a moral obligation and social responsibility to use its abilities and resources to its full potential to achieve its mission. Philanthropies can no longer sit by and act from a distance to promote their goals. They must get down

on the ground, roll up their sleeves and take action to achieve results in keeping with a responsible, clear, open public and social agenda.

Advocacy and Social Change

In retrospect, we realize that we could not have brought about significant change without intensive activity on the axis of awareness. Structural barriers resulting from erroneous social paradigms and stereotypes create obstructive patterns of thinking among decision-makers, leaders, the public and beneficiaries which, on the macro level, affect the ability to create change. In our efforts for the inclusion of people with disabilities in society, we recognize that while it is extremely important to meet beneficiaries’ needs by tailoring solutions accordingly, without a change in awareness in society with an emphasis on eliminating both invisible and overt stigmas, the problem will not be uprooted, and substantive changes cannot take place. This awareness creates the reality; without a profound change in awareness, the reality will not change. We are now finding that a combination of traditional and social media is highly effective, both as a driver of change in public discourse and as a catalyst for addressing needs’ responses and devising relevant solutions. Because decision-makers attribute great importance to media reports, the more we put our stamp on the public agenda, the better able we will be to exert an influence and create the desired change.

Focus

When we began this journey, we had to decide how we wanted to engage in this work. Should we spread our efforts far and wide, with limited involvement in a broad range of issues, or would it be better to set clear, rigid boundaries for our activity? Because we hoped to effect change and exert a substantial influence, we understood that we had to adopt result-oriented methods. We chose to focus on the inclusion of people with disabilities as the Foundation’s core area and we worked according to clear, transparent, predetermined principles. This focus strengthened the effectiveness of our investment and helped us and the various organizations to work strategically, striving to maximize the return on our investment (ROI). In the course of the focused work process, we gained expertise and experience, and we succeeded in influencing the social field, forming strategic partnerships and maximizing our ability to create effective solutions.

Courage and Determination

A philanthropy that seeks to operate in an activist manner needs faith, professionalism and the ability to motivate and lead. It must also be faithful to its values and stick to the task at hand. Most of all, to achieve a significant breakthrough, it needs courage and determination. We see ourselves as entrepreneurs, creators of innovative solutions and

people who can “move the needle”. This requires managing numerous risks, including financial investments, innovative pilot programs with no guarantee of success, media coverage and easy access to the public via social media. When we seized the reins of leadership, we naturally encountered opposition, hitches and difficulties but, throughout the journey, we never stopped striving to promote our values and goals fearlessly, with dedication and responsibility.

Leadership

Foundation president Jay Ruderman and executive director Shira Ruderman spearheaded the Foundation’s philanthropy, activism and public activity, personally and professionally. Their involvement and presence were evident every step of the way, and the philanthropic and activist aspects of their identities came together to strengthen the nature of their leadership. At this time, when the boundaries between sectors and organizations are blurred, the traditional role of philanthropy is also changing, and this is an opportunity to effect genuine change for foundations so that they can build strong, solid, responsible leadership.

Satisfaction

When we succeed in moving the dial of satisfaction, however slightly, it makes a tremendous difference. In the course of our work, we had many successes and achievements, the products of our hard, though sometimes Sisyphean work. Our victories were not always as quick and rewarding as we had hoped. Social changes do not take place quickly; they require a great deal of patience and faith in the mission. We, therefore, stored our moments of success and channeled every outcome into motivation and strength for the coming revolutions.

Partnerships

The job of philanthropy is to lead the field and encourage connections surrounding important goals, even if it is necessary at times to compromise regarding some of the objectives. Today, given the lack of resources and complex tasks, one way to succeed is by joining forces. We believe that to promote social issues, we must ensure a diversity of voices while identifying the added value of the organizations, maintaining the uniqueness of each organization in the partnership, giving in sometimes and doing the necessary professional work. Effort must be invested in building strong underpinnings for the partnership, but once this has been done, the possibility of having a powerful impact rises substantially. We are proud of our results, which were achieved through collaboration over the years with philanthropic foundations, third-sector organizations, academic institutions, the business sector, government and people with disabilities.

Patience

Social change may take a long time, especially when it entails complex social missions. We have no doubt that appropriate planning, professionalism and effective work can shorten the time frame, but completing the tasks, achieving the desired results and having a substantial impact can take many years. The time dimension becomes particularly challenging in an age when reality is constantly changing, and there is rapid turnover of players. Over the past two decades, we have experienced numerous disappointments. On many occasions, we had difficulty controlling the pace of change and we understood that we had no magic wand to create quick solutions. Nevertheless, we recognized that a philanthropy engages for the long term and, therefore, we have a responsibility to lead complex processes that require patience, not only with respect to seeing results but also in the process itself.

Challenges Along the Way

The decision to be an activist foundation was not always simple and easy. In this review, it is important to us to present a complete picture, including the professional and personal complexities. Nevertheless, we must stress that the advantages, accomplishments and satisfaction definitely outweighed the challenges, difficulties and disappointments, and we have no regrets about our decision.

Selection of an area of activity

The social issue that we chose to promote - inclusion of people with disabilities - is not at the heart of philanthropic activity and is often marginalized. One complex task that we faced was introducing a peripheral, even unpopular issue into the philanthropic and social discourse. At times, our opinion was a minority one, and we found ourselves working with just a small handful of philanthropic foundations or in a situation in which our beneficiaries were marginalized. Over the years, we have worked hard to convey and assimilate the message that inclusion of people with disabilities is related to diversity, social justice and human rights, with emphasis on the obvious: people with disabilities are a fifth of the population and their interest is everyone’s interest. Inclusion is an issue in all areas of life, and it involves many complexities.

Exposure and access

The strategic and tactical decision to have family members work intensely at spearheading the change put them in a very exposed position. Over time, we came to realize that those at the front are struck by the arrows of criticism much more than those working behind the scenes of social action organizations. Because accessibility is an important, valuable principle for the Foundation leadership, they were in touch with the public by virtual means, especially social media, throughout the process. Unfortunately, the discourse in social media was not always constructive or efficient; at times it was rabid, stormy and personally offensive.

Tension between the Foundation and organizations engaged in the practical work

The Foundation’s activism astonished social action organizations, especially those that were afraid of competition and regarded the Foundation as an interloper. We learned how to listen more and work more transparently and collaboratively with these organizations. Thanks to this effort, we feel we have changed the rules of the game and the dynamics between philanthropies and nonprofits somewhat, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the change we sought. In a substantive way, the Foundation worked on promoting leadership and strengthening self-advocacy among people with disabilities, while including workers and activists with disabilities in the teams of its programs. Nevertheless, some saw this as interference and expressed vehement, public opposition. It is important to state that the Foundation understands this complexity, was sensitive throughout to the social criticism voiced and strived for full cooperation with organizations, groups and individuals who expressed interest.

Main Achievements

The Foundation invested a great deal of effort over two decades, doing everything it could to further the inclusion of people with disabilities in society. We are proud of our accomplishments, which are a direct outcome of hard work, determination and tremendous faith in our goal.

Justice and not charity

The notion of charity and compassion is a prevalent perception in the context of people with disabilities. The Foundation has managed to change this attitude among Jewish

communities in the United States and Israel and to replace it with the idea that inclusion is part of the concept of human rights and diversity. Inclusion of a person with a disability should not depend on the includer’s goodwill and should not be based on paternalism; rather, it is a basic right in a well-ordered society. These once radical messages are common today and are inherently accepted by professionals, decision-makers, opinion leaders and influencers, the public and people with disabilities. The thought patterns were changed by introducing language related to social conceptions of justice and human rights and through the repeated use of phrases such as, “the largest minority in the world” and “a fifth of the world’s population”. Thanks to collaborative work with our partners, together with additional processes that we led, we have effected substantial change in the Jewish world - in Jewish law, rituals and community life - while inculcating the value of inclusion in hundreds of communities of various Jewish denominations around the world.

Impact on the public discourse

One of the main achievements of which we are most proud is a change in awareness brought about through the use of traditional and social media. The Foundation identified an opportunity for bottom-up action on technological platforms and in social media. We brought together groups of activists and many other people with and without disabilities and positioned the inclusion discourse as a discussion of rights and social justice in the heart of the public arena. People with disabilities are now expressing their opinions and receiving more authentic representation in the media, in culture and in the entertainment industry. Through our work, we succeeded in reaching extensive audiences, lessening stereotypical perceptions and providing advanced content that sees the person with a disability as a complete person with the same rights as anyone else.

Innovative responses and services

Throughout the years of the Foundation’s activity, we invested extensive resources in an innovative way of responding to needs that would effect a highly significant change in the quality of life of people with disabilities. This process is based on the Foundation’s values and working methods, thanks to which we have successfully produced highcaliber, multisystem, multi-disability solutions enabling full inclusion in all areas of life, first in a pilot format, then expanded to a wider population, in a comprehensive geographical manner. The Foundation created an array of programs and services for all ages and aspects of life, with emphasis on increasing the representation of children and women with disabilities as part of a principle-based conception of equal rights. Both in the United States and in Israel, the programs were designed according to a model that would be sustainable in the long term, and most were adopted by their local and

national administrations. Thus, we established hundreds of programs in crucial areas of life that have yielded results which will continue to thrive even without financial and professional support from the Foundation.

Change in policy

The combination of the two axes of impact - the axis of awareness and the axis of solutions - had a major influence on how we worked to further and change policy. In the course of our work, we managed to set in motion forces that moved from the bottom-up as well as top-down. We worked strategically to change policy, with the understanding that only by doing so could we leave a broad, long-term imprint. We worked throughout with decision-makers and stayed in touch with them, although on numerous occasions, we voiced social criticism and worked towards change. Underlying our activity is the idea that a person with a disability is, first and foremost, someone with equal rights and holistic needs. We tried to instill this belief on various levels and in the various spheres of influence: religion, government, academia, employment, entertainment, etc. The main results of our efforts in Israel have been a change in the method of government budgeting, adoption of the concepts of individualized budgeting and person-centered service, a partnership for promoting a multi-disability administration in the government (rather than having each type of disability dealt with separately), a government agency for housing in the community, and influence regarding halachic issues such as permission for deaf people to marry, accessible mikva’ot and bringing guide dogs into synagogues. In the United States, the main results were a change in the casting system used by the two most influential Hollywood production companies, NBC and CBS. The policy changes we were able to create, together with our partners, will ensure the best quality of services and manner of inclusion of people with disabilities in society for the future.

A leading player

Over the years, the Ruderman Family Foundation has gone from being an anonymous entity to being a central, leading philanthropic foundation furthering the rights of people with disabilities in Israel, in American Jewish communities and, in recent years, internationally. This has manifested itself in the many requests for collaboration, not only for financial resources, but for help spearheading strategic processes, ongoing assistance and professional advice, and assistance in forming connections with other players. The Foundation has gained expertise, experience and knowledge, creating a multi-sector network and becoming an important agent of change with respect to initiating innovative solutions and processes while having a strong presence in social

and traditional media. The Foundation has managed to create a new social and professional field that focuses on inclusion. It has served as an engine leading principle-based efforts in the field of inclusion, as a focal point for leading players and as an integrator and expeditor of innovative ways of eliminating major barriers.

Our legacy

Underlying the Foundation’s conception of change is the idea that our job is to come up with innovative solutions and responses to needs and challenges that arise. Therefore, the conception of sustainability and an exit strategy are built-in, even in the planning and initial implementation stages. In the course of our work, we chose to act in strategic spheres, together with main partners, and established engines of change that would ensure the activities we initiated continued, met needs in innovative ways and offered up-to-date solutions.

Thus, this is an opportunity to thank our partners for the wonderful way we did this together. We believe that, thanks to our joint work and its continuation, we will succeed in turning our society into a better, fairer and more just society.

Academia Education Government and Public Sector

Religious Spaces

Philanthropy

Young Adults with and without Disability Business Sector

Leisure and Community

Communications and Social Networks Organizations/ Social Sector

The Entertainment Industry

Language, Values, Perception Engine for Change and Growth Knowledge and Tools Services and Solutions Ecosystem Networking

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