Charitable Giving
Washington Jewish Week • October 11, 2012
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A history of giving by Meredith Jacobs Managing Editor
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n the 1970s, a group of self-described counter culturalists created their own way of giving — one that allowed them to increase their impact on causes they believed in. By combining gis, this “giving circle” of friends gave voice to their beliefs in how organizations should be run and how their money should be distributed. irty six years later, they and their ideas are part of the “establishment,” and their circle keeps giving. As a young man, Bruce Waxman, now 70 and a semi-retired attorney in Fairfax, was a member of the D.C. chavurah, Fabrangen. With a young demographic, Fabrangen, Waxman believes, “was the precursor to Sixth & I.” Coming out of the protest movements of the 1960s, Fabrangen members spoke in favor of a two-state solution and against the Vietnam war. Waxman, a Vietnam veteran, was “accused of being a tool for Hanoi.” e group of approximately 20 members davened in the offices of the Religious Action Committee. is was a group dedicated
to Judaism, and the mitzvah of tzedakah (charity) was an integral part of their Jewish lives. “e idea of having a full Jewish life, you do things religious, you give tzedakah,” Waxman explains. But they needed their own take on tzedekah. “We came out of that counter culture. We didn’t feel UJA represented the Jewish community. We thought they were only giving to organizations that towed the Jewish line.” us was born the Fabrangen Tzedakah Collective, and by creating their own giving circle, the group was able to press organizations about matters like the percentage of women on their boards. Judy Sofer, a founder along with Waxman, has a slightly different take on the collective’s genesis. “A long time ago, in the 70s, there were retreats of people who were members of chavurot — from Boston, New York, D.C., maybe even Annapolis and Philadelphia. We got together a few times at Weiss’ Farm in New Jersey. It was a place where Jewish groups would have meetings, nothing fancy. An idea that came out of one of the Weiss’ Farm retreats was the idea of a tzedekah collective. We were part of Fabrangen, and we came home and started it.”
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Of all the tzedakah collectives or giving circles that were inspired by the retreat, Sofer believes the Fabrangen Tzedakah Collective is the only one still in existence. e group recently made its 74th allocation and estimates its total giving at well over a million dollars. According to Eugene Sofer, the group’s coordinator and husband of Judy, in the 2011 Chanukah allocation, 42 households gave $52,000. “We’re committed, we’re stubborn,” she says. eir ability to evolve is a reason both she and Waxman give to credit their longevity.
In the beginning, they tried to come to consensus about who to give to and how much to give. “We weren’t talking about amounts that were earth-shattering,” says Sofer, “but we spent a lot of time doing that. At the end of the day, we realized that didn’t make much sense.” ey decided their time and energy would be better spent learning about and keeping up with the groups. “is was before the Internet,” Waxman notes of trying to find potential charities.
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October 11, 2012 • Washington Jewish Week
See GIVING, next page
Charitable Giving
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CharitableGiving GIVING from previous page “We were all activists, we all knew groups. Max and Esther Ticktin had friends in Israel so along came New Israel Fund.â€? î ˘ose with connections to a group would make a report, if no one was connected, someone was assigned. î ˘ey would do research, report to the group and the lists would be created. Which gets to the heart of the beneďŹ t of a giving circle. “You maximize your ability. You get solicitations but you don’t know who they are or what they’re about,â€? he continues. “If you have more people, you can do that research.â€? And with more people comes leverage. “You’re making a greater donation, so we can ask things like ‘How come you don’t have women on your board?’ Or, if it’s not a Jewish group, ‘What’s your relationship to the Jewish community?’ But we never said ‘If you don’t do something, we won’t give you money.’ â€? Both the Sofers and Waxman state the group focuses on two overarching categories —Jewish and general, with subgroups for Jewish including local and national and U.S.-based organizations that focus on Israel issues and Israeli organizations. General has three subgroups: housing, hunger, homelessness, employment and health (all D.C.-based or servicing metropolitan D.C.); services for children and families; and international assistance. Over the years, they have made donations to groups like DC Scores, North American Conference for Ethiopian Jewry, B’Tselem, JUFJ, AVODAH, and the Jewish Arab community center in Ramallah — to name only a few. î ˘ey describe their giving to Jewish causes but equally important to causes where they believe a Jewish presence is important. “So, for example, improving lives for lower income people. We felt it important for there to be a Jewish presence on the front lines of these issues,â€? explains Gene Sofer. â€œî ˘ese are not only Jewish causes, these are causes in our community and our world,â€? says Alys Cohen, a public interest attorney in Takoma Park, who at 46, is among the younger members of the collective. “Many of the places we give are places where people from other communities need help. î ˘ese are progressive causes that sit with our world view.â€? Cohen feels privileged to be a part of a group that has been around and is so
thoughtful and so committed aî‚?er all these years. Both she and the man who was to become her husband were members of the chavurah when they learned about the collective. “What we liked about it was the opportunity to give as Jews and have the Jewish community give money not only to Jewish causes but social justice and tikkun olam causes in the name of Jewish community.â€? â€œî ˘e other big thing we wanted to do early on is to give to groups that are starting out with good ideas and prospects but not yet in a place where they can raise a lot of money, where they don’t yet have that fundraising capacity,â€? explains Judy Sofer. “For example, we gave to House of Ruth when they were just starting out. It sounds ironic that we sometimes will take a group o that becomes more established.â€? î ˘ey also like to give to groups where their relatively small donation will make a big impact or to needs, such as overhead, for which it’s hard to raise money. î ˘en, as today, they have two allocation times — Chanukah and Shavuot. Lists are formed and distributed to the members. Each member then individually decides to whom to give and how much. î ˘ere is also the option of making a donation to the Tzedakah Collective and let the group decide how to disburse the money. Donations are made to the collective and then the treasurer cuts the checks to the organizations. “We gave a percentage,â€? explains Waxman of the collective’s beginning years. “If you didn’t have a lot, you gave small. When you had more, you gave more. It’s not a cookbook. î ˘is is what worked for us. No one said show us your tax return. If you said this is what I make, that was it.â€? Of being part of a giving circle, Waxman says, “you have to have the right attitude — take tzedakah and giving seriously. If you do, you beneďŹ t in many ways. You fulďŹ ll the requirement, the mitzvah of giving tzedakah. But you become more aware. You can’t help but have your consciousness heightened when you talk to people in a group about giving tzedakah.â€? According to Judy Sofer, the oldest member of the group just turned 90. î ˘ey were all in their 20s and early 30s when they founded the Fabrangen Tzedakah Collective. But they celebrate their double chai anniversary because, as she says, â€œî ˘e needs are still there. î ˘e importance of tzedakah is still there. We felt it was important from the minute we started doing this, so we kept doing it.â€?
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In Eastern Europe, giving and volunteerism is taking root by Cnaan Liphshiz JTA News and Features
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earing an elegant dress and a name tag, Dasha Fedoseeva flitted among the tables during a recent Jewish community dinner in Moscow just aer Rosh Hashanah. Fedoseeva wasn’t just a guest. She was part of a team of young Jewish volunteers whose goal was to mingle and charm older guests into increasing their donations to local Jewish charities. Organized by the Russian Jewish Congress, the gala dinner and auction raised $85,000. In 2011, the Congress allocated $385,000 to a Jewish orphanage in Moscow — all the money was raised locally in fundraising drives. e raising of substantial funds locally is a sign of something that was almost unthinkable just a few years ago in former Soviet bloc countries. For years, the Jewish communities there subsisted on Western help for welfare and community building.
But as these communities grow up, they are becoming increasingly self-reliant — something that’s evident both in the growing culture of local volunteerism and homegrown philanthropy. “Over the past few years, we see more volunteering by young Jews and more donations, which are aspects of the same trend of giving,” said Matvey Chlenov, deputy director of the Russian Jewish Congress. “In the 1990s there was a feeling we were struggling to survive in the post-communist upheaval,” he said. “Now in Russia we have more time and money, and some people are looking for a way to do positive things for the community.” Chlenov says this applies not only to Jews but to Russian society in general. In Ukraine, a $70 million Jewish community center in Dnepropetrovsk due to be dedicated this month was funded entirely by local philanthropists. Elsewhere in Ukraine, JCCs are encouraging activism and philanthropy among young Jews while accustoming older members to paying fees.
In Poland, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee recently received its first significant donation from a local philanthropist. Promoters of Jewish life in Eastern Europe say that getting people to donate time and money is difficult in the former Soviet bloc, where bitter memories of “forced volunteering” remain, and there is deep-rooted skepticism in the idea of sacrificing for Dasha Fedoseeva, standing, was among the volunteers at the Rosh the common good. Hashanah auction and gala fundraiser at Moscow's Radisson “Former Soviet coun- Royal Hotel last month. e money went to benefit a Jewish ortries have little culture of phanage. Photos by Ilya Dolgopolsky giving or volunteering, would go somewhere and do what they and I know exactly why,” said Karina told us. It profoundly affects your attitude Sokolowska, director of the Poland office of the JDC. “Growing up in communist Poland, I remember attending ‘compulSee ROOT, next page sory-voluntary action’ every month. We
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to community work.” Mariya Zarud, 22, of Odessa, encountered this barrier to community work at home. Zarud, the regional coordinator for the JDC-funded Metzuda program for developing Jewish leadership, said she had to plead with her parents to convince them that her unpaid role in the Jewish community was a good thing. “Initially it was pretty tough. I had to make them see I wasn’t wasting my time,” Zarud said of her teen years, when she first became Among the volunteers at the Rosh Hashanah auction and gala involved with JDC pro- fundraiser at Moscow's Radisson Royal Hotel were Natan Shuminov, grams. Like many peo- le, and Kirill Samokhvalov. e money went to benefit a Jewish orple who grew up under phanage. $240,000 from fees helps cover other procommunism, her parents were wary of orgrams, including charitable activities. ganizational activism, she said. Nevertheless, the culture of giving is still While her parents’ generation looks far less widespread than it is in the West, exaskance at volunteering, young Jews recogperts say. nize that it is up to them — not just internaRussia has a Jewish population of 265,000, tional Jewish aid groups — to build their according to a 2010 official census, and the communities, she says. World Jewish Congress says it estimates the In Odessa, the Beit Grand Jewish Comnumber is at least 330,000. Despite the community Center, which was dedicated in 2010 munity's size, local philanthropy comes thanks to American Jewish donations, colmostly from a thin layer of “oligarchs or lects fees for all cultural activities, according super-rich Jews,” Chlenov said. to Ira Zborovskaya of the local JDC office. “What we are missing is a trusted brand “Even if it’s only symbolic, everyone has to for small donations from middle-class chip in and pay something for services,” donors, like what the Jewish federation sysZborovskaya said. tem does in the U.S.,” he said. In Soviet times, “charging fees for culAttempts to raise donations from that sectural activities was unthinkable — it was all tor yielded some results, according to free,” said Kira Verkhovskaya, director of Chlenov, but never beyond a total of Odessa’s other JCC, Migdal. Fees are also $150,000 per fundraising campaign. collected as a matter of policy there, but In Ukraine, Eduard Dolinsky, director of most of the budget comes from subsidies the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, says the from Jews in the West. Jewish middle class still isn't opening its “Some older people are not happy when wallet. they are asked to pay,” she said. “Since the mid- 1990s, we are seeing the Both Migdal and Beit Grand have prosame 10 to 15 very rich Jews funding chargrams that encourage young Jews to conity,” he said. e donor pool is “sadly not extribute time and effort to the community. panding.” Beit Grand also operates a luxury Jewish is means that with a Jewish population kindergarten for 40 children whose well-off of 360,000 to 400,000 and many thousands parents pay a monthly fee of $500 — approxof welfare cases, Ukrainian Jewry would imately double the average national monthly “face a humanitarian disaster” if it weren’t salary. e kindergarten is so popular that it for American money, Dolinsky added. has a long waiting list. e annual income of
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Charitable Giving
Washington Jewish Week • October 11, 2012
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Creating a family foundation by Meredith Jacobs Managing Editor
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October 11, 2012 • Washington Jewish Week
Family foundations are no longer only for the extraordinarily wealthy. Interest in this philanthropic vehicle is spreading to those families looking to create a more significant giving impact to causes usually with a specific focus. Take, for example, Rabbi Bruce A of Congregation Adat Reyim in Springfield and his wife Susan. ey wanted to do something, to give back to the Greater Washington Jewish community that they had been a part of for 18 years. Part of their motivation was the rabbi’s “getting through cancer” but part was “seeing significant need in the community for certain things that weren’t happening.” Creating the Rabbi Bruce and Sue A Chai Foundation was a way they could give more meaningful gis and grant more funds. e As focused on funding programs that reach out to young people and projects that create interfaith dialogue. “Projects that bring people together, that get people working together,” explains the rabbi. He talks about one of their first grant recipients, an interfaith seder at George Mason University. It was a Jewish seder held at the campus Catholic center. Both Jewish and Christian students prepared the food, and the rabbi led the seder. It is set to become an annual tradition. Could the As simply have made a donation? Yes, but the creation of the foundation and the subsequent call for grant requests served as catalyst for the seder. “ere have been interfaith students on campus,” notes the rabbi. “ey didn’t have a seder.” Additionally, by creating a foundation, the As provide a vehicle for others interested in creating programs for young people and building bridges between religions to contribute to. “Why should I give to you as opposed to Moishe House [one of the A grantees] directly?” Rabbi A asks and then explains that donors come to trust the decisions of the foundation and, rather than taking the time to research various organizations and causes, think “if they [A Chai] chose this as important, it’s important.” He admits that having a foundation is a bit more involved than they initially thought. But it was important for them that they had some sort of control on where the money would go and how it would be used. “We’ve given to four places and it’s meant a lot.” ey didn’t go it alone. An attorney helped with the paperwork to obtain a 501c3 status and an accountant helped with the financial part. ey recruited a board, defined their Charitable Giving
mission and developed by-laws. “It is a good idea to talk to people who have some experience with foundations,” suggests Sue A. “I spoke to a woman who is a professional grant writer with a lot of experience with foundations. I also spoke to an acquaintance who has a family foundation to get her advice and suggestions. Both these people suggested we narrow our focus, and both said it is important to raise a significant amount of money before giving grants. is was a quandary. How do we show donors what we are all about if we do not award any grants, but how can we award grants if we haven't raised funds? So we raised a modest sum, had two rounds of grant proposals, and will now focus on raising more money before accepting more grant proposals.” For those looking to create their own foundation, the rabbi suggests asking, “Like Passover, ‘What makes this night different?’ Ask, ‘What makes this different?’ ” is focus helps attract both donors and potential grantees while also shaping the work of the foundation. “We originally thought about doing a bullying seminar and someone said that would be too big,” explains A. He then realized they wanted to fund projects that really got people involved, that brought people together. While they have funded interfaith programs and others such as Moishe house, and provided an intern for Jews United for Justice, they hope to fund a multigenerational program like the seder at George Mason. “We’re waiting for a group to apply for that,” he notes. He also notes it is important to get people on the board who bring a wide variety of professional expertise, involvement in the community, and perhaps diverse viewpoints. A foundation needs at least a two-year strategic plan with interim goals, especially for fundraising and marketing, adds his wife, who suggests checking out resources like the Council on Foundations (cof.org) and the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region (cfncr.org). e As have four grown children, all starting out in various careers. While he doesn’t want to speak for his children, the rabbi does note that he hopes that if the foundation grows to where he and Sue hope it will, that their children will continue their work. Ultimately, he says, “Find an area where something is not happening, stop complaining and find a way to make it happen.” e A Chai Foundation is looking to develop board members. ose interested should call 703-866-5531. For more information, go to achai.org.
CharitableGiving
Tzedakah that’s by the book and easy on the checkbook by Diana Burmistrovich JNS.org
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ou’re walking home from an extra shift you picked up to cover this month’s rent and pass a homeless person burrowed into a tarnished blanket. It’s the same person you’ve seen occupying the block for the last few months. Out of habit, you throw $5 into the person’s cup — knowing you’ll have one less item for dinner and hoping the person will have one more thing to eat. Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah describes tzedakah as a personal duty in which we give 5-10 percent of our income to sustain our community and to help those in need. Meaning “righteousness” in Hebrew, tzedakah is neither a charge nor charity. It’s a mitzvah, or commandment, that all Jews are obliged to follow. Even the poor are required to give tzedakah, according to their means. That being said, tzedakah isn’t meant to be burdensome or run your personal finances into the ground. Here are some
tzedakah options that are both good by the book and good for the checkbook: • Fund or start a kosher food pantry in your city. Many people seek to uphold their religious principles during trying times, so why not make that a little easier for them? • Get in touch with a local Hillel organization and help fund a scholastic trip for Jewish college students. The best place to check would be large state schools. • Donate to an organization in Israel. Consider groups like Migdal Ohr, which provides education and social guidance to children from underprivileged and rough homes in northern Israel, with issues including overcrowded apartments, one-parent families, drug problems, poverty and crime within the family. Table to Table harvests excess fresh food from caterers, cafeterias, manufacturers, grocers and farmers to feed Israel’s hungry. Paamonim helps Israeli families in financial distress regain their footing. • Start two tzedakah boxes for your family: one for loose change and one for col-
is year, find more ways to help those in need. Photo by Apanuta.
lecting names of organizations to donate to. At the end of every month, draw a name from the second box and donate all the money from the change box to it.
With so much at stake, hadn’t you better get involved with the battle of ideas?
• Incorporate tzedakah into your Shabbat meals. Declare one meal a month a “potluck” where guests bring canned goods and nonperishables to be donated to the local food pantry or soup kitchen. • The recipient of your tzedakah does not necessarily have to know who you are. Donate to a larger organization that benefits the hungry like Bread for the World, USA or Mazon. • Go through old clothes and see what you don’t need. Take all of what you find and bring it to the shelter in your city that has the highest demand. Shelters often have wish lists on their websites. • Give a homeless person you pass on the street a few more dollars than you would regularly. • Do you spend too much time working on a menial project at work or at home? Put up a temp job ad. Hiring someone for that position will both help you finish the project and give work experience to someone who needs it. • Give a donation in honor of a friend or family member. Works best for those who seem to “have it all,” making it difficult to come with original gift ideas for them. Instead of giving them another material object that’s likely to gather dust, help them contribute to a meaningful cause.
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Washington Jewish Week • October 11, 2012
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Fundraising without the checks by Masha Rifkin JNS.org
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company that focuses on sustainable creative giving,” Shane explains. Causes International partners with a variety of clients to help them expand into being environmentally responsible while simultaneously fundraising for their
ulie Shane is a serial entrepreneur, even referring to her family as her “most cherished entrepreneurial experience.” A true business maven during the past 20 years, Shane’s latest venture, Causes International, promises not only a significant model It is noted that on average, Americans have 34 gadgets for fundraising, but for not in active use per household. Julie Shane's venture — Causes International — “upcycles” unused gadgets as protecting the environan avenue for fundraising. ment as well. Photo by Curtis Palmer With her first venture — an asset management favorite cause. It’s called “upcycompany in the real estate market — comcling”: participants are encouraged ing at age 26, Shane would continue to to collect their unused consumer found two more successful organizations electronics (old iPods, laptops, before leaving the business world to raise Gameboys, etc.). Then, depending her three children. on the state of the item, Shane’s After a 15-year hiatus (during which she company will either dispose of it refounded her fourth company) Shane responsibly, sell it, or refurbish it and turned to the business world in 2010 with then sell it. Ideally of course, most her fifth venture, Causes International. of the items should be sellable. “I wanted to make a difference. I re“What people do not understand is that searched for two years before founding the something obsolete to them may have company. We are a green cause marketing
great value to someone else. Our goal is to raise revenue while protecting the planet,” Shane says. And raise revenue they do; when marketed properly, campaigns have the potential to create tens of thousand of dollars for a cause. Organizations are particularly inclined to work with Causes due to the minimal effort required on their part. “We take care of it all — all they do is drop the items in the bucket,” Shane says, “So, we give them a new avenue to support the causes they desire — and no one has to write a check!” Shane insists that from Causes’ side, each campaign is about far more than dropping used iPods into a box. “We take into consideration each client’s mission,
heart and purpose and put together campaigns that honor all the elements,” she says. Shane recently opened an “It’s a Mitzvah” division for bar/bat mitzvah students. She fully provides them with the tools necessary to run upcycling campaigns within their communities to raise funds for their favorite charities. The student needs only to spread the word, and collect the items. “We turn [those items] into revenue, and they donate it to whatever cause they like.” Shane says, “We’re launching it nationwide, it really has a life of its own.” While barely a year old, Causes InternaSee FUNDRAISING, next page
Please remember JFGH...
When making your charitable gifts this year For more information: 240-283-6000 or visit www.jfgh.org B8
October 11, 2012 • Washington Jewish Week
Charitable Giving
CharitableGiving FUNDRAISING from previous page tional already has representatives throughout the country and can boast an impressive client base, including various learning institutions, members of the health industry, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the Institute for Energy and Sustainability, the Healthworks Foundation and Hadassah among others. Shane’s goal is to break 70 campaigns by the end of this quarter, and reach a thousand campaigns, with a million electronics collected. According to Shane, who lives in the Boston area, the values she holds as a Jewish woman have framed the way she has done business during the past 20 years. Each venture was founded to help those around her. Shane was inspired to found Causes, in part, from the realization that 400 million items a year were being disposed of, 82 percent in Asia, India, Africa, due to their lax environmental regulations. “Tikkun olam has been a way of life for me,â€? she says, “I found a way ‌ to honor the nurturing side in me with the entrepreneurship.â€?
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Washington Jewish Week • October 11, 2012
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CharitableGiving
Charities go viral W
ant to check out the work of a charity without buying a plane ticket? Try YouTube — it’s not just for videos of talking dogs and cute kids. Rockville-based Friends of Yemin Orde has launched a new video with heartbreaking personal stories of the at-risk immigrant children at Yemin Orde Youth Village, whose formerly traumatized lives are transformed through compassionate guidance, support and quality education. e video showcases the stunning beauty of Yemin Orde, located in the Carmel Forest region of northern Israel, and details how this serene environment offers a restorative setting to help its youth develop into Israel’s next generation of leaders. Discover Yemin Orde: A Home. A Family. Forever. is found at yeminorde.org or on YouTube. Friends of Yemin Orde is the U.S. based fundraising arm of Yemin Orde Youth Village and Yemin Orde Educational Initiatives (YOEI). e new video is the product of a yearlong effort by Friends of Yemin Orde to modernize its marketing strategies as well as to strengthen its connection to donors and advocates through the many social media platforms available today. e video was produced by Righteous Pictures, a New York-based production company that spe-
cializes in socially driven documentary films, and underwritten by a group of generous supporters of Friends of Yemin Orde. Video production has become a popular tool for charitable organizations as a way to personally involve and reach more constituents at one time than ever before. “Our biggest challenge in making this video was telling the Yemin Orde story in only seven A screen shot of the video produced by Friends of Yemin Orde. minutes,” said Karen forts, open new marketing opportunities Sallerson, executive director, Friends of and support name recognition,” said BarYemin Orde. “It’s the next best thing to visitbara Sherbill, the organization’s communiing the village and meeting our amazing chilcations consultant. “It is also an efficient dren and staff in person!” way to research a charity and get a sense of Friends of Yemin Orde launched its new its mission.” video just four weeks ago and has already reToday, there are an estimated 360,000 chilceived almost 700 views on the popular dren at-risk in Israel: at risk of dropping out, video-sharing website, YouTube. of homelessness, of severe poverty and of be“We see today that more charitable organcoming victims of violence. e youth who izations are using videos to build cause graduate Yemin Orde Youth Village’s excelawareness that will assist in fundraising ef-
lent high school become community leaders, military leaders, lawyers, health care professionals, educators and more. Yemin Orde Youth Village is a home, safe haven and school to hundreds of Israel’s traumatized children from all over the world; YOEI provides the blueprint to expand the circle of care to thousands more children in other youth villages and schools throughout Israel. For more information, email info@yeminorde.org or call 202-237-0296.
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October 11, 2012 • Washington Jewish Week
Charitable Giving
CharitableGiving
e gi� of giving by William Treger Sta Writer
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giî‚? card will let you go out and buy stu, but the Good Card, distributed by the Washington, D.C.-based Network for Good, let’s you give. î ˘e Good Card is a giî‚? for you — or a family member or friend — that then goes towards a charity of your choice. A certain dollar value is stored on the card, and in order to “redeemâ€? the value of the card, you select a charity or charities to accept your donation. Say you receive a Good Card and want to donate to a speciďŹ c Jewish charity. Simply go to the Network for Good website and do a keyword search or search for the charity by name. One may also search by zip code, city, or state for national, local or smaller entities.
Make A Difference. Please Donate Generously.
grams, both internally and externally. Network for Good was founded by a partnership between mega-technology companies AOL, Yahoo, and Cisco, who all saw the need to make it as easy to give to charity as it is to shop online. AOL, Cisco, and Yahoo created Network for Good to use technology and the internet as a force for social good. With the Good Card, says Kronthal, “We wanted to merchandise the uniqueness of being able to give a giî‚? to any charity you want, and what we’re seeing, from a trend perspective, is that people are really donating to really unique charities, charities that are hyperlocal, like PTAs, animal shelters, libraries. Really, at the end of the day people are interested in dierent things.â€? Good Cards can be redeemed at any of the 1.2 million charities. Online, you can create an email version or a print at home
Think JSSA Your gift helps nearly 37,000 individuals and families annually. YOUR MEANINGFUL CONTRIBUTION: t
Supports hundreds of frail Holocaust survivors who without JSSA would not receive critical safety net services
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Provides hot meals, baths, homecare and counseling for thousands of seniors
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Reduces JSSA’s wait list for child and family services in Maryland and Northern Virginia
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Funds charitable care and emergency financial aid for thousands in need
Jewish Social Service Agency 4 Star Charity Navigator Rating
“We are all about unleashing generosity. Humans are inherently generous, and we want to work with them to put ways to give at people’s fingertips.�
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Thank you for visiting www.jssa.org/donatenow
— Stacie Mann Kronthal, Network for Good’s vice president of partnerships Network for Good is bigger than the Good Card business, too. î ˘e organization channels online donations to 1.2 million charities across the globe and has dispensed $150 million in donations in 2012 alone. “We are all about unleashing generosity,â€? says Stacie Mann Kronthal, Network for Good’s vice president of partnerships. “Humans are inherently generous, and we want to work with them to put ways to give at people’s ďŹ ngertips. â€œî ˘e Good Card is a merchandising device. Giî‚? cards are at the end of every check-out line, but this is a giî‚? card that makes you feel good about doing good.â€? When individuals or groups help other people or give to an organization with causes they believe in, this generates what’s called a “helper’s high,â€? an actual chemical and physiological reaction, like a runner’s high for donors, says Kronthal. Network for Good has been around for over 10 years. î ˘ey also help nonproďŹ ts and companies execute charitable giving pro-
version. Or you can have a print one sent in the mail. â€œî ˘ey’re great for bar and bat mitzvahs,â€? says Kronthal, “and they’re tremendously popular at the holidays or at special events — graduation, Mother’s Day, times when you want to give something really special but you just can’t ďŹ nd the right giî‚?, and when you want to do something that’s meaningful. It’s very nice to say I’ve made a donation in your honor, but it’s really nice to say I’ve made a donation, and you can pick whatever cause you want to support.â€? “A lot of companies are using Good Cards to provide rewards to dierent individuals as well, so we’ve had a lot of partnerships where they’ll all incorporate a giî‚? of charity. î ˘is is so much better than a necktie, or a pin or a piece of jewelry.â€? A lot of parents are purchasing Good Cards, too, Kronthal says, when they want to instruct or instill in their children that doing good really is good for the soul. â€œî ˘is is ‌ technology and philanthropy coming into one,â€? Kronthal says.
641,000 of our neighbors in the Washington metro area suffer from hunger. 1 in 5 are children. United Way #8052
CFC #30794
;OL *HWP[HS (YLH -VVK )HUR PZ [OL SHYNLZ[ O\UNLY YLSPLM VYNHUPaH[PVU ZLr]PUN WHZOPUN[VU, +*, Suburban Mar`SHUK HUK 5VY[OLYU Virginia. YV\Y NLULYVZP[` HSSV^Z \Z [V Z\WWVY[ TVYL [OHU JVTT\UP[` WHY[ULYZ ^OV HSZV KV OHUKZ VU ^VYR [V LUK O\UNLr. Capital Area Food Bank ;H`SVY :[YLL[ 5, ‹ >HZOPUN[VU +* ‹ /PSS 7HYR +YP]L ‹ 3VY[VU =( ‹ Honored for Excellence 2010 Victory Against Hunger Award
Charitable Giving
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Washington Jewish Week • October 11, 2012
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HELP NOURISH THE INDEPENDENCE OF OUR AREA’S ELDERLY.
Thousands of our elderly and disabled residents lack the strength and stamina to grocery shop for themselves. Many have no family or friends to count on…
But they can all count on Top Banana. Help change the lives of proud people who have limited mobility and few options.
An old-fashioned idea, in this modern time. • Easy ordering by phone to serve those that don’t use the computer. • Friendly delivery to the kitchen; help to put away the groceries, loosen jar lids and more. • Brand name products, fresh produce, meats, home, personal and pet supplies. • Affordability for all with charitable subsidies and acceptance of food stamps.
OVER 30 YEARS OF AWARD-WINNING SERVICE.
DONATE NOW 301-372-FOOD (3663) www.topbananagroceries.org 14100 Brandywine Road • Brandywine, MD, 20613 info@topbananagroceries.org Via Network for Good or Catalogue for Philanthropy 100% of your donation goes toward delivering essential food and supplies. B12
October 11, 2012 • Washington Jewish Week
Charitable Giving