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The Big Tent Judaism Blog
containing up-to-the-minute news about the efforts of the Big Tent Judaism Coalition and other programs and events within the Jewish community that open our tent...
Monthly Archives
When Less is More
The economic crisis that rocked the Jewish philanthropic world at the end of last year set off a “sense of near panic,” said Dana Raucher, the executive director of the Samuel Bronfman Foundation, in the Forward. But seeing ourselves deconstructed, she said, revealed something far more interesting: “There was a whole sector of Jewish organizations demonstrating that we could, in fact, do more with less.”
One of the principles of our Big Tent Judaism Coalition is to deepen the Jewish engagement and identity of all Jewish individuals and households, regardless of their institutional affiliation (or lack thereof), by meeting them on an individual level. Based on Raucher’s article, that’s essentially what’s happening for both established and startup Jewish organizations. Financial constraints are forcing organizations to take a closer look at the needs of the folks they serve.
For startups, she writes, “it does not matter if a program takes place at someone’s home or in a coffee shop; most important is the program itself and the people it brings together.” They are reaching people by directly appealing to what they want to gain from Judaism and “emphasizing personal and communal connections to Judaism rather than the quality of the venue.”
Established organizations are doing the same. Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, Raucher points out, has moved to a new model where “instead of hiring a professional to engage college students, students are the ones engaged to work with their peers.” This costs less for Hillel, “and is more effective.”
Raucher believes this new approach to how organizations reach their audience – a “two-way partnership between funder and grantee” instead of a top-down approach – is the most important method for increasing participation among Jewish individuals and families today. We agree, as every innovative step towards engaging more folks in our community will bring us closer to reaching our shared goal of “creating a vibrant Jewish future.”
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