Articles

Andrés Spokoiny, President & CEO of Jewish Funders Network, addresses the JFN 2025 International Conference.

Today, the world seems caught between two poles in its approach to power. On the one hand, many in our society believe in Nietzsche’s...

JFN President and CEO Andrés Spokoiny's presidential address at the JFN 2021 International Conference, delivered online on Wednesday,...

When my son, a high school senior, decided to take a science course that would look good on his college applications, he initially...

(A Message for the National Day of Philanthropy) Anybody who, like me, has ever tried to lose weight – and failed – has experienced some...

“Since the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem”, says the Talmud, “prophecy has been taken from prophets and given to fools and...

Recently, the Washington Post reviewed the charitable donations of the 50 wealthiest Americans during COVID. What they found was...

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed our Jewish communal infrastructure in grave danger, as Armin Rosen documented here earlier this week. At...

Here's A Better Strategy for Addressing the Crisis In the current crisis, we are hearing calls in the Jewish media and in leadership...

Scroll down or click here to watch this speech. “These are the times that try men’s souls,” said Thomas Paine. And these times are trying...

The word focus comes from the Latin for “fire”. The “focus” was the fireplace in a Roman home.* Fire draws our attention. It’s impossible...

I follow Anshel Pfeffer’s column in Haaretz with assiduity. I usually find his mordant analyses profound and insightful. But I can’t help...

In order to succeed as philanthropists, we need to better understand and accept the views of those who are in positions of less relative...

Andrés Spokoiny, President & CEO of Jewish Funders Network, addressed the 2017 JFN conference on March 20, 2017. When I was growing up,...

The aspen tree, from which that beautiful Colorado town takes its name, is a remarkable plant. An aspen forest is, in fact, one single...

William O. Douglas, the longest-serving U.S. Supreme Court justice, said that “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” But as a proverbial...

I played an April Fool’s Day prank on the Jewish Funders Network staff last week. I told them a major funder wanted to have Pluto...

The biggest problem when driving in Israel is not that people are reckless, but that they don’t want to be “frayerim.” As in, “I’m not...

The biggest fear of an Israeli is not a nuclear Iran; neither is a rain of missiles from Hamas or Hezbollah. It’s definitely not the...

Listen or read transcript The world of philanthropy and social impact is undergoing rapid change. Notable developments include the rise...

I’m happy to introduce a series of articles about interactions between local and national funders. This series continues a conversation...

Foundations and organizations must not treat Jewish next-gen donors as if they are the same as their parents and grandparents. Imagine...

A new Decalogue of effective Jewish philanthropy. Recent decades have seen incredible growth in independent philanthropy. In the past 10...

In the last couple of decades, a tectonic shift has altered the landscape of Jewish philanthropy. The phenomenon is not only Jewish – the...