Making giving decisions together teaches the differences between charity vs. philanthropy

The Moishe House in Hoboken, New Jersey, hosted a Giving Circle this past Tuesday for residents and community members in their 20s and early 30s. Tamar Snyder, Jewish Communal Fund’s Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives, facilitated the event, which resulted in a $1,000 grant, generously funded by the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey Endowment Foundation.

Before separating into groups and deciding on individual organizations to “pitch” to the rest of the group to vote on, Ms. Snyder discussed the differences between charity and “philanthropy.”

“Charity is meeting an immediate need; it’s giving a fish to a hungry person,” she said. “Philanthropy, on the other hand, is about improving humanity and making the world a better place. It’s about teaching people how to fish. It’s about uncovering solutions to address root causes of systemic issues.”

She also encouraged participants to be proactive givers. “Many of us are reactionary givers; we give [to charity] because our friends are running a marathon and we want to support them,” she said. “That’s great,but imagine if we were proactive with our giving? Imagine if we sat down and decided ahead of time which causes are important to us.”

The group discussed the different motivations behind their own charitable giving and then downloaded JCF’s free Clink:Making Change by Giving app, which helped them to identify the top three issue areas that are most important to them.

The Moishe House Giving Circle read through charity profiles from the Slingshot guide to the 50 most innovative Jewish nonprofits, as well as several charities that the Jewish Federation of Northern NJ supports. Each group chose one charity to pitch to the rest of the group to support.

It was a close vote and Tomchei Shabbos of Bergen County was chosen as the recipient of the $1,000 grant. Since 1990, Tomchei Shabbos has provided nearly one million meals to needy families in Bergen County. Each week these households receive Shabbos meals, bringing a sense of normalcy and tranquility into the home. Deliveries are done with dignity, respect and the utmost discretion; drivers are carefully selected for each route and there are many ways to obtain a package anonymously. More than 70 volunteers pack and distribute the Shabbos meals every week. This ensures that nearly 100% of our operating expenses go directly toward the purchase of food items such as eggs, vegetables, fruit, fish, chicken, Challah and other essential basics. For Pesach alone, 900 pounds of Matzah and one and a half tons of chicken were distributed. Help is offered for as long as help is needed.

Congratulations to Tomchei Shabbos, and to all of the participants who hopefully enjoyed the Giving Circle experience and gained a deeper insight into their own values and motivations when it comes to charitable giving.

To learn more about Giving Circles, please visit Amplifier or check out the JCF video about the topic.