In just a few weeks, the eighth volume of Slingshot will be shipped to thousands of not-for-profit leaders, community volunteers, Jewish community institutions, and funders of all ages. Slingshot is a Zagat-style guide to Jewish life. Each year, through a rigorous evaluation process, we select the 50 most innovative projects and organizations in Jewish life across North America. The selected organizations often receive increased funding, press, and volunteer attention.
So, in this reflective moment before the new book is “out there” (can I call it Erev Slingshot Launch?) I want to answer the most frequent questions I’m asked: Is it good to promote innovation for innovation’s sake? Does being in favor of innovation mean that we encourage funders to support the new over the necessary?
Okay, so is it good to promote innovation for innovation’s sake? No, of course not – innovating isn’t the end goal. Innovation is a strategy toward a larger goal, such as creating Jewish community, increasing Jewish literacy, or improving the North American Jewish community’s relationship to Israel. For example, an organization might exist to engage Jews in their 20s and 30s with relevant Jewish programming. Rather than simply creating interesting programming and inviting next gen Jews to attend, one of their tactics might be to subsidize rent for a small group of young adults, in exchange for the group creating and hosting Jewish events for their friends and peers. That extraordinarily successful model has propelled Moishe House to grow to nearly 50 cities around the world. Moishe House engages 50,000 next gen Jews annually because they changed the way programming was created.
I think that we can all agree that Jewish projects and organizations should efficiently and effectively serve the needs of the Jewish community that exists today. I also hope we can agree that projects that serve a need that no longer exists, or use tactics that no longer actually address the mission, should innovate for relevancy. The answer to the second question is therefore also no – we don’t encourage funders to support the new over the necessary – provided they don’t fund the existing over the effective.
The drive to remain relevant in our changing circumstances has been part of the Jewish community’s DNA for thousands of years. However, in some instances, the Jewish community in North America has made defending its tactics a greater focus than ensuring the successful completion of its missions. Slingshot applauds organizations that always review their tactics and strategies in service of their mission. My experience reviewing applications for Slingshot has proven to me that any organization in Jewish life which is operating exactly as it did thirty years ago is no longer serving its mission to the extent it can be. I believe there are hundreds of Jewish organizations across North America that were founded in the 20th century and do inspirational work. I believe the role of innovators is not only to launch new projects, but also to ensure that existing institutions are fully addressing their missions.
Where there is a gap between the services that exist and the services that should exist, a Slingshot project emerges. A useful exercise I recently took up is asking colleagues and friends, “What area of the Jewish community is most in need of innovation?” I have heard spiritual communities, Jewish education, the Jewish presence in political debate, and a few dozen others. I encourage you to think about your own answer. In your opinion does any area of Jewish life in North America need an update to better reflect the Jewish community of 2013? If you were building a Jewish community from the ground up, what type of organizations would you build? That idea you just thought of is an innovation.
The organizations listed in Slingshot ’12-’13 are at the forefront of the increasingly coordinated effort to ensure that Jewish life remains relevant to our changing needs as a community. I hope the guide inspires you to find your role in that effort.
I encourage you to order your free copy here. We’ll send one for your desk, five for your family, or 50 for your board.