Karen Adler and Jonathan Raiffe meet at he Kimmel Center in NYU to discuss innovation on Slingshot Day.

Jewish Communal Fund President Karen Adler participated in a thoughtful conversation about innovation with her nephew, Jonathan Raiffe, Chair of Slingshot, at Slingshot Day, held earlier this month at the Kimmel Center at NYU. Listen to the entire talk below:

The two spoke of how they came to be interested in innovation in Jewish life, both personally and as funders. As a collective of Jewish funders and as an institution, JCF is interested in fostering innovation in Jewish life.

In fact, 41 years ago, when JCF was formed, the very idea of a Jewish donor advised fund was innovative and remains so today. For the past two years, JCF has housed Slingshot in our offices as part of a strong partnership. Together with Slingshot, JCF’s Center for Next Generation Philanthropy has hosted events focusing on strategic grant-making and micro-finance. Slingshot staff and board members also regularly contribute to the JCF blog.

A fund at JCF gives donors the freedom and control to explore their passions, new philanthropic trends and innovative nonprofit organizations, while remaining committed to traditional organizations. We manage the administrative back-end and paperwork, freeing donors to focus on impact. In addition, we provide educational programs and web resources that help educate and inspire our donors. In FY ’13, more than 100 JCF fund holders have recommended 190 grants totaling close to $600,000 to 30 organizations in the Slingshot guide! 

During their conversation, Slingshot Executive Director Will Schneider took a poll asking participants of Slingshot Day, “What drives people to fund innovation?” (See photo to the left for the results).

He also asked participants to text their responses to the question: “What sets funders apart from funders of mainstream Jewish causes?”