Tracy Salkowitz When I first began meeting with donors on behalf of the Jewish Community Foundation, I was repeatedly struck by one thing: many donors seem to have a stumbling block to making the final decision about where they wanted to leave their funds. I dug deeper and found that donors… Read more »
Tracy Salkowitz Did you know that there is no word for charity in Hebrew? The word most commonly used is tzedakah, but it doesn’t mean charity, it means justice. Think about it for a moment and it makes sense. So many of the commandments are about doing what is right and… Read more »
Tracy Salkowitz Community foundations are the coolest thing ever … well, you would think so, too, if you had the greatest job in the world. The first community foundation was created in Cleveland in 1914 by Frederick Goff, a local banker, who understood the need for a centralized philanthropic vehicle to… Read more »
Since its opening almost 17 years ago, Pastiche Modern Eatery has donated almost $200,000 to local nonprofit organizations through programs such as “Philanthropy with Phlavor,” “Dine Out for Safety” and “Chicken Soup for Tucson’s Soul.” Pastiche now holds monthly fundraisers in place of Philanthropy with Phlavor, in addition to monthly painting classes… Read more »
Anna Gendler with a student at The Symphony Women’s Association For Alexander Tentser, music was as much a right of passage as his Bar Mitzvah. His father was a klezmer musician and entertainer with a conservatory education in Kiev, Ukraine, and since Tentser had been playing piano since the age of four, it was only natural that he began… Read more »
Tracy Salkowitz When we were little, my friends and I put our coins in a pushke, a little metal box with a slit in the top, to raise funds for the Jewish National Fund. I remember thinking that I was personally helping to plant trees in Israel. It filled me with… Read more »
Donna Moser, left, and her sister, Audrey Brooks, are co-chairs of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona 2015 Community Campaign. Visiting Greece, Israel, Russia and Ukraine on Federation missions, sisters Audrey Brooks and Donna Moser recognized that while the landscapes and languages may vary, the problems people face are similar all over the world. That led them to create a new theme, “Their Lives are in Our Hands,” for… Read more »
B’nai Tzedek Tucson Teen Philanthropy will hold its annual kick-off party on Sunday, Sept. 14 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Teens in grades 8-12 and their parents are invited to learn about B’nai Tzedek, a program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the… Read more »
Deborah Kalar-Crowder, emergency financial assistance manager at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, receives packages for Mitzvah Magic. For a family struggling to make ends meet, the gifts and holiday items provided by Tucson’s Mitzvah Magic program are “a godsend,” one recipient recently told the AJP. We’ll call her “Rachel.” Mitzvah Magic, a program of Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy and Jewish Family & Children’s… Read more »
Evan Mendelson Evan Mendelson has worked most of her life in Jewish philanthropy, including as the founding executive director of the Jewish Funders Network in New York. In January 2013 in Tucson, she was named the first non-family member executive director of the David C. and Lura M. Lovell Foundation. Previously,… Read more »
Sam Horowitz dancing at his Bar Mitzvah party in Dallas, November 2012. (You Tube) (JTA) — For some boys reaching the age of Bar Mitzvah, donning a prayer shawl and reading from the Torah is exciting enough. But Sam Horowitz knew he wanted more. The Dallas teen is the star of a Bar Mitzvah video that has gone viral in the past two… Read more »
For many Jewish nonprofits, fundraising often can seem like an art — a process of educated guesswork based largely on intuition, word of mouth and experience. So when David Gad-Harf, the chief development officer of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, saw a way to introduce more science… Read more »
Members of the B’nai Tzedek Teen Advisory Council take a break at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona on Nov. 18 after working with B’nai Tzedek’s newest teens to pack Thanksgiving food bags for 62 students at Homer Davis Elementary School as part of this year’s New Teen Social Action Sunday. (L-R) Belle Soyfer, Madeline Levy, Allison Whitehill, Sarah Cassius, Abigail Herz. In front: Eli Soyfer. “Something magical began to happen among the villagers. As each person opened their heart to give, the next person gave even more. And as this happened, the soup grew richer and smelled more delicious.” — from “Stone Soup” by Jon J. Muth The B’nai Tzedek Tucson Jewish teen philanthropy… Read more »
Give a little … Change a lot. That is the motto of the B’nai Tzdek Tucson teen philanthropy program, which will have its annual kickoff event Sunday, Sept. 9, 1-3 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Teens contribute $180 to a B’nai Tzedek Fund at the Jewish Community… Read more »
Gertrude Shankman, a Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging resident, and Adam DeLuca in front of the B’nai Tzedek triptych, currently on display at Handmaker. The painting includes a poem by DeLuca. (Bryan Davis) Eighteen-year-old Adam DeLuca has participated in the B’nai Tzedek Tucson teen philanthropy program since 2007. Now starting his freshman year at the University of Arizona, DeLuca has also embarked on a lifetime of giving. “Before I joined B’nai Tzedek I understood that charity was a good thing,” DeLuca… Read more »
