Investments

invests entrepreneurial resources and expertise in nonprofit ogranizations. The fund has invested over $1.7 million in 24 organizations to date.

Investment Criteria & Approach

The Fund looks for projects and organizations at a leverage moment where an entrepreneurial investment can (1) have significant impact; (2) grow the organization or project to scale; and (3) help the organization or project attain sustainability. Funds are specifically targeted to the greatest need of each organization or project. Funding has been given for strategic and business planning, product development and additional executive and development staffing.

Grantees

2011 (Funding Cycle IX)
2010 (Funding Cycle VIII)
2009 (Cycle VII)
2008 (Cycle VI)
2007 (Cycle V)
2005 (Cycle IV)
2002 - 2004 (Cycles I - III

Download JVPF Grantees list

2011 Grantees (Funding Cycle IX)

	PresenTense Group	$110,000
	The PresenTense Group asks what happens when you surround energetic, creative people with a community of resources and connections? Since 2007, PresenTense has been the leading provider of engagement around early-stage Jewish social entrepreneurship programming. They have proven expertise in helping to bring innovative ideas to life, tapping the resources of young adults, experienced professionals and Jewish organizational leaders in collaboratively incubating innovation. JVPF's investment will bring PresenTense's Community Entrepreneur Partnership to Los Angeles in partnership with The Jewish Federation, thereby engaging over 250 community members per yearly cycle by creating an accelerator program for creative young social entrepreneurs, ages 22-40.

	Mayyim Hayyim	$50,000
	Since 2004, Mayyim Hayyim has been making the ritual of mikveh (ritual immersion) accessible and meaningful for the full diversity of the Jewish community. Based in the greater Boston area, the organization has achieved international recognition for its ability to reclaim and reinvent one of Judaism's most ancient rituals for contemporary spiritual use. In recent years, the organization has fielded numerous inquiries from outside communities looking for help in building their own inclusive, welcoming mikveh. JVPF's investment will assist their Welcoming Waters project so that Mayyim Hayyim staff can consult with these additional communities and share their strategy and philosophy that has proven to be so effective

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2010 Grantees (Funding Cycle VIII)

	30 Years After	$20,000
	Founded by a group of dedicated and passionate young people in 2007, 30 Years After is designed to promote involvement in American civic and Jewish communal life amongst Iranian American young adults. Focused on civic activism and Jewish communal involvement, they have already touched thousands of young adults through conferences, receptions, lectures and workshops. JVPF funding is for strategic planning as they transition from an all-volunteer run organization.

	Jewcy.com	$50,000
	As the most prominent website written by and for young Jews, Jewcy.com garners over 120,000 unique visitors per month. The online magazine launched as a private venture in 2005, and was offered to JDub in 2009 with the express goal of leveraging JDub's expertise in providing relevant and quality Jewish content to young Jews. Covering everything from politics and religion to food and culture, Jewcy is an online magazine with something for everyone, with articles of the highest caliber that range in tone from frank to humorous. With a complete redesign and initiatives focusing on local-based content, the brains behind JDub are taking Jewcy to the next level supported by JVPF seed funding.

	Leket Israel	$79,000
	As Israel's leading hunger organization, Leket provides more than 110 tons of food per week to over 230 soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and social service organizations throughout the country. They achieve this remarkable feat by rescuing excess, nutritious food that would have otherwise been destroyed and redirected it to those in need. However, many of the Israeli nonprofits providing this food lack the basic infrastructure and capacities to meet their clients' food needs. They lack refrigeration, adequate lighting, proper electrical systems, shelving and a range of other capacities. JVPF is helping Leket to improve the capacity of these organizations through a program that will provide free consultation and funding to make basic improvements. As a result, thousands more individuals and families in need will have access to the food they need to survive.

	Moishe House	$79,000
	When David Cygielman graduated from college in 2005, he started hosting Shabbat dinners at his home. When the crowds started to overflow the house, he realized that there was a void in terms of Jewish programming options for 20somethings. That year he created Moishe House – a place where residents receive subsidized housing in exchange for offering community events that they plan themselves on Jewish and non-Jewish topics relevant to their peers. There has been spectacular growth in the organization – in just over four years, there are over 33 locations throughout the US and in 12 other countries. JVPF funded the creation of a new COO position to manage the organization's growth and fundraising.

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2009 Grantees (Funding Cycle VII)

	Academic Exchange	$25,000
	American college and university campuses are often hostile environments for Israel and for the Jewish community. Academic Exchange looks to alter the campus environment by providing fully subsidized missions to Israel for outstanding American scholars drawn from the Political Science and International Relations faculties of America's leading universities. AE intends to provide the nation's academics with a unique first-hand experience of Israel that will better equip them to provide their students and other constituents with a deeper understanding of Israel, and in doing so, create greater sympathy for its cause. JVPF funded this project as no other organization is specifically targeting academics with such a comprehensive Israel-based experience.

	Food Forward	$25,000
	Food Forward mobilizes Los Angeles volunteers to glean excess produce from orchards and backyards. Since its creation in early 2009, volunteers have harvested 75,000 pounds of donated fresh fruits and vegetables which is then given to two Los Angeles area food banks (SOVA and MEND). JVPF funds will help this new completely volunteer-run organization add the systems and tools needed to scale up their operations, expand into new markets, and feed more hungry individuals.

	Shurat HaDin	$50,000
	Shurat HaDin (The Israel Law Center) represents American and Israeli terror victims in civil lawsuits against terror organizations and their charitable front groups, the states that sponsor terror, and financial institutions involved in financing terror. Through their litigation efforts, they have succeeded in collecting over $20 million on behalf of terror victims and have frozen over $600 million that would have otherwise been utilized by terrorist organizations. JVPF funded because of the organization's potential for self-sufficiency over as more lawsuits are filed and funds are collected from judgments.

	The Israel Project	$100,000
	The Israel Project has been recognized by leaders from around the world as one of the premier sources of unbiased facts relating to the Middle East. Their Arabic Media Project focuses on providing timely and accurate information in Arabic in order to present Israel’s side of the story to the Arab public. Funding from JVPF will allow The Israel Project to implement a sophisticated communications plan to engage moderate Arabs including press conferences, tours and events in Arabic, and to specifically reach out to journalists and editors working in the Arab media world.

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2008 Grantees (Funding Cycle VI)

	Breed Street Shul Project	$112,500
	The Breed Street Shul in Boyle Heights was built in 1914 Los Angeles' original Jewish neighborhood. Saved from demolition in the 1980s by the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California, this recognized Cultural-Historical Monument is to be renovated as a multi-purpose space to serve both the Latino and Jewish communities as a historic museum, cultural space, and offices for social services. JVPF funded because of the Project's unique potential to utilize a historic building and sustainable business plan to transform Jewish-Latino community relations in Los Angeles.

	Challah for Hunger	$75,000
	With Challah for Hunger, students bake and sell challah on campus, with sale proceeds directed toward local and global organizations engaged in fighting hunger. Challah buyers learn about the cause and are offered a discount if they reach out to an elected official or media on the issue. The program engages college students in education, action, and advocacy while at the same time strengthening Jewish community and individual Jewish identity. JVPF funded to demonstrate the effectiveness of a low-cost, easily replicable model of engagement for young adults.

	Yemin Orde	$60,000
	Yemin Orde Wingate Youth Village in Israel is home to more than 500 immigrants, disadvantaged and at-risk children and youth from 20 countries around the world. JVPF is providing funds targeted toward Yemin Orde's efforts to develop both an alumni mentoring program for recent graduates and a database/website for alumni outreach and fundraising. JVPF funded because of the ability of the program to return its investment through fundraising and its future utilization as a model for other youth villages and programs in Israel.

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2007 Grantees (Funding Cycle V)

	Aleinu Family Resource Center	$75,000
	Aleinu, a program of Jewish Family Service, created The Safety Kid Program to educate Orthodox children about abuse issues and to help parents and institutions learn prevention techniques. Funds will be used to expand this abuse prevention program beyond the Orthodox community on a fee for service/product base. JVPF funded because of the opportunity to use a business model to expand the reach and scope of this vital program.

	Jews for Judaism	$68,000
	Jews for Judaism is the central counter-missionary, counter-cult, outreach and counseling organization protecting the Jewish community. Missionary organizations have spent millions of dollars modernizing their approaches, and JVPF provided this funding as a communal down payment on an appropriate response. Funds will be used to help modernize the organization's operations, for piloting a new college outreach effort, and for website enhancement.

	Limmud LA	$30,000
	Limmud LA is a volunteer-run organization designed to build Jewish community, foster learning and offer interactive programs for Jews of all ages. Funds will be used for a strategic planning process and sophisticated evaluation of their programs and impact. The funding will help make Limmud, which is new to Los Angeles, sustainable and enhance its impact after their first community-wide conference in February 2008.

	Night Owls	$100,000
	The Israeli Association for Immigrant Children and the Jewish Opportunities Institute will use these funds to expand the Night Owls Project, a peer counseling and mentoring program targeting Russian youth in Israel before they become "at risk." Night Owls operates in seven cities throughout Israel and plans to expand to eight more cities to reach thousands of Russian immigrants. JVPF is providing funding to highlight this critical, somewhat overlooked, issue and to speed the growth of this vital program.

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2006 Grantees (Funding Cycle IV)

	Ashreinu/JAM	$25,000
	The Jewish Awareness Movement (JAM) has had significant Jewish outreach success on college campuses by utilizing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology to organize their contact lists and keep track of the interactions with each student. JVPF funded as a model for using business strategies and technologies in the non-profit sector.

	Holyland Democracy Project	$75,000
	Trips to Israel for Catholic high school teachers, with expectation that they return to teach their largely Latino students a weeklong curriculum about modern Israel. The program provides a unique opportunity to erase negative notions about Israel and Jews and replace them with positive knowledge and affection. JVPF funded because of the strategic manner in which this program works and because of the opportunity to grow the program dramatically.

	Bureau of Jewish Education	$100,000
	Funding will be used for (1) market research focused on the families of children currently enrolled in Jewish preschools geared at significantly increasing participation in Jewish day schools, and (2) implementation of the findings of the research. JVPF funded because of the strategic leveraging opportunity to target and market to likely long- term "customers" for Jewish day schools and because of the importance of Jewish education.

	Jewish World Watch	$65,000
	JWW engages in social justice work and is a Jewish voice against genocide, initially through actively mobilizing to stop the slaughter in Darfur. Funding was for the development of a strategic plan and the implementation of the findings of the strategic plan, as well as "kit" to use in spreading JWW best practices. JVPF funded because of the organization's important mission and ability to attract and engage synagogues and large numbers of young people.

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2004 Grantees (Cycle III)

	Israel 21C	$70,000
	Through newspapers and the web, Israel 21c promotes the positive aspects of modern Israel ("beyond the conflict"), including its significant role in the development of many high-tech, bio-medical, and educational innovations. Funding was for Israel 21c to expand into television media. JVPF funded because of the potential mass impact of this expansion.

	JDub Records	$75,000
	Promotes authentic Jewish musical experiences in non-traditional settings to help young Jews connect meaningfully with their heritage. JVPF funded the development of their strategic plan and expansion of their programming to the Los Angeles area. JVPF funded because of the importance of JDUB's innovative work in reaching a hard-to-serve demographic and because of their self-sustaining business model.

2003 Grantees (Cycle II)

	Jewish Hospice Project – LA	$30,000
	Start-up funding for Jewish support services for terminally ill patients including psycho-spiritual counseling, professional training (for those who deal with the terminally ill and their families), and general education about end-of-life issues from a Jewish perspective. Funded because JVPF saw that this innovative program addressed an important gap in available services.

	JVibe	$125,000
	Start-up funding for Jewish teen magazine, published by Jewish Family & Life (JFL Media), that speaks to kids in the language of pop culture. Includes a website and other electronic collateral material. Funded because JVPF saw the opportunity for large-scale outreach to an important demographic group.

2002 Grantees (Cycle I)

	Hand in Hand	$110,000
	Operates bilingual (Hebrew and Arabic) and bicultural elementary schools in Israel to impact relations between Israel's Arab and Jewish communities. JVPF provided funding for a technology program and strategic development planning. JVPF funded because of the possible impact on the students and families involved, as well as the larger community.

	Jewish Vocational Service Certified Nursing Program	$125,000
	Start-up funding for employment service for home health care workers, targeting medically trained Jewish Russian and Iranian immigrants with employment challenges. JVPF funded because of the content and sustainability components of this project - the creation of a revenue stream for JVS, as well as for the clients/employees who are developing life-long skills.

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