Fund’s Approach to Grant Making Focuses on Long-Term Commitment

The Jim Joseph Foundation, a San Francisco fund that received a nearly $1-billion infusion from its founder two years ago, doesn’t plan to award grants and then walk away. The foundation seeks to renew the field of Jewish education in part by identifying promising projects and programs, and then helping those efforts expand.

To that end, many of its grants are long-term, multimillion-dollar commitments, with an eye toward determining the impact of the fund’s money.

“We’re not spray and pray,” says Charles (Chip) Edelsberg, the foundation’s executive director. “If you’re interested in outcomes and impact, you have to stay the course.”

Among the fund’s recent grants, many of which last up to five years:

• The Foundation for Jewish Camp, in New York, received two grants totaling more than $19-million, to create specialty Jewish camps and recruit more campers in the western United States.
• The Birthright Israel Foundation, a New York charity that sends young adults on trips to Israel, was awarded $17.5-million. The majority of the grant will go toward a new effort to forge ties among the program’s alumni and with Jewish organizations.
• Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, in Washington, got $10.7-million to help the charity reach more college students.
• B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, in Washington, received $2.45-million to create a program that will train young people to lead Jewish charities.

Charity leaders say the foundation’s staff members work closely with them to shape their ideas, a process Mr. Edelsberg calls “co-creation.” Sometimes foundation employees spend more than a year discussing with potential grantees how they might fine-tune their goals and craft ways to ensure a grant’s success.

“If they approve a grant, they want to make sure we have every tool available to maximize the results and maximize the opportunity,” says Jerry Silverman, president of the Foundation for Jewish Camp.

Bold Thinking

The foundation’s counsel has helped charity officials think of new approaches and develop more-ambitious expectations. Mr. Silverman wants to get 80 percent of new campers in the western United States to return for a second summer, a figure he says was higher than his initial goal.

Matthew Grossman, executive director of B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, says the Joseph foundation’s staff members regularly send e-mail and other messages with ideas related to his grant. For instance, he says he received an article from the Harvard Business Review about professional-development programs in the business world.

“They’ve pushed us to think more boldly,” he says.

The Joseph foundation channels a significant portion of its resources — between 6 percent and 10 percent of each grant — toward measuring the success of the programs it supports.

Mr. Edelsberg says this approach is not only smart grant making but also what Mr. Joseph would have wanted. “Jim was focused on business success, in his work and in his philanthropy, so we think of this as both a way to honor his memory and be respectful of donor intent,” he says.

The foundation also encourages collaboration among the charities it supports.

Mr. Edelsberg describes the grants to Hillel and to the Birthright Israel Foundation as being “complementary,” a result, in part, of the foundation’s leaders recognition that two of its grantees were working on discovering how to use technology to reach young adults.

One grant to Hillel will employ college students to reach out to classmates through technology.

A grant to the Birthright Israel Foundation will be used to hire staff members in 15 cities who will build relationships among people who have participated in the organization’s trips to Israel.

“They saw synergies and encouraged us to sit down and share our proposals,” says Wayne L. Firestone, president of Hillel.

In turn, the Jim Joseph Foundation plans to work with other grant makers.

Along with the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, in Tulsa, Okla., the Joseph fund established a center earlier this year to improve how schools, camps, and other organizations teach young people about Israel.

‘Unsexy’ Philanthropy

In addition to forging new ties with charities, the foundation supports groups that Mr. Joseph gave to during his lifetime.

The Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education, a Boston group that Mr. Joseph had contributed to since its founding in 1997, won a $1.5-million grant in 2006, among other recent support.

While the Joseph fund has emerged as a big player in Jewish philanthropy, some nonprofit leaders see other causes it could be supporting.

Amir Cohen, chief executive of Jewish Family & Life, a charity in Newton Upper Falls, Mass., that publishes online and print materials on Judaism, says he would like to see the grant maker give to congregational schools, which are run by synagogues.

“These schools are almost tragically underfunded,” he says.

Mr. Edelsberg says the foundation might consider giving to congregational schools in the future but hasn’t yet identified how its grants could make a big impact.

Grantees say they have been pleased with how the foundation’s leaders understand the costs of building programs and are committed to helping them succeed.

“Any foundation that’s thinking in terms of multiple-year grants and looking at infrastructure and systemic change is doing the unsexy part of philanthropy,” says Mr. Firestone. “That really impressed me from the get-go.”