Sheatufim Partners

July 12, 2009

Today, my colleagues at Sheatufim gathered to acknowledge my contributions and to wish me well. What exactly is Sheatufim? From the description that I helped develop, “Sheatufim is a social initiative that focuses on promoting civil society in Israel: developing Israeli philanthropy, forming a culture that supports social organizations and facilitating their interrelations with the private sector and the government. Founded in December 2006, Sheatufim is a public benefit company brought into being by Zionism 2000, the United Jewish Communities (UJC), the Rashi Foundation, and the Gandyr Foundation. In just two years, Sheatufim has had a major impact on the nonprofit sector in Israel.” There are three organizational units, the Center for Organizational Development, the Center for Philanthropy, and the Center for Tri-Sectoral Partnerships. My primary responsibilities were with the Center for Philanthropy, although with a total staff of 10, I had many opportunities to interact with individuals in the other two units. I can summarize four sets of activities:
1. Produce brief papers on topics of immediate, relevant interest, such as foundation responses to the economic crisis, or how foundations interact with grant recipients, and others.

2. Work with Sheatufim staff to clarify the messages of reports and presentations.
As a scholar/teacher with experience in U.S. philanthropy I was able to promote conversations about the similarities and differences in the ways concepts are expressed in Israel and the U.S. It is one thing to translate words (which I do not have the Hebrew literacy to do) and quite another to translate the concepts behind the words. For example, in order to develop written material, we had illuminating discussions about how Israelis and Americans may conceptualize the ideas of tzedakah and philanthropy. My work on the English website assures that this important medium will be useful to U.S. and European audiences.

3. Establish relationships for Sheatufim with other philanthropic capacity-building organizations in the U.S. and Israel.

4. Assemble necessary materials in order to produce an English website.

Most of my interaction was with Atar Razy-Oren, the director of the Center for Philanthropy. She has become a mentor and colleague for me in what is a new area of interest. Prior to January, I really had little appreciation for the fact that philanthropy is a professional field, with research, continuing education, formal degrees, and a growing cadre of professionals. Atar is one of the many bright, talented, charismatic young (under 40) Israeli leaders that I have had the pleasure to meet and learn from about their goals for Israel. I am also delighted to call her a friend and look forward to learning about Ziv and the new baby, Neta, as they grow and begin to make their own contributions to Israeli society. It has been a pleasure to get to know her family, including her husband, Gil, a wonderful father and partner for Atar. Gon Kafri-Fibbich, now an associate in the Center, worked for six years in New York for Parents Circle, an organization that brings together bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families, as one strategy to address the conundrums in this region of the world. Her experiences abroad have given her the ability to communicate effectively in two cultures—Israeli and U.S. Rakefet Glik, Miri Yaacobi-Horowitz, Sharon Frankel, Sharon Loebl, Lilach Drora, and Joel Balbachan. Gali Sembria, Shlomo Dushy. Two themes in their remarks were especially gratifying. First, they appreciated my ability to listen, to help them sort through different issues. Second, they commented on what I was able to teach them about professional standards, the U.S. Jewish community, and others in the many topics that we worked on together.