Jewish Heart for Africa has been named one of the nation’s 50 most innovative Jewish nonprofits in Slingshot ’11-‘12, a resource guide for Jewish innovation. We were selected for this list because of our work engaging young Jews in a cause that helps both the global and Jewish community.
This year, Jewish Heart for Africa was also one of only seven organizations to receive a capacity building grant from the Slingshot Fund. Inspired five years ago by Slingshot, a group of next-generation philanthropists launched the Slingshot Fund, a collective giving mechanism to support innovative Jewish life. The Slingshot Fund has contributed more than $1.8 million to innovative Jewish not-for-profits.
The Slingshot Guide is used by philanthropists, volunteers, not-for-profit executives, and program participants to identify path-finding and trailblazing organizations grappling with concerns in Jewish life such as identity, community, and tradition. Jewish Heart for Africa was chosen by a panel of 36 foundation professionals from across North America. This was Jewish Heart for Africa’s second time being featured in the Slingshot Guide, and its first grant from the Slingshot Fund.
In order to be listed in Slingshot, organizations are selected from among hundreds of nominees across North America. Finalists are chosen based on their strength in four areas: innovation, impact, leadership, and organizational efficiency.
Jewish Heart for Africa’s mission is to bring sustainable Israeli technologies to African villages—it is our goal to save African lives, while supporting Israel’s economy and image abroad. But it isn’t our work in Africa that won us this recognition. Our US programs range from our Mitzvah Project to our Student Task Force, our free lesson plans to our social and educational programs for young professionals in New York. Our goal is to educate young Jews about the challenges facing Africa today, and the solutions to be found in Israeli technologies.
“It is an honor to be featured in Slingshot” according to Rachel Ishofsky, who runs Jewish Heart for Africa’s US programs. “For nearly four years, we have been empowering and engaging young people, showing them that through our work, we can help Africa and Israel at the same time. Through our work, we can facilitate positive, apolitical conversations about Israel in a time where that is very much a need of the Jewish community. But as a startup, our capacity to grow our programs and expand our outreach was always limited by funding constraints. Our inclusion in last year’s guide led to new and significant sources of funds in 2011, and thanks to our capacity building grant, we are already planning for bigger and better programs in the coming year."
According to Will Schneider, Executive Director of Slingshot, “Slingshot celebrates the relative peace and prosperity that Jews enjoy in the United States and Canada while highlighting those organizations that work to ensure that Jewish life isn’t left behind as the world moves forward. Slingshot ’11-’12 is an inspirational look at a Jewish community that is adapting to changing needs in Jewish life. We had more applications than ever this year, with a wider variety of missions. In order to be selected by our evaluators, innovations and their impact had to resonate more than ever.”
Jonathan Raiffe, the Chairman of Slingshot shared, “The Slingshot guide makes a statement to the Jewish community and beyond that next gen funders embrace change, innovation, and evaluation when meeting the needs of our community. Slingshot promotes organizations that hold themselves accountable to all their stakeholders and up to the same scrutiny as for-profit organizations, while pushing the boundaries of how to solve the most pressing issues. Slingshot is about making a statement as to what we believe are the greatest needs and what organizations are doing the best job to fulfill those needs. Organizations that receive grants from Slingshot clearly identify an unmet need and offer proven models and solutions that can have a far-reaching impact.”
Slingshot ’11/’12 was released on October 18, 2011. The community will meet on March 14 in New York City at the annual Slingshot Day, where over 250 not-for-profit leaders, foundation professionals, and funders of all ages will engage in candid conversations about philanthropy and innovation.
ABOUT SLINGSHOT
Slingshot was created by a team of young funders as a guidebook to help funders of all ages diversify their giving portfolios with the most innovative and effective organizations and programs in North America. This guide contains information about each organization’s origin, mission, strategy, impact and budget, as well as details about its unique character. Now in its seventh edition, Slingshot has proven to be a catalyst for next generation funding and offers a telling snapshot of shifting trends in North America's Jewish community. The book, published annually, is available in hard copy and as a free download at
The 2011-2012 edition of Slingshot
Jewish Heart for Africa has been named one of the nation’s 50 most innovative Jewish nonprofits in Slingshot ’11-‘12
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