Shavei Israel receives Natan grant
Shavei Israel has been awarded a grant from the Natan Fund, a community of young philanthropists based in New York City, dedicated to promoting Jewish and Israeli social innovation.
Founded in 2002, the Natan Fund has provided $9.6 million in grants to 168 emerging Jewish organizations and social entrepreneurs around the world. Shavei Israel is proud to be on the Natan list, which includes 54 grants for 2014-2015. A total of 298 organizations applied this year.
David Steinhardt, chair of Natan’s board of trustees, said that the group’s members are “continually inspired by the amount of creativity and passion that social entrepreneurs and emerging non-profits are bringing to reinventing Jewish and Israeli life.” Felicia Herman, Natan’s executive director, calls it a flourishing “Jewish innovation ecosystem.”
Of the 54 grants for 2014-2015, 15 are in Israel, 2 in Europe, 1 in Latin America, 1 in Asia and 33 in North America. Other notable winners this year include “A Wall in its Midst” – an organization that aims to build bridges between ultra-Orthodox and non-religious populations in Israel; the Shefa School – the first Jewish day school for children with language-based learning disabilities; Gvahim – an Israeli organization providing job training and networking opportunities for new immigrants; Sugia – an online platform that integrates Jewish culture and education with new media; and several new “Limmud” groups which will be bringing intensive Jewish learning to India and Mexico.
A big thanks to Natan for helping to fund Shavei Israel in the coming year. We are honored to be part of such an impressive group of Jewish non-profits and social entrepreneurs.