Jenerocity
Submitted by: Lana Category: Engaging in Our Community
The Big Idea
Jenerosity is a giving circle of young Jewish adults who pool their resources and collectively decide where to distribute the resulting funds. Jenerosity will also include social and educational components that engage participants in their communities and increase members' understanding of philanthropy and community issues. Members of jenerosity giving circles will be asked to contribute $250 to the collective fund.
We hope to match their contributions dollar for dollar with grant. Any member can nominate Jewish 501-C3 organizations for the fund's consideration and each member has an equal vote in the final allocation decisions. The group will leverage proven giving processes from seasoned organizations like Slingshot, Natan, and more. Young professionals are interested in becoming philanthropically active, but don't always feel as if they have a forum to do so. They feel that their potential financial contributions are not substantial enough to make a real impact. Jenerosity's leverages collaborative giving as a way for people with limited funds to give a small amount individually, but to make a major impact collectively.
We want to inspire our generation to give NOW and to make philanthropy an active part of their lives forever. If we band together as a generation, we can drive the change we want to see in our community and in the world. jenerocity will address this unmet need in our community by providing young professionals a place to give, a forum to learn, and an opportunity to make a lasting impact. We will engage and create the next generation of Jewish philanthropists while bringing a new source of funding to Jewish organizations.
The Impact
Our goals are to engage young people in philanthropy, educate them about philanthropy and Los Angeles community issues, and inspire the next generation of lifelong Jewish philanthropists. In doing so, we will also create a new source of funding for local Jewish organizations. The giving circle model has been successful time and time again. If executed well, I believe that jenerocity circles can sweep the country and in turn provide much needed funds to Jewish non-profit organizations and engage a powerful next generation of Jewish philanthropists.
This Is A Great Idea Because
In our culture, philanthropy has been traditionaly reserved to be part of family budgeting or as an obligation of the wealthy. Jenerocity will change this notion by modernizing the image of philanthropy and making it accessible to young people. The jenerocity model enables people to donate small amounts of money, while collectively making a large financial impact. For example, if the first circle attracts 40 members who contribute $250 each, with a dollar for dollar match, they will collectively give away $10,000! Young people are often reluctant to give away their $250 because they don't believe their contribution would make a significant difference in a project or organization. Collective giving provides the opportunity to make the impact people crave. The young generation is less philanthropically engaged than ever. If we don't engage young people now, how will philanthropy and social engagement become a part of their lives forever?