Maimonides Eight and Sustainability in Giving
During our last immersive and enthralling retreat, we had the opportunity to narrow our selection of non-profit organizations, gain genuine and firsthand perspectives of the problems facing at-risk youth, and formulate plans for our fundraising efforts as a board.
From my presentation on Maimonides Eight and Sustainability, we learned how to apply the Jewish tenets of tzedakah to providing infrastructure grants to the organizations that fit our mission statement. Just as a quick reminder, infrastructure grants are typically long term investments that bolster the organization’s effectiveness and sustainability. Forms of infrastructure grants may include funding communications, water systems, buildings, and employment. These subcategories fulfill an organization’s essential need to achieve higher yield, increase accountability, and expand its reach across any region.
We also learned that according to the Egyptian instructor, Maimonides, charitable giving is akin to an eight-stepped ladder, with each subsequent level bringing the giver closer to heaven. The first (lowest) level, “The person who gives reluctantly and with regret” and the last (highest) level, “The person who helps another to become self-supporting by a gift or a loan or by finding employment for the recipient” clearly vary in degree and significance. As we must know, the mission of the Jewish Teen Foundation this year is to invest in organizations that secure the essential needs of at-risk youth. This statement provides the essential guidance and connection between Maimonides’ highest level of philanthropy and infrastructure grants in the following ways:
1. By investing long term in the organizations that secure essential needs of at-risk youth, we are helping not only the organization become “self supporting” but we are also assisting the at-risk youth gain the skills necessary for “employment”, self-sufficiency, and productivity for life.
2. If we were to endow an organization with a short-term gift, the non-profit may achieve a false sense of security, which, in turn, could adversely affect the at-risk youth the organization serves. Instead, by providing infrastructure grants, long term stability for the non-profit is achieved and thus this unwavering grant is transferred over to the services offered to those in need.
In short, a stable infrastructure grant invests in the business and success of an organization, which invests in the success of the people served.
We as a foundation have the incredible opportunity to look at tzedakah through the eyes of active philanthropists. I commend all of you for taking on the responsibility of learning about infrastructure grants and making headway in supporting select organizations that fit our mission statement. As a result of our unyielding efforts to expose ourselves to the issues facing at-risk youth, the long term needs of organizations, and the axioms of Moses Maimonides, we will be able to make strategic philanthropic decisions and grow as leaders of our community.
I hope this post finds you well and happy fundraising,
Nate Goodman
2014-2016 Jewish Teen Foundation Philanthropy Officer
