12/25/11
MOSAIC: interviews explore how Bay Area peoples lives are enriched by diversity of cultural and faith perspectives. (CBS 5)
Featuring:
Maya Bernstein, Director of Education and Leadership Initiatives at UpStart Bay Area
Sarah Lefton, Founder & CEO at G-dcast

I realized that I wasnt in the Kansas of the Jewish community anymore when there was a break at four oclock in the afternoon and there wasnt a morsel of food in sight. I was attending the Social Innovation Summit which brings together successful social entrepreneurs, funders, and corporations, to discuss how to translate the most innovative and effective practices from the private sector to the social sector. I trailed Nancy Lublin, CEO of dosomething.org and a self- described loud Jew from New York who was on the lookout for a cookie, but alas, everywhere, people stood, Perrier in hand, seemingly comfortable, talking animatedly about their work. I learned about a variety of inspiring programs, which included bringing clean water to rural villages, empowering individuals to help save the U.S public school system, and building libraries and literacy skills for children in developing countries.

There has been much discussion about the importance of connectivity and dialogue in the Jewish community, and the value of the network as a model to enable that. In The Jewish Week, Gary Rosenblatt laments the lack of conversation between Orthodox Jews and Jews of other denominations: There are discussion groups between Jews and Christians, and Jews and Muslims; how about a few more between Orthodox Jews and the rest of the community? In another recent piece, Chip Edelsberg of the Jim Joseph Foundation points to the profound shift from bureaucracy and organizational hierarchy grounded in analog-based communication to a networked universe powered by digital technology and admits that the funding and education communities still function according to the old model. And Annie Lumerman, a recent participant in the Schusterman Foundations NetWORKS gathering, lauds the open-ended network as a model that leads to sparks of connectivity and an open environment for conversations across the aisle to break down barriers and find common ground between different communities. These are calls to action, and we sound them loud and clear. But then we go to work, and, by and large, function the way we always have.

10/18/11
Philanthropic and Executive Leadership: Bringing Nonprofits to Scale
Featuring William Foster, Bridgespan Group Senior Partner and incoming Executive Director of the Jacobson Family Foundation
Cosponsored by The Foundation Center and the Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund
UpStart Innovation in Philanthropy Series

William Foster: Bringing Nonprofits to Scale from UpStart Bay Area on FORA.tv

11/14/11
Special Webinar: New Opportunities and Challenges for Innovation in Jewish Life
A conversation with Toby Rubin (UpStart Bay Area Founder & CEO), Barry Finestone (JCCSF Executive Director), and Sara Bamberger (Kevah Founder & Executive Director)
UpStart Online

Opportunities & Challenges for Innovation in Jewish Life from UpStart Bay Area on FORA.tv

"Hanging Out" on Google+ with UpStart Bay Area was a real treat and an amazing exercise in building connections. Because the event was inspired by the film Connected (that I haven't even seen yet), I was especially curious to learn about the insights that would be explored by this impromptu group of Jewish social entrepreneurs. I was already a fan of Tiffany Shlains film The Tribe, and was happy to learn more about her recommendation to take a technology shabbat.

Last week William Foster, Executive Director of the Jacobson Family Foundation and former Bridgespan Group Senior Partner, spoke about philanthropic and executive leadership in bringing nonprofits to scale at an event sponsored by UpStart Bay Area, the Foundation Center, and the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.

Foster raised a number of important ideas for nonprofit leaders and funders to consider, some of which Ill explore here.

Scaling growth, whether in nonprofits or social benefit enterprises, continues to generate attention and buzz. The underlying concepts behind scaling growth are not new. But scaling growth has gained further traction in recent years as the philanthropic and social investment sectors have increased their focus on improving and documenting organizational effectiveness, developed new collaborative funding models to address systemic problems, and supported individual donors interests in maximizing the impact of their charitable giving and social investments. Efforts like the Social Capital Markets conference (SOCAP), the Social Impact Exchange, the Social Innovation Fund, Investing in Innovation (i3), and Social Impact Bonds, all touch on or extend the parameters of the scaling growth dialogue.

An upcoming event (link) on scaling growth of nonprofits with William Foster, Bridgespan Group Senior Partner and incoming Executive Director of the Jacobson Family Foundation, continues this dialogue. Sponsored by UpStart Bay Area, the Foundation Center, and the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, this event will build on Fosters decade of primary research and client work. The discussions will focus on what nonprofits need to do in order to achieve scale, how their program models relate to their funding models, and philanthropy's central role and common failings in helping nonprofits scale.

I recently took a walk in the woods with two women, one twenty years older than I am, the other forty years older, to discuss the challenges of aging. We paused when we saw white-tailed deer hop-freeze beside us in the thicket. We shared stories about women in our lives, and how they navigated the aging process. We talked about our own changing bodies, changing minds, changing children, changing communities. We turned our faces towards the sunshine and stopped in our tracks when someone shared a particularly resonant insight, as we let it wash over us.

The context was The Conversation, which brings together Jewish professionals from diverse geographical and experiential backgrounds, to talk about the future of American Jewish life. The format was Open Space, which allows the participants to drive the direction and nature of the conversations, rendering the work of the organizers swan-like; they appear to be gliding seemingly seamlessly upon the water, as their feet paddle incessantly beneath the surface as they strive to create a container for growth. My small group of three took advantage of the flexible rules (you need only two people to have a conversation) and took literally the idea of open space, bringing our feet and the wide sky into our discussion about Jewish wisdom and spiritual guidance around aging.

At the core of leadership is the ability to assess a situation, name its challenges, imagine new possibilities, and attempt [...]