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Women at a 2025 retreat run by Empowering Ethiopian Women, a 2025 Core Israel grant recipient. (Photo by Shlomi Lakau)

Greetings!

At the Hadassah Foundation, we believe that social change happens in community and that shared efforts yield greater impact than individual ones. That's why this summer, we are inviting U.S. funders to join us in collectively supporting a game-changing Israeli feminist collaborative. Read about this and more in the current issue of "The Gender Lens," where we spotlight:

• A collaborative grantmaking opportunity
• New grant recipients and leaders
• Grantee achievements in Israel and the U.S.
• Highlights from our recent events
• Media coverage of Hadassah Foundation grantees and issues affecting women and girls

As always, if you have questions or would like to discuss the work of the Hadassah Foundation, we would love to hear from you. You can reach out to us at hadassahfoundation@hadassah.org.

Sincerely,  

Ellen Soffar Steinberg, Chair

Stephanie Blumenkranz, Director

P.S. Inspired by what you read? Please consider making a gift at hadassahfoundation.org/donate.

COLLABORATIVE FUND FOR GENDER EQUITY IN ISRAEL

Participants in a meeting of Connecting for Impact's capacity-building cluster. (Levi Greenberg for National Council of Jewish Women)

The Hadassah Foundation invites U.S.-based foundations to participate in a collective gender-equity investment dedicated to strengthening Israel’s social resilience, advancing a vibrant civil society, and supporting the country’s long-term stability. The fund will pool resources for greater impact, foster peer learning and dialogue across the field, and increase coordination to minimize duplication of efforts. Contributions to the fund will support Connecting for Impact (CFI), a pioneering field-building initiative. 

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SPARK GRANTS: New grantees, upcoming applications

Participants at a program of Kumi-SheRise, a 2025 Spark grant recipient. (Courtesy of Kumi-SheRise)

Awarded to early-stage nonprofits and initiatives meeting pressing and emergent needs, Spark grants are for $20,000 paid out over 18 months. Meet the three newest Spark grant recipients below:

The Dinah Project is a legal initiative dedicated to exposing, monitoring, and advancing criminal accountability for sexual violence perpetrated against women during the October 7, 2023 attack and the subsequent period of captivity. The project seeks to draw on its research findings as a case study for addressing similar crimes of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) worldwide.

Kumi-SheRise promotes grassroots women’s leadership to rehabilitate the Israeli communities most hurt by October 7 and the ensuing war. The program, which recognizes the key role women play in social change and repair, identifies grassroots women leaders in the Gaza Envelope and Israel’s northern Galilee, creating facilitated groups and giving them support, skills, networks, and seed funding to help them take their volunteer projects and transform them into engines of social change.

Ma’at is the only Israeli organization that helps victims of web-based sex crimes by assisting them in identifying their offenders and pursuing appropriate legal action. It issues free evidence reports for victims of sextortion, non-consensual intimate image abuse (NCII), and overall sexual abuse. The victims, almost exclusively young women and teenagers, receive the reports in a way that enables them to take further action, such as approaching the police and filing a civil lawsuit.

In the coming weeks, the Hadassah Foundation will open applications for 2026 Spark grants. Visit our grantmaking calendar for more details. While the grant recipients in the 2025 Spark cohort are all based in Israel, organizations working in the U.S. Jewish community are also eligible for these grants.

MEET ALL HADASSAH FOUNDATION GRANT RECIPIENTS

LEADERSHIP UPDATE: Inaugural Fellowship Directors and new Board members

The Hadassah Foundation is pleased to welcome two new Board members: Lisa Haynor of Atlanta, Georgia, and Buffie Longmire-Avital of Greensboro, North Carolina; as well as our two inaugural Fellowship Directors: Shanie Reichman of New York City and Elizabeth Slotnick of Mountainside, New Jersey.

The new fellowship program gives training and hands-on Board experience to accomplished women who are early in their careers or may have limited experience with nonprofit Board service. The Hadassah Foundation added the program to diversify the Board, continue development of a leadership pipeline for the future, and help ensure that the legacy of the Hadassah Foundation continues and remains relevant for generations. 

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FEATURED GRANTEE ACTIVITIES

Members of Jewish Women International's Young Women's Impact Network at a Shabbat dinner. (Courtesy of JWI)

THE TASK FORCE ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING & PROSTITUTION is partnering with several other Israeli organizations on a coordinated campaign against the Israeli branch of OnlyFans, which it describes as "a platform for prostitution in every sense of the word." Learn more.

JEWISH WOMEN INTERNATIONAL in April published a new study finding that since October 7, young U.S. women have experienced significantly higher rates of antisemitism, increasingly strained relationships with non-Jewish friends and partners, a decreased sense of belonging on college campuses, and pressure to hide their Jewishness in many spaces. Learn more.

I WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A BABY in May released the 200th episode of its "Talking Away the Taboo" podcast. The podcast, which addresses fertility issues, has been downloaded more than 83,000 times. Aimee Baron, the organization's executive director, says she’s found it particularly rewarding to have conversations “where people talk about things that they don’t share in regular, everyday conversation." Learn more.

FORUM DVORAH is celebrating a recent High Court ruling that requires the IDF to grant equal opportunity to women and men in all combat roles. The organization filed an amicus curia (friend of court) brief in the case, which it describes as "an important milestone." Learn more.

See more grantee updates on the News page of our website.

GRANTEES IN THE HEADLINES: Featured Media Coverage

5050 Initiative

5050 Initiative Looks to Reverse Decline of Women in the Knesset | Hadassah Magazine


Rackman Center and Yeshivat Maharat

Despite Obstructions, Israeli Women Sit for Rabbinate Exams in a Historic First | Religion News Service

Fuente Latina
My Family and Friends Questioned Why I Wanted to Visit Israel. That’s Why I Wanted to Go. | JTA


Itach Ma'aki: Women Lawyers for Social Justice

Want to Eradicate Crime in Arab Society? Put Women at the Decision-making Table | Haaretz

Israel Women's Network

Adequate Representation of Women in the Israeli Civil Service — From ‘Law in the Books’ to ‘Law in Practice’ | i-CONnect


WHAT WE'RE READING: Curated Articles About Gender

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