A newsletter from the Hadassah Foundation | | Participants at one of the educational sessions at HF@25, the Hadassah Foundation's 25 anniversary celebration on December 9, 2024. (Shulamit Photo & Video) | | |
Dear Julie,
As the days become slightly longer and warmer, we are reminded that three months have already passed since the start of the new year. On the heels of the 25th anniversary celebration, the Hadassah Foundation is taking stock in its accomplishments and moving full-speed ahead. In this newsletter, we invite you read about ongoing work, including:
- A virtual program taking place tomorrow
- Our most recent grants
- The creation of the Jacquie Bayley Fund for Leadership, Opportunity, and Sisterhood, and
- Featured grantee accomplishments.
If you have questions or want to discuss our work, we want to hear from you. Reach out to us at hadassahfoundation@hadassah.org. If you are inspired to give to these important causes, you can make a contribution at www.donate.hadassahfoundation.org.
We hope this newsletter brings you hope and portrays how much we can accomplish when we come together.
With Gratitude,
Ellen Soffar Steinberg, Chair
Stephanie Blumenkranz, Director
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VIRTUAL PROGRAM TOMORROW
Wednesday, April 2 from 2-3 p.m. ET
| | The underrepresentation of women in journalism and news reporting influences the information that is shared, and ultimately, how history is recorded. Join us to learn about initiatives bringing women’s stories and experiences of the Israel-Hamas war to the forefront and the implications for international media. Featuring leaders of two grantee organizations: Meredith Jacobs of Jewish Women International and Leah Soibel of Fuente Latina. Registration is free and required for each participant. Learn more and register here. | | |
NEW CORE U.S. AND SPARK GRANTS | At a retreat this summer for jGirls+ Magazine's editorial board. (Yuliya Levit Photography for jGirls+ Magazine) | The Hadassah Foundation is pleased to announce three newly awarded Core grants to U.S.-based organizations that strengthen the leadership capacity and role of self-identifying women and girls, along with two newly awarded Spark grants for emerging organizations. | |
For leading organizations and programs that promote gender equity these $80,000 grants are awarded over three years. The below grants, approved in September 2024, are for U.S. organizations. Earlier in 2024, the Hadassah Foundation awarded Core grants to four Israeli organizations.
| Fuente Latina engages and educates non-Jewish Hispanics worldwide about the Jewish world and Israel through mainstream Spanish-language legacy news (TV, radio, print) and digital/social media. Its work includes media fellowships for female journalists. | jGirls+ Magazine brings together an online community of self-identifying Jewish girls, young women, and nonbinary teens ages 13-19 across all backgrounds to share their voices with the world and each other, provide space to hone their communication skills, and experiences to explore identities, talk across differences, and engage with a wide circle of peers on their own terms. It recently became a program of Moving Traditions. (See article in "Featured Grantee Updates" below.) | |
Yeshivat Maharat is the first institution to ordain Orthodox, female rabbis. Its mission — “to educate, ordain and invest in passionate and committed Orthodox women who model a dynamic Judaism to inspire and support individuals and communities” — guides each aspect of Maharat, from its classes to its programs to its staff culture.
WHEN TO APPLY FOR 2025 CORE GRANTS
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Awarded to innovative organizations in early stages of development that are addressing a gap in the field of gender equity, Spark grants are for $20,000 paid over an 18-month period. The Hadassah Foundation expects to award an additional four Spark grants in 2025.
| I Was Supposed to Have a Baby, a U.S.-based organization, provides hope, community, and vital information to Jewish individuals and families who are navigating fertility challenges. The organization fosters connections through social media, support groups, podcasts, virtual events, sensitivity training, and countless educational resources. As a comprehensive umbrella organization, it acts as a central hub for individuals by addressing the unique aspects of infertility, loss, adoption, surrogacy, third-party reproduction, and countless other obstacles. | ProWoman is dedicated to advancing gender equality and fostering economic empowerment for women in Israel. Each year ProWoman directly engages 600 female students and young women in leadership programs while supporting an alumni network of over 4,000 women who continue to benefit from professional workshops, mentoring, and job opportunities. | We will be announcing a third Spark grant recipient in the coming weeks. |
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Jacquie Bayley (left) hugs Hadassah Foundation Alumnae Co-Chair Sue Beller at the HF@25 anniversary program. (Shulamit Photo & Video) | |
Hadassah Foundation Alumnae Jacquie Bayley has made a $500,000 contribution to create the Fund for Leadership, Opportunity, and Sisterhood. The Bayley Fund will support initiatives that offer women and girls in Israel and the American Jewish community the skills and training needed to obtain and excel in leadership roles across all spheres of life. Priority will be given to organizations and programs that support girls and young women ranging from adolescence to young adulthood. Jacquie, who lives in Bellevue, Washington, served as a board member from 2017-2022 and continues to guide ongoing programming and engage a network of more than 70 former board members.
“The Hadassah Foundation shares both my feminist and Jewish values, and the network of gender-equity organizations it has nurtured are leading the way to a better future for women and girls,” Ms. Bayley said. “I feel very fortunate to be able to help the foundation deepen its impact, and I hope my gift inspires more people to make serious commitments to gender equity in both Israel and the United States.”
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Participants at QueenB's hackathon at the offices of AppsFlyer. (Gold Pro 76 for QueenB and AppsFlyer) | FORUM DVORAH AND ISRAEL WOMEN'S NETWORK won a landmark victory in Israel's High Court of Justice in February. Responding to a 2023 petition the two grantee organizations filed together with Na'amat, Justice Noam Sohlberg said that the government is not meeting its legal obligation for equal representation of women in the public sector. The ruling calls for the government to cover the petitioners' legal expenses and set guidelines to ensure it complies with israeli law. Learn more. | For 10 years, the United Nations has marked February 11 as “International Day of Women and Girls in Science.” QUEENB has taken the day one step farther by celebrating the entire month of February as “Women and Girls in Science Month." Special events for the month included a hackathon competition in collaboration with AppsFlyer, an Israeli mobile marketing analytics company. Through its programs and workshops, QueenB teaches Israeli girls of all backgrounds to code and nurtures a community of female students in computer science and engineering. Learn more. | MOVING TRADITIONS, which engages Jewish youth in meaningful experiences rooted in Jewish values, acquired jGIRLS+ MAGAZINE, an empowering online magazine and community for self-identifying Jewish girls and nonbinary youth. “Coming together in and of itself was a feminist act," said jGirls+ founder Elizabeth Mandel, who is now Moving Traditions' vice president of feminist programs. "To be able to say not ‘This is mine, and that’s yours, and I have to hold on to what’s mine and you have to hold on to what’s yours,’ but that by working collaboratively, which is such an important feminist ethic, it would be better for everyone.” Learn more. |
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MORE HADASSAH FOUNDATION NEWS | | Dr. Joan Leiman (right) hugs fellow founding board member Janice Weinman Shorenstein at the December anniversary celebration. (Shulamit Photo & Video) | |
The Hadassah Foundation's 25th anniversary celebration in New York City December brought together 200 of the foundation’s supporters and friends, including 30 past board members. Together, we raised $1.2 million that will drastically increase the amount of funds that the Hadassah Foundation is able to award in grants in the coming years.
Grant recipients Israel Women's Network, Moving Traditions, and the Eden Association led immersive symposia, and after a celebratory cocktail reception, we reflected on a quarter century of grantmaking, and honored Emmy Award-winning actress Debra Messing and founding board member Dr. Joan Leiman. Read news from the evening, see the dynamic slideshow depicting 25 years of impact, and learn more here.
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The Hadassah Foundation is delighted to welcome three accomplished women as new board members: (clockwise from top left) Caren Goldberg of Bayside, Wisconsin; Amy Rosenblatt Lui of Minnetonka, Minnesota, and Anastasia Torres-Gil of Santa Cruz, California.
In total, 20 women currently serve on the Hadassah Foundation board; members serve up to three two-year terms, and when they step down, they join the Foundation’s community of more than 70 board alumnae.
| | Wondering when you can apply for a Hadassah Foundation grant? We've added a page to our website that details how many grants will be awarded in the coming year and the tentative dates we will issue requests for proposals (RFPs). We are currently reviewing Core Israel grant applications and will announce decisions this summer. In May, we will begin accepting proposals for Core Israel grants, and in June we will begin accepting proposals for Spark grants. | | RESOURCES FROM OTHER FUNDERS | The Hadassah Foundation is able to award grants to only a small fraction of the organizations that apply for support. Fortunately, a number of other foundations share our commitment to improving the lives of women and girls in Israel and the U.S. Jewish community, so we have added a page to our website with information we've gathered about the types of grants awarded and when. To add information to this page, please email us. | |
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About the Hadassah Foundation
The Hadassah Foundation is a leader in advancing gender equity in Israel and the United States through collective giving, relationship building, and education.
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| Hadassah Foundation | 40 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005 | | | | |
