As Jewish community changes,
so does model of good leadership

Ask American Jews to name an American Jewish hero and they might say Steven Spielberg or Sandy Koufax.

Perhaps you'd get Sarah Jessica Parker — her mother's Jewish — or even Madonna, the Catholic superstar who has helped to make Kabbalah mainstream.

But ask an American Jew to name a Jewish communal leader, and you may well get a vacuous expression.

American Jews are towering figures that enliven secular fields from science to entertainment, but leadership in American Jewish communal life has become lackluster, some say.

Others argue that today's communal leadership is quite effective — just less prominent and more facilitative, in keeping with the times. Click here for more.

New This Week on JRN

Web site of the Week

The Human Interaction Research Institute offers a database with 228 descriptions of capacity-building programs to promote the exchange of information among foundations, nonprofits, researchers, evaluators, and academic institutions. The profile of each program includes contact information, details about how the program is structured, what types of assistance it offers to nonprofits, and evaluation results. Users can request individual profiles and search programs by geography or type of capacity-building work. (from the Foundation Center) 

Also new this week:

• Use this sample gift acceptance policy to establish ethical principles for foundation and corporation support.
• The three doors of corporate funding.
• Sample donor solicitation letters.
• Sample direct mail letters.
• Myths of individual giving.