B’nai Tzedek

While traditional donors to Jewish institutions can typically be described as “older and wealthy,” B’nai Tzedek seeks to prove our perceptions wrong. Initiated by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF), B’nai Tzedek Youth Philanthropy is a multi- faceted approach to engaging teens in Jewish philanthropy that has taken o  in 40 communities across North America. The program’s core component creates opportunities for post-Bar and Bat Mitzvah teens to open individual endowment accounts with their own money. Local funders incentivize interested participants by offering matching support, working toward the ultimate goal of exposing the next generation to the power of philanthropy and financial literacy. 

After teens have operated their own accounts for a year or two, local B’nai Tzedek directors are encouraged to build youth foundations where groups of teens pool their resources, which are then matched by a local funder before the teens make allocation decisions together. In the process, participants learn how to develop a mission statement, create grant guidelines and make collective allocation decisions. Evaluators attest that this opportunity has taught participants to speak out publicly for causes about which they feel passionately and to move beyond their youth foundation experiences, taking on leadership roles in their college and young adult communities. 

HGF supports funders around North America who replicate the B’nai Tzedek model in their local communities. Currently, 10 of the 40 communities involved have matching support from HGF—and as this edition of Slingshot goes to print, there are six matching grants still available for interested readers. Furthermore, HGF works with the Jewish Funders Network’s Jewish Teen Funders Network to help promote the  eld of youth philanthropy. While the work has been slowly evolving these past 10 years, B’nai Tzedek has steadily engaged thousands of teen philanthropists, and Jewish organizations have started receiving grants from a new generation of funders.