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Good Friday morning!

In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we examine a new survey by CCS Fundraising about how nonprofits fared during a tumultuous 2025, as well as a new study on the Boston Jewish community by the city’s Jewish federation. We spotlight the Israeli humanitarian aid nonprofit Natan’s new initiative providing menstruation hygiene products to women in Gaza, and report on the recent visit to Capitol Hill by the president of Jackson, Miss.’s arson-damaged synagogue. We feature an opinion piece by Lisa Silverman about the role of psychoeducation addressing Israel’s mental health crisis, and a piece by Rabbi Joshua Rabin about the promise of after-school programs; plus, David B. Marcu reflects on the bonds between people with disabilities in Israel and abroad (and the communal professionals who support them) since the Oct. 7 attacks. Also in this issue: Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey Solomon, Ariel Simon and David Bruce Smith. 

Ed. note: In observance of President’s Day, the next edition of Your Daily Phil will arrive in your inbox on Tuesday, Feb. 17. Shabbat shalom!

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For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent eJewishPhilanthropy and Jewish Insider stories, including: State of Antisemitism in America 2025 report not just ‘data points on a screen,’ says AJC CEO; National Council of Jewish Women taps Jody Rabhan as CEO; and ‘Bringing voice to the voiceless’: Former hostages Aviva and Keith Siegel heal through helping others. Print the latest edition here.

Last year seemed primed to be a tough one for civil society due to government funding cuts and policy shifts, but a recent CCS Fundraising report found that the nonprofit world is nevertheless resilient and nimble. “I’m really excited and pleasantly surprised about, first and foremost, the fact that 62% of organizations responded to say they increased their revenue in the prior fiscal year,” Lindsay Marciniak, managing partner at CCS Fundraising, told eJewishPhilanthropy.

The fifth annual 2026 Philanthropy Pulse Report, released yesterday, surveyed 618 nonprofits across 47 U.S. states and 18 countries, and found that the organizations that were the most durable were those that cultivated relationships with funders and stressed their strengths, including AI and offering alternative benefits to combat burnout. “This report reveals that while the nonprofit sector is in the midst of an ever-changing and dynamic environment, philanthropy remains resilient,” Marciniak said.

Nearly half of respondents — 47% — cited changes in government policy as affecting their organizations negatively, with 61% of respondents receiving less funding. These policy changes included cuts to federal grants, as well as pressure to use or avoid certain language and modify how programs are implemented, particularly those related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Still, many nonprofit sectors thrived, especially public‑society benefit organizations, which reported a 78% growth, and organizations within the education sector, which grew between 60% and 75% across the board, the survey found.

While donor acquisition was cited as a top challenge organizations face, the report showed that organizations have had a 60% increase in new donors, up from 53% in 2024, and modest improvement in donor retention, with nearly half of organizations reporting a retention rate between 30% and 60%. Much of this growth was likely related to changes to the tax code that went into effect this year, which encouraged potential donors to make tax-deductible charitable gifts in 2025.

A recent Slingshot study, “Portrait of Next-Gen Jewish Giving Today,” which Marciniak cited in her interview with eJP, shows that the next generation of Jewish donors is passionate and sees philanthropy as integral to their identity, but wants a more hands-on approach to philanthropy than past generations, one that includes shared decision-making with the community. Faith-based and Jewish philanthropy have a significant opportunity to cultivate multigenerational philanthropy, Marciniak said, adding that “it's really continuously important to continue emphasizing values-driven messaging, community-centered storytelling and impact.”

Burnout and limited career growth were cited as bigger obstacles to staff retention than low pay, yet organizations report coming up with innovative workarounds. “Organizations that can lean into flexible and creative working opportunities for their team members have the ability to best respond to their employees’ needs,” Marciniak said.

Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here. 

Findings from Combined Jewish Philanthropies’ “2025 Greater Boston Jewish Community Study,” which was released on Thursday, offer a snapshot of a shifting community that mirrors the changes occurring in Jewish communities across America, with a growing number of interfaith families and rifts appearing between generations, especially related to views on Zionism — or at least the way individuals define the term. Yet the study also shows a community united in common values. “The more closely you follow American Jewish life, the less you are surprised by a lot in here,” Rabbi Marc Baker, CEO and president of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the city’s federation, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher.

What’s in a name?: Similar to last week’s Jewish Federations of North America study, the Boston study found that while a majority of Jews support Israel as a Jewish homeland, they often define Zionism and anti-Zionism differently from one another. Among adult respondents under 30 years old, 38% identified as anti-Zionist, 32% identified as Zionist and 30% said they were not connected to either term. At the same time, 60% of all young adults felt it was important for Israel to be the nation-state of the Jewish people. “That raises eyebrows, because we tend to both take people at the word of what they say and then often react to the words that they use,” Baker said. “And this is clearly showing us that people are meaning all sorts of things by these terms, and that we have a lot of work to do to better understand the terms people are using and what they actually believe and think about Israel.”

Read the full report here.

For the past two years, Israeli society and civil society have been grappling with the humanitarian crisis next door in Gaza. For many Israelis, the country’s own struggles — treating war-wounded, rebuilding shattered communities and addressing collective trauma — trump the needs of Palestinian civilians. Yet for a small but growing cohort of Israeli humanitarian organizations, there is a pressing need to also help innocent Gazan civilians. Alice Miller, CEO of Natan Worldwide Disaster Relief, told Rachel Gutman for eJewishPhilanthropy that she falls into the latter category. That has translated into Natan distributing 2,000 "Dignity Kits" containing reusable menstrual pads to women in Khan Younis, with plans to reach 20,000 more in 2026, alongside establishing a telemedicine clinic to serve 10,000 children in Gaza — many of them orphans. 

Starting somewhere: Both the Dignity Kits and Natan's clinic project operate through Gaza Children's Village, an American nonprofit that runs schools for orphans in Gaza, whose staff has been vetted by Israel’s Defense Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces. Asked about the scale of this project's impact, Miller is philosophical. “It's a drop in the ocean... But an important drop. Every single person that we treat, it might change their life, but it's one person, one drop.” She returns to the fundamental question of providing aid to Gaza: "We have to start somewhere else." She paused, then added: "And where can we start if not by talking about reusable period pads?"

Read the full report here.

Zach Shemper, the president of Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss., which was severely damaged in an arson fire last month, wrapped up a week on Capitol Hill Thursday feeling “confident” that sharing the story of the recent arson attack on his synagogue with lawmakers would bring increased security funding for houses of worship nationwide — including his own. “My message to members of Congress was simple — increasing funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program and advancing the Pray Safe Act will make a real difference for houses of worship like ours across the country,” Shemper told Haley Cohen for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider. 

Doing what’s right: Less than two weeks after the attack, Congress put forward a budget of $300 million for NSGP for 2026. While that figure is a small increase from the funding provided in 2024 and 2025, it is lower than the allocations initially proposed by both the House and Senate. That figure is also significantly less than the $500 million to $1 billion for the program requested by congressional advocates and Jewish groups. New conditions on the funds relating to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs and immigration have also drawn bipartisan condemnation. Still, Shemper said he is “feeling confident about increased NSGP funding. At the end of the day, it’s just the right thing to do.” 

Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.

Facing justice: The Mississippi man indicted last month in connection with setting the state’s largest synagogue on fire is facing two additional federal charges. Stephen Spencer Pittman, a 19-year-old who admitted to committing arson on Jackson’s Beth Israel Congregation in the early hours of Jan. 10 due to “the building’s Jewish ties,” was indicted by a federal grand jury this week on civil rights and arson offenses. The indictment adds additional counts to an earlier arson charge, making it a three-count indictment, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

“Philanthropy is uniquely positioned to support interventions that fall between systems, too preventative for healthcare budgets and too clinical for education or welfare frameworks. Currently, psychoeducation sits squarely in this space,” writes Lisa Silverman, co-founder and director of advancement of ICAR, Israel’s Collective Action for Resilience, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. 

A public health approach: “In moments of mass trauma, no clinical system, regardless of funding, can meet population-wide need through treatment alone. What is required alongside clinical care is a public health approach to mental health, one that strengthens people’s ability to understand and respond to psychological distress before it escalates into crisis. … Psychoeducation is not therapy, nor is it meant to replace professional care. It addresses a more basic need: helping people understand what is happening in their minds and bodies, which reactions are common under extreme stress and what practical steps can support stabilization and recovery.”

Read the full piece here.

“Far too often, the innovations we valorize in Jewish life are more subject to circumstance than we care to recognize,” writes Rabbi Joshua Rabin, rabbi of the Astoria Center of Israel in Queens, N.Y. and author of the Substack “Moneyball Judaism,” in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Many models depend on the presence of a visionary founder; the magic of being in a large, dense urban Jewish community; or the backing of a single, deeply committed funder who will provide an endless runway to sustainability.”

Identifying potential to scale: “It’s neither fair nor feasible to impose these ideas on struggling organizations, yet we do so all the time. Instead, I’d like to showcase how to identify innovative models with real potential to scale, and the framework we can use to distinguish great case studies from those that could change the landscape of Jewish life as we know it.”

Read the full piece here.

“As an organization committed to the inclusion of people with disabilities in Israeli society, Israel Elwyn has long seen itself as part of a broader Jewish — and global — community of organizations that share this mission. Over the years, we have built relationships with partners in North America and beyond. Many of these agencies are Jewish-sponsored and are an integral part of their local Jewish communities,” writes David B. Marcu, president of Israel Elwyn, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. 

Support group: “Following the Oct. 7 attacks and the onset of the war, it began to dawn on us that many of our Jewish colleagues overseas, working every day to support people with disabilities, were in need of support as well. Facing indifference, and sometimes blatant antisemitism, many of our peers in these organizations were no less shocked, no less unsettled and no less in need of connection. What started several years ago as monthly and holiday-associated Zoom interactions between Israel Elwyn’s supported living residents and their counterparts in North American organizations became even more of a lifeline for each other during the war (and also during the devastating California wildfires during that period). ... Through these connections, we have seen a significant improvement in quality of life, confidence and a sense of belonging based on the right to be included.”

Read the full piece here.

A New Agenda: In an opinion piece for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey Solomon recount their history of collaboration and how they plan to help the Jewish People meet a new era’s challenges. “For decades, our philanthropy focused on connecting Jews through familiar avenues — Birthright trips, summer camps and cultural exchange programs that nurtured identity and community. Now, we believe it is time to go further: creating political networks, advocating for minority rights within Israel, and embedding Israeli culture more deeply in diaspora life. Our new agenda shifts from cultivating bonds to shaping policy, redefining responsibility and tackling the hard questions of Jewish Peoplehood in a time of global uncertainty.” [JTA]

13 Principles: In an extended essay in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Ariel Simon identifies the 13 core intentions driving philanthropy, which he finds more compelling than questions of efficacy. “Seeing giving through the lens of intentions better reflects how the world works and offers a more coherent, ambitious, and pluralistic vision for American philanthropy at a moment when its ideologies, theories of impact, and, yes, tax deductions have all been called into question. … Asking ‘What else can we do?’ points toward a more pluralistic and resilient future, because even if we can somehow wait it out, the past year has revealed the brittleness of philanthropic monoculture. The remedy isn’t to abandon ambition but rather to recognize that ‘doing good’ and ‘getting to scale’ are not synonymous, and that a sector of diverse intentions and moral horizons is itself a form of social insurance that leaves us better equipped to weather whatever comes next. Pluralism is a strength, a hedge against hubris, shocks, and paralysis. The health of the field and of our civic life depends on many kinds of giving.” [SSIR]

The Cure or What Ails You?: In The Atlantic, Tyler Austin Harper looks at funding for the study of humanities in the U.S. since the mid-20th century, with specific focus on the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. “Today, no single entity, including the federal government, has a more profound influence on the fiscal health and cultural output of the humanities than the Mellon Foundation. The National Endowment for the Humanities’ grant budget was $78 million in 2024 (its overall budget was less than half of what it was in 1980, when adjusted for inflation). Mellon awarded $540 million in grants that same year; its endowment sits at roughly $8 billion. … As other donors, the government, and universities themselves all but abandoned these fields, Mellon became a lifeline. But the foundation has proved to be — as Jacques Derrida might have said — a kind of pharmakon: a Greek word that the philosopher noted could be translated as either ‘remedy’ or ‘poison,’ depending on your perspective.” [TheAtlantic]

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The U.K.’s Community Security Trust recorded a spike in antisemitic incidents the day of and the day following the terror attack at a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur last year in which two people were killed; with 40 incidents recorded each day, they marked the highest daily totals of the year…

The British Jewish mental health nonprofit Jami is reporting an 85% increase in people seeking therapy through its referral service…

The new Israeli shekel hit a 30-year high, closing on Thursday at NIS 3.0680 to the dollar…

The International Federation of Social Workers is slated to hold a vote next week to expel the Israeli Union of Social Workers; the measure requires a 75% majority to pass…

Jewish Silicon Valley is joining the advisory council of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation…

The Dumont and Adelson families quashed rumors of a potential sale of the Dallas Mavericks after a contentious season, telling The Dallas Morning News that they “remain fully committed” to the NBA franchise…

Yeshiva University said that an incident in which a YU student was assaulted in Manhattan’s 181st Street subway station was an “unbiased attempted robbery”...

Brandeis University announced yesterday that former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg will give the commencement address at the school’s graduation this spring alongside journalist Isabel Wilkerson…

Conrad Donner, a longtime donor to the San Francisco Jewish community, died yesterday at 92…

David Bruce Smith, through his parents’ Robert H. Smith and Clarice R. Smith Family Foundation, donated $5 million to the Washington-area Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School to establish two endowed funds, one for tuition assistance and one for “faculty excellence”…

Rabbi Mari Chernow was appointed the next dean of the Los Angeles campus of the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College… 

Robb Lippitt was hired to serve as the next chief strategy officer at Leading Edge…

Evan Wolkenstein joined UpStart as its inaugural Entrepreneur-in-Residence: Jewish Content Fellow… 

COURTESY/BBYO

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro addresses the opening plenary of the BBYO International Convention in Philadelphia last night. 

“My nieces Vered and Tamar said, ‘Hey, some of my friends from BBYO are coming to Philly in a few months, would you come meet us? Never did I imagine that thousands of proud young Jewish leaders from across the world would be descending on Philadelphia. It is so good to see you here,” Shapiro said. 

“I know we're facing some challenges out there. And this is a moment I want you to know where I lean on my faith. And I am proud of my faith, just like all of you. And so I hope that during this extraordinary weekend you have, you will not only find joy in one another; you will not only find joy in our shared faith; but I hope you accept the fact that you have a responsibility now to be ambassadors of light, to take the joy in this room and go back to your communities and make a difference,” Shapiro said. “And hear me on this. Because I know this is a moment sometimes that can feel dark. Understand: You are not victims. You are the ones with the power to make a change in your community.”

ERIC LEE/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

Chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Group, Stephen A. Schwarzman turns 79 on Saturday… 

FRIDAY: Rabbi and Talmudic scholar, also emeritus professor of economics at New York University, closely identified with the Austrian school of economic thought, Yisroel Mayer Kirzner turns 96… Israeli film and theater actor, Dalia Friedland turns 91… Former chair of the Toronto-based Mackenzie Institute think tank, he was a North York and Toronto City councillor, Norman "Norm" Gardner turns 88… Professor at American Jewish University in Los Angeles and scholar of biblical literature and Semitic languages, Ziony Zevit turns 84… Newsletter editor specializing in U.S. intelligence, military and foreign policy issues, Jeff Stein turns 82… U.S. senator (D-CT), Richard Blumenthal turns 80… Professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto, author of 'I Didn’t Know You Were Jewish’ … and Other Things Not to Say When You Find Out, Ivan Kalmar turns 78… Former CEO of the Cleveland Browns and president of the Philadelphia Eagles, Joe Banner turns 73… Radio broadcaster for the New York Mets, Howard "Howie" Rose turns 72… Painter and photographer Ron Agam turns 68… Ukrainian businessman, previously president of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, Ihor Kolomoyskyi turns 63… Casting director, Amy Sobo… Legal scholar, journalist and author, CEO emeritus of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Jeffrey Rosen turns 62… Member of the Knesset for United Torah Judaism, Moshe Shimon Roth turns 62… Internet entrepreneur best known as the co-founder of Zynga, maker of online social games, Mark Pincus turns 60… Past chair of national women's philanthropy of The Jewish Federations of North America, Rochelle "Shelly" Kupfer… Former senior speechwriter for Treasury secretaries Geithner and Lew during the Obama administration, Mark Cohen… Retired Israeli soccer player, he made 89 international appearances for Israel and won nine league championships, more than any other Israeli player, Alon Harazi turns 55… Founding member and partner of Drowos Wealth Management Group at Center Street Capital Advisors, Bryan M. Drowos… Publisher of Southern California's Jewish Link, Dov Blauner… Investigative reporter at Reuters since 2018, following 12 years as a Wall Street Journal reporter, Mike Spector… Associate vice president for communications at Columbia University, Samantha Slater… Jonathan Neuman… Director of philanthropy at LPPE LLC, Daniel Sperling… Founder and owner at Miami's Cadena Collective, Alejandra Aguirre turns 35...

SATURDAY: Civil and human rights activist, rabbi, radio host, television producer and public speaker, Allen Secher turns 91… Owner of Bloomberg LP, 2020 presidential candidate, former chairman of Johns Hopkins University and mayor of NYC, Michael Bloomberg turns 84… Award-winning investigative journalist for The Washington Post and author, who together with Bob Woodward did much of the original news reporting on the Watergate scandal, Carl Bernstein turns 82… Chairman and CEO of Reebok for 26 years until its 2005 sale to Adidas, Paul Fireman turns 82… British businessman and founder of WPP plc, a multinational advertising and PR company, Sir Martin Stuart Sorrell turns 81… Former borough president of Brooklyn for 12 years, following a 23-year stint as a New York state senator, Marty Markowitz turns 81… Film producer and executive vice president of the NFL's New York Giants, winner of a Golden Globe award, an Academy Award and two Super Bowl rings, Steven Elliot "Steve" Tisch turns 77… Retired chairman and CEO of Los Angeles-based City National Bank, Russell Goldsmith turns 76… Host of "Fresh Air," an interview program distributed throughout the U.S. by NPR, Terry Gross turns 75… Sports executive and former All-Star basketball player, she served as president of the WNBA for six years and as SVP of the PGA Tour for 17 years, Donna Geils Orender turns 69… Former executive board member at the Holocaust Museum LA, Paulette Beckmann Nessim… Co-founder and CEO at 25Madison and executive chairman of Townsquare Media (owner of 349 radio stations), he was previously deputy assistant secretary of defense, Steven Price turns 64… Volleyball and beach volleyball star, she is the only Brazilian (out of 455 athletes) in the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Adriana Brandão Behar turns 57… Long-distance runner, she won the bronze medal in the women's marathon at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Deena Drossin Kastor turns 53… Senior director for strategy, policy and government affairs for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Howard Handler… Financial advisor in the Boca Raton, Fla., office of San Blas Securities, Alan Feinberg Jr.... Activist and writer known by the pen name MaNishtana, Shais Rishon turns 44… Ice hockey player selected in the first round of the 2002 NHL draft, he then played on four NHL teams and was also a player on the U.S. national team, Eric Nystrom turns 43… Columnist for The Forward, Carly Pildis… Co-founder of Run for Something, a PAC dedicated to helping progressive young people run for office, Amanda Litman… Four-year basketball player for the University of California, Berkeley Golden Bears, then for Bnei Herzliya of the Israeli Premier League, now a real estate broker in Miami, Sam Singer turns 31… Actor best known for her role as Charlotte on the CMT comedy television series "Still the King," Madison Iseman turns 29…

SUNDAY: British actress who has starred in nearly sixty films, her paternal grandfather shortened his name from Blumenthal, Claire Bloom turns 95… Professor of cognitive science at Indiana University, Pulitzer Prize winner, Douglas Hofstadter turns 81… Former Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives for 26 years, Elliott Naishtat turns 81… Cartoonist, editor, former teacher at the School of Visual Arts in NYC and long-time contributing artist for The New Yorker, Art Spiegelman (born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev) turns 78… Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, Melissa Manchester turns 75Television and movie actor, he stars as the IRGC's head of investigations in the Apple TV Israeli series “Tehran,” Shaun Toub turns 68… SVP of corporate development at Philip Morris International, Marian Salzman turns 67… Professor at Yale Law School and author of two best-selling novels, Jed Rubenfeld turns 67… Host of the radio program "Jewish Moments in the Morning" since 1983, Nachum Segal turns 63… Principal at Catalyzing Philanthropy, a boutique consulting firm, Karen Paul… Developer of the Miami Design District and many other properties in South Beach, Craig Lewis Robins turns 63...

Self-employed writer, Elizabeth Ives "Beth" Solomon… Founder and editor-in-chief of popular progressive blog, "Talking Points Memo," Josh Marshall turns 57… Investor, he founded and then sold the Rockstar energy drink, Russell Goldencloud Weiner turns 56… Founder and director of Areyvut, Daniel Rothner turns 54… Actress, writer, producer, and comedian, she won two Primetime Emmy Awards for playing Susie Myerson in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Alexandrea Borstein turns 53… Director of business development at Treetop Companies, Eric Distenfeld… Director of education at the Orthodox Union and host of the 18Forty podcast, David Bashevkin, Ph.D. turns 41… Deputy executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Alex Siegel turns… Offensive lineman on three NFL teams, he is now an executive regional sales manager at Sirtex, Ben Gottschalk turns 34… Beauty pageant titleholder who represented Israel at the Miss Universe pageant in 2016, Yam Kaspers Anshel turns 28… Australian racewalker, she competed in the women's 20 kilometer walk at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, Jemima Montag turns 28… Actor and voice actor, Zachary Adam Gordon turns 28...