Launching the Tikkun Olam Fund

The Tikkun Olam Fund is launching at Tides this month with the goal of creating a vehicle to support the work of progressive organizations and efforts within and on behalf of the Jewish community. There are many Jewish organizations that are deeply mission aligned with Tides and are doing exemplary work in the social justice sphere. They speak to and for the American Jewish community on issues as diverse as economic justice, gender equity, environmental sustainability, LGBT equality, and immigration rights.  Many of them are small in size and often local in their reach. If their collective efforts were brought to greater scale it would result in positive policy outcomes and greater community engagement.

Tides is uniquely positioned to facilitate this effort. The breadth of our networks and relationships, both domestically and internationally, makes Tides an ideal vehicle for supporting organizations that are geographically and thematically diverse. Our expertise in the social justice sector, and the Jewish communal sub-sector, will help ensure that clients achieve the maximum impact for their donations.

There are foundations doing good work in support Jewish social justice efforts – the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Righteous Persons Foundation, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and others – but there are currently no collective funds seeking to engage a broader range of individual and institutional donors in support of this sector. At one time the Shefa Fund did such work, but since merging with the Jewish Funds for Justice they no longer do so.

The goal of the fund is to provide much needed general support grants. We will also be looking to support organizations in building their advocacy voices and making sure that their progressive perspective is heard in Washington, DC.

We hope that you will consider being a part of this new collective effort as we seek bring some light to the progressive Jewish sector.

Photo via Flickr user Jrwooley6; used under Creative Commons license.