Core Investments / Operating Programs

slingshot
Pdf

Letter from Program Director

This letter will provide you with insight into what ACBP’s financial investment and additional involvement has meant to this organization from their inception until now.

Slingshotwww.slingshotfund.org

The idea for Slingshot developed organically following a weekend retreat for a dozen young Jews in 2004 who were preparing to become involved in their family foundations. Participants were hoping to learn how to navigate the alphabet soup of the Jewish community and sort out which organizations resonated for themselves and their peers. They imagined a Zagat-style guidebook and worked to produce Slingshot: A Resource Guide to Jewish Innovation to highlight the 50 most innovative nonprofits in North American Jewish life for themselves and their peers. With the help of staff from the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies they reached out to funding professionals across the United States to evaluate the organizations that qualified as finalists for the guide.

The funders responsible for Slingshot took their concept a step further, and created the Slingshot Fund, a peer giving network to support Jewish organizations that resonated with their generation. The Slingshot Fund exposes its next generation funders to a professional grant-making process. While many come from families involved in philanthropy, most have yet to review grant proposals, conduct site visits, and make allocation decisions. In conjunction with a group of their peers, Slingshot offers them the opportunity to develop those skills and learn from experts in the field while leveraging their small gifts into a significant grant pool.

Slingshot has grown to become an important funding source, a closely watched seal of approval, and a leading voice advocating for innovation in Jewish life. Going forward, Slingshot’s mission is to strengthen innovation in Jewish life by developing next-generation funders and providing resources to leverage their impact in the Jewish community.