Jewish Organizing Institute and Network (JOIN)

JOIN was founded in 1998 in Boston, Massachusetts as the Jewish Organizing Institute. Its predecessor was the Seminary Leadership Project, a mentorship program intended for rabbinical students from across the full spectrum of Jewish denominations, from Orthodox to Conservative to Reform. In the years following its founding, the institute became more aligned with the liberal Reform current of Judaism and with left-of-center Jewish activist groups such as Bend the Arc, also receiving substantial funding from the left-of-center Nathan Cummings Foundation. ² The liberal-leaning United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the left-of-center American Jewish World Service have endorsed the institute’s work. ^{3 4} JOIN adopted its current name in 2011. ⁵

More recent and current financial backers of JOIN have included the Herman and Frieda L. Miller Foundation, the Krupp Family Foundation, and the Irving Harris Foundation. ⁶

Activities

The Jewish Organizing Institute and Network runs a broad range of programs either aimed at specific demographics or designed with a particular purpose. ¹ SEA (Study, Engage, Act) Change is an educational project designed to instill left-of-center views on race within Jewish congregations, primarily in the Washington, D.C. area. ⁷ The Seminary Leadership Project, which was originally an early iteration of what became JOIN, recruits rabbinical students to train them as left-of-center activism organizers. ^{2 8} The Clergy Organizing Fellowship performs a similar function, but is aimed at currently practicing rabbis with congregations. ⁹ In addition, JOIN offers the Access to Power Fellowship and Jews of Color Organizing Fellowship, activist training programs for Jews with disabilities and from racial minority backgrounds, respectively. ^{10 11}

JOIN organizers also participate in activism themselves. During the Trump administration, several JOIN staff were involved in anti-immigration enforcement protests, including a 2019 demonstration in Boston, Massachusetts and another in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where JOIN fellowship director Allegra Heath-Stout was arrested. The institute touted the incident and the surrounding news coverage on its website. The protests were led by Never Again Action, a far-left Jewish group which attempts to equate detention of illegal immigrants with persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. ¹²

Leadership

Jess Greenblatt Seeley is the executive director of the Jewish Organizing Institute and Network. She was previously a director of the Environmental Leadership Program, a training initiative for anti-fossil fuel activists which, like JOIN, received initial funding from the left-of-center Nathan Cummings Foundation. ¹³

Elana Kogan is the director of development at JOIN. She was previously a national field director at Bend the Arc, a left-of-center Jewish activist group and the charitable counterpart to Bend the Arc Jewish Action, a project associated with left-wing philanthropist Alexander Soros. Kogan is also a certified hypnotist and the founder of a service called Wellness Through Hypnosis. ¹⁴

Bill Gabovitch is the co-president of the JOIN board. He has worked with left-of-center Jewish advocacy and philanthropic organizations in the Boston, Massachusetts area for several decades. He is also involved with Keshet, a group pushing for the normalization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) interests within Judaism. ¹⁵

Laura Loeb is the other co-president of the JOIN board. She has also been worked on voter mobilization campaigns targeting racial minority groups in Georgia, and supported a campaign which granted convicted felons the ability to vote in Florida. In addition, Loeb is a member of the dean’s advisory council at the Stanford University law school. ¹⁵

Financials

In 2021, the Jewish Organizing Institute and Network received just under $2.64 million in contributions and grants. The institute’s expenses totaled just over $1.35 million, and its net assets amounted to just under $2.56 million. ¹⁶