The Progressive Jewish Fund (PJF) is a donor-advised fund (DAF) within the New Israel Fund (NIF), a left-of-center grantmaking nonprofit that supports left-of-center social goals related to Israel. According to NIF, the PJF is the “only national, progressive, Jewish donor-advised fund in the US,” and permits donations to left-wing groups considered too controversial for other Jewish funds, including organizations that promote boycotts of Israeli settlements in the disputed West Bank. ¹

Structure

As a donor-advised fund (DAF), the Progressive Jewish Fund collects donations and distributes them to charitable causes as directed by the donor. Because DAF providers are registered charitable organizations, donations to donor-advised funds are tax-deductible even before the funds are distributed, and donor funds can be invested for growth before they are distributed. ²

The PJF encourages donations to organizations that comply with the goals of the New Israel Fund, but permits donations to other groups as long as they don’t directly oppose the NIF’s values; for instance, recipient groups can’t promote “anti-democratic values,” deny the right of Israel to exist, or participate in boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. However, the NIF permits donations to “organizations that lawfully discourage the purchase of goods or use of services from settlements” in the West Bank. ³ The NIF takes up to seven days to research and approve of new grantees suggested by a donor. ⁴

The PJF also permits donations to non-ideological causes, such as “hospitals, theaters, universities and orchestras.” ⁵

History

The New Israel Fund launched the Progressive Jewish Fund to fill a niche in Jewish donor-advised funds, which are currently dominated by regional Jewish federations. According to NIF vice president Jennifer Spitzer, prior to the NIF, “there [were] Jewish funds, there [were] progressive funds but there [were] no progressive Jewish funds” within the donor-advised sphere. Unlike other Jewish donor-advised funds, the NIF makes donations to left-wing groups deemed too controversial by more conservative funds. For instance, the NIF permits donations to IfNotNow, an organization named after the broader IfNotNow Movement that opposes Israel’s settlement policies in the West Bank. ⁶ The NIF’s creation was partially inspired by numerous instances of attempted donations to IfNotNow being rejected by federation-managed donor-advised funds. ⁷

NIF chief executive officer Daniel Sokatch has noted a divergence he sees in the views of Israelis and American Jews, with the former becoming more conservative and the latter becoming more liberal. Sokatch has said the NIF is designed primarily to cater to left-leaning American Jews and increasingly isolated left-leaning Israelis who cannot find representation in Israeli funds. ⁸

In its first month of operation in Fall 2019, the NIF brought in $1.9 million from 16 funds. Soon after, the NIF reached $4.5 million and aimed for $10 million by the end of the year. Initially, one-third of all accounts were created by parents and grandparents for young children. ^{9 10}

Leadership

Jennifer Spitzer (formerly Gorovitz) has been vice president for finance, operations and administration at the New Israel Fund since 2015, and she has managed the Progressive Jewish Fund since its establishment in 2019. Spitzer was previously a counsel at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips for a year. From 2004 to 2014, Spitzer served in numerous roles, including chief executive officer, at the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties, where she managed $300 million in donor funds. ^{12 13}

In February 2017, Spitzer wrote an op-ed about her experience of getting stopped and interrogated at the Israeli border for what she claimed were “political reasons,” a process she called “depressing, dehumanizing and rather frightening.” Spitzer, who identified herself as an employee of the NIF, was subjected to questions regarding her loyalty to Israel and alleged support for BDS (which she denied). Spitzer attributed her treatment and the general political trajectory of Israel to the leadership of conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Attacks on Israeli civil society are on the rise, supported and sometimes led by the government.” ¹⁴

Criticism

Right-leaning American journalist Jonathan Tobin has called the Progressive Jewish Fund a “mechanism to fund fringe groups” that attacks “not just Israel, but also a federation system vital to maintaining Jewish institutions in America.” According to Tobin, the PJF’s effort to reform Jewish philanthropy to a “big tent” that supports a wide variety of views is actually an attempt to push left-wing Israeli politics and undermine the American Jewish federation system that links American and Israeli Jews. ¹⁵

1. “The Progressive Jewish Fund.” New Israel Fund. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.nif.org/get-involved/ways-to-give/pjf/.
2. “The Progressive Jewish Fund.” New Israel Fund. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.nif.org/get-involved/ways-to-give/pjf/.
3. “The Progressive Jewish Fund.” New Israel Fund. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.nif.org/get-involved/ways-to-give/pjf/.
4. Ain, Stewart. “A Portfolio With A Progressive Bent.” New Jersey Jewish News. Novemeber 14, 2019. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://njjewishnews.timesofisrael.com/a-portfolio-with-a-progressive-bent/
5. Ain, Stewart. “A Portfolio With A Progressive Bent.” New Jersey Jewish News. Novemeber 14, 2019. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://njjewishnews.timesofisrael.com/a-portfolio-with-a-progressive-bent/
6. Cohen, Debra Nussbaum. “New Israel Fund creates first progressive Jewish donor-advised fund.” Jewish Insider. Novemeber 3, 2019. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://jewishinsider.com/2019/11/new-israel-fund-creates-first-progressive-jewish-donor-advised-fund/.
7. Pink, Aiden. “New Israel Fund Courts Liberals Vexed By Federations’ Philanthropic Veto Power.” Forward. October 23, 2019. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://forward.com/news/433485/new-israel-fund-donor-advised-fund-jewish-federation/.
8. Ain, Stewart. “A Portfolio With A Progressive Bent.” New Jersey Jewish News. Novemeber 14, 2019. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://njjewishnews.timesofisrael.com/a-portfolio-with-a-progressive-bent/.
9. Cohen, Debra Nussbaum. “New Israel Fund creates first progressive Jewish donor-advised fund.” Jewish Insider. Novemeber 3, 2019. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://jewishinsider.com/2019/11/new-israel-fund-creates-first-progressive-jewish-donor-advised-fund/.
10. Cohen, Debra Nussbaum. “New Israel Fund launches unique home for progressive donor-advised funds.” The Jewish News of Northern California. Novemeber 11, 2019. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://jweekly.com/2019/11/11/new-israel-fun-launches-first-of-its-kind-progressive-donor-advised-funds/.
12. “Jennifer Spitzer.” New Israel Fund. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.nif.org/people/jennifer-spitzer/.[/note ¹¹ “Jennifer Spitzer.” LinkedIn. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/gorovitz/.
13. Cohen, Debra Nussbaum. “New Israel Fund creates first progressive Jewish donor-advised fund.” Jewish Insider. Novemeber 3, 2019. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://jewishinsider.com/2019/11/new-israel-fund-creates-first-progressive-jewish-donor-advised-fund/.
14. Spitzer, Jennifer. “OpEd: American Jews Are New Target of Israel’s Unprecedented Escalation Against Civil Society.” New Israel Fund. February 13, 2017. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.nif.org/blog/oped-american-jews-new-target-israels-unprecedented-escalation-civil-society/.
15. Tobin, Jonathan S. “New Israel Fund’s war on Jewish life.” Israel Hayom. Novemeber 5, 2019. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/new-israel-funds-war-on-jewish-life/.