How do we inspire innovation in the Australian Jewish community? That is what LaunchPad Leadership, the flagship program of Australian Jewish Funders (AJF) sets out to do.
Last week over three days Jewish leaders, philanthropists and community activists came from across Australia to discuss the pressing issues facing our community. It was something that I witnessed firsthand as a participant, as over 50 people came together bringing their diverse backgrounds, skills and experience to a retreat in the Macedon Ranges to discuss their ideas for innovation, leadership and collaboration. It was an opportunity to hear from incredible changemakers like Romi Kupfer, who founded the Centre of Jewish Artists (COJA), which has provided support to Jewish artists at a time when they have faced isolation and boycotts if they did not support Hamas. Or to hear from Alesandra Steele, who left her job as a lawyer at the ABC to start the Jewish Centre for Law & Justice to take on cases of antisemitism.
Photo: WaffleCone productions.
Since LaunchPad began in 2013 it has been a force driving community change. It was the vision of Tracie Olcha, CEO of AJF, who was inspired by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies annual ROI Summit in 2013. She envisioned a space where innovative Jewish changemakers could unite to address complex challenges within their communities.
“LaunchPad was built very much around thinking of what does innovation look like in Jewish life and how do we create that, not only for the existing organisations, but for those grassroots movements to mobilise as well,” Olcha remarked.
LaunchPad has evolved over the years responding to community needs. In 2020 LaunchPad leadership pivoted online in response the COVID pandemic, and last year it adapted to the needs of the post-October 7 environment, asking how Jewish communal leaders can be better supported during an uncertain time. This year, the sixth cohort was expanded to include communal activists, in addition to those in leadership and philanthropic positions – bringing a broader range of voices to the conversations about the needs of the community now and into the future. In that way it was also able to tap into individuals who were mobilised by the post-October 7 climate.
“It was very much about opening it up for people that weren’t already engaged to be engaged,” Olcha remarked.
Since its inception LaunchPad has invested in 233 leaders, representing 152 unique organisations across Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart and Canberra.
It is not just a place to meet interesting people doing incredible things at a beautiful vineyard, LaunchPad collaborations have resulted in tangible initiatives helping the community. Examples include Flying Fox, a not-for-profit organisation providing social opportunities to young people with and without disability, tackling social isolation and enabling people to thrive as equal members of society. Another LaunchPad success is the JAM Project under the National Council of Jewish Women – a program for year 9 girls providing an opportunity to build confidence and leadership skills through mentoring.
A question that often comes up is who is the AJF and what exactly does it do? Olcha acknowledges it has been challenging to explain the role of AJF to the community.
The AJF told The AJN that it is a “network inspiring effective philanthropy and strengthening community through innovation, collaboration and leadership”. It added, “Driven by Jewish values, AJF enhances, nurtures and inspires strategic philanthropy, explores philanthropic best practice and encourages innovation among and between funders, communal organisation partners and over 400 social activists from AJF’s LaunchPad network. AJF inspires and mobilises our network at the individual and collective levels through educational engagement opportunities, events and programming.”
From left back: Kerry Gonski, Tom Levi, Amanda Miller, Tracie Olcha, Dr Vicki Gordon, Rachel Flitman, Phil Lews.
From left front: Brandon Sort, Rebecca Adler, List Fichman, Justine Saidman.
The AJF seeks to provide its members with the tools and skills for philanthropic impact, and to encourage them to innovate, collaborate and lead through their philanthropy. It is not an organisation to request grants from, although it has contributed seed funding to community initiatives.
Olcha explained, “It takes away the old paradigm that philanthropy is about the giving of money, and it’s usually by people, high net wealth individuals or families, and it democratises philanthropy to be that love of humanity that everybody can step into. So, we see everybody in our community as a philanthropist. And once we dispel that notion that philanthropy is only about giving money from the wealthy, [but that] it’s about giving completely and wholeheartedly, about causes … It changes how we see ourselves and how we can give in every sphere. So that’s giving of time, talent, treasure, ties and testimonies.”
LaunchPad complements the mission of the Australian Jewish Funders. The inspiration for LaunchPad came from Olcha trying to answer the question back in 2011 of how to engage the next generation in philanthropy.
“The writing was on the wall that over the next 20 years, there’s going to be the largest transfer of wealth, trillions and trillions of dollars … But who’s thinking about it in those younger generations, and that was very much our mission, to uncover how do we engage younger people? When I saw what was happening in the US, and I saw how specific philanthropists like the Schusterman family, philanthropists have been investing in us since day one. They invested in people, they invested in leadership of our community, and by investing in the people, we’re building a stronger infrastructure for our community to be able to thrive,” Olcha said.
“It was about creating a space to think about, what’s the vision for the Australian Jewish community going into the future? That’s innovative, that’s bold, that’s collaborative.”
LaunchPad has a become the main professional development opportunity for philanthropists, community leaders and activists in the Jewish community.
Olcha said, “Professional development in the Jewish world is chronically under-invested … there should be many more opportunities for skill development, professional development and most importantly, network development.”
She noted that professional development at all levels helps AJF members achieve their philanthropic goals.
“When we think of Launchpad leadership, our AJF members are chairs of different organisations, on boards, on committees, and so to support their leadership, to be as effective and impactful as possible. If we can support the community organisations and our members through professional development, it makes the philanthropy more impactful … If there are innovative programs coming out and innovation occurring in organisations, the philanthropy can have a bigger impact.”
Olcha said LaunchPad is about “building capacity of our community”.
“If philanthropy is inspired and it’s connected and it’s innovative and it’s leading, then the community will benefit greatly from that, and we are … one of the only organisations in the Jewish world that problem solve by bringing everybody together – philanthropy with the organisations and community activism. And it’s that one place of looking at our big issues that’s the most important. The secret sauce to LaunchPad and AJF is problem solving holistically together.”
AJF Board Director Dr Linda Friedland, a doctor with over 25 years experience and an international advisor on health, participated in the LaunchPad Leadership retreat to see for herself the magic of the experience and told the AJN:
“Launchpad Leadership was the most outstanding leadership program I’ve participated in during my decades of community involvement. The facilitators delivered a program of exceptional quality. Bringing together executive and lay leaders alongside community activists of all ages—and from a wide spectrum of political and religious perspectives—created a truly transformative environment. The program’s focus on innovation and leadership development fostered profound learning and connection. To my knowledge, there is no other program like it anywhere in the world.”
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