Joshua Venture has closed its doors.
The San Francisco organization that was founded to encourage innovative ideas by young Jews recently sent a statement to that effect to its supporters.
Its board of directors began an assessment process eight months ago, and in the past 90 days concluded that it could no longer sustain itself in its present form and would cease operations March 31.
Named after the biblical leader who followed Moses and established a new land, the organization was founded in 2000 by some of the biggest names in Jewish philanthropy. Young adults under 35 from across the country were invited to apply for a two-year fellowship, which offered seed money, support, training and a mentor to help them create an initiative that would change the Jewish community — or at least speak to a younger generation of Jews.
“It was a fabulous, great idea; that’s been determined unequivocally,” said Howard Zack, president of the board. “The assessment showed clearly the need for [the organization] and what it stood for. The program’s impact has been real, and has given voice to the 21- to 35-year-old community to speak to their peers.”
Joshua Venture was originally funded by the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Steven Spielberg Righteous Persons Foundation.
In order for it to continue, though, the program needed additional support from new sources. Attracting that additional support was the difficult part, Zack indicated.
Jennifer Bleyer was in its first class of fellows and produced Heeb Magazine in New York, perhaps Joshua Venture’s best-known outcome. Heeb is still in existence, though Bleyer has since moved on.
Locally, fellow Amy Tobin created an arts program called the Hub, at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, and Sam Ball created the New Jewish Filmmakers Project, both of which are still running, though Tobin left the Hub several years ago.
“Maybe the Jewish community couldn’t see the impact fast enough,” said Tobin, one of the first class of fellows. “The ideas they were putting out there were taking root and quietly influencing Jewish institutional life, but you need to show results really fast, and professional development of young Jewish adults doesn’t happen that fast.”
Tobin said she believed the real impact of the Joshua Venture would be felt in 10 years time.
Mitch Braff was in the second class of cohorts, and though he had started the S.F.-based Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation before becoming a fellow, he used his two-year, Joshua Venture grant to grow it further. When Braff received his initial grant of $30,000, it came at a time when he wasn’t sure his organization could go forward.
“It’s very difficult to start a business, and it’s even more difficult to start a nonprofit business in the Jewish community,” he said. “They gave me the training and skills, in addition to some money at the very beginning, that made a huge difference.”
Braff called being a fellow “the most amazing experience of my professional life,” and said that his class of cohorts will continue to meet and support each other, even without institutional backing.
“We really value what the fellowship brought together and we will continue it,” he said.
Tobin concluded, “[It is sad] that there won’t be another class, and that this specific model won’t go forward, [but] this work will continue.”