The Jewish Federation Bay Area’s annual Day of Philanthropy is set for Nov. 20 with award-winning journalist and radio/podcast host Guy Raz as the featured speaker.
The day will honor Bay Area philanthropist Nancy Grand, who will receive the 2025 Robert Sinton Award for Distinguished Leadership. The Sinton award, which the Federation describes as one of its highest honors, is given annually to “extraordinary lifetime leaders.”
Grand, a Detroit native, was involved in the Jewish Federation there and chaired its annual campaign for three years. She and her husband, Stephen Grand, moved in 2003 to the Bay Area, where she continued her community involvement at the S.F.-based Federation. She served as co-chair of the annual campaign and then as board chair from 2011 to 2013. Nationally, she has held significant roles with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, including serving on its executive committee.
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Grand’s philanthropic work has focused heavily on medicine and science. She co-founded the Multiple Myeloma Translational Initiative at UCSF, has supported the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Israel National Center for Personalized Medicine, contributed to innovations at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and backed the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Family House, helping families of pediatric cancer patients. Most recently, she helped fund the San Francisco Hillel’s renovation in memory of her husband, who died in 2021.
Raz — who will be in conversation with fellow award-winning journalist Anne Kornblut — has been host, co-creator and editorial director of three NPR programs, including two of its most popular shows: “TED Radio Hour” and “How I Built This.”
Previously, Raz was a foreign correspondent for CNN and NPR, covering news in more than 40 countries, including wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Macedonia and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Raz, a Marin County resident, was also weekend host of the NPR news program “All Things Considered” from 2009 to 2012.
He has interviewed a range of internationally known figures from politicians Jimmy Carter and Al Gore to tech tycoons Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates to musical stars Eminem and Taylor Swift. The New York Times has described him as “one of the most popular podcasters in history.” His accolades include the Edward E. Murrow, Peabody and DuPont awards.
The day’s events at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in San Francisco start with two morning sessions focused on Israel and the Bay Area. The program also includes a reception, lunch, the event with Raz and then a “fireside chat” with Grand and Federation CEO Joy Sisisky.