PRESS RELEASE – Organization teams up with FJC to create a Donor Advised Fund to support new supportive housing developments in New York City

Finding housing options to support the successful reentry of formerly incarcerated people back into society is no easy task. Homelessness remains a significant challenge for those coming out of prison and jail – especially here in New York City.

That’s why The Fortune Society, a nonprofit organization that empowers homeless, formerly incarcerated individuals and their families to build better futures through supportive and affordable housing, is working together with FJC – A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds (FJC) – to create a fund that will enable The Fortune Society to initiate these complex housing development projects.

The initiative bridges people across a vast array of inequality – some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers and New Yorkers whose wealth allows them to set aside funds specifically for philanthropic purposes – in Donor Advised Fund accounts.

Nonprofit organizations face a significant gap in available financing relative to for-profit companies. While they want to be entrepreneurial, they can’t raise equity in the same way as private companies. The Fortune Society, which wants to develop more supportive housing options for its target population, often faces challenges moving quickly to initiate these kinds of projects. To have a competitive chance, the organization must pull cash from its operating budget to cover pre-development expenses. At the same time, wealthy individuals have significant resources invested in stocks and bonds, hedge funds, and philanthropic assets.  

“This opportunity creates a solution to meet an urgent social need,” said JoAnne Page, CEO of The Fortune Society. “We currently do not have a source of ready money that can be put down up front for housing development. This collaboration would be a lasting solution to this problem.”

FJC, a sponsor of Donor Advised Funds, is providing a structure where multiple individuals who support The Fortune Society’s mission can pool their philanthropic dollars together to help the organization cover the pre-development costs to initiate these capital-intensive housing projects.

“The Fortune Society and FJC are collaborating to demonstrate how these individuals can provide the kind of catalytic “equity-like” capital that nonprofits can use to move major real estate development projects forward,” said Sam Marks, CEO of FJC. “This effort will harness large capital commitments from public and private sources to help the organization fulfill its mission.” The revolving nature of the fund is intended to give The Fortune Society the resources it needs throughout the life of the fund to act aggressively in pursuit of mission-critical real estate development opportunities and finance up-front costs. The goal is to recycle these philanthropic dollars multiple times for multiple initiatives, and to leverage the money along with other resources to create a long-term impact.

The DAF sector has grown rapidly in recent years, but also come under criticism for aggregating philanthropic capital without quickly deploying it. This initiative showcases the flexibility of DAFs and the creative ways they can be used to advance an organization’s mission.

“FJC has creatively enabled individual DAF account holders to be meaningful partners in mobilizing resources to create desperately needed affordable housing,” said Gary Hattem, the former Head of Global Social Finance at Deutsche Bank. He joins Theodore Huber and A to Z Impact as some of the first donors of this initiative.

At the end of a five-year term, all the funds will remain charitable by the conversion to flexible DAF accounts, which can be deployed as grants to nonprofits as the donors see fit or remain with The Fortune Society for use as the organization deems necessary for its critical work.

“This kind of revolving fund will allow The Fortune Society to finance up-front costs related to mission-driven affordable housing projects, giving the organization a chance to act quickly and nimbly when opportunities arise,” said Page. The Fortune Society is currently in the pre-development stage as a first venture of this fund through the proposed Just Home initiative, a project to house New Yorkers with complex medical needs after they leave jail on the campus of NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi in the Bronx. Donors are excited about the prospect of seeing the fruition of the work live on for generations to come.

For more information on this initiative, please visit our FAQ page.

About The Fortune Society

Founded in 1967, The Fortune Society has advocated on criminal justice issues for over five decades and is nationally recognized for developing model programs that help people with criminal justice histories to be assets to their communities. The Fortune Society offers a holistic and integrated “one-stop-shopping” model of service provision. Among the services offered are discharge planning, licensed outpatient substance abuse and mental health treatment, alternatives to incarceration, HIV/AIDS services, career development and job retention, education, family services, drop-in services, and supportive housing as well as lifetime access to aftercare.  For more information, visit www.fortunesociety.org.

About FJC

FJC is a boutique public charity that offers a diverse menu of philanthropic services to a range of stakeholders. With over $380 million under management, its over 1,000 accounts include Donor Advised Funds (DAFs), fiscal sponsorships, collective giving accounts, revolving funds, and many other philanthropic vehicles. FJC acts as an intermediary between the financial services sector and the nonprofit sector, enabling nonprofit organizations and their supporters to focus on their missions, rather than be burdened with the details of operations and compliance.

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Reflecting on best practices by FJC and its imaginative donors, FJC Chief Executive Officer Sam Marks wrote “Donor Advised Funds and Impact Investing: A Practitioner’s View”, which was accepted for publication by The Foundation Review in their December, 2022 issue focusing on impact investing.  The journal is the first peer-reviewed journal of philanthropy, written by and for foundation staff and boards. 

The article provides a brief overview of FJC’s origin story and the establishment of its Agency Loan Fund as a bespoke impact investing vehicle, which allows participating donors to invest in a pool of loans to nonprofit borrowers that help them bridge cash flow and achieve their missions.

Marks also highlights some of the innovative transactions FJC has executed with its donors, including a 0% interest revolving line of credit for Brighter Tomorrows, the refinancing of the Tenement Museum’s mortgage, accounts that allow foundations to participate in crowd-sourced small business loans, and the recently closed revolving fund for the Fortune Society.    

“In the end,” Marks writes, “the potential for DAF sponsors to accelerate impact investments may also come from their ability to aggregate not just dollars but inspiration.”

Read the full article here.

Safe, Affordable Housing with Services is Focus of FJC’s First-Ever Multi-Donor Revolving Fund

What are the goals of FJC’s Revolving Fund for The Fortune Society?

FJC, a boutique sponsor of Donor Advised Funds, has arranged a fund that will empower The Fortune Society, a nonprofit serving vulnerable New Yorkers coming out of incarceration, to scale its housing development work. People re-entering society from prison are overrepresented in the homeless population, and supportive housing (affordable housing with services) has proven to be an effective strategy to keep vulnerable New Yorkers stable and out of crisis systems (like homeless shelters, hospitals, and jails). The initiative will help The Fortune Society double its housing portfolio over the next five years.

Specifically, the fund will:

• Support people coming out of prison with stable, permanent supportive housing and services;
• Provide The Fortune Society with the capital necessary to invests in its future and organizational growth by doubling its real estate portfolio over the next five years; and
• Allow FJC to demonstrate how Donor Advised Fund (DAF) accounts can be put to work for maximum impact, thereby helping them be more creative with their resources and support a greater number of people in need.

How are funds in the Fortune Society Revolving Fund different from other Donor Advised Fund accounts at FJC?

The Revolving Fund has been funded with philanthropic capital with a specific intention to help The Fortune Society act entrepreneurially to expand and scale its mission.  The goal is to use the same dollars multiple times to initiate multiple projects, preserving the capital for donors to recycle again for philanthropic purposes.

A typical Donor Advised Fund (DAF) account at FJC provides recommender privileges to donors regarding how the philanthropic dollars in their accounts are invested for growth or deployed as grants. With the Revolving Fund, donors have agreed to “lock up” their funds for five years, to allow The Fortune Society to use them to advance their mission to expand their portfolio of permanent supportive housing for people coming out of incarceration.  This agreement is documented in a simple Memorandum of Understanding between the donors and FJC. 

The participating donors have agreed to allow The Fortune Society to draw on these funds as needed, as loans at 1% interest, instead of the typical ways funds in DAF accounts are used (i.e. granting funds out, or investing them for tax-free growth to make grants at a future date). At the end of the five-year term, The Fortune Society will repay the loans, and funds will return to the donors’ individual DAF accounts.  These loans are documented in a loan agreement between FJC as lender and The Fortune Society as borrower.

Who is The Fortune Society?

Founded in 1967, The Fortune Society has advocated on criminal justice issues for over five decades and is nationally recognized for developing model programs that help people with criminal justice histories to be assets to their communities. The Fortune Society offers a holistic and integrated “one-stop-shopping” model of service provision. Among the services offered are discharge planning, licensed outpatient substance abuse and mental health treatment, alternatives to incarceration, HIV/AIDS services, career development and job retention, education, family services, drop-in services, and supportive housing as well as lifetime access to aftercare. 

Developing, owning and operating housing is core to Fortune Society’s work.  Low-threshold access to supportive emergency, transitional, and permanent housing is provided at their congregate facilities, The Fortune Academy (“the Castle”) and Castle Gardens, along with their Scatter-Site Housing program.

What is supportive housing?    

Supportive housing is affordable housing with onsite services that help formerly homeless, disabled tenants live in dignity in the community. Supportive housing came into being in response to the homelessness crisis in New York City in the 1970s and is the most humane and cost-effective solution to ending homelessness for vulnerable people: individuals and families dealing with mental illness, trauma/abuse, addiction, and chronic illness including HIV/AIDS.

Supportive housing is permanent and affordable: All tenants hold leases and pay about a third of their income in rent. The residences are owned and operated by nonprofit organizations and are accountable to their city, state, and federal funders. Because supportive housing either replaces a blighted building or lot, it jump-starts neighborhood renewal. Because it provides 24-7 front desk coverage and other      security features, supportive housing frequently contributes to increased community safety. As a result, studies have shown that supportive housing increases property values. For more about the cost effectiveness and impact of supportive housing, see these great resources at The Supportive Housing Network.

Depending on the site and service contracts, supportive housing is made available to vulnerable populations who are disproportionately represented in the homeless shelter system: such as people who face substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, serious persistent mental illness, veterans, and—in the case of The Fortune Society—people re-entering society after incarceration.

Why does The Fortune Society need resources from a Revolving Fund?

Nonprofits face particular business challenges when launching entrepreneurial activity. The ownership and governance structures of nonprofit organizations don’t allow them to raise equity.  As a result, when nonprofits need to fund the earliest and most risky pre-development stage of a real estate venture, they must fund pre-development expenses from rainy day funds, if they exist, or else pull cash from their operating budget.

To scale its work in developing supportive housing, the Revolving Fund will provide The Fortune Society a dedicated source of capital that can be used to initiate these time-intensive, critical projects.

The total development costs of a typical supportive housing development may run into the tens of millions of dollars, depending on size, which is financed through a combination of private financing and federal, state, and city subsidies.  To secure these resources, The Fortune Society incurs significant soft costs during the pre-development phase, which can run in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. These costs include deposits to secure sites for acquisition, feasibility studies, environmental reviews and architectural design work.

How will The Fortune Society repay loans and replenish the Revolving Fund?

Fortune Society will replenish the revolving fund when their affordable housing projects secure construction or permanent financing, or bridge loans from more traditional financing partners.

The federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) is the principal subsidy for affordable housing development, and the New York City region receives an allocation of LIHTC through its housing finance agencies NYS Housing & Community Renewal (HCR) and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD).  These resources are supplemented by tax-exempt bond financing, grants from other public and private sources, and traditional bank financing. In addition to these capital sources, nonprofits must secure service contracts from other city and state agencies.

The Fortune Society has a long track record of securing these sources, as well as the necessary public approvals from community boards and other elected officials.

Is there a risk that loans won’t be repaid? 

No investment is risk-free.  FJC mitigates this risk by working with The Fortune Society to fund activities that have a high likelihood of repayment, on real estate projects that have already secured significant public approvals and/or soft commitments of public resources.  The primary motivation of this fund is philanthropic (and at 1% interest, the loans are being made available at below-market interest rates).  Nevertheless, this project will be deemed successful if the loans are repaid and the donors have the opportunity to recycle them for other philanthropic purposes. 

The loans made from The Revolving Fund are general recourse obligations to The Fortune Society, meaning that if the real estate projects in the early planning stages don’t go forward (the primary source of repayment), The Fortune Society is still “on the hook” to repay them (the secondary source of repayment).  The Fortune Society is in a strong financial position, and has never failed to repay any debt obligation on time.

Working on behalf of its donors, FJC will make all efforts to recover the full loan principal in the event that things do not go as planned.  In the remote possibility that a loan recovery becomes impossible, FJC will convert to a grant any portion of the loan deemed to be uncollectible.  

We have worked closely with donors to understand the risks involved in this Revolving Fund.  Our expectation is that every dollar dedicated to this effort will be used multiple times to initiate multiple projects and then returned to donors’ DAF accounts so they can be redeployed as grants. 

What happens at the end of the 5-year term?

At the end of a 5-year term, funds will be returned to the initial donors’ DAF accounts.  The account holders will then have the flexibility to recommend their funds be granted to the nonprofits of their choice.

Where does the initiative stand now?

Four DAF account holders at FJC have joined this effort, including Gary Hattem, Theodore Huber, A to Z Impact, and an anonymous donor. As of this writing (5/15/23), The Fortune Society has drawn $400,000 to cover pre-development expenses on two projects:

• Just Home Project is an innovative housing initiative that will provide permanent, supportive housing with services for medically complex homeless New Yorkers returning after incarceration. Residents of this project suffer from medically complex issues that require constant medical attention. The project is a partnership with the NYC Health + Hospitals Corporation and will be built on City-owned land at the Jacobi Medical Center (Bronx, NY).
• Illegal Hotel Conversion. Redevelopment of “illegal hotel” to supportive and affordable Single Room Occupancy (SRO housing at 258 West 97th Street in the Upper West Side. The completed project will have 59 supportive housing units and 25 affordable units. The project was the subject of a New York Times article “From ‘Illegal’ Hotel to Housing for the Homeless on Upper West Side” (3/28/22).

Funds will be used to cover architectural services, environmental reviews, consultant fees, and staff management costs.  It is anticipated that over the next year, these projects will close on pre-development or construction financing that will enable The Fortune Society to repay the loans and draw on the fund again for other projects in their supportive housing pipeline.

New York, NY – NYC Boss Up announces the first nine businesses to win the NYC Boss Up Entrepreneurship Program, which provides $20,000 grants to help entrepreneurs living in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) residences to build and grow their businesses. NYC Boss Up is a new philanthropic program committed to creating permanent positive change in New York, administered through a Scholarship & Award Account at FJC.

The nine entrepreneurs were awarded an initial $5,000 grant and an additional $15,000 grant upon completing business development classes. The grants may be used to build and grow the winners’ businesses.

See New York Times coverage of the program launch: How These Budding Entrepreneurs Won $20,000 for Their Start-Ups (May 4, 2023)

The nine NYC Boss Up grantees are:

• Sarah Adams – West Indian Foods

Creates Caribbean-style, sugar-free, low-carb, vegan pastries and cakes.

• Michael Watson – Fable Jones Studios

Provides customers with incredible art, highly sought-after merchandise, professional art instructions, and engaging digital content.

• Michelle Covington – Liyah Michelle Collections

A luxury hair company that sells wigs and extensions for women that vary in cut and color and aim for diversity.

• Valeria Martinez – ConnectoDigital

Creates and prints fully customizable smart digital business cards.

• Katherine Perez – Kat D Productions

A New York City-based freelance videographer and video editor specializing in producing, filming, and editing promotional videos for non-profit organizations.

• Loria and Legacy Clemmons – Legacy’s Flavors LLC

Seeks to bring a health revelation to icy carts in NYC, providing families with healthy options and making lasting memories

• Tamika Walker – Blac Beuty No9

Creates unique skincare solutions utilizing fruit butter and cold-pressed oils from the Amazon rainforest.

• Jaquay Wilder – ATB Party Supplies

Provides clients with event décor rental items needed for events such as weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, and more.

• Herbert Wool – Digital Design Trusted Technologies

Offers software and hardware beta testing and quality assurance services.

The winners were selected from a pool of 279 applicants. Boss Up applicants submitted proposals about their businesses and plans for growth to a Boss Up Panel for evaluation. The panel selected the strongest submissions using a standardized rubric to guarantee fairness and consistency in the selection process. The seven-member selection committee, formed in consultation with FJC, includes:

• Ayanna Oliver-Taylor – Managing Director, L+M Development Partners
• Kitty Chan –  Chief of Staff, New York City Small Business Services
• Eli Dvorkin –  Editorial and Policy Director, Center for an Urban Future
• Maud Andrew – Former Director, Brooklyn Public Library Business and Career Center
• Diana Perez –  Vice President for Home Based Childcare Services, WHEDco
• Lourdes Zapata – President and CEO, SoBro
• Lisa Talma – Vice President for Philanthropic Initiatives, Deutsche Bank Community Development Finance Group

Focusing on New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) entrepreneurs, the program seeks to foster positive and enduring change in the region and help individuals and families build generational wealth. The program is open to New Yorkers living in NYCHA residents and individuals who receive Section 8 vouchers through NYCHA.

The technical training components of the program are provided by Brooklyn Public Library Business and Career Center, Centro, and Bocnet. These organizations offer various courses, including business resources through the library’s Business and Management program, financial modeling, building business credit, a business plan boot camp, and one-on-one coaching sessions. The training took place between March 23 and April 13, paving the way for the future success of NYCHA entrepreneurs.

The NYC Boss Up entrepreneurship competition was founded by the Ron and Kerry Moelis Family Foundation. The Foundation, which is providing $1 million toward the program, is heavily focused on supporting social entrepreneurship and impact investing, and this initiative falls squarely in line with that mission. FJC – A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds administered the program through a specialized Donor Advised Fund account that enables awards to individuals that are consistent with U.S. charitability regulations.

The NYC Boss Up initiative was inspired by a report from the Center for an Urban Future, “New York’s Untapped Entrepreneurship Opportunity,” which identified a remarkable 472 percent jump in the number of NYHCA residents reporting business income – 286 residents in 2012 to 1,636 in January 2021. Yet, despite that growth, the report showed that just 1 percent of NYCHA residents reported business income in 2021, suggesting enormous growth opportunities remain.

Ron Moelis, Ron and Kerry Moelis Family Foundation: “Even if you have a great idea, getting a successful business off the ground is incredibly challenging, and this program is designed to provide some of our city’s budding entrepreneurs with a boost by helping them financially and strategically. I was inspired to hear a range of great ideas from applicants — and not only our winners. I hope this public-private-nonprofit partnership can grow, but also serve as a model for similar programs in other cities. I am excited to watch our winners pursue their business plans and encourage many more residents to apply to the program for its next round. Thanks to the New York City Housing Authority, the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York City Small Business Administration and FJC for their collaboration and dedication to making this idea a reality.”

Sam Marks, Chief Executive Officer of FJC: “This is how philanthropy is supposed to work: a policy outfit like Center for an Urban Future identifies a need, an imaginative donor like Ron gets inspired, and then FJC helps execute on the vision. We love to bring together funders and partners from the private sector, nonprofits, and government to improve people’s lives in a meaningful way.”

NYCHA Interim CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt: “NYCHA is thrilled to be a part of NYC Boss Up, a business proposal competition for public housing and Section 8 residents who are working hard to grow their small businesses,” said NYCHA Interim CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt. “We are grateful to the Moelis Family Foundation, as this initiative represents our collective commitment to connecting residents to opportunities in financial empowerment, business development, career advancement, and educational programs.”

Brooklyn Public Library CEO Linda E. Johnson: “Connecting entrepreneurs living in NYCHA to training, networking opportunities, and funding not only strengthens small businesses — it strengthens Brooklyn’s communities. Programs like Boss Up and PowerUP! provide a national model for meaningful social and economic empowerment on the hyper-local level.”

Jonathan Bowles, Executive Director of the Center for an Urban Future: “There is an entrepreneurial streak running through every NYCHA building. The Boss Up competition is a fantastic way to unleash that entrepreneurial spirit and help a lot more NYCHA residents become business owners. Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone living in NYCHA, for some starting a business is a great opportunity to boost incomes and build wealth.”

About the Ron and Kerry Moelis Family Foundation

Ron Moelis started the Ron and Kerry Moelis Family Foundation with the aim of helping to encourage social mobility. Ron is the Co-Founder and Chairman of L+M Development Partners, a unique firm that goes beyond just building by collaborating with community partners to create neighborhoods that take into account the unique needs and lifestyles of the people living in them and actively look to enrich residents’ lives through the use of private and public spaces. L+M Development Partners has successfully partnered with NYCHA on development projects. Ron Moelis also founded the New York State Association for Affordable Housing and serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Building Skills NY and as a trustee of Montefiore Hospital and the Tenement Museum. His passion for entrepreneurship led him to sponsor the Wharton School’s MBA Impact Investing Network Training (MIINT) Competition. As a judge on the competition’s panel, he seeks to support impact investing students to inspire future business students to embody socially responsible business practices. NYC Boss Up is a natural extension of Ron’s life’s work and allows the Foundation to support even more under-represented adults in realizing their entrepreneurial potential.

About FJC

About the Brooklyn Public Library

Brooklyn Public Library is among the borough’s most democratic civic institutions, serving patrons in every neighborhood and from every walk of life. Established in 1896, BPL is one of the nation’s largest public library systems and has more than 850,000 active cardholders. With a branch library within a half-mile of the majority of Brooklyn’s 2.7 million residents, BPL is a recognized leader in cultural offerings, literacy, out-of-school-time services, workforce development programs, and digital literacy. In a borough of wide economic disparity, where the costs of basic necessities often take priority over spending on cultural enrichment opportunities, BPL provides a democratic space where patrons of all economic standings can avail themselves and their children of cultural and educational programs in a broad range of disciplines.

As we look to the decade ahead, my husband and I have been thinking a lot about how our current and future philanthropy can continue to build on our life’s work, mine in local and global social justice, his in education and both of us in moving toward a more just and equitable city/nation/world.  We are now at the life stage when we are planning for the legacy we can leave to our adult children and grandchildren and to the causes we care about.  We are truly fortunate that we can consider philanthropy as a part of that legacy.

We’ve had a donor advised fund account at FJC for over twenty years, and during this time we have used it to make dozens of grants each year to organizations we know well and whose work we admire.  This has included, for me, regular annual gifts to  American Jewish World Service which I was privileged to lead for 18 years and where I still do some work; Surprise Lake Camp, the nation’s longest-running Jewish sleepaway camp, with which my family has had a relationship for over one hundred years; and SAJ, our synagogue for the last 52 years. 

It has also included gifts to such significant organizations, inside and outside the Jewish community, as the Equal Justice Initiative, the Nation Fund for Independent Journalist, the American Civil Liberties Union, Hazon, Avodah and others. In addition, we have given substantial amounts of money to progressive tax-exempt 501(c)(3) voter mobilization organizations like Movement Voter Fund or Focus For Democracy.

As we think about issues of succession and inheritance, we are taking the time to think bigger and more ambitiously about what our philanthropic resources can do, and we are working with the team at FJC to take some of our ideas and put them into practice, acknowledging both our individual and our joint interests

I am in the process of drafting a will that will provide bequests to my three children and eight grandchildren and to my current and future great grandchildren, and then fund a family DAF account with my three children as authorized signatories.  In an accompanying memo to the will, I am doing two things.  I am letting them know what some of my causes are in case they want to keep some of those on their list and—more importantly—I am telling them how I hope the fund will operate.

I have tried, with my husband, to prioritize social justice and anti-racist organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Equal Justice Initiative, to protect the human rights of all marginalized populations, and to address the immense challenges to voting rights, to immigrant rights and to climate change.  I hope that the Fund will consider making small closeout grants to some of the international organizations I have come to know and support through AJWS like Minga Peru, Beyond Borders, Aegis Trust, Fonkoze and UDEFEGUA.

I am urging my children to decide how long they want to keep the fund alive.  I am counting on their involving the next generation in their funding considerations, create opportunities to discuss different options for these charitable dollars, and work to come to consensus about their decisions, but I’m also realistic. My kids have been warm and loving siblings, but their priorities may evolve in different directions.  So, if they feel that the process is causing conflict and they  want to divide the DAF account into three separate funds, that’s fine with me too.

My husband Andrew Lachman is taking a different planning approach with FJC. A longtime advocate and practitioner in public education, Andrew is passionate about supporting innovations in local school districts around the country that lead to demonstrated learning improvement.  He is bringing together a half-dozen experts with whom he has worked or whose work he admires who will help guide this national strategy.  This initiative is a work in progress.  Andrew is anticipating a family inheritance soon, and depending on a few factors, it’s possible he may be able to fund this effort with enough resources for it to have meaningful impact over a long period of time, starting while he is still alive.  How long should the work continue? Who should drive its activities?  Will it have paid staff? These are questions that are still to be determined, and we are working them out with the staff at FJC, including whether there may be a role for FJC in the initiative’s future stewardship.

My husband and I have led incredibly meaningful lives of public service, which have continued even as we have left our CEO jobs.  For all of our accomplishments, we know the work of making a better world is never truly done.  So our conversations about estate planning also mean talking about philanthropy.  We believe that inheritance is about more than just money and real estate; it’s an opportunity to impart values and influence what carries on to future generations.  That is what we hope we are doing with these decisions.

FJC’s blog series, “Why I Give…And How,” gives voice to some of our most committed and imaginative donors.

The author Ruth Messinger served on the New York City Council from 1978 to 1989, representing the Upper West Side, and served as Manhattan Borough President from 1990 to 1998.  She was the President of American Jewish World Service from 1998 to 2016.

An inaugural post in FJC’s new series, “Why I Give…And How,” gives voice to some of our most committed and imaginative donors. The author is the Director of Columbia University’s Program on Peacebuilding and Human Rights.

By David L. Phillips

I recently made a small grant from my account at FJC to benefit school children in Northern Syria. The grant provides supplies for schools and students, including notebooks, pens, pencils, white boards, teaching materials and visual aids such as maps and social studies materials.

My personal assistance through FJC is part of a broader effort to rehabilitate Syria’s education sector, which was ravaged by war. In 2011, Syrian forces targeted Kurds for being pro-western. In 2014, ISIS killed and displaced thousands. Arabs, Kurds, Yezidis, Christians and Turkmans came under the control of ISIS, which used kidnapping, beatings, rape, torture to terrorize local residents.

The plight of these defenseless victims is reminiscent of my family’s experience with pogroms in Belarus at the turn of the 20^th century. Their experience with persecution and flight inspired my life choices and career path.

Columbia University’s Program on Peacebulding and Human Rights (PBHR), which I direct, studies conflict conditions and recommends ways to prevent violence and hold perpetrators accountable. Iraq and Syria have been my focus for 30 years. In 1988, I interviewed Iraqi Kurds in Halabja who survived Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons attacks. This meeting inspired a lifelong commitment to Kurdish issues, as an academic, a think-tanker, and foundation executive. I’ve also served as a U.S. official, acting as a Senior Adviser and Foreign Affairs Expert at the State Department during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations.

I learned firsthand that the U.S. can be a force for good – but not always. In January 2018, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Donald J. Trump, demanding that U.S. troops withdraw from northern Syria and give Turkey’s armed forces free reign. Erdogan views Kurds as surrogates for the PKK, an armed Kurdish group that has been struggling for greater Kurdish cultural and political rights since the 1980s.

The US gives deference to Turkey as a NATO member. If Turkey applied to join NATO today, its application would be summarily rejected because it is Islamist, anti-American, and profoundly hostile to human rights. I’ve been a witness to Turkey’s crimes, providing testimony on human rights violations by Turkey to the U.S. Congress, the British House of Commons, the French Senate, and the European Parliament.

During fact-finding trips to North and East Syria, I saw that many schools were destroyed, targeted directly and systematically. All of the educational institutions were closed down. The only schools that survived benefitted from Turkish protection. However, Turkey’s involvement came with a cost. The Turks forced extremist Islamist practices on the population. “Official” schools function like madrasas, imposing Islamist education and indoctrinating youth.

Many traumatized Syrians experience frustration, despair, and anger. They risk becoming a lost generation. Survivors of torture and gender-based violence need psychosocial care in addition to school supplies.

Providing educational materials is supported through a small grant I made through FJC grant to a local NGO. “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world”, said Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

Through Columbia, I’m also focused on the big picture, providing educators with training on teaching methodologies for children who have experienced trauma, displacement, family problems, and learning difficulties. “One pen” is part of a broader effort undertaken by PBHR to foster stabilization and post-conflict reconstruction in Syria. Focusing on public policy is important, but individual needs must not be forgotten.

Working with educators and students is a small yet practical step to address the plight of Kurds, Yezidis, Armenians, Syriacs and Arabs affected by the conflict in Syria. It won’t stop the war, but it can restore hope and rebuild academic institutions.

Strategic philanthropy, even modest amounts, can help meet the basic needs of students. Linked to enhancing the overall education sector, it can also serve as a model as governments consider their role in peacebuilding. PBHR’s involvement sends a message: The plight of Syria’s children is not to be forgotten. Healing the world starts with one child at a time.

(Note: Donors can support war-affected Syrians through the FJC’s Global Village Fund. Please contact Meghan Hudson at Hudson@fjc.org for more information.)

An FJC donor has provided a 0%-interest philanthropic loan to help kick-start a $10 million initiative to help newly arrived Afghans rebuild their lives in the United States.  The loan program is a component of Support for Afghan Financial Empowerment (SAFE), an initiative launched by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and their Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) to empower Afghan families as they begin their journey to financial stability and economic security in their new homes across the U.S.

More than 70,000 Afghans have arrived through Operations Allies Welcome, a federal effort to support vulnerable Afghans, including those who worked alongside us in Afghanistan for the past two decades, as they safely resettle in the United States.  These families have had to endure a challenging, emergency resettlement experience in the midst of a pandemic and an economy still reeling from COVID-19 impacts.

“Unlike newcomers with refugee status, Afghans are humanitarian parolees, meaning they have official permission to enter and remain temporarily in the United States,” explains Kasra Movahedi, the Executive Director of IRC’s Center for Economic Opportunity. “This status poses unique challenges for building credit, making it harder for them to apply for rental housing, finance a car, and in some cases may limit access to certain jobs.” 

SAFE fills this gap by providing small, 0%-interest credit-building auto, education, immigration and personal loans, coupled with financial education and counselling.  IRC has trained a team of financial coaches, native to Afghanistan, to offer these services to any Afghan who arrived through Operations Allies Welcome.

The 0%-interest immigration loans will help reunify families separated by the chaotic military withdrawal. Immigration services are costly, and time is of the essence. Few Afghans have the funds necessary to pay for immigration services, and access to a 0%-interest, no fee immigration loan can be the difference between life and death for separated family members.

FJC has a long history of making loans to the nonprofit sector.  The majority of FJC’s loans are made from the organization’s Agency Loan Fund, a pool of donor capital that is actively managed by FJC staff and is invested in loans to nonprofits earning a floating interest rate of the prime rate plus 3 percent (currently 6.5%).   Donors may also recommend below-market rate loans (also known as program-related investments) using funds in their donor advised fund accounts, on customized terms of their choosing.

“We are honored to use FJC’s boutique philanthropic platform to galvanize support for Afghan humanitarian parolees at this historic moment,” said the donor, who wishes to remain anonymous. “Having resources set aside in our FJC account enabled us to provide CEO exactly the 0%-interest capital source they needed to launch this critical economic empowerment initiative.”

Donors large and small can amplify their impact with more intentional, strategic approaches to their philanthropy.  This was the major takeaway from a recent webinar with Lauren Katzowitz Shenfield, founder and principal of Philanthropy Advisors, LLC.  The webinar was moderated and hosted by Sam Marks, Chief Executive Officer of FJC – A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds.

The webinar is first in a series in which FJC, a boutique foundation of Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) and other philanthropic accounts, provides access to expertise from seasoned philanthropic consultants.  As a commitment to making philanthropic dollars more effective and meaningful, FJC allows its donors to pay for limited engagements with philanthropic consultants using funds in their Donor Advised Fund (DAF) accounts.

Ms. Shenfield’s consultancy works with individuals, families, and private foundations at the intersection of personal, family, and philanthropic goals.  “The conversation always starts with values,” she explains, “because that underlies the entire practice of philanthropy.”  This is true whether she is working with donors who want to begin their philanthropic journey or with long-time donors who have amassed significant assets, the conversations always start with values.

The webinar presented some case studies of client relationships that resulted in more meaningful and effective philanthropy.  These included a family with multiple siblings who needed support aligning their priorities in the wake of a patriarch’s passing, and an individual who benefited from both focus and skill-building in developing a strategy.

Mr. Marks spoke of the way Ms. Shenfield’s practice complements the resources and expertise at FJC.  “Our staff and our board members are always happy to brainstorm and bring our expertise and relationships to our donors,” observed Mr. Marks, “but sometimes donors need a more sustained, strategic engagement, and that’s where you really can add some value.”  

In terms of advice that donors can use to start their journey immediately, Ms. Shenfield suggested that donors:

• Seek truth – about yourself, your family and others who might be involved.
• Prioritize – make your plan important in your life, and don’t let it sink to the bottom of your to-do list.
• Avoid Distraction – engage in a giving practice that draws on your skills and expertise.

Finally, building on her early career as a journalist, Ms. Shenfield recommends that donors start with the “5 W’s”: Who should be involved your giving? What do you care about? When do you want to make grants, in your lifetime or do you want them to last in perpetuity? Where do you want to have an impact?  And why?

Ms. Shenfield’s long history working with FJC includes customized philanthropic solutions for clients.  In consultation with Ms. Shenfield, FJC hosted for several years an awards program on behalf of Anonymous Was a Woman, which provides grants that enable women artists, over 40 years of age and at a significant juncture in their lives or careers, to continue to grow and pursue their work.  FJC also acted as the fiscal sponsor for Toby Perl Freilich,producer of “Inventing Our Life,” a documentary film about the kibbutz movement.

For more, view the full webinar here.  The recording includes the full Q&A session that covered topics such as: the use of DAFs compared with private foundations, impact investing, the mechanics of succession for DAFs, and more.

An FJC donor is putting philanthropic dollars to work by investing in economic mobility for low-income workers. The initiative is called the UP Fund, a $50 million pool of catalytic capital raised by the national impact investing nonprofit Social Finance. The goal of the UP Fund is to help low-wage earners secure good jobs in a changing economy, using a model called the Career Impact Bond (CIB).

Through the CIB, impact investors fund training programs that enable students to enroll free of charge. Students complete their training with the aid of wraparound supports, like an option to finance living expenses. If their salary after the program exceeds a certain threshold, they repay program costs as a fixed percentage of their income, capped at a set dollar amount and fixed number of months. Those who don’t obtain meaningful employment following graduation pay nothing.

Social Finance partners with high-quality training programs that upskill workers and help place them into good-paying jobs. One such program is American Diesel Training Centers, a for-profit training company based in Columbus, Ohio, that offers a short, intensive course to train entry-level diesel technicians, mostly for trucking companies and dealerships. (See the New York Times story featuring this partner here). Another partner is Alchemy Code Lab, which increases access to software development careers for those who have traditionally been locked out. The program also aims to increase diversity in the technology sector, particularly for people of color, women, and LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Longtime FJC donor Ted Huber invested in the UP Fund through his Donor Advised Fund account at FJC. “I like how the UP Fund aligns incentives to give people a leg up,” explains Huber. “Workers looking for better skills and higher paying work, the schools that can train them, and us funding the education are all pulling in the same direction. The UP Fund is helping people who otherwise couldn’t afford these training programs.” 

A longtime investment professional, Huber has been interested in supporting initiatives that anticipate recycling philanthropic dollars, providing both social and financial returns. Huber recommended an investment in the Fund via his DAF account, and following approval by FJC’s board committee, the staff at FJC worked with him to execute the investment through Social Finance’s recoverable grant structure. This approach allows DAF account holders to participate in the UP Fund with the same terms as institutional impact investing foundations like Blue Meridian Partners, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and many others.

“The DAF market represents a significant pool of assets already earmarked for charitable purposes—currently more than $170 billion—that largely remain in traditional market-rate investments without a mandate to generate social and/or environmental outcomes,” says Tracy Palandjian, CEO and co-founder of Social Finance. “We’re proud to work with creative DAF sponsors like FJC, who make it easy for their donors to invest for measurable social impact.”

For students looking to sharpen their skills and earn more, the time and expense of training programs can be risky. One of the critical aspects of the UP Fund is that it shares risk among the participants: students, training program providers, and impact investors. As Devon, a participant in the Alchemy Code Lab program, explains, “I was looking for places that had really generous scholarships—something where the funding was significant because there was no way I was going to make that choice without a clear financial path for myself. What was really heartening about the Career Impact Bond was…the safety net. If this all goes wrong, I’m protected.”

When the City of New York launched DemocracyNYC, a nonpartisan initiative to increase voter participation and civic engagement, they turned to the city’s vibrant nonprofit and arts community for inspiration.  Among the civic partners that responded to the urgent call to action was F.Y. Eye, a nonprofit media agency that builds campaigns that call people to take action, donate, share, advocate and move their causes forward. “F.Y. Eye was created to democratize the town square,” said Jessica Toledano, Executive Director. “Too often in expensive media markets like New York City, the most important community voices are never heard. F.Y. Eye was created to change that fact.”  

Founded and initially funded by FJC donors, F.Y. Eye has tackled numerous issues including nutrition and food insecurity, workers’ rights, voting, immigrant health services, and participation in the U.S. Census.  Its strategies include creative services to design campaigns, paired with media planning and buying to strategically place its messages in high-traffic locations.

Voter turnout is a particularly daunting challenge.  New York consistently ranks as one of the states with the lowest voter turnout rates in the country. In the 2016 general election, New York State ranked 41st in the country for voter turnout. In the 2018 midterm election, voter turnout increased, but still, less than 50% of all eligible voters participated. 

There was no shortage of voter engagement advertising leading up to the 2020 election. However, most of the ads in high circulation were partisan in nature or offered simplistic motivational messages from big name nonprofits aimed at the general population. F.Y. Eye identified a need for more nuanced campaigns that both provided specifics on how to vote safely during the pandemic, and came from trusted community messengers targeting voters of all backgrounds.

F.Y. Eye’s most recent campaigns have engaged artists and designers who are particularly rooted in immigrant communities.     

In advance of the general election this November, F.Y. Eye engaged Sol Aramandi to build a bi-lingual, portrait-based campaign, encouraging New Yorkers to cast their votes based on issues that affect their communities. Ms. Aramandi’s advertisements have been placed in community newspapers such as El Diario, Bronx Free Press and Brooklyn Times, as well as traditional media spaces around the city such as bus shelters and LinkNYC. Sourced through F.Y. Eye’s Impact Artist Network, Sol Aramandi is a celebrated photographer and activist specializing in portraying immigrant communities. Ms. Aramandi works as a solo artist and the principal of Project Luz, which empowers new immigrant New Yorkers with photography as a tool to explore the city and tell its stories, as well as their own.

“It’s important to us to hire artists for our campaigns that have an organic connection to the communities we’re representing,” explains Calder Zwicky, Programs and Creative Director of F.Y. Eye. “Sol’s portraits express her love and organic connection within this community.”

This most recent campaign builds on work F.Y. Eye launched during the June 2021 primaries to educate all New Yorkers about Ranked Choice voting, through guerilla building projections, diverse artist partnerships and community events. New York City had its highest voter turnout for a primary election in 3 decades during this year’s primary election.