About Us – Jewish Venture Philanthropy Fund

What is JVPF-LA?

JVPF is a group of individuals who have pooled our financial resources and business planning skills to fund and support new and innovative programs, consistent with Jewish values. We provide a special emphasis on incorporating business principles in, and ensuring scalability and sustainability of, the organizations we fund. We seek to select causes that reflect our passions and community needs that can benefit from our time, commitment, abilities and insights.

Our History

Created in 2002, The Jewish Venture Philanthropy Fund of Los Angeles is a group of committed community leaders who have pooled their money and expertise to create a vehicle for high-impact philanthropic work in the Jewish Community. The Fund seeks to support the Jewish community by searching out and supporting those unique ideas that are backed with a passion and leadership with a plan to strengthen and positively impact our Jewish community. The Fund works independently.

What are we trying to do?

We seek to support the Jewish community in L.A., in North American, and in Israel by searching out and supporting those unique ideas that are backed with a passion and a plan whose main goal is to strengthen and positively impact our Jewish community.

How are we going to do it?

TODAY IS TOMORROW. JVPF-LA will invest its financial and intellectual resources in new ideas and passionate people who have a plan that will make a long-term positive impact on the LA Jewish community, as well as on the Jewish communities of North American and Israel. We believe that dreams can become reality through hard work and passion.

Goals

Unlike many philanthropic organizations that focus their investments by “interest” (like the elderly, or education, or the arts, etc.), the Fund focuses on different dimensions: impact, scalability and sustainability. In a geographically dispersed area like LA, let alone in Israel and the broader world, impact requires scale. Small ideas are not overlooked, but they need the capacity to mature into big endeavors with a potentially large reach. The Fund prides itself on taking calculated risks on new ideas with the capacity to change the Jewish world. We look for organizations in which our investment can leverage significant growth.

Operational Details

Each fund member contributes to the pooled fund. Fund members bring real world business experience and invest both their money and their respective expertise in projects. The Fund receives nearly 100 requests for funding every cycle which the fund members carefully consider for funding. Each cycle Fund teams work with a few finalists in an intensive due diligence process in which Fund members assist nonprofit leaders in shaping their ideas and business plans. Once funding is given, Fund members continue to provide strategic advice and often serve on the boards of funded organizations.