WHO WE ARE

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Officers

Audrey Weiner, Chair
Ellen Soffar Steinberg, Vice Chair
Roni Schwartz, Treasurer
Tracey Spiegelman, Secretary

Members

Livia Asher
Amy Berler
Mindy Bloom
Renee Evans
Michele Foster
Stephanie Garry
Susan Glicksberg
Joanna Golden
Michelle Krasner
Deborah Meyer
Rabbi Marianne Novak
Roz Garber Toledano
Negar Treister

PAST BOARD CHAIRS

Barbara Dobkin, Founding Chair
Sue Beller
Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson
Donna Gerson
Carol M. Joseph
Julie Morris z”l
Rabbi Suzanne Offit
Roz Garber Toledano

Past Board Members

Maddie Adamson Rabbi Naamah Kelman
Sara Adler Ellen Landis
Debra Aleinikoff Joan Leiman
Liz Alpert Barbara Levin
Dina Bakst
Ravit Barkama
Kathleen Levin
Jacquie Bayley  
Liz Bazini Ellyn Lyons
Sue Beller  
Froma Benerofe Dale Marcus
Nancy Berman Trisha Margulies
Rhoda Bernstein Deborah Minkoff
Sophie Blum Julie Morris (z”l)
Betsy Brenner Marcie Natan
Dorothy Bucksbaum Suzanne Offit
Ruth Cole Donna Orender
Georgianne Cutter Dalia Pollack Lerner
Lisa Davidson Marlene Post
Barbara Dobkin Jill Prosky
Kathryn Edelstein Lonye Rasch
Rabbi Jacqueline Ellenson Dr. Julie Ratner
Aimee Falchuk  
Sherri Falchuk Linda Saker
Rebekah Farber Bella Savran
Sylvana Foa Willa Shalit
Amy Friedkin Rachel Sheinbein
  Diane Sigel
Donna Gerson Judith Swartz
Dorothy Gitter Harman Diane Troderman
Jennifer Goldsmith Roselle Ungar
Mirele Goldsmith Karen Venezky
Lynda Goldstein Janice Weinman Shorenstein
Kim Heiman Laurie Werner
Karen Herman Susan Wilkof
Paula Jarnicki Michal Zellermayer
Carol Joseph

STAFF

stephanie blumenkranz, director

Stephanie works in close partnership with the Board to implement the Foundation’s goals and deepen its impact. As the Director, she oversees all aspects of the Foundation, including its strategy, operations, development, and grantmaking. She previously served as Associate Director at the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York (JWFNY), where she oversaw 3.2 million in grants to 137 programs in 21 countries. She played an instrumental role in strengthening the grantmaking practices, growing and engaging their donor base, and creating impactful education programming.

Prior to working at JWFNY, Stephanie was a Communications and Development Associate for Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness (ICPH), a national thinktank on family poverty and homelessness. She also has experience with the New York City Administration for Children’s Services as the Special Assistant to the Commissioner.

Stephanie was selected as one of The Jewish Week’s 36 Under 36 in 2020 and she was awarded the 2019 Nancy Schwartz Sternoff z”l Leadership Award from JWFNY.  She is a Board Member of Women Creating Change, has previously served as a Young Leader at Philanthropy NY, and was a Community Connections Fellow at the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. Stephanie received her BS from Vanderbilt University and her MS from NYU Steinhardt School. She lives in Northern New Jersey with her husband Greg and children Zach and Sasha.

 

Julie Wiener, Assistant Director

Photo by Shulamit Photo + Video @shulamitphotovideo

Julie was hired in November 2022 to help expand the Foundation’s impact and raise its profile in the Jewish philanthropic community. In close partnership with Stephanie and the Board, Julie oversees communications and works in a variety of other areas, including serving as a resource to the Foundation’s grantees and prospective grantees.

Before joining the Foundation, Julie was Communications Director at Jewish Funders Network, where she planned and implemented all aspects of its communications, including newsletters,  the website, social media, thought leadership, and marketing for its annual conference. While at JFN, Julie edited and oversaw the publication of comprehensive guidebooks on impact investing and participatory grantmaking. She also created the organization’s first-ever membership handbook, doubled its newsletter readership and helped launch both CANVAS, a Jewish arts and culture funding collaborative incubated at JFN, and GrantED, a project strengthening relationships between grantmakers and grantseekers in the Jewish community.

A longtime journalist, primarily at Jewish publications, Julie was managing editor of My Jewish Learning, online editor at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and associate editor at The New York Jewish Week, where she reported on education and wrote “In the Mix,” a column and blog about intermarried life. A graduate of Oberlin College, she lives in Jackson Heights, Queens with her husband and two daughters. She enjoys reading and writing fiction, exploring New York City on her bike, cooking, solving crossword puzzles, and trying to improve her Hebrew.

WE ARE HIRING A FULL-TIME ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT. LEARN MORE HERE.

 

 

LINDA ALTSHULER, FOUNDING DIRECTOR