Team & Partners

We build upon our feminist and Jewish values in everything that we do. We strive to embody the feminist leadership values of inclusion, innovation, transparency, and trust-based philanthropy — acting as consistent, reliable support to our grantees and turning to them for insight into their greatest needs.

 

One-third of our board members are past or current members of the national leadership of Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America. Another third are HWZOA members, and the remaining third is drawn from the community at large.

 

Our Team

Board of Directors

Officers

Audrey Weiner, Chair
Ellen Soffar Steinberg, Vice Chair
Roni Schwartz, Treasurer
Edith Ginsberg, Secretary

Members

Amy Berler
Mindy Bloom
Olga Brawman-Mintzer
Stacey Aviva Flint
Michele Foster
Stephanie Garry
Susan Glicksberg
Joanna Golden
Avra Gordis
Kathy Hershfield
Michelle Krasner
Deborah Meyer
Rabbi Marianne Novak
Lida Sharlin
Negar Treister

Hadassah Foundation board members serve up to three consecutive two-year terms. After leaving the board, they become “alumnae” and remain active supporters of the Foundation.

Founding Director

Linda Altshuler

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

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, now known as Elluminate), 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.

Stephanie was a Communications and Development Associate for a national think tank on family poverty and homelessness, and served as Special Assistant to the Commissioner of the New York City Administration for Children’s Services.

Stephanie was selected as one of The Jewish Week’s 36 Under 36 in 2020 and she awarded the Nancy Schwartz Sternoff z”l Leadership Award from JWFNY in 1999. 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

Julie works closely with the Hadassah Foundation Director and Board to help expand the Foundation’s impact and raise its profile in the Jewish philanthropic community. In particular, she oversees marketing and communications, while assisting in many other aspects of the Foundation’s work.

Before joining the Foundation, Julie was Communications Director at Jewish Funders Network, planning and implementing all aspects of its communications, including newsletters, the website, social media, thought leadership, and marketing for its annual conference.

A longtime journalist, Julie worked as an editor and writer at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, New York Jewish Week, and MyJewishLearning. She also freelanced for the Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press. Julie lives in Jackson Heights, New York, with her husband and daughters. An avid cyclist, she enjoys cooking, reading, crossword puzzles and working to improve her Hebrew.

Kayla
Campbell

Administrative Assistant

Kayla performs a variety of administrative and customer-service tasks, assists with program logistics, including grantmaking processes, and supports our marketing and communications efforts. She graduated from the College of Mount Saint Vincent in 2022, where she double majored in English and Visual Arts/Experimental Media.

She lives in Brooklyn with her family. She enjoys drawing, photography and Nintendo video games.

Our Partners

Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America

Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America (HWZOA) established the Hadassah Foundation in 1998 and provides generous in-kind assistance. While HWZOA and the Hadassah Foundation share a commitment to empowering women in Israel and the North American Jewish community, the Hadassah Foundation is an independent 501(c)3 with its own board of directors. The Hadassah Foundation does not raise funds for HWZOA or its programs.

 

Jewish Women’s Funding Network

The Hadassah Foundation is a founding member of the Jewish Women’s Funding Network, which brings together the boards and staff of 18 Jewish women’s foundations. The Network unleashes and leverages the power of members to act on behalf of gender justice in the Jewish and secular women’s funding movements through collaborative grant making, advocacy, shared learning, and expanded visibility.

 

Jewish Funders Network

The Hadassah Foundation is a member of Jewish Funders Network, a global community of private foundations and philanthropists whose mission is to promote meaningful giving and to improve philanthropy in the Jewish world.

SRE: Safety, Respect, Equity

The Hadassah Foundation is a member of SRE, an initiative to ensure safe, respectful, and equitable Jewish workplaces and communal spaces. Inspired by broader national movements and informed by Jewish values and traditions, SRE is specifically committed to addressing sexual harassment, sexism, and gender discrimination.

Propel

Propel is the only San Francisco-based Jewish philanthropic fund focused exclusively on women and girls in the Jewish community locally and in Israel. Learn about Propel’s partnership with the Hadassah Foundation here.

JPro

The Hadassah Foundation is an affiliate of JPro, which connects, educates, inspires, and empowers the people who work in the Jewish nonprofit sector in order to build their skills, advance their careers, and amplify their ability to contribute to the vitality of their communities.

 

Bernice S. Tannenbaum Award Recipients

From 2009 to 2018, the Hadassah Foundation gave an annual award recognizing innovative contributions to advance the status of women and girls in Israel and the United States. The award, underwritten by the Bernice S. Tannenbaum Fund for Education sought to reward emerging professionals who demonstrated a high degree of talent, commitment and accomplishments in their work to enhance the status of women and girls. Meet the 10 award recipients here.

News & Events

Grantmaking

Our Approach

We support organizations that work through a gender lens and that are creating social change. Learn what that means and about our grantmaking practices. Read more

Meet Our Grantees

Our grant recipients in Israel and the United States address a variety of issues affecting those who identify as women and girls. Learn about our current and past grant recipients. Read More