Hardly a day goes by when I don’t hear someone say, “We don’t think what we are doing is particularly ‘sexy’; do I still have a shot at being involved with your organization?”
You would think I was a modeling agent, but no, I’m a Jewish professional. Since there are very few jewrotica.org’s out there, “sexy” must have a different connotation here. And of course it does – among many in this community, “sexy” describes high-tech projects and projects that connect to secular trends. Unfortunately and incorrectly, I believe the term “sexy” is also used in a sly way to connote projects that lack substance. Let’s try to redefine that.
Here at Slingshot, we are in the middle of our annual search across North America for the most innovative projects and organizations in Jewish life. Too often, organizations which belong in the book don’t apply because they don’t see themselves as sexy. We are looking for projects that acknowledge that the needs of the Jewish community have changed, and that our organizations need to change with them. Sexy, in Slingshot parlance, is a function of relevance to Jewish life today. Regardless of mission, if your organization is operating exactly the way it did 10 years ago, your impact is likely decreasing. Not sexy.
Slingshot isn’t meant to be a list of the sexiest projects in Jewish life (though someone should do that!) but rather a list of projects seeking to serve the needs of underserved Jews. I’m led to believe that at some point in the past, Jewish organizations more completely served the needs of the Jewish community. Today our needs are more diverse and many of us, who find our needs unserved, become re-categorized as “unaffiliated.” Slingshot hopes to share a picture of a Jewish community that is driven to meet our diverse needs. That can happen at a farm, on the Internet, in a retirement community, with a group of baby boomers, or for young parents. It can be about politics, Jewish education, social justice, or health care. Sexy to us is an organization smartly serving the needs of Jews in North America.
The application is due this Friday. Take a look via our website (www.slingshotfund.org) and think about this: how are you staying on top of the needs of your constituents? When you are filling it out, don’t tell our evaluators only about what you do, but how you do it, and why that works.
This year, Slingshot is piloting a special effort to reach into new communities by creating two special supplements. One will focus on organizations impacting Jewish women and girls, and the other on disabilities and inclusion – two areas of Jewish life that have been historically under-represented in Slingshot. These supplements will feature around 10-20 organizations and be distributed to funders who care deeply about those issues. Organizations can be featured in the supplements and/or the national guide. Our goal is to encourage organizations to apply – even if they don’t feel that they are sexy enough.