The Money to Movement Lab is the Jewish Liberation Fund's organizing initiative to bring more values-aligned grassroots money to the Jewish social justice movement! The more grassroots dollars our movement brings in, the more our movement will be accountable to the will of its constituency. In this space, you will join a group of JLF members and friends to learn how to fundraise through your personal network and channel grassroots money to JLF.

This six session series will meet monthly to build skills in JLF’s vision of fundraising as a key practice of organizing. We will explore the why, what, and how of empowering our communities to fund the movement. These sessions will combine presentations from experts, relationship building, and practice time to equip participants with the tools necessary to move money to movement orgs.

As a capstone of the curriculum, participants will be asked to raise money for JLF in our mid-year donor drive, culminating in our Shavuot Day of Funding Event! Shavuot is the holiday comemmorating when G-d gave us the Torah, and we will celebrate it by giving to Jewish Liberation Fund!

March 12th - The Power of Giving: Why Jewish Liberation Fund Matters

In our introductory session, participants will explore what it means to give with our values. We'll learn about two radical steps towards building JLF:  raising money from others and giving at whatever level we personally are capable of. Together, we can give our movement the power it needs to win the social and economic changes we're fighting for.

March 26 - Harnessing the Power of Many - Rebecca Ennen

 Movement power doesn’t just come from the amount donated, but  from the people involved. Who might want to build a coalition with us? Whether by donating, volunteering, or even influencing, the people in our lives can multiply the effect of our movement. In this session, we will develop skills to understand our networks, their capacity, and what will motivate them to give.

Rebecca Ennen is a veteran Jewish organizer, fundraiser, strategist, and donor working at the radical edge of respectability. She has helped build multiracial coalitions, win progressive legislation and budgets, and move millions of dollars towards organizing, including 9 years at Jews United for Justice, and now at Movement Voter Project. She focuses on helping staff and leaders play to their strengths within specific donor ecosystems.

Rebecca lives in Washington, DC, along with her partner, two kids, and hundreds of thousands of other citizens taxed without representation. She loves radical Torah, dystopian science fiction, and leafy greens. 

April 9th - Making Bold Asks: Choosing a Number Courageously - Colleen Dixon

Asking people for money can be scary! Asking for a lot of it even more so. In this session, Colleen Dixon will teach us how and why we should feel confident choosing a bold number to ask for and why your friends may even appreciate the ask.

As a passionate resource mover, Colleen Dixon has decades of senior leadership experience in development, management, and execution of comprehensive partnerships, communications, philanthropy, and social responsibility strategies. She supports nonprofit and philanthropic organizations with all aspects of strategy, fund distribution and development, vision, governance, and community engagement.

April 23rd - Developing Bold Messaging and Storytelling - Becca Lubow

Jews don’t proselytize, but we give great shpiels. Knowing how to tell a succinct, compelling story of why you’re organizing for JLF and why others should too is central to building our people power and money power. In this session you’ll hear from community organizer Becca Lubow whose activism is rooted in relationship building and her clear, digestible, personal moral self narrative. You’ve learned about why JLF is an important intervention in Jewish philanthropy and assembled a constellation of possible movement builders; now take a step back and craft a portable story that will help you make the connections you need.

Becca Lubow (she/her)has organized for the Jewish Council of Urban Affairs since 2021. She supports JCUA’s Immigration Justice Committee and our Antisemitism work. Becca started organizing her Jewish community to fight for a world where everyone can thrive as a member of IfNotNow and co-founder of Never Again Action. Becca loves niggun circles, non-violent direct action, trying new recipes, and jumping into Lake Michigan.

May 7 - Turning your story into asks! - Rachel Gottfried-Clancy

Asking for support of any kind requires courage and vulnerability, and seeking financial donations can be especially challenging. Thankfully, a solid fundraising email template can remove that fear and give you a framework for writing email outreaches that will inspire others to give.  Email remains one of the most effective ways to raise awareness of your fundraiser and cause. But even seasoned fundraising professionals can struggle to write a persuasive fundraising letter. These best practices can help you craft compelling outreaches that will inspire others to donate.

Rachel Gottfried-Clancy has spent the last decade building expertise in strategy, narrative change, and organizing, while grounding in democratic process.

As a consultant she facilitates organizations to: create bold strategies, design innovative programs, and implement equitable governance practices. From 2018 through 2021 she worked as the Executive Director of Jewish Youth for Community Action (JYCA). During that time the 25-year-old organization grew the budget 300%, doubled its membership, launched the first cohort for Jewish youth of color, and adopted its first strategic plan.

She’s committed to working collaboratively and believes we have the brilliance, wisdom and joy needed for collective liberation.

May 21 - Shavuot Funder Drive Kickoff!

Let’s get started together! In our final session before the mid-year donor drive, we’ll use the skills and resources we’ve developed together over the last few months to launch JLF’s first ever mid-year fundraiser, culminating in our Shavuot Day of Funding event!