Networks Blog

Annie Lumerman
Annie Lumerman
November 29th, 2011
Reflections on NetWORKS: Sparks of Connectivity

Annie Lumerman is the Director of Jewish Programming at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.

Growing up in St. Louis, it seemed like every Jew was either a doctor, a lawyer or a social worker. Kiddush was always a room full of doctors consulting lawyers consulting social workers. Even though I didn’t want an MD, JD or MSW, I liked that these professionals were able to make connections and help each other.

The synagogue served as an open space to bring separate communities to work together outside of work. Like many communities, that of doctors and lawyers and social workers are complex, but it was this spark of connectivity that got me interested in the power of networking.

Participating in the NetWORKS Gathering felt like a continuous series of sparks. The conference was boundless. I expected the conversation to be controlled, but it was fluid and open-ended. A non-facilitated facilitation-of-connections. Read More »

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Evonne Marzouk
Evonne Marzouk
November 22nd, 2011
Reflections on NetWORKS: Networks and the Jewish Environmental Movement

Cross-posted from Jewcology.org. Evonne Marzouk is the founder and Executive Director of Canfei Nesharim and a member of the ROI Community.

On November 8-10, I traveled to Boulder, CO, for a unique post-GA event: the NetWORKS Gathering, organized by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. According to the organizers, the event brought together “a group of exceptional innovators, activists and network curators pushing the boundaries of the most vibrant organizations, projects and communities comprising Jewish life today.” It was an honor to participate and to represent a network that I’m quite fond of—the global Jewish environmental community as gathered together on Jewcology.

In addition to being—as you might guess—an excellent opportunity to network with other Jewish leaders, the event had a specific purpose.  In sessions ranging from panels and talks to participatory opportunities using models like World Cafe and Open Space, we had the opportunity to explore what networks are, how they work and what they can offer to us as a Jewish community.   Read More »

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Seth Cohen
Seth Cohen
November 17th, 2011
NetWORKS Gathering … Storified!

A networked report on a gathering on networks …

The Jewish community has changed dramatically over the past decade, as the rapid adoption of new technologies has expanded the number of ways people connect, create and even congregate. Networks, which have been part of the Jewish tradition for thousands of years, have taken on even greater importance as we identify, affiliate and express ourselves in ways once unimaginable.

On November 8-10, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation brought together leading thinkers, experts, innovators and activists in the Jewish community to discuss the implications of networks and network-thinking for the future of the Jewish community.

This is how the story unfolded … Read More »

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Stephen Kuperberg
Stephen Kuperberg
November 17th, 2011
Reflections on NetWORKS: From Alchemy to Chemistry

Stephen Kuperberg is the Executive Director of the Israel on Campus Coalition.

Networks are slippery beasts. Like electrons subject to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in physics, they defy easy analysis. Pin one down long enough to describe it, and it may morph into something other. Try to describe its properties, and those properties may inexorably change.

The NetWORKS gathering in  Boulder allowed those of us working with networks regularly to begin to create a common lexicon around our common experiences regarding these exotic new animals in the bestiary of social change. What we individually struggled with over participation and ideology gained greater understanding when speaking in the common language of bounded and unbounded networks; what we individually intuited regarding relationship-building and reach gained greater conceptual potency when we collectively identified bonding and bridging capital. Read More »

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Andres Spokoiny
Andres Spokoiny
November 17th, 2011
The Redcoats are Coming – and Hope Out of Boulder

Cross-posted from eJewishPhilanthropy. Andres Spokoiny is the President and CEO of the Jewish Funders Network.

Every school child in America knows that Paul Revere rode through Massachusetts warning the militia that “the Redcoats were coming”. Fewer people know that in the night of April 18th, 1775, other riders were sent with the same goal, among them William Dawes. Revere was far more effective than Dawes in spreading the word to mobilize patriot forces, and that – with the help of with Longfellow’s poem – catapulted him to the historic pantheon of America’s founding heroes. The difference between Dawes and Revere was just one: network.

No, Revere, didn’t shout “the Redcoats are coming”. First of all, British soldiers weren’t referred as “Redcoats” until much later—he probably said “the regulars are coming”. Secondly, if he would have shouted anything of the sort, he would have been stopped by loyalists that were still plentiful in New England. What Revere did was use his network. Read More »

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Adene Sacks
Adene Sacks
November 16th, 2011
Reflections on NetWORKS: A Month of Networking Around Networks

Adene Sacks is a senior program at the Jim Joseph Foundation.

I have had a privileged month.

It began at the Grantmakers for Effective Organization’s (GEO) gathering for funders and closed at a convening for Jewish networkers hosted by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. At one event, funders from all corners of the social sector grappled with how to grow social impact by harnessing the power of networks. At the other, skilled Jewish professionals explored the power and possibilities of networks within our Jewish Community.

What is clear to me, as I navigate these two worlds, is that the use of networks to build community and grow impact is an emergent practice. We are definitely in the experimental phase of what it means to pursue social change in a networked world.  Read More »

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CLSFF National
CLSFF National
November 10th, 2011
#jnets: History (and Future) of Jewish Networks [Condensed]

In advance of our first-ever NetWORKS gathering, we worked with the team at Here’s My Chance to create an animated video about the history and future of Jewish networks—condensed, of course. The essence of the video is that throughout history, networks have always been essential to the Jewish community, and as we push forward into the next phase of Jewish community in the 21st century, networks will play an increasingly important role in keeping our global community connected. What is your role in creating a stronger and more vibrant global Jewish network?


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CLSFF National
CLSFF National
November 10th, 2011
NetWORKS Gathering Resources

In advance of the gathering, we asked you to help us compile a repository of the best thinking and research to date on networks. Here is what you sent. We would like to continue to build on this list so please submit additional articles, publications, reports, videos and more to networks@schusterman.org. If we add it, we will credit you!

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