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Resources

Below is a growing list of resources, vendors, and nonprofit job postings from our community partners. We hope you find these helpful and welcome your additions.

The following resources have been submitted by participants on our Fundraising Fridays program and are not endorsed officially by The Hive or Leichtag Foundation. Please email Paige Milgrom-Hills at paige@thehivesd.org to recommend a resource.

Art for Nonprofits

Laura Yelin Studio, LauraYelinArt@gmail.com

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence Image Generators:

  • Leonardo.ai
  • Dalle e3 ai
  • Gemini image

Artificial Intelligence Implementation Consultants:

  • Blue Surf I.T.

Auctions

Auctria

Auction & Event Solutions

Auction Frogs

California Coast Auctions

Christopher’s Auctions

Clint Bell Productions

Darren Diess, Fundraising Advisors, darren.diess@fundraisingadvisors.org

GiveSmart

GreatGiving

Juliette Vara

LiveSource

Melissa Aguiar, melissa@ncauctions.com

One Cause

PayBee

Ready Set Auction – Donor Perfect

SchoolAuction.net

Vincent Zapien, California Coast Auctions

Audit and Finance

Audit Resources

  • Council on Nonprofits Audit Guide
  • Nonprofit Integrity Act of 2004

Audit Firms

  • Aldrich Advisors
  • Moss Adams
  • Alana Tamara Miller, CPA, alana@millergroup.cpa, Miller Group

Bookkeeping

  • Richardson Bookkeeping

Financial Planning

  • Kevin Christensen, Aligned Financial Planning, kevin.d.christensen@lpl.com or 858-357-8010
  • James Scoffin CPA, jscoffin@jrscpa.com or 858-229-9430
  • Your Part-Time Controller, Jennifer.Banks@YPTC.com

Bands

3 Car Garage

Adam Johnson – Adam used to be a piano player at The Shout House, too! 

Anne:Rice (Acoustic Folk & Americana)

Ballet Folklorico El Tapatio

Brandon “Noel” DJ

Cool Rush Band

Gig Town

The Flying Mangos

San Marcos School bands, contact Lisa Stout at lisa@thesanmarcospromise.org

Tom’s Garage Band

Whitney Shay

Banks and Lenders

Banc of California

Biz2Credit (Diane Benaroya referral)

HomeStreet Bank, Stephanie Buss at Buss@homestreet.com

Torrey Pines Bank (Pat Rice referral)

Benefits, HR, and Payroll

Insperity, Yonas Tesfagiorgis at 619-822-5090 or Yonas.tesfagiorgis@insperity.com

King Benefits, Anthony Anselmo, anothony@kingbenefits.com

New York Life, Yecenia Cardenas, ybcardenas@ft.newyorklife.com

Catering

Tiffani Tincher, Blooming Apron, tiffanittincher@gmail.com, 951-551-3008 (Leichtag Foundation referral)

AleSmith Brewing Company, Vicky Zien at vicky.zien@anvilofhope.org

Bliss Tea & Treats

Blooming Apron, (Leichtag Foundation referral)

Forage San Diego

Celebrity Appearance at Events

Contact Any Celebrity

Coin Donation

SD Coin & Bullion, Michael McConnell at 760-846-2109

Consulting Services

Controllers

  • Jennifer Banks, Your Part-Time Controller, Jennifer.Banks@YPTC.com

Copywriter and Editors

  • Sarah Woo, SwooStories, swoostories@gmail.com
  • Solange Jacobs, Solange Was Here, solangewashere@gmail.com
  • Teri Alasantro, talasantro@gmail.com
  • Trisha Gooch, goochwords@yahoo.com

Data Analysis

  • Prem Durairaj, pdurairaj@dataelevates.com

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

  • ADJ Consulting
  • Arboreta Consulting
  • CulturGrit
  • Pivotal Group
  • Saathi Consulting
  • Yvonne Spinks-Griffin, yvonne@womxnsworkconsulting.com

Event Production

  • Auction & Event Solutions
  • Betsy McHenry, betsymchenry@gmail.com
  • Doing Good Works
  • GiveSmart
  • Gravity Productions
  • GreaterGiving
  • OneCause
  • Premier Event Productions
  • Rise 2 the Occasion Events, Julie Sorensen, julie@rise2theoccasion.com
  • Sara Brown Events
  • STJ Events
  • Swaim Strategies
  • Terramar Creative, LLC
  • Virbela

Grant Writing and General Fundraising

  • Alison Beck, alisonbeckconsulting@gmail.com
  • Amanda Lasita, a_lasita@yahoo.com
  • Caroline Salazar, salazarcaroline1@gmail.com
  • Cindy Sweeney, CD Funding Solutions, 845-849-4223
  • Cheryl Inokon, Charity Genius, cherylinokone@gmail.com
  • Colleen Englebrecht,  colleen@mcnattmedia.com
  • Debbi Stanley, The NonProfit Success Group, debbi@npsuccessgroup.com or 760-836-4411
  • Fordable Fundraising, Janeal Ford, janeal@fordablefundraising.com
  • Grant Development Services, Valerie A. Grant,  Info@grantconsultingservices.com
  • It’s a Breeze Fundraising, Caitlyn Taggart, caitlyn@itsabreezefundraising.com
  • Julie Zeisler Consulting, Julie Zeisler, julie@juliezeislerconsulting.net
  • Karen Parker, karen@gotrsd.org (nonprofit consulting/grantwriting)
  • Kornreich Consulting, Jennifer Kornreich, Kornreichconsulting@gmail.com
  • Kristin Spivey Consulting, Kristin Spivey, k.spivey.consulting@gmail.com
  • Leta Keyes, www.thecollabgrp.com, leta@thecollabgrp.com
  • Michael Rudnick, mrudnick0521@gmail.com
  • Nonprofit Prosperity Consulting, Brenda Balmer, brenda@npprosperity.net
  • OME Partners, Jamie Carrillo, carrillojai@gmail.com
  • Shelby Woulfe, shelby.woulfe@gmail.com (grantwriting)
  • Solange Jacobs, Solange Was Here, solangewashere@gmail.com
  • The Collaborative Group
  • The Philanthropy Coach, Hannah Berger, hannah@thephilanthropycoach.com
  • Welch Consulting, Lauren Welch, lauren@welchraises.com

Human Resources and Accounting

  • Rick Dahlseid, rick@pboadvisory.com

Marketing and Media Outreach

  • Giving Back Magazine, Esteban Villanueva, JD, esteban@gbsan.com
  • Scatena Daniels Communication, Denise Scatena, denise@scatenadaniels.com
  • Solange Jacobs, Solange Was Here, solangewashere@gmail.com

Organizational and Board Development

  • April Durrant, Visionary solutions & strategy | Integrated Perspectives Consulting, aprilmdurrant@gmail.com
  • Brandon Behr, behrconsultingservices@gmail.com, (858) 412-0473
  • Fitz Nonprofit Consulting, Renee Fitzgerald, renee@fitz.consulting.com
  • High Five Career Coaching, Mike Gellman, mike@mikegellman.com
  • Jack Alotto, CFRE, alottojack@gmail.com
  • Jacqueline Rossow, rossow.jacqueline@gmail.com
  • Linda Spuck, Linda@philanthropyguidance.com
  • LJL Consulting, Lita Levine Kleger, lita.kleger@gmail.com
  • Más Allá Consulting, Shantel Suarez Avila, shantel@masallaconsulting.com
  • Natasha Palumbo
  • Netzel Grigsby
  • Ron Miranda, ron@mirendaassoc.com

Project Support

  • Amanda Brown Livewell, Amanda Brown, Amanda@ablivewell.com
  • Solange Jacobs, Solange Was Here, solangewashere@gmail.com
  • The Social Impact, Meagan Schmidt, meagan@thesocialimpact.co

Community Calendars

211

Giving Back Magazine

KPBS

North County Philanthropy Council

San Diego Jewish Community Calendar

Cryptocurrency

The Giving Block

Gemini

Joan Garry Podcast, specifically this episode on crypto.

Digital Marketing

CommunityBoost provides free resources and handles Google ads.

Facebook ads and boosts

General Assembly provides free webinars and trainings.

M+R has an excellent newsletter, a number of free tools, and webinars.

Reese Harris at (760) 685-3939 or reeseharris@gmail.com, Denise Scantena referral.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Consultants

  • ADJ Consulting
  • Arboreta Consulting
  • CulturGrit
  • Pivotal Group
  • Saathi Consulting 

Trainings

  • Be the Bridge
  • Fieldstone Leadership Network
  • FORTIFY: The Racial Equity Series

Impact Cubed’s DEI Resource Library

Since 2020, our community has come together in extraordinary ways to provide resources, opportunities, and pathways toward Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in San Diego’s nonprofit organizations. With over 10,000 nonprofits in the region, it’s imperative that we step up our efforts to create a just and inclusive community for all.

HERE is a growing list of DEI resources from our community partners, including the Alliance for Regional Solutions, Fieldstone Leadership Network, and North County Philanthropy Council.

Event Production

Auction & Event Solutions (Betsy Heightman referral)

Cameo (celebrity appearance)

Contact Any Celebrity (Betsy Heightman referral)

Doing Good Works

Gifting | The Gifting Closet

GiveSmart

Gravity Productions (Dana Levin referral)

GreaterGiving

OneCause

Premier Event Productions (Alison Aragon referral)

Sara Brown Events (Denise Scatena referral)

STJ Events (Dana Levin referral)

Swaim Strategies (Max Disposti referral)

Terramar Creative, LLC (Alison Aragon referral)

Virbela (Teresa Valenzuela referral)

Online Event Production

Auction & Event Solutions – Betsy Heightman referral

Doing Good Works

GiveSmart

GreaterGiving

OneCause

Virbela – Teresa Valenzuela referral

Sara Brown Events, Top Tech Awards, sara@sarabrownevents.com, Denise Scatena referral. 

Swaim Strategies, Samantha Swaim, 503-449-3391, Max Disposti recommendation.

Dan Jones – Gravity Productions https://gpshow.com/ – referral from Dana Levin

Staci Tiras Jones, STJ Events, 619-508-0708, stjevent@gmail.com – referral from Dana Levin

John Mathison, Premier Event Productions

Mike Prince, Terramar Creative, LLC

Event Venues

Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation

Bay Park Salon Suites

California Center for the Arts

Conrad Prebys Theatre, La Jolla

Escondido Creek Conservancy’s Mountain Meadow Preserve

Flor on 5th

Franco on 5th

Handlery Hotel – contact Albert Kreimerman, General Manager, Akreimerman@handlery.com

Hera Hub

Horse of the Sun Ranch

Leichtag Commons

Legacy Resort Hotel & Spa

Oak Center

Oasis Rancho Bernardo

Rancho Guejuito Vineyard and Ranch

San Diego Botanic Garden

San Dieguito Heritage Museum

Symphony Towers

TERI Campus of Life

The Vault Oceanside

The Veterans Art Project School of Ceramics and Glass

Ultimate Skybox

Venue 808

Viewpoint Brewing

Fundraising Platforms

Altru by Blackbaud

Auctria

Auxilia (Lindsey Wander referral)

Crescendo

DonationMatch.com

Double the Donation

Flipcause (Hannah Jaime referral)

GiveLively (Cindy Sweeney referral)

GiveSmart (Debra King referral)

GrantHub (Kathleen Kramberg referral)

GreaterGiving (Debra King referral)

Instrumentl

MaestroSoft (Debra King referral)

MobileCause

Monday.com (Alessandra Konzen)

Neon One

Network for Good (Hannah Jaime referral)

OneCause (Dana Levin referral)

QGiv

Salesforce

Snowball Fundraising (Liza Talbott referral)

Tessitura

Virtuous

Fundraising Resources

Articles

  • First Things First: A Leadership Guide to Building a Gold Standard Nonprofit
  • Gender Matters: A Guide to Growing Women’s Philanthropy
  • The Nonprofit Development Companion: A Workbook for Fundraising Success
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

Online Resources

  • Blue Avocado, online magazine with practical, tactical tips and tools for nonprofit leaders.
  • CalNonprofits, webinar and nonprofit resources.
  • Create Possibilities, assistance on board development, strategic planning, and fundraising strategy.

Fundraising Programs

  • Fundraising Academy Cause Selling Education
  • UC San Diego Extension
  • Leadership Group

Information Technology (IT)

Bayside Networks, Leichtag Foundation referral

Brandon Behr, behrconsultingservices@gmail.com, (858) 412-0473

Southern Pacific Networks, Matt Topper, matt@southernpac.net

Steve Fink, CEO, Systems Consultant, (619)301-3501 x1001, sfink@witzendcomputing.com (Stephanie Miller referral)

Gitta Pazar, Blue Surf I.T., gitta@bluesurfit.com or 619-800-1488

Leadership Development

  • Katie Croskrey, Nonprofit Magic, katie@nonprofit-magic.com

Local Businesses (Nonprofit Partnerships)

AleSmith Brewing Company, Vicky Zien at zien@anvilofhope.org

Bliss Tea & Treats (catering)

Forage San Diego (charcuterie plates)

Kitchens for Good (catering)

Team Alston Travel/Dream Vacations, Sandra Alston (specializes in leisure and group travel, focus on charitable fundraising)

Marketing

Google Ads

  • CommunityBoost
  • Jessica King, Getting Attention, jessica.king@gettingattention.org, 404-988-9113
  • Reese Harris, reeseharris@gmail.com

ROI on Digital Marketing

  • Facebook ads and boosts
  • General Assembly provides free webinars and trainings
  • M+R, helpful newsletters, free tools, and webinars

Mental Health Service Providers

betterhelp

Calm App

Intelligent.com – University Student Care

Neighborhood Healthcare

Palomar Family Counseling Service

TalkSpace

Tanya Dantus, LMFT, and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner – Mental Health, Coaching, Trauma-Informed Training, info@tanyadantus.com, www.tanyadantus.com

TrueCare

Vista Community Clinic

Zencare

Music and Local Bands

3 Car Garage

Adam Johnson

Anne:Rice

Ballet Folklorico El Tapatio

Cool Rush Band

Gig Town

The Flying Mangos

San Marcos school bands, Lisa Stout at lisa@thesanmarcospromise.org

Tom’s Garage Band

Whitney Shay

Nonprofit Insurance

Rancho Mesa Insurance, Sam Brown, sbrown@ranchomesa.com

Nonprofit Lawyers

For Purpose Law Group

G. Morris Law Group

Tovella Dowling Attorneys at Law

Philanthropy Advising

Impact Cubed

Kevin Christensen, Aligned Financial Planning, kevin.d.christensen@lpl.com or 858-357-8010

Solange Jacobs, Solange Was Here, solangewashere@gmail.com

Photography and Videography

Photography

  • Aaron Brown, groundedpro@gmail.com (Tina Rose referral)
  • Alex Kikis
  • Del Rio Studios
  • Kyle Simon Studios (Sarah Adams referral)
  • SoCal Green Screen

Videography

  • Bob Hoffman Videos
  • DMZ Visual
  • Haley Londen – Video Strategist, Londen Productions, haley@londenproductions.com, (760) 622-1776
  • Mario Morales Productions (Amber Berkey referral)
  • Never Forgotten Media (Janise Whitaker referral)
  • Pure Cinema Productions (Dana Levin referral)
  • Rustic Roots Creative (AJ Steinberg referral)
  • Sleeping Alligator Studios
  • Super Fancy Films (Casey Myers referral)
  • Warehouse Media

Video Resources

  • Canva
  • Gratavid
  • Hootsuite
  • iMovie
  • Reels (Instagram)
  • Tech Soup (purchase discounted online software)
  • YouTube (nonprofit)

Printing Services

DeFrance Printing

IQ Graphics

L+L Printing

Neyenesch

UCP’s Precision Assembly

Promotional Materials

Art & Ink

Big League Pins (Barbara Talisman referral)

Bonfire

Breakaway Promo

Creative Promo (Sara Orlansky referral)

Custom Logos

Doing Good Works (Sandra Alston referral)

Gifting | The Gifting Closet

4 Imprint

Inspired Creativity (Mindi Frankel referral)

Print & Copy House (Mindi Frankel referral)

Repromagic

Zazzle

Search Firms

Blair Search Partners

Campbell & Co

Netzel Grigsby

Pat Libby Consulting (Mike Gellman referral)

Sterling Search

Technical Assistance

Nonprofit Learning Lab’s free nonprofit resources

Tech Soup

Translation Services

Marco Cohen Amador, Spanish Translation, polmarcoh@gmail.com

Website and Logo Design

Aaryn Ehlers

Alex Palmer, alpalmer4@gmail.com

Blue Surf I.T.

Calin Cionca

Design Studio

Fiverr.com

FourFin

F&L Media

High Clarity

Ink Umbrella Design

MTC Web

Odez

Puzzle Pieces Marketing

Ty Webb Design

Wayward Kind

Website Development Literature:
Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Nonprofit Job Openings

  • Brand and Marketing Director – Escondido Creek Conservancy (posted 1/28/2025)
  • Program Officer – Prebys Foundation (posted on 2/10/2025)
  • President & CEO – UPAC (posted on 1/22/2025)
  • Development Associate – Winston School (posted on 1/31/2025)

San Diego Capacity Building Organizations & Resources

Read more
OrganizationStrategyAudienceApproachParticipation Costs
Advisors in Philanthropy, San Diego ChapterA forum of professional advisors dedicated to teaching and empowering clients to effectively direct their philanthropic resources according to their values. One of nine U.S. chapters.Professional advisors with an average of 15 years of professional experience and specialized training in philanthropy’s tax, legal, financial, or fiduciary components. Many are nonprofit leaders.One-hour monthly webinars explore new tools and strategies, marketing, practice management, and client services. Effective Philanthropy for Advisors, a two-workshop program with Stanford University, introduces core principles and a framework for client work. The organization also holds an annual conference and hosts an online job board and member directory.Membership is $300/year. Webinars are free for members and $25 for non-members. Effective Philanthropy for Advisors Workshops are $400 for members and $500 for non-members.
Alliance for Regional SolutionsServes as a trusted resource coordinating and advocating for innovative solutions to community needs. Develops individual participant skills, including leadership abilities.Members include 75+ nonprofits (mostly North County); cities: Carlsbad, Oceanside, Poway, San Marcos, Vista, Escondido, Encinitas, and Solana Beach; and San Diego County. Nonprofits tend to focus on education, healthcare, social services and together serve thousands of individuals/year.Coordinates working groups: Bridge to Housing, Food Policy Council, Transitional Aged Youth Collaborative, Case Managers Network, North County Works, Racial Justice Committee, Senior Action Alliance, CEO Roundtable, and CFO group. Holds workshops and networking events. Offers Essential Nonprofit Management Skills with CSU San Marcos, a weekly, 5-month program held each spring.Modest fee for organization membership. Participating in working groups or most workshops is free. Fees are low when charged. The CSU San Marcos course is approx. $1,800/person.
Association of Fundraising Professionals, San DiegoAdvances philanthropy by empowering people and organizations to practice effective and ethical fundraising on behalf of the community.Nonprofit leaders, fundraising professionals, students. 400 local members, a total of 600+ professionals participate each year.Holds 10+ trainings on fundraising and nonprofit management topics/year (virtual and in-person), networking, social events, and National Philanthropy Day (800+ participants and the largest in the U.S.). Recognizes professional and volunteer achievement. Hosts a mentoring program, online job board, and volunteer opportunities. Provides annual compensation and benefits reports.Global membership dues are $35 – $290/year + $60/year for chapter dues. Training programs are free – $35/members and $10 – $45 non-members. Mentoring free to members and $40 for non-members. Scholarships available.
Burnham Center for Community AdvancementDedicated to moving the San Diego region forward through collaboration and decisive action.The general public. Representatives from the arts, social service, academia, finance, government, healthcare, military, philanthropy, technology, tourism, workforce development, etc.Engages and informs the public through civic dialogue and an advisory function. Identifies and addresses community challenges. Organizes and mobilizes working groups: Balboa Park, Housing, Workforce Development, Community Fabric.Many events are no-cost.
Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial CountiesA community of funders seeking to build an equitable, impactful, and effective social change ecosystem for San Diego and Imperial Counties.100+ foundations, corporate philanthropy programs, giving circles, donor-advised funds, public charities, government funders, investors, philanthropy advisors, and individual donors that either fund or are located in San Diego or Imperial counties.Connects and activates funders to learn, lead, and invest in our community. Holds programs, events, and an annual conference. Facilitates issue-area working groups. Serves as a fiscal sponsor for funding groups.Annual membership dues depend on budget size and type of group. The range is $750 – $15,000. Individual memberships also available, free – $500/year, depending on circumstance.
Chicano Federation Leadership Training InstituteTo invest in Chicano(a) and Latine leaders, equipping them with the necessary skills, knowledge, and networks to address the unique challenges faced by these communities.Current and emerging Chicano(a) and Latine leaders residing locally.A ten-month program of in-person, four-hour, Saturday sessions. Independent assignments and one-on-one mentoring.$2,500/person with scholarships available.
Grant Professionals Association, San DiegoTo empower grant professionals and those they serve by advocating for members and the grants profession, creating community and connections, and fostering excellence in professional practice.150+ local professionals of all experience levels.Access to 100+ webinars/year, six local in-person and online meetings/year, annual local conference, annual national conference, grant databases, and networking and leadership opportunities.Annual membership dues are $250, $225 for national org. and $25 for local chapter.
Fieldstone Leadership NetworkTo strengthen the nonprofit community by providing a continuum of programs to develop executive leadership, increase agency capacity, and sustain a collaborative and vibrant network.Nonprofit professionals of all experience levels; primarily mid- and senior-level.Programs build and deepen personal and professional relationships among nonprofit leaders. Leadership development: mix of one-off speaker events (Crossroads), cohort learning (groups, coaching, fellowship), and social (Fieldstone @4). Coaching also provided 1:1. Provides leadership retreats and a CEO sabbatical program. Some programs are held in partnership with RISE San Diego and the Nonprofit Institute at USD. Posts job and board position openings.Programs are charged below market rates with some costs shared at registration. One year of individual coaching is $900. Reading groups are $350 for 10 sessions. Learning groups are weekly for six months at $900/group.
Fundraising Academy, National UniversityTo change the world by building nonprofit sustainability through fundraising education.A national program with a robust, local presence, dedicated primarily to emerging fundraisers.Through online and in-person workshops and a library of instructional videos, it trains emerging fundraisers to deepen relationships with individual donors. It offers monthly webinars, an annual local conference, and the Online Cause Selling Accelerate, a cohort-based fundraising certificate program with weekly sessions over six months.Monthly webinars and a video library are free. The annual conference is $150, and the Accelerate program is approximately $1,000.
HandsOn San DiegoTo create a thriving community where everyone is empowered to actively participate in creating positive change without barriers.Volunteers can be individuals or small and large groups. Nonprofits can receive volunteer help, and companies can engage in socially responsible team-building activities.Connect members with local nonprofits where they can donate their time and talent for various projects and activities. Nonprofits benefit because volunteer engagement increases their reach and capacity. Volunteers benefit because they can witness their impact first-hand and develop leadership skills. HandsOn maintains a calendar of volunteer opportunities and offers ways to track volunteer hours.Membership costs are as follows: Individual—$25; court-ordered—$65; family—$50; group—$200; business or company—$499+/year; emergency—$0. All memberships are one-time except for businesses.
LEAD San Diego, San Diego Chamber of CommerceCreates a network of leaders equipped with the skills, insight, and passion needed to work collaboratively across industries and issues to positively transform their communities and country.Professionals ranging from entry- and mid-level managers to C-level and senior executives.Programs enhance regional issue knowledge, strengthen leadership skills, and foster connections. The Advance Program elevates women through coaching, mentorship, and skill building with six half-day, monthly sessions. Impact is a 10-month program for mid- to senior-level managers, focusing on regional issues. It includes a half-day retreat and monthly, full-day workshops. The Influence Program is a three-day course on San Diego’s business and civic landscape for C-level and senior executives.Advance Program is $2,745 for Chamber members and $3,050 for non-members. Impact Program costs Chamber members $4,185 and non-members $4,650. Influence Program costs members $3,285 and non-members $3,650.
Leadership North County, CSU San MarcosImpacts regional development by preparing an active and diverse network of exceptional, visionary leaders.Current and emerging leaders from all community areas. Participants have included government officials, college administrators, and business and nonprofit leaders.Fosters the growth and knowledge of leaders to build a stronger region. A 10-month program of monthly, full-day site visits and meetings.Program cost is $1,999.
Mission EdgeHelps nonprofits and social enterprises scale their organizations and ultimately create positive social change.Nonprofit and social enterprise professionals.Incorporated as a nonprofit and operating as a social enterprise, Mission Edge specializes in fiscal sponsorship, accounting, and HR services. The Impact Lab program provides one-on-one support to small businesses earning low—to moderate incomes. Participants work with finance experts and learn best business practices for economic sustainability.Fees charges for fiscal sponsorship, accounting, and HR services, but participation in the Impact Lab is free.
Nonprofit SolutionsSupport mission-driven organizations to better their communities.Nonprofit professionals and volunteers.Provides in-person and online training. Offers DISC Behavioral Style Assessment and interpretation with a certified trainer. Mindful Manager program is 10 workshops, two hours/ea., on management skill-building. Certificate in Nonprofit Management is 12 weeks/30 hours on fundamental nonprofit governance and management skills. Working groups are facilitated for managers, volunteer managers, development professionals, and those exploring racial equity. Nonprofit Essentials is seven workshops, one/month. Volunteer Essentials is six workshops, one/month. Custom staff training, coaching, and consulting are also available. Manages npworks.org, a comprehensive job posting site.Sweet Deal membership = $700 to $3,000/year, depending on budget size. Members have access to free or highly discounted programs. Corporate membership = $1,500 to $3,000, with the same access as Sweet Deal members. Community memberships are $300/year for new, small organizations and include free or highly discounted programs. Mindful Manager workshops are free to Sweet Deal members, $60 for regular members, and $115 for the public. Certificate in Nonprofit Management is $800 for members and $900 for non-members. Nonprofit Essentials and Volunteer Essentials series are free to members.
Impact CubedInvest in social sector talent to strengthen organizations for the long term.Nonprofit professionals, board members, and volunteers.Fundraising Fridays attracts 40 – 50 nonprofit professionals from all over the county each Friday morning via Zoom to ask questions, get advice, find and share job openings, and learn about funding opportunities. Participating nonprofits have collectively raised over $4m, formed new partnerships, and found new staff. Biweekly webinars and quarterly in-person workshops on nonprofit management and personal development topics are offered. Meet with four nonprofits/per week for coaching. Hosts an extensive nonprofit resource webpage and a job posting site. Webinars are CFRE (Certified Fundraising Executive) Certified.No cost for Fundraising Fridays and nonprofit coaching. Webinars are $12, though there’s no cost for San Diego Gives’ participants. In-person workshops are $18. Scholarships are easily availlable.
North County Philanthropy CouncilProvide education and training in fundraising and leadership development, promote the values of philanthropy, and foster communication among those in the nonprofit sector.Nonprofit professionals, board members, volunteers, business leaders, and philanthropists.Leads San Diego Gives, a year-long nonprofit capacity-building program that culminates in an online giving campaign. Provides workshops on nonprofit management and philanthropy topics; Mentoring 2.0, a four-month, cohort-based mentoring program; and annual Volunteer Appreciation event. Hosts a nonprofit funding webpage and job, volunteer, and event posting sites.Membership fees range from $100 to $1,000, with increased benefits at higher levels. The registration fee for San Diego Gives is $25 to $100, depending on the organization’s size. Workshops cost $45 for members and $65 for nonmembers. The mentoring program is open to members for a $150 cost.
San Diego Planned Giving PartnershipTo serve as a professional and educational resource for the local planned giving community and allied professionals.Gift planning practitioners and allied professionals, including financial advisors, attorneys, accountants, real estate and insurance professionals, and trust officers.An affiliate of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners, the group raises awareness of issues related to charitable giving, provides forums for networking and discussion of current charitable gifting issues, and offers educational opportunities.Membership is $80/year.
San Diego State University, Global CampusPrograms designed to support career enhancement.Current and aspiring grant writers.Ten-week Grantwriting Certificate Program consisting of two 25-hour, online and pre-recorded courses.The Grantwriting Certificate cost is approximately $898.
Social Venture Partners San DiegoEmpowers individuals and organizations to accelerate positive social change in San Diego.Nonprofit organizations in San Diego County.Provides pro bono, nonprofit consulting with teams of partner consultants. SVP recruits, trains and supports consultants who volunteer to support nonprofit leaders in building stronger and more effective organizations addressing the community’s most pressing issues.No cost for participating organizations. Volunteer consultants pay annual fees of $3,000 – $8,000.
RISE San DiegoElevates and advances urban leadership through dialogue-based civic engagement, nonprofit partnerships, training, and support to increase the capacity of urban residents to effect meaningful community change.Community leaders, activists, practitioners, and agents of social change – often mid-career. One program for high school students.The Urban Leadership Fellows Program lasts 10 months and has one to two meetings per month. It focuses on personal and professional development through intensive forums, a community project, coaching, and peer learning. Nonprofit Partnerships Training includes monthly workshops on governance, fiscal management, fundraising, program development, data and evaluation, marketing, and more. RISE Arts is similar to the Nonprofit Partnerships Training, specifically for arts organizations. RISE also offers consulting services.No cost to participants for Urban Leadership Fellows Program. The program’s cost is $9,500/person and RISE fundraises for this. Nonprofit Partnerships Training and RISE Arts are provided at no cost.
UC San Diego, Nonprofit Management, Extended LearningEducate nonprofit stakeholders to build organizational capacity and sustainability.Nonprofit professionals, board members, and volunteers.Offers nine nonprofit management courses and a Professional Certificate in Fundraising and Development, which are live and online. The certificate takes nine to twelve months to complete. Class topics include annual giving, donor relations, grant writing, and financial management. The online program has six required courses. Courses can be taken alone or as part of the Professional Certificate. All courses are CFRE (Certified Fundraising Executive) Certified.$425 per course with a $50 discount per quarter for early registration. Total cost for certificate is $2,550.
United Way of San DiegoTo spark breakthrough community action that elevates every child and family toward a brighter future.Partnerships with school districts, nonprofits, businesses, individuals, and families.Provides volunteer support services for businesses, individuals, families, and partner nonprofits. Hosts a monthly Emerging Leaders group for participants to develop business and leadership skills while building a cross-industry network. Offers training to prepare professionals for effective nonprofit board service. Upon completion, participants receive Nonprofit Board Service Certificate from University of San Diego, and are connected to nonprofits needing board members.Emerging Leaders group participants contribute $500 annually to United Way. There is a fee for board service training.
University of San Diego, Nonprofit InstituteTo partner with and advocate for the community through research, training and education to develop values-driven leaders and strengthen nonprofit organizations working towards transformational impact.Nonprofit professionals, board members, and volunteers. Business and government leaders.Quality of Life Dashboard measures regional environmental and economic trends and highlights ways groups are working together towards greater health, wealth, comfort, and sustainability. Horizon Leadership is a cohort-based leadership development program for those with a history of successful intervention on issues affecting the health and well-being of underserved and under-resourced communities. Leaders 20/20 prepares professionals with a future in climate action, equitable community development, and a growing green workforce. San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative partners with academia, nonprofits, and business and community leaders on climate-change solutions. The annual State of Nonprofits & Philanthropy Report provides relevant and current information on the health and impact of the sector. Lean Six Sigma for Social Impact utilizes these methodologies to help nonprofits streamline operational processes. The program includes 14 weeks of online workshops, two hours per week, and independent assignments. The Caster Family Center for Nonprofit and Philanthropic Research provides research, evaluation, and consulting services to help build the capacity of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. Additional programs, including the Governance Symposium and the Nonprofit Academy, provide more learning opportunities for the nonprofit community.Access to research is free. Leadership 20/20 has an annual membership fee of $50. San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative programming is mostly free. Lean Six Sigma for Social Impact is $1,400. Symposiums and conferences are offered for modest fees. Volunteers attend for free.
University of San Diego, AcademicsCertificate and Master’s programs to strengthen nonprofit leadership and management skills.Motivated working professionals who are committed to a career with a meaningful social purpose.MS in Nonprofit Management & Leadership, an online, asynchronous program.The cost is $880 per unit. For a total of 30 units, the cost of tuition for the program is $26,400 (Academic Year 2024-25).
Young Professionals Council, The LGBTQ CenterTo promote LGBTQ+ health, wellness, and human rights and foster a culture of diversity, leadership, advocacy, and camaraderie.A community of LGBTQ+ leaders and allies ages 21 to mid-40s.Six-session leadership program offers connections, career development, and power-building opportunities. Participants learn from elected officials, social justice and community leaders, and other local experts who help them expand their fundraising, communications, and movement-building capabilities. Approximately 20 participants are selected each year.There is no cost to participate.
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Hive Happenings

Purim: A Strengthening of Community

https://leichtag.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/MicrosoftTeams-image-55.png 1963 3750 Jessica Kort https://leichtag.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Leichtag-Foundation-Logo2.png Jessica Kort2023-03-02 22:20:292023-03-03 15:27:26Purim: A Strengthening of Community

North County Philanthropy Council HR Series, Part II: In-Person Job Fair & Recruitment Presentation

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High Holy Days and the Beauty of Mending

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Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot and our responsibility to domestic animals

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Disabusing Others of Their Assumptions and Preconceptions

Black. White. Jewish. Christian. Male. Female. Curly hair. Straight hair. Every day, in every way, people make assumptions about others based on gender, affect, physical attributes, gestures, and accents. Shoshannah and Cedric Hart know a thing or two about this, as they have spent many years listening to what others think they know about them.

When the Arizona natives began dating more than 10 years ago-she was about to begin college at Arizona State University, he was finishing up there-they faced a barrage of questions from Cedric’s parents, devout Christians, about Shoshannah’s belief system.

“They asked me, ‘How do you celebrate Christmas? Why don’t you believe in Jesus?”‘ recalled Shoshannah, 28, who grew up in a strongly identified Reform Jewish home in Phoenix and attended a local Chabad synagogue, where she observed her Bat Mitzvah.

Jump ahead five years to their move to California, where Shoshannah, now a practicing attorney, went to law school, and Cedric, 32, found himself in the hot seat. The couple would be at a synagogue service or another Jewish gathering, and people would question whether Cedric was Jewish, since he is African American.

“It is kind of annoying,” Cedric, an elementary school physical education teacher, said, speaking in the present because questions of his Jewish identity still persist. “But I try to brush it off.”

Nevertheless, he conceded, the effect is alienating. “It kind of makes me feel pushed out.”

What both Harts would like people to know is that Cedric is every bit as Jewish as Shoshannah. He underwent conversion more than two years ago, after several years of serious study. He did so not because his then -fiancee asked him to-in fact, like traditional rabbis, she discouraged him until she was certain he was doing it for himself-but because he wanted to be Jewish like the children they planned to raise together.

“There are many Jews of Color”

Now the parents of a five-month-old son, Ezra, and three-year residents of San Diego, Shoshannah and Cedric find that living in North County affords them multiple opportunities to express themselves as Jews. Members of Congregation B’nai Tikvah in Carlsbad, they also participate in family programs at Cardiff’s Temple Solel, as well as many activities at The Hive and Coastal Roots Farm, including Great Outdoors Shabbat; Tu B’Av, a Jewish version of Valentine’s Day; and the Sukkot Harvest Festival. They said that they appreciate Leichtag Commons’ ability to attract San Diego Jews of all ages, colors, levels of observance, genders, and sexual orientations.

It is also why Shoshannah is drawn to Shalom Baby, a program run by San Diego’s Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, which enables new parents and babies to meet each other. Through the group, she has become friendly with an LGBTQ mom and another participant married to a black man from Israel-a reminder, she said, that “there are Jews of many colors.”

Cedric added that he, too, is feeling the warm embrace of the San Diego Jewish community. For him, he said, it’s all about “joining in and talking to each other and learning.”

Reflecting the Jewish Values of Mitzvot and Tikkun Olam

Local emergency room physician Dr. Chad Valderrama is in awe of his wife, Julie Avanzino, who, he says, remains as graceful as the professional ballet dancer she once was.

He particularly marvels how Julie, who danced with major companies in Pittsburgh, Denver, and San Diego, has seamlessly adopted Jewish traditions and practices, though she was not born Jewish.

“While creating a Jewish home is important to all of us,” said Chad, who is 36, “Julie takes the lead in organizing” for the holidays, such as Sukkot, Hanukkah, and Passover. “So even though she has not converted, she is just as Jewish as I am.”

For her part, Julie, also 36, said that she welcomes being part of the San Diego Jewish community and feels embraced by it. This sense of belonging is important to Julie, the daughter of two chemists, an Italian-American father and Chinese-American mother.

“My parents are agnostics/atheists,” said Julie, who grew up with no religious identity in the Silicon Valley. “On the one hand, it is fine. On the other, holidays had no meaning to me.”

The couple, parents to infant daughter Olivia, with another baby on the way, said that the Jewish calendar allows them to take pause to reflect on the importance of life, love, and family and to observe the passage of time.

“San Diego has allowed us a lot of opportunities to explore who we are.”

In very concrete ways, said Chad, the son of a Jewish mother and Spanish father who converted to Judaism, the San Diego Jewish community, of which he is a product, helped shape his Jewish identity.

Growing up in La Jolla, Chad, along with his family, attended nearby Congregation Beth Israel. While synagogue life was important, there were Jewish-sponsored activities that opened his eyes to tikkun olam, the idea the Jews have a solemn responsibility to repair the world. In high school, he and other Jewish teens participated in Operation Understanding, traveling by bus to the Deep South to learn more about the ways in which American Jews worked with African-Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. He also took part in the Aaron Price Fellowship Program, sponsored by Price Philanthropies in San Diego, which enables San Diego public high school students from diverse backgrounds to come together to build friendships and to take part in civic-oriented experiences that promote lifelong commitments to their communities.

“San Diego has allowed us a lot of opportunities to explore who we are,” said Chad.

While the Avanzino-Valderrama family is not affiliated with a local synagogue—they are shul shopping—they come to The Hive and Coastal Roots Farm for a host of activities. “Olivia loves the chickens,” said Julie.

Julie also stays connected locally to families she and Chad met during Honeymoon Israel, a program that brings newly married interfaith and Jewish couples together for meaningful experiences in Israel. With the friends she made on that trip, she continues to engage in mitzvah activities that support those in need.

“These are all ways that reflect our values,” Chad said.

The San Diego Jewish Community as a Vehicle for Positive Change

Unlike her parents, a retired judge and estate planning attorney, and her brother, a civil rights lawyer who worked in the Obama Administration, Jessica Pressman does not use the law to effect the changes she believes are needed in her community. But the 44-year-old San Diego native, a professor of English at San Diego State University, did learn early on to call out injustices when she saw them and to strive to make the world a better place.

In San Diego, and, in particular, its Jewish community, Jessica and her husband of 17 years, Brad Lupien, a non-Jewish social-worker-and-teacher-turned-entrepreneur, are trying to teach their two Jewish-raised children, 12-year-old Jonah and 10-year-old Sydney, the lessons of tikkun olam—repairing the world—through example.

On the local level, she and another Jewish parent at her children’s school in North County spoke up when administrators planned a major event to take place on Yom Kippur. They were successful in changing the event date.

Jessica was less successful, she said, when she tried to organize friends to go with her to a local protest against racism and anti-Semitism after the white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“The response I got was, ‘I am going to focus inward, and keep my energy focused on family and all that is right in our magical little community.’” she recalled. “‘The magical little community’ set me off. Are you kidding me? I grew up here. You have no idea.”

Thirty years ago, Jessica said, prejudice was quite overt in San Diego. Swastikas appeared after her brother ran for a student government office at Torrey Pines High School, and she had to explain to friends why the expression “Don’t bagel me,” a modern-day version of “Don’t Jew me,” was offensive.

“‘The magical little community’ set me off. Are you kidding me? I grew up here. You have no idea.”

Jessica said that the climate is ripe in San Diego, which she says has come a long way since the days of swastikas, for more education and positive change. And she sees The Hive and Coastal Roots Farm as incubators for such progress. When she couldn’t get friends to attend the anti-prejudice protest with her, she contacted Leichtag Foundation, which organized a program on Judaism and race relations.

She is also grateful for the opportunities the San Diego Jewish community affords her and her family to educate themselves. Soon after she and Brad, 43, returned from the East Coast, where Jessica was teaching at Yale, they participated in a Jewish Community Foundation-supported Jewish Giving Circle to learn more about tzedakah and Jewish philanthropy.

“It was foundational,” she said, “in how to give and to make friends in the Jewish community.

“There are a lot of ways in,” Jessica continued, referring to the entry points of Jewish engagement in San Diego, and she and Brad and their kids are relishing the chance to discover and access as many of them as possible.

Leading Lives of Multiple Commitments

Stacie and Jeff Cook understand commitment. They live it.

A Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy, Dr. Jeff Cook, 37, is also an emergency room physician who has cared for injured and sick military soldiers in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and, more recently, in Kuwait, where he was deployed last year. Like all military families, he and Stacie, an obstetrician/gynecologist, are accustomed to constant moves when the Navy calls him up: They most recently lived in Yokosuka, Japan, and, before that, Jacksonville, Florida. But now that they have two children, 3-year-old Ari and 1-year-old Olive, they are happy to be settled, at least for the next couple of years, in North County, where they are committed to creating a Jewish home for their children.

Their commitment is such that Stacie, 38, who grew up Episcopalian in Upstate New York, drives 20 miles each way through the county’s back roads to transport Ari to Temple Solel’s preschool program in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Impressed by her interest and involvement in her children’s Jewish education, the synagogue’s preschool administration appointed her co-chair of the PTA.

Stacie said that her desire to help her children lead Jewish lives and to support the local Jewish community any way she can is tempered by her own concerns that she might

“do something wrong,” be it go against a traditional Jewish practice or misspeak a Jewish prayer. But, she acknowledged, no one in the community has ever corrected her and, in fact, everyone has been unfailingly supportive of her efforts.

“I feel very welcomed by the community,” said Stacie, who has taken a leave from medicine to raise the family.

“Judaism can center you and give you a community.”

Jeff grew up in a Conservative Jewish home in suburban Atlanta, the son of a mother who is active in the Jewish community and a Sephardic father. Over the 15 years in the military, he has worked in earnest to maintain a strong Jewish practice. He attended a Passover Seder in Afghanistan, High Holiday services in Kuwait, and, on occasion, Shabbat services on bases overseas. He and Stacie also were part of a small, tightknit Jewish community of military families in Japan.

Here, in North County, with few Jewish families in their immediate area, they often find themselves on weekends en route to military friends’ homes for Shabbat and other holidays.

Contrary to the notion that few Jews serve in the military, the “proportion of Jews in the service is probably the same as the population as a whole,” Jeff said, noting that his commanding officer at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego is also Jewish.

The local Jewish community, both civilian and military, has been a grounding force for her constantly moving family, said Stacie, who has attended programs at The Hive and Coastal Roots Farm and is considering conversion to Judaism.

“You can lose control of your life [because] you’re at the whim of military assignments,” she said. “Judaism can center you and give you a community.”

Meet the Photographer

Black, Jewish and Queer. These three identities weave the fabric of who I am, but it took a long time to believe that they could exist together.

The idea of “belonging” was foreign to me for much of my life. I was aligned with three communities that historically faced oppression in society, and there was no type of representation I could see for people like me. Questions of my existence as a Black Jew, and the implications that came with being Black and Queer would overwhelm me.

Because of this, I watered down my Jewish identity through my teenage years. I could only focus on discovering myself through my other two identities, which was hard enough. When I entered college, I was invited to join Hillel, which piqued my interest in Judaism. I attended all through my college years, finding community in weekly  Shabbats, learning about Israel, and expressing my Jewishness more.

Slowly but surely, my Jewish expression began to exist on the same plane as my Blackness and Queerness. I could fit them all at the table instead of checking them at the door. I experienced more acceptance of myself, and from other people, and I began to feel more included in all the communities I represented.
Still, feeling included didn’t mean that I felt like I belonged. Fast forward to 2019 and I’m at a conference listening to UC Berkeley’s john a. powell speak to us about “belonging” as a result of co-creation. He remarked that “inclusion” implied that one must extend an invitation to their space, thus creating an imbalanced power dynamic. “Belonging” relates to the idea that a space is co-created with others, ensuring that everyone has equal and equitable access because they belong there.

My work with the Leichtag Foundation and The Hive has led me on an exploration of “belonging,” not just for myself, but for anyone who, like me, felt that they didn’t belong in any space. This is the reason behind This is San Diego Jewry. I want to show this unique, vibrant community that we all belong here.

San Diego has been the space where I’ve truly dived into my Jewishness and discovered what I love about it, and how I want to wield it in my life. Our closeness to nature motivates me to weave in Jewish values of agriculture at home. The values of tzedakah and Tikkun Olam align with and inspire my own views of justice and liberation. The creative ways that we express our Jewishness as a community excite me for how I’ll apply these lessons to wherever I go in the future.

I realize now that I belong anywhere that I want to be. I belong where I can help others experience belonging. I belong where I, a Black-and-Jewish-and-Queer person, can create work like this that represents the true expansiveness of our San Diego Jewish expression. And we all belong here because we are the tapestry of this community.

Thank you for weaving it with us.

Jewish Values in Action Supporting Dignity and Self Worth of Every Person

Lee and Toni Leichtag established the Leichtag Foundation in 1991 following the sale of their business. Lee and Toni were lifelong entrepreneurs with a passion for innovation and for supporting talent. They believed that only with big risk comes big reward. Both born to families in poverty, Toni to a single mother, they strongly believed in helping those most in need and most vulnerable in our community. While they supported many causes, their strongest support was for young children and the elderly, two demographics who particularly lack voice in our society.

“G-d has been good to us, we want to return the favor.”

Lee and Toni were partners in every sense. They were proud parents of Joli Ann Leichtag, of blessed memory, and enjoyed being grandparents. When asked about his most significant
accomplishment in life, Lee said, “My marriage to Toni.” This testament of their partnership and their commitment to family and community are the foundation of the legacy the Leichtag Foundation strives to honor.

A Lifelong Dream Gives Rise to Al Fresco Judaism

Lifelong Baltimoreans, Rabbi George and Alison Wielechowski and their sons, 11-year-old Lennon and 9-year-old Gideon, are more than pursuing the good life in Southern California. Having moved to San Diego more than three years ago, they are fulfilling a lifelong dream.

The pretext for their journey west was family: Alison’s sister and mother already lived here. But for George, 42, an entrepreneur as well as a clergyman, the region’s startup climate was as alluring as the physical environment in which to practice his and Alison’s form of Judaism.

Most recently, George was the executive director of the San Diego-based Open Dor Project, which encourages and funds the development of new and emerging spiritual models of Jewish life around the country.

As gratifying as Open Dor has been, he and Alison, 40, are also enthused by their creation of a havurah friend group of 10 mostly interfaith families that, thanks to San Diego’s famously temperate climes, meets mostly at parks, trails, and beaches for monthly Shabbat and other observances.

“For Shavuot, we took a hike mimicking the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai,” said George, who was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. “We talked about the meaning of revelations.”

San Diego’s cultural and natural climates give rise to “meaningful opportunities” for Jews to express themselves in a seemingly infinite number of ways.

Al fresco Judaism, San Diego style, is thousands of miles from the lives they led in Maryland. George grew up in Section 8 public housing with his Evangelical Christian single mother, a domestic from Guatemala, who, he said, “saved up all her money to buy the smallest house in the nicest neighborhood that she could afford,” which also happened to be the nexus of Jewish life in the northwestern part of Baltimore County. As he spent time with Jewish classmates and friends and their families, he said, he came to love their history, culture, and traditions. He converted to Judaism 16 years ago.

Alison was raised in a neighboring part of Baltimore that was also predominantly Jewish.

Her father was an executive director of a Conservative synagogue, and she led a fairly traditional Jewish life. Active participation in a Jewish student association at college led to a long career in the Jewish world—as director of Goucher College Hillel and, most recently, as director of development at Krieger Schechter Day school.

The Wielechowskis said that San Diego is also giving their sons an appreciation for experiencing Judaism and nature concurrently. As Lennon begins preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, he is toying with the idea of incorporating into his ceremony a serious study of Jewish values and climate change. “Only in San Diego,” one might say.

Or, as George said, San Diego’s cultural and natural climates give rise to “meaningful opportunities” for Jews to express themselves in a seemingly infinite number of ways. The time for Jewish leadership to facilitate such is expression is “ripe,” he said.

A Midlife Re-Introduction to Judaism

Change came rapidly to Debbie Macdonald as she approached the half-century mark in the late 1990s.

First, seemingly out of the blue, the younger of her two sons, Josh, announced that he wanted to study for a bar mitzvah.

“This was a big surprise,” said Debbie, now a 72-year-old retired nonprofit administrator who, as a child, had attended a Conservative synagogue in San Diego with her family, but had become distanced from organized religion once she went away to college and graduate school.

“My husband at the time was not Jewish,” she said. “We did celebrate major Jewish holidays with my extended family, but I was not interested in joining a temple. I tried to ignore Josh’s requests because I did not think he would stick with it. But he continued to ask me to study for his bar mitzvah.”

So the Macdonald family joined San Diego’s Temple Emanu-El, which is where Debbie experienced another surprise.

“I got to know the rabbi there at the time, and I realized that Judaism could be very different than it had been when I was growing up,” she said.

So different, in fact, that Debbie wanted to have an adult bat mitzvah, and she began preparing for it soon after Josh had completed his religious studies.

“I realized that Judaism could be very different than it had been when I was growing up.”

A couple of years later, Debbie announced another major life change.

“I went to see the rabbi, and I told him two things,” she recounted. “First, I told him that I was getting a divorce. The second thing I told him was that I’m gay, and that I’m in love with a woman. He was happy for me and asked, “Is she Jewish?’”

That woman, Nancy Kossan, now 67, a retired academic and university administrator, is not Jewish. She was raised in a Protestant denomination. Describing herself now as “a-

religious,” she said that she enjoys the social action/social justice aspects of Reform Judaism.

Both women, who have been together for 19 years and were married in 2008, have found a welcoming home at Emanu-El. Debbie, who has served on the congregation’s board for many years, was its first lesbian president. She and Nancy attend Shabbat services at least once a month, and have taken a number of classes there over the years, including an introduction to Judaism and Hebrew Bible courses. Both also appreciate the temple’s emphasis on civil and human rights, with Debbie noting that Emanu-El was the first among the half dozen synagogues that now march in San Diego’s LGBTQ Pride parade.

While synagogue life takes up a good portion of their lives, Debbie and Nancy, who live in the city’s Pacific Beach neighborhood, have found time for involvement in other Jewish groups, including a havurah. Always interested in child welfare, Debbie has also donated time and resources to Jewish Family Service of San Diego.

If you had asked her 30 years ago whether she would be active in a synagogue and engaged in the Jewish community, “I would have said, ‘Not in a million years,’” Debbie reflected.

Helping Jewish Students Find Their Own Anwers

When Katie Mendelson, who now goes by Chaya Ertel, was a teen, she loved cruising Los Angeles’ Hollywood Boulevard at midnight with friends, seeing what mischief she could whip up.

“I was a free spirit,” recalled the 41-year-old mother of five. Chaya is now a partner, with husband Rabbi Eric Ertel, known as Shmuely, in an 11-year old venture called San Diego Jewish Experience, which offers religious, cultural, and educational opportunities to hundreds of local college students, most of whom are at University of California, San Diego.

Chaya may no longer be “a free spirit,” but she retains a huge sense of fun … plus a deep understanding of young people’s hunger to achieve meaning in the world. That’s a desire of which she has first-hand knowledge.

After high school, Chaya spent a year in Israel as part of a Conservative Jewish post-secondary program. But she quickly fell in with a group of more observant Jews and determined that she wanted to lead an Orthodox life. Alarmed by what they saw as her turn to the religious right, the leaders of Chaya’s program summoned her father to Israel to “deprogram” her. Instead, he gave his blessing. He could see, Chaya said, that Orthodox Judaism had given her the “clarity” that she had sought.

Chaya and Shmuely, 42, who grew up in New Jersey to a family that subsequently embraced Orthodox Judaism, met through a matchmaker in Israel, where they continued their studies and Shmuely was ordained. The courtyard of their La Jolla home, on the edge of the UC San Diego campus, is ground zero for the host of Jewish experiences occurring seemingly round the clock: study groups, drop-in rap sessions, challah baking demonstrations, and Shabbat and holiday dinners. Shmuely says that he works with about 250 students annually, some of whom he escorts to Israel on yearly Birthright trips, and Chaya estimates she prepares 10,000 meals each year.

“[W]e don’t hand G-d a shopping list of our needs and wants. It is about a relationship.”

While the Ertels see the students, most of whom are from interfaith families, as extensions of their own family—Shmuely is impressed by their “perseverance and commitment” to acquire a stronger identity, Chaya with their struggles with faith, even in the face of “life’s painful, messy realities”—they also nurture their own San Diego Jewish experiences. They are members of La Jolla’s Congregation Adat Yeshurun, and

their eldest daughter, now in college, was the first Orthodox teen to participate in the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego’s program to teach young people about Jewish philanthropy. Avid runners, Shmuely and Chaya also take part in La Jolla’s annual 5K.

But San Diego Jewish Experience is never far from their minds or hearts, because the students’ challenges are their own.

Thinking back to a young woman she mentored, Chaya said, “She was young when her mother passed away from cancer, and she came to shul the night of her mother’s yahrtzeit, maybe to doven, maybe just to feel close to G-d. Not sure. But I have to believe as a little girl, she prayed her mother would get well. And the answer was obviously no. And yet there she was, reaching out. She taught me the definition of spiritual maturity and grit–that we don’t hand G-d a shopping list of our needs and wants. It is about a relationship. Sometimes there are tremendous disappointments, and we won’t always know why, but … she was there for the long haul.”

A Free Jewish Spirit

More than 40 years ago, Ruth Platner did something rare for the times. She divorced her husband of almost 30 years, packed her bags, and moved from Wausau, Wisconsin, a small city in the northern part of the state, to San Diego’s North County, where she embarked on an entirely new life.

With her daughters grown and involved in their own families and careers, Ruth, unencumbered, thrived. A painter and sculptor, she devoted her life to her artwork and the enhancement of the local art scene. She taught craft skills to developmentally disabled young adults, helped set up an art school at the Oceanside Museum of Art, and earned a master’s degree in educational technology.

“She was pretty gutsy,” said her eldest daughter, Mimi Miller, an acupuncturist who lives in a San Diego beachfront community about 15 miles south of her mother.

At 92, Ruth still is.

She continues to live in the condominium she has owned for decades and to enjoy a rich life. Though she no longer makes art, she still displays it—most recently, at The Hive’s Farmhouse Gallery, where, this past May, she had a one-woman exhibit of her acrylic paintings. The show coincided with the observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Ruth knows something of the Holocaust, too.

“We are no longer traditional Jews, [but I feel] a deep connection to the Jewish part of myself.”

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Ruth was a young girl when the Nazis rose to power. While family and friends fled the country or were shipped off to concentration and death camps, Ruth, her Jewish mother, and non-Jewish father kept a low profile in an attic apartment that her father had secured for them. They lived there throughout World War II, in constant fear of being discovered and deported. During that time, a number of her immediate family members were killed.

After the war, Ruth resumed her studies at the Hamburg Art Institute. “When life hands you mud (in this case, from the bomb crater), make a sculpture,” she recalled in “War and Pieces: Healing Through Life’s Struggles,” her 2015 memoir. She also met and married a fellow Holocaust survivor, Fred Platner, the man she later divorced but with whom she stayed friendly. A pillar in Wausau’s tiny Jewish community, Fred died in 1988. Ruth cared for him at the end of his life.

As she developed her own style in the United States, Ruth segued from sculpture to painting, often focusing on Jewish subjects, such as the Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism, and members of her family. While becoming active in San Diego’s Jewish Renewal movement and attending services at the North County Elijah Minyan, she also became affiliated with a local Buddhist group.

“She will say that she’s a JewBu,” Mimi said, explaining that her mother has incorporated the teachings and practices of both faiths into her life and personal philosophy.

The free, open spirit that Ruth has come to embody is reflected in her family members—her three daughters, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild—who include people of color and of various faith traditions.

“We are no longer traditional Jews,” said Mimi, who nonetheless feels “a deep connection to the Jewish part of myself. When I participate in the traditions, I appreciate the richness.”

Soaking Up the Wonders of Life

Eve Rosenberg is, to use the Yiddish she so loves, a shtarke, a strong, sturdy, and resilient soul.

At 105, Eve has the distinction of being the oldest resident of the Seacrest Village Retirement Communities in Encinitas. But after 11 years at Seacrest, whose origins date back 75 years to the San Diego Hebrew Home, Eve is also famous among residents and staff for her wit and keen intellect. In short, her community loves her. And she is delighted to return the compliment.

“Everything about Seacrest is wonderful,” Eve kvelled, or gushed with the pride of a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, all of which she is. “It is a piece of paradise. Everything is done with such good taste.”

Paradise is not the environment in which Eve spent most of her life. Born in Detroit to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, Eve, along with her parents and sister, moved to New York during the height of the Great Depression in the early 1930s to find work. College was out of the question, as there was no money for it, and she took whatever jobs she could find to help support her family. She was fortunate, at one point, she said, to work at the New York Public Library, “because I love books.”

Eve was also fortunate, at another job, to meet the man who would become her husband: Murray Rosenberg.

“Life pitches you balls, and you have to catch them.”

“I was working at a very interesting shop on Fifth Avenue when he walked in,” Eve said, recounting how they met. “He was dashing. He was wearing his uniform [since he was a solder during World War II].”

The couple had two sons after the war, the younger of whom, Jonathan, 68, is a longtime San Diego resident. Sadly, Murray, exposed to yellow fever during his military service in the Philippines, died prematurely, leaving Eve a widow for more than four decades.

Through many hardships, though, Eve has striven to take a philosophical approach. “Life pitches you balls,” she said, “and you have to catch them.”

Eve would have stayed in New York had its harsh winters not exacerbated her longtime battles with bronchitis. At Seacrest, close to Jonathan and his family, she participates in almost every discussion and study activity, relishing the classes with Seacrest’s rabbi. Though she herself is not observant, she said, “I have a neshama, a Jewish soul.”

Like many San Diegans, Eve enjoys the great outdoors. “I love walking every day among the interesting trees at Seacrest,” she said.

Eve said that she is reminded of something her mother said to her so many decades ago: “In life there are a lot of bridges … Whatever way, you have to cross the bridge.”

She concluded, “Crossing the bridge to Seacrest was the one of the best choices I’ve made.”

Living in Harmony with a Blending of Culture

Though they were both brought up in strongly identified Jewish families, Yaniv and Liron Scherson have, in a very real sense, a mixed marriage. Their union is a blending of cultures—on Yaniv’s side, Ashkenazi and Latin American; on Liron’s, Mizrahi, Sephardic, and Israeli—making their family a diaspora of world Jewry.

Cultural differences aside, the North County couple form a united front on two significant issues: passing along strong Jewish identities to their two sons, 7-year-old Noam and 4-year-old Amit, and ensuring the continuation of a vibrant Israel.

The son a Chilean Jewish father and Mexican Jewish mother and grandson of Polish and Lithuanian immigrants who fled to Central and South America as the Nazis rose to power, Yaniv, 35, a Berkeley- and Stanford-educated innovator in renewable energy sources, has strong family connections to Israel himself. His parents, also scientists, earned their doctorates from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, and he met Liron, 38, an Israeli native, on a trip to the Jewish state.

Liron, a social worker who has worked with at-risk youth and special needs children, grew up in the city of Ramat Gan, the daughter of a father from Casablanca, Morocco, and a mother of Yemeni ancestry. Her parents’ marriage represented a unique and uncommon commingling of the two cultures at that time.

The Schersons decided five years ago to move from the San Francisco Bay Area to San Diego’s North County.

“I think that the Jewish community here is amazing,” said Liron. Though it is smaller than the Bay Area’s, she said, its size “creates intimacy.”

“People are happy and grateful to live here … and they want to make connections [with others].

In fact, noted Yaniv, since they moved to North County, they have met several other Israeli families in their own community and have formed core friendships with all of them. That has allowed them to remain connected to Israel, which they visit yearly.

At the same time, the Schersons love the diversity of San Diego’s Jewish community, which, Yaniv noted, includes significant numbers of immigrants from four corners of the world: South Africa and the former Soviet Union, in addition to Mexico and Israel.

The Schersons said that the rise of anti-Semitism in the United States—the recent shootings at the Chabad synagogue in Poway and appearance of swastikas in Carmel Valley rattled them deeply—is a sober reminder of the plight their ancestors faced to maintain their religious and cultural identities and of the responsibility they feel in continuing Jewish traditions.

Yet they are very grateful to live in a community that is integrated and welcoming and appreciate the opportunity to participate in and contribute to North County San Diego’s Jewish culture.

“People are happy and grateful to live here,” Liron said, and “they want to make connections [with others].”

Leading Lives of Openness and Inclusion

Growing up in suburban Sacramento, the son of a father who became a born-again Christian and an Asian American mother who is half Japanese and half Filipina, Kyle Young, 33, had little contact with the Jewish community. In fact, he said, many of his classmates were Mormon.

But Kyle, who has lived in San Diego for nine years, finds himself immersed in the local Jewish community, both professionally and personally. He has been a marketing manager at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center in La Jolla for almost two years, and he has shared his life for more than eight years with a Jewish man, Ben Winnick, 43, an Orange County native who is a database administrator at the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. The two, who live in the Clairemont neighborhood of San Diego, will be married in March 2021, their 10th anniversary. They met singing together with the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus.

Since they became a couple, and particularly since he has worked at the JCC, Kyle has become a fast student of Jewish history, culture, and tradition, though he considers himself religion-less and has no thoughts of adopting a faith-based tradition. For him, it is “all about family, community, and food rather than a relationship with God,” he said. “We go to Ben’s parents for Hanukkah and Passover,” and they occasionally make or go to Shabbat

dinner with friends.

“It’s all about seeing people where they’re at rather than where you want them to be.”

Ben, who came to San Diego in 2001, following graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh, is a strongly identified LGBTQ Jew. Although his family was heavily involved in a synagogue in his hometown of Anaheim, he is not a member of a local synagogue. Nevertheless, he appreciates his congregational options in San Diego and environs, having spent High Holidays at a number of shuls over the years, including Temple Emanu-El. He also takes pride in the local Jewish community’s visibility at the San Diego Pride Parade, noting that six or seven synagogues regularly march.

Kyle echoes Ben’s impressions of a San Diego Jewish community that is warm and embracing of a diverse Jewish community. Speaking of his workplace, he said, “Whether our members and guests are Conservative or Reform or Orthodox, or are part of an interfaith family—as I have found many Jewish people my age are—or in an interfaith relationship, the community center is welcoming, open, and receptive.”

Ben and Kyle and their families have all chosen to abide by that open-door policy. They put up a tree for Christmas, and Kyle’s mother crafts gifts for Ben’s family for Hanukkah.

“It’s all about seeing people where they’re at rather than where you want them to be,” said Kyle.

The Intersectionality of Identities: Queer, Non-Binary, Latinx, and Jewish

You would think that as the executive director of San Diego LGBT Pride, Fernando Zweifach López Jr., who uses the pronoun they, has done all the coming out they possibly can. A queer, non-binary individual who has worked for many years on civil rights issues, López also speaks openly and often about their father’s family, Mexican-American migrant workers who tilled the fields of rural California.

But after the recent Poway synagogue shooting, in which a gunman killed a worshiper and seriously maimed several others, López, 37, publicly reminded their community about another layer of their identity. In a mass email to SD Pride’s friends and supporters, with the subject line “I Am Jewish,” they wrote about their mother’s parents, Orthodox Jews from Russia and Austria.

While their Jewish coming out message—a call for greater tolerance and understanding among all oppressed minorities—was warmly embraced by most, López said, they also received quite a bit of hate mail. “More than ever before,” they added.

Rather than despairing about another example of rising anti-Semitism in this country, López remains dogged in their determination to counter bigotry head-on. After all, they said, they’ve been doing exactly that since they were a young child in the Imperial Valley.

“Observing Hanukkah keeps me grounded in my heritage and it reminds me of my grandparents’ stories.”

“Growing up, I was told, ‘You’re Jewish, you’re an immigrant. You’re going to face anti-Semitism and xenophobia,’” López said, explaining how they developed resilience.

López needed to call upon this inner strength when they realized, at an early age, that they were somehow different from most other kids.

“The bullying and harassment never stopped,” they said, once their peers saw that López was different, too.

Rejected by their family for their sexual orientation, López couch-surfed at friends’ homes for a year or so before moving to San Diego for work and college. They lived in a car for a while, survived several suicide attempts, and met a Jewish man, with whom

they had a seven-year relationship. Both became outspoken proponents of marriage equality, and López eventually went to work for one of the largest marriage equality advocacy groups before coming to SD Pride, where, in addition to running the annual Pride parade and festival, they develop a host of harm-reduction and anti-discrimination programs. They also founded an interfaith department that works with sympathetic religious groups locally to advance LGBTQ interests. Many of the faith-based groups are Jewish, which gratifies López immensely.

While not an observant Jew, López celebrates Hanukkah, lighting the menorah and saying the prayers. “It keeps me grounded in my heritage,” they said, “and it reminds me of my grandparents’ stories.”

López is also heartened by a full rapprochement with their father, “now one of my best friends and dearest advocates,” they said.

“It took 20 years,” they continued, “but we are now taking our first vacation together.”

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