Against a backdrop of a generational wealth transfer and changing dynamics in the American Jewish community, Grand Street is a place where young Jews (18-28 years old) who are involved or will be involved as leaders in their family’s philanthropy come together.

Grand Street began in 2002 with twelve people meeting for a weekend to ask their own questions, to develop a Jewish philanthropic analysis and capacity for strategic thinking, to create a space where they can find personal development, and, where they can build a network of their peers in similar positions of philanthropic responsibility. A new cohort of twelve individuals is added each year.

Some participants are in college or have recently graduated; some have assumed roles within their family’s foundations, yet many are just aware of those imminent responsibilities. All of them feel alone in being young and associated with philanthropic wealth while not only allocating –or planning to allocate-- money but also reconciling their personal passions with their families’ interests, both Jewish and universal.

There are no preconceived outcomes or expectations for participation in the network, only unexpected benefits. The cohort groups have bonded together to such an extent that members have begun to self-organize annual trips to international Jewish communities such as those of Argentina, Poland and Brazil.