The issues, stories, and people changing the world in philanthropy and the Jewish community. If you like "What Gives?" be sure to check out "Outside the Tzedakah Box" (https://honeycomb.org/podcast-outside-tzedakah-box/) a podcast on Jewish youth philanthropy from JFN's Honeycomb.
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib - Confronting Extremism with Radical Pragmatism
Episode 87 of What Gives?—the Jewish Philanthropy Podcast from Jewish Funders Network, hosted by JFN President and CEO Andrés Spokoiny. In this episode, Andrés speaks with Ahmed Fuoad Alkhatib, a Gaza native, author of Hamas and Its Two Million Hostages, and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council where he leads the Realign for Palestine project. Ahmed left Gaza as a teenager on a cultural exchange program and was blocked from returning home by Hamas's violent takeover in 2007. He spent the years since building a career as one of the most outspoken Palestinian critics of Hamas while remaining unapologetically committed to Palestinian statehood and self-determination.
Andrés and Ahmed talk about what it means to actually be pro-Palestinian, and why he believes most Gazans are themselves hostages to Hamas rule. He makes a fascinating case for what he calls radical pragmatism, a way of confronting extremism without being an extremist yourself.
This episode is not a typical What Gives conversation, but it contains many important messages for leaders and funders. Courageous voices that see the world with nuance and rationality, who are not afraid to challenge the orthodoxy at the dogmatism of their own side deserve to be lifted.
Take a listen.
14 Oct 2026
Jamie Simon - Jewish Identity Takes Root at Camp
Episode 86 of What Gives?—the Jewish Philanthropy Podcast from Jewish Funders Network, hosted by JFN President and CEO Andrés Spokoiny. In this episode, Andrés speaks with Jamie Simon, CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, which supports a network of 340 nonprofit Jewish camps across North America.
Research consistently backs up what many of us have long suspected about Jewish camp: creating the space for Jewish belonging gives campers the confidence to make Jewish practice and community feel like their own. A 2026 peer-reviewed study from FJC found that a camper's sense of belonging is one of the strongest predictors of the life skills and character strengths they walk away with, and their 2011 Camp Works study found that people who felt that sense of belonging as kids are significantly more likely to be engaged Jewish adults, from synagogue membership to a stronger connection to Israel.
Jamie and Andrés talk about what makes Jewish camp such a powerful setting for building that identity, why affordability and bed capacity are the two biggest obstacles standing between FJC and its goal of doubling camp attendance, and how camps are navigating conversations about Israel and Zionism with staff and teens in this pivotal moment.
Take a listen.
9 Sept 2026
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl - Heart of a Stranger
Episode 85 of What Gives?—the Jewish Philanthropy Podcast from Jewish Funders Network, hosted by JFN President and CEO Andrés Spokoiny. In this episode, Andrés speaks with Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York and author of the New York Times Best Seller Heart of a Stranger. Rabbi Buchdahl leads one of the most influential pulpits in the country. In this episode, she talks about what it takes to lead a community through a moment this divided. She and Andrés talk about what courageous leadership costs when you cannot afford everyone's approval, and how she addressed a charged election season without telling any young Jew there was no longer room for them in the tent.
Angela’s career grew out of a life spent feeling like an outsider in every community she belonged to, and looking for home in all of them. But rather than treat it as something to overcome, she argues it may be the most Jewish thing about her, and she makes a case for why that has everything to do with how we lead and who we let in.
Take a listen.
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