Iva Kaufman
Advisor
Ms. Kaufman lives in New York where she is currently assisting the TSalon to increase their visibility and refine their 
approach to social responsibility through the launch of programs and activities on sustainable development in association with the Action Center to End World Hunger and the Urban Design Lab at the Earth Institute. In addition, she is leading a Radius Institute team in assessing the feasibility of funding for women’s initiatives in the Negev Bedouin community, and working with Healing Across the Divides – an NGO based in Israel/Palestine that focuses on community based health initiatives.
In 2008 she undertook a three-month assignment with the Vermont Law School focused on identifying additional sources of support for their world class environmental law program. Prior to that she completed a six-year assignment at the United Jewish Communities (UJC) where she established the Family Philanthropy Initiative (FPI).
Ms. Kaufman’s work at UJC was integral to the launch of the Social Venture Fund for Jewish Arab Equality and Shared Future –the NGO’s first model of collaborative grantmaking that includes a significant allocation for program related investments and loans; the planning of the annual Endowment Leadership Institute; the exploration of federation and foundation relationships; and the promotion of Jewish teen philanthropy.
Ms. Kaufman has 30 years of grantmaking, fundraising, and organizational development experience with a focus on Middle East Peace, conservation, women’s issues, human rights, and media, arts and culture. She has worked with a wide range of philanthropists and non-profit organizations.
Prior to joining UJC, Ms Kaufman served as the Program Director of the Sun Hill Foundation, where she oversaw $1,400,000 in annual grants. In her capacity as advisor to the foundation Ms. Kaufman expanded its grant making program – increasing support for work on climate change and marine conservation, community arts education in NYC, and funding for Project Kesher to expand opportunities for the social and economic development of Jewish women in the FSU.
As Executive Producer of Art Culture & Technology (ACT), she organized technical assistance and financial support for individual artists and projects engaged in cross-disciplinary collaboration, performance and the implementation of new technology. Major projects were undertaken in 1995 in association with UNIFEM and the Once and Future Action Network in support of the World Conference on Women in Beijing.
At the vanguard of the women’s funding movement, Ms. Kaufman helped initiate and staff the Women Managing Wealth program of the Ms. Foundation for Women; and participated in the earliest efforts of Ma’yan to strengthen Jewish women’s leadership and enhance their level of financial and philanthropic literacy.
In1983, she served as the first Assistant Director of the New Israel Fund, and founded the American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salaam (NSWAS). Earlier, as Program Associate of the Radius Institute, she coordinated consulting services to major funders and emerging projects at the nexus of Jewish renewal and innovative philanthropy. From 1979-1981, Ms Kaufman worked with the Holy Land Conservation Fund on marine conservation and wildlife protection in Israel and the Sinai Peninsula.
Ms. Kaufman began her career with the World ORT Union in Geneva and London, where she provided administrative support for the field staff in their department of Technical Assistance and International Development. She holds a BA from the University of Chicago in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and is on the Board of the People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning and the Circumpolar Conservation Union- a pioneering effort at the intersection of policy, advocacy and action on behalf of Arctic peoples, environmental justice, and climate science.