MazelTot.org Named One of America’s Top 82 Innovative Jewish Organizations

Denver, CO—For the third year in a row, MazelTot.org: Connecting Young Families to Jewish Life, an initiative of Rose Community Foundation, has been named among North America’s top 82 innovative Jewish organizations in the tenth annual Slingshot Guide, a resource guide for Jewish innovation.

Selected from hundreds of finalists for its unique approach to ease a family’s entry into Jewish engagement, evaluators say MazelTot.org is, “doing fabulous work and is truly moving the needle on Jewish engagement and other communities should learn from this model and replicate it locally.”

“It is an honor to have MazelTot.org featured in the Slingshot Guide for a third year in a row,” says MazelTot.org Initiative Manager, Josh Gold. “Each year we are recognized highlights the impact we have made in the Greater Denver and Boulder communities in connecting young families to the Jewish community. We are thrilled to be recognized alongside 81 other amazing organizations.”

Will Schneider, Executive Director of Slingshot, which publishes the Guide each year, adds “Slingshot is all about inspiring Jews to get involved in the Jewish community. After ten years the book remains relevant because it is a megaphone for exciting and meaningful projects. The target reader of the guide is not involved in Jewish life, in part because they had no idea there were new meaningful Jewish projects springing up all around them.”

Launched in September 2009 by Rose Community Foundation, MazelTot.org seeks to connect families with children prenatal through preschool to local Jewish life and to one another. At MazelTot.org, parents can explore programs and events for families offered by 37 Jewish organizations throughout Greater Denver and Boulder. They can also create a free account and redeem large discounts (funded by grants) to help lower the cost of trying out new Jewish experiences. Grants from Paul Gillis, the Oreg Foundation, the Slingshot Fund and Rose Community Foundation support MazelTot.org.

To date, more than 1,900 families are registered MazelTot.org users and an independent evaluation shows that it is making an impact and engaging families in Jewish life. Since joining, 80 percent of families have attended at least one local Jewish organization that was new to them, and 70 percent say their family’s Jewish life is growing at home.

About Rose Community Foundation
Rose Community Foundation uses leadership, grantmaking and donor engagement to invest in strategic and innovative solutions to enduring problems and emerging issues. The Foundation has granted nearly $215 million since it was founded in 1995. To learn more, please visit rcfdenver.org.

About the Slingshot Guide
The Slingshot Guide, now in its tenth year, was created by a team of young funders as a guidebook to help funders of all ages diversify their giving portfolios to include the most innovative and effective organizations, programs and projects in North America. The Guide contains information about each organization’s origin, mission, strategy, impact and budget, as well as details about its unique character. The Slingshot Guide has proven to be a catalyst for next generation funding and offers a telling snapshot of shifting trends in North America’s Jewish community – and how nonprofits are meeting new needs and reaching new audiences. The book, published annually, is available in hard copy and as a free download at www.slingshotfund.org.