Strategic Active Philanthropy Can Strengthen Our American Values

April 12, 2021

This article was originally published in the Daily Caller on April 12, 2021.

I am a proud American. This country has afforded me, an immigrant from Israel, boundless opportunities to succeed in business and build a beautiful life for my family.

My business success allowed me to dedicate my resources to making an impact in this world through strategic impact philanthropy. This approach to philanthropy requires not only giving financial resources, but also the investment of time, experience, vision, and personal connections.

Over the past decade, I have focused my strategic philanthropy on the fight against anti-Semitism in the U.S. and have come to see that contributing to a strong, secure America benefits not only the American people but also ensures the well-being of the Jewish people and other minorities here in the U.S., Israel and around the world.

This is why I have decided to expand my philanthropic focus to counter the unprecedented assault on America and the values on which it stands.

Developing a Coalition to Fight Antisemitism through Strategic Active Philanthropy

In our coalition focused on fighting Jew-hatred, we asked ourselves which organizations were the most effective and which philanthropists were supporting them. Then, we cultivated a network of like-minded donors, and together we selected organizations to support based on their impact and willingness to collaborate with each other.

Knowing it takes a network to defeat a network, my fellow donors and I encouraged the organizations we worked with to map out the network of adversaries propagating Jew-hatred and the various groups fighting anti-Semitism.

We, the donors, provided funding for collaborations and facilitated partnerships between the organizations. We encouraged all of them to develop and share actionable research and use it to go on the offensive.

For instance, a coalition of many groups was able to marginalize and discredit the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement by exposing its affiliations with terrorism, how it promotes hate and violence towards Jews, and its opposition to peace and normalization in the Middle East.

Expanding the Battle to Fight for America

Our American way of life and the values at the heart of Western society are under attack by radical hate groups on both the left and the right, funded by ideology philanthropists. To counter them, we must draw upon the same successful methods of fighting against Jew-hatred.

The first step is to map out the American values that are worth fighting for, including democracy, the freedoms of speech, religion, press, and assembly, education without indoctrination, capitalism, and rule of law.

Secondly, we need to reach out to other like-minded philanthropists who are willing and able to provide a network of organizations with funding, research, and direction, and promote collaboration.

Lastly, we need to identify the allies that excel at strengthening each one of these values and are willing to share information and encourage them to build relationships with other like-minded organizations.

These allies include think tanks, legal organizations, media organizations, research groups, and grassroots organizations that are directly involved on the ground and with the public.

The movements working to harm America are also comprised of similar organizations and empowered by a network of mega-donors. To defeat them, our network of donors and allies will have to identify the opposing groups’ agendas, objectives, funders, networks, and plans. We will then use this information to counter the opposing organizations on the playing fields they currently control.

Selecting Partner Donors and New Allied Organizations

To begin, we need to determine the most effective willing, and able financial partners and organizations to work with.

Firstly, we determine whether an organization is fully committed to working to strengthen and protect American values and freedoms. An organization should have a clear definition of what these values are and must accurately recognize the threat our enemies pose to America and the American way of life.

Secondly, it is critical to evaluate an organization’s track record of success. One marker of long-term success is the ability to build synergies. It is necessary to select groups that regularly collaborate with others and complement each other’s unique work.

Our successful track record in fighting anti-Semitism, forged by more than a decade of adversity and experience in the trenches, provides a readily available template to developing a powerful network of like-minded organizations to safeguard a strong and secure America.

We call on fellow philanthropists who want to fight for America and the cherished values it represents to join us in taking this new, assertive approach of active philanthropy to combat the forces that seek to weaken America and all it stands for.

Full bio: https://www.jpost.com/author/adam-milstein