About - The Jerusalem Model

The Jerusalem Model brings together young social entrepreneurs working toward a better future for all of Jerusalem’s diverse inhabitants.

Group writing on table with white butcher spread across and markers

The Jerusalem Model brings together young social entrepreneurs to work together to build a better future for all of Jerusalem’s diverse inhabitants.

The Jerusalem Model community aligns itself around the shared principle that Jerusalem’s diversity is not her fatal flaw, but her most precious asset.

Including both Ultra-Orthodox, traditional and secular Jews, Palestinian Muslims and Christians, Ethiopian Israelis, members of the LGBTQ community and others, the Jerusalem Model draws on the distinct strengths of Jerusalem’s activist and civil society.

The Jerusalem Model convenes, strengthens and empowers activists to build resilience for the city’s civil society, influencing and impacting decision-makers at all levels.

The Jerusalem Model brings together young social entrepreneurs to work together to build a better future for all of Jerusalem’s diverse inhabitants.

The Jerusalem Model community aligns itself around the shared principle that Jerusalem’s diversity is not her fatal flaw, but her most precious asset.

Including both Ultra-Orthodox, traditional and secular Jews, Palestinian Muslims and Christians, Ethiopian Israelis, members of the LGBTQ community and others, the Jerusalem Model draws on the distinct strengths of Jerusalem’s activist and civil society.

The Jerusalem Model convenes, strengthens and empowers activists to build resilience for the city’s civil society, influencing and impacting decision-makers at all levels.

Overall Goals

Promoting professional excellence across all sectors of Jerusalem’s civil society.

Convening and building a diverse Jerusalem community of activists who work together on concrete projects that benefit the city of Jerusalem.

Increasing influence of those who see Jerusalem’s diversity one of the city’s key competitive advantages.

Operating Principles

Model members come from different backgrounds and perspectives ‒ what unites us is a shared belief, expressed in our actions and our words, that diversity is the competitive advantage of Jerusalem.

The Model operates in three languages ‒ English, Hebrew and Arabic ‒ reflected in communications, at events and in all activities.

The Model is non-political and non-partisan. While the Model supports general civic engagement, it neither endorses a specific candidate nor lobbies on behalf of a particular political action.

The Model is an activator rather than a direct implementer. Our initiatives complement, rather than compete with, the initiatives of individual Model members.

The Model was first conceptualized in early 2016 as civil society leaders reflected on the prior eight years in Jerusalem and visualized the next decade of strengthening the sector.

They pondered two questions:

Could we bring together a diverse community of activists from all sectors of the city to build trust and a sense of shared purpose?
Would this provide a clear picture of the next generation of civil society leadership for Jerusalem?

Key priorities were identified as:

Raising the bar on professional excellence among nonprofit leaders and social innovators with an emphasis on best practices in leadership succession.
Defining and expanding opportunities for social entrepreneurs across sectors to meet and even work together on pragmatic issues that had the potential to unify city residents to their collective benefit.
Strengthening civil society so that its vibrancy is not dependent on a particular political leadership or security situation but rather can withstand, iterate and flourish through various changes.
Thanks to those initial visionaries and changemakers, the Model was born and has grown to serve Jerusalem’s civil society by responding to those initial questions with enthusiastic affirmation.

Thanks to those initial visionaries and changemakers, the Model was born and has grown to serve Jerusalem’s civil society by responding to those initial questions with enthusiastic affirmation.

The Jerusalem Model brings together young social entrepreneurs working toward a better future for all of Jerusalem’s diverse inhabitants.

Membership is by invitation only. For more details about the process, contact the Community Director here.

200+
active members

Diverse participation from Ultra-Orthodox Jews, traditional Muslims, secular Jews, Christians, secular Muslims, and traditional Jews

Mission