Blueprint for Social Change: Shaping an Impact-Based Strategy - Case Study 2002 – 2020

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make up most of the board of trustees and hold most of the professional management positions in the Foundation. At present, the Foundation operates by means of two branches, in the United States and in Israel. It is headed by Jay Ruderman, president of the Foundation since 2008, Sharon Shapiro, community liaison and trustee, and Shira Ruderman, executive director. The Foundation’s two offices, in Boston and Israel, are fully synchronized, cross-fertilizing, and complement each other. An important milestone in the Foundation’s development occurred in 2010, when Foundation president Jay Ruderman decided to take more intensive steps to ensure the rights of people with disabilities. To effect valuable change, it is necessary to act publicly, and to voice ethical and social positions, in addition to engaging in actual activity. This constitutive moment turned the Ruderman Family Foundation into an activist foundation, spearheading groundbreaking processes by means of awareness campaigns in the media and social networks. This approach was considered radical at the time and was not entirely welcomed by others in the philanthropic community. Faithful to its path, however, the Foundation earned a solid reputation in the struggle for human rights and justice, not only in Israel and the Jewish world, but throughout the secular world. WhyWe Chose to Focus on the Field of Inclusion of People with Disabilities The Foundation's entry into the realm of inclusion stemmed from a rational and value decision and not from a personal connection to someone with a disability. The family saw injustice and noted a lack of infrastructure and effective solutions for the inclusion of special families - those with children or other members with disabilities - in the daily life of the Boston Jewish community. In 2002, the Foundation, together with Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) of Boston, established the Gateways organization to include children with disabilities in Jewish settings in the United States. This project, the Foundation’s first in this field, introduced the family to the world of inclusion and disabilities. It began as a pilot program in six local schools and expanded over the years to include approximately 100 schools that had an impact on thousands of students and their families.

The Foundation saw valuable data attesting to the need to invest in the world of