Jewish Philanthropy Podcast · Dovid M Cohen

Topic: Philanthropy in Challenging Times Guest: Michael Bloch

·58 min·3 clips

Michael says crisis giving should not just follow the biggest fundraising campaigns.

David Cohen frames the conversation around the way money is used to impact lives around the world. He introduces Michael Bloch as a former McKinsey senior partner who spent 23 years working with senior execs, executives, and boards in more than 10 countries. Bloch’s path is not just corporate. For more than a decade, he has also worked with non-for-profit organizations on strategy and growth. The episode keeps coming back to a practical question: how do you make good work scale? Bloch describes that job as helping organizations define strategy and carry out growth initiatives. He talks about work in very different corners of Jewish philanthropy. The list includes employment for weaker populations, a new museum, immigration for highly skilled Olim, food rescue, women’s entrepreneurship, integration of Haredib communities into high-tech, and the scale of educational programs. That mix gives the conversation its shape. It is less about one sector than about the same problems showing up across many of them. Bloch explains that in his world the foundation is the paying client, but the nonprofit still has to feel like the real client in daily work. He says that tension matters because nonprofits often need both support and accountability. The point is not to force strategy from the outside. It is to help organizations do more of what they already do well. He notes that social entrepreneurs are usually brilliant, ambitious, and good-hearted. They are not always the strongest operations leaders. That is where the consultant has to find the right balance. Sometimes the answer is adding people to the team. Sometimes it is training the existing team to do the work better. By the end, Bloch says he does not miss the business side much, because philanthropy has given him more time for family, health, and learning.

As heard by us

A clear look at Jewish philanthropy and the mechanics of nonprofit support.

Michael Bloch's talk with David Cohen is practical rather than flashy. It focuses on how philanthropic money meets nonprofit work, and it is most useful when Bloch lays out the day-to-day job: helping institutions set strategy, push growth initiatives, and scale what already…

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Why you'd press play

You want to hear how philanthropic money turns into real leverage over nonprofit strategy.

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