My name is Dana.
If we met at a loud and crowded networking event (which we won't), I'd feel compelled to tell you that I am a nonprofit consultant focusing on strategy, planning, and grants. That after 30 meaningful years in the Chicago Jewish Federation system, I transitioned to a solo practice in July 2024 to focus on what I do best and love most—partnering with Jewish organizations to incubate strategic initiatives that make a difference.
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But here's what I really want you to know:
​As a budding social worker in my teens and early 20s on the front lines in senior communities, homeless shelters, refugee absorption centers, AIDS support groups, and inclusive recreation programs, I learned we all have unique strengths and stories. From Helen, Shorty, Sophie, Bernard, Ziv, Cameron and many others, I learned about resilience.
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As a young MSW student in Armand Lauffer’s inaugural Jewish communal service program at the University of Michigan, I learned that where you stand determines what you see and that asking the right questions is more important than having the answers.
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In my first full-time job as a planner under Joel Carp at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, I learned to always start with community need. Collaborate and innovate. FIGURE IT OUT!!
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Mission in mind, strategy in action, I spent three decades in the JUF system —at CJE SeniorLife, JUF, JCFS Chicago—quietly progressing into leadership positions, overseeing remarkable teams that quadrupled grant funding at each stop, facilitating agency strategic planning, and supporting planning processes that led to the creation of programs such as the TOV Volunteer Network, Jewish Healing Network of Chicago, Jewish Center for Addiction, and the Kaufman Wolf Center for Trauma and Resilience. I learned it takes a team. I learned that when you care deeply, it doesn’t feel like work.
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I care deeply.
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At our 2023 JCFS Chicago senior leadership retreat, my colleagues gifted me a dream catcher because I love to collect the sparks, connect the dots, cultivate the strengths, and make it real. I'm an idea steward. A listener, thinker, and writer. A partner.
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​Today I am grateful for the opportunity to build on our collective strengths and stories in partnering with you on projects I believe in—projects that will make a difference in a family, in a life, in a community. I welcome the opportunity to be your partner in shaping strategy, charting change, and growing grants. Your partner in doing good.
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