Natan Records

This collection documents the first two decades of the foundation The Natan Fund, which supports global Jewish initiatives and organizations through collaborative grantmaking. The scope and content of the records include correspondence, meeting agendas, minutes, annual reports, budgets, financial statements and transactions, grant applications and reports, membership and donor correspondence, programs, audio-visual objects, and printed materials such as brochures, clippings, magazines, and newsletters.

A significant portion of the collection comprises Natan's grantmaking enterprises and partnerships with numerous Jewish start-ups and non-profits. Their grant programs cover an expansive range of issues germane to contemporary Jewish life, such as confronting antisemitism, forging connections with communities in Israel, outreach to Russian Jewish populations, economic empowerment, and support for emergent Jewish communities, among many other areas.

The records are organized into four series: Grants, Administration, Donors and Members, and Israel Trips, Events, and Programs. This arrangement was organized based on the dominant themes of the collection. The Grants series contains grant applications, reports, and correspondence. The Administration series includes personnel materials, memoranda, and financial records. The Donors and Members series holds donor and membership correspondence, programmatic planning, surveys soliciting feedback from members and donors, and acknowledgment of membership and of donor contributions. The Israel Trips, Events, and Programs series focuses on Natan's outreach efforts, and includes documentation of special events, conferences, symposia, and trips to Israel with Natan board and committee members and guests, and to locations in Europe, such as Paris and Amsterdam, which offered participants opportunities to tour Jewish landmarks and learn about the history of resident Jewish communities.

The collections also reflects aspects of Natan's collaboration with a wide range of organizations, including Bikkurim: Advancing New Jewish Ideas, the Shalom Hartman Institute based in Jerusalem, the Nexus Global Summit, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, Paideia – The European Institute for Jewish Studies, and other entities featured in the records.