Joshua Venture's mission is to reinvigorate and expand the Jewish community by cultivating the leadership and management capability of talented, passionate young Jewish social entrepreneurs and investing in their visions and the growth of healthy, sustainable organizations.

Joshua Venture was founded in 1998 by three leading American Jewish foundations and operated through 2005 as a start-up fellowship program that supported and trained emerging Jewish social entrepreneurs in order to enable them to transform their visions into action.  Among the 16 alumni are Aaron Bisman of JDub Records, which launched Matisyahu and Balkan Beat Box; Amichai Lau-Lavie, the acclaimed creative talent behind Storahtelling; Ronit Avni of Just Vision, which created multi-award winning film “Encounter Point”; and “Forward 50” Amy Tobin, founder of The Hub at the SF JCC.  Eleven of the 15 organizations have been listed in Slingshot. These include Ayecha Resource Organization (Slingshot ’05 and Slingshot ’06), El Centro de Estudios Judios (’06), Gan Chaim (’05), Heeb (’05 and ’06), JDub Records (’05, ’06, ’07 and ‘08), Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation (’05, ’06 and ‘08), Just Vision (’06, ’07 and ‘08), Keshet (’07 and ‘08), Matan (’07), Sharsheret (’05, ’06, ’07 and ‘08), and Storahtelling (’05, ’06, ’07 and ‘08).

Joshua Venture is being re-launched and currently, is gearing up for its next cohort.  The fellowship is a two-year program with three components: seed funding; organizational and professional development through interaction with experts and a community of practice (working/learning sessions with peers); and recognition and legitimacy within – and access to – an expanded network in the Jewish communal and philanthropic worlds. Joshua Venture will build upon the strong foundation of its earlier program, offering a dual investment -- in the fellows and in their organizations.  This investment yields returns through the life-long careers of fellows, through their organizations that uniquely fill gaps in the Jewish community, and through the networks and collaborations that develop amongst the Joshua Venture fellows, Joshua Venture alumni, and others with whom they will interact.