Inspiring Family Philanthropy

On the first night of Hanukkah, Julie and Shai Kalansky don’t give their three children video games or stuffed toys. Instead, they ask their young children, Mika, Noam, and Matan to pick nonprofits to support from the Kalansky’s Donor Advised Fund held with the Jewish Community Foundation (JCF). The kids last year chose veterans’ and animal charities. The Kalansky family loves how this places emphasis on giving, not receiving, and opens up interesting conversations about different forms of tzedakah (righteous giving) and tikkun olam (healing the world).

Shai, currently a JCF board member and Impact Investment committee chair, was born in Israel to Zeev and Tami Kalansky, who are also JCF fundholders. While they moved to the States when Shai was young, the family still has a deep connection to Israel with many family living around Tel Aviv. While in Israel this past summer, Julie attended an Ulpan (immersive Hebrew language school) while the kids went to Israeli summer camp.

Meanwhile Julie grew up in Irvine before attending Scripps College as an undergraduate, and then the University of Rhode Island and Rutgers University for her Masters degree and Ph.D. in Oceanography, respectively. She is now a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Despite this impressive academic background, Shai claims “Julie wasn’t a great student.” He is referring to the 4th grade Hebrew school class in Irvine where they first met. Julie reminds Shai, though, that he had an unfair advantage as a fluent Hebrew speaker.

Their families grew close with each other in Irvine, and Julie and Shai remained friends. It was not until they went on a summer trip to Israel together after their freshman year of college that a spark happened and they became a couple. After university, they moved to New York, got married and had Mika before relocating to San Diego to be closer to family again.

Shai now works as a partner at the law firm Morrison Foerster. He sees a direct link between some of his clients’ impact investing – primarily focused on climate mitigation and adaptation – and the opportunities JCF provides donors to invest for both a social and financial return from their donor advised funds. Recently, JCF has helped donors make loans to expedite affordable housing projects and provide working capital for minority- and women-owned local businesses. At the end of the loan, the funds are returned to the donors with interest, so that the donors can deploy their philanthropic capital again.

Shai is excited to be part of the next generation of leaders at JCF. He recognizes the under-utilized opportunity on the JCF board to “observe and learn” from highly experienced individuals, and says he has personally gained so much from working with lay leaders like Alan Viterbi, Leo Spiegel, and Janet Acheatel.

This is just part of the l’dor v’dor (from generation to generation) value that infuses Julie and Shai’s lives. In addition to supporting causes their kids care about, they also give to STEM-focused education organizations. And Shai has great admiration for his parents’ generous support of certain Jewish education institutions in Southern California. As they grow up, Mika, Noam, and Matan are fortunate to have several generations of philanthropically and community-focused family members from whom to “observe and learn”.