26 | JULY 2 • 2020 

T

hree native Detroiters 
created an online dona-
tion platform that offers 
a socially engaging experience 
while helping social justice orga-
nizations achieve their fundrais-
ing goals.
The Social Justice Challenge 
was developed by longtime 
friends Steven Silverman, Josh 
Sklar and Matthew Greenberg, 
all 29. Their goal was to design 
a quick and easy program for 
individual donors to learn about 
and support a variety of local and 
national charitable organizations. 
“We started with a plan to raise 
money for COVID-19 relief, and 
then quickly shifted to support-
ing racial and social justice once 
it became the center of attention,
” 
said Silverman, a Birmingham 
resident who is a senior vice 
president at Friedman Real Estate 
in Farmington Hills. 
All three founders grew up 
in Metro Detroit and attend-
ed Hillel Day School and the 
University of Michigan. Sklar 
and Greenberg were neighbors 
in Franklin. Greenberg and 
Silverman went to Tamarack. 
Sklar and Silverman both serve 
on the NEXTGen Detroit 

board of Jewish Federation of 
Metropolitan Detroit. 
“Our contacts have been 
supportive in raising money 
and making a difference for the 
organizations we’
re supporting,
” 
said Greenberg, a freelance web 
developer in Chicago. 
 According to Silverman, the 
platform allows donors to con-
tribute to vetted organizations 
while providing opportunities for 
personal expression. 
The process is simple: Visitors 
to the home page are greeted by 
a grid of squares (think gigantic 
Zoom meeting) filled with per-
sonal photos, logos and inspira-
tional messages created by past 
donors. 
Those wishing to donate click 
on an empty square, which takes 
them to a donation page. There, 
they select the organization they 
wish to support. During check-
out, donors can upload an image 
of their choice to display in their 
squares, along with their names 
and chosen charities, unless they 
choose to remain anonymous. 
Once the transaction is com-
pleted, donors are provided with 
links to enable sharing on their 
various social media accounts.

NONPROFIT PARTNERSHIPS
Contributors can choose from a 
list of nonprofit partner organiza-
tions, each committed to helping 
people in need and furthering 
the cause of social justice reform. 
Currently, there are seven partici-
pating organizations: 
• Detroit Justice Center
• Black Lives Matter - Detroit
• The Bail Project (national)
• SAY Detroit
• Empowerment Plan
• Humble Design
• Neighborhood Defender 
Service - Detroit
The founders welcome new 
partnerships from organizations 
looking to increase their public 
profile and expand their fund-
raising capabilities. 
“Beyond listening, talking and 
educating myself more around 
social injustice, I was struggling 
to find a way to make an action-
able impact,
” said Sklar, who lives 
and works in Detroit as director 
of engineering for StockX. “We’
re 
excited about making this more 
accessible for everyone, and 
hope that the community shares 
our passion and helps make an 
impact.
”

CORPORATE 
MATCHING PROGRAMS
In its first two weeks, the plat-
form expanded to include corpo-
rate “challengers” who are moti-
vating their employees by match-
ing individual donations. The 
first Michigan companies volun-
teering to match their employees’
 
contributions are Telemus Capital 
(which raised $12,000), Friedman 
Real Estate in Southfield, ADS 
Music Partners in Birmingham 
and Child and Family Solutions 
Center in Farmington Hills.
To date, the trio has raised 
more than $20,000 for local orga-
nizations.
“We’
ve found that individual 
donors tend to donate quicker 
and donate more when there is a 
philanthropist, community spon-
sor, employer, etc., that is match-
ing their donation one-for-one,
” 
Silverman said. 
In addition to expanding these 
connections, the group is helping 
community sponsors by creating 
custom boards/websites they can 
use to promote the program to 
their networks. 
Future plans include con-
tinuing to grow the organiza-
tion in Metro Detroit and then 
expanding nationwide to cities 
such as Chicago, New York, 
Los Angeles and Washington, 
D.C. The trio also plan to move 
forward with their original fund-
raising site for COVID-19 relief, 
CovidCharityChallenge.com. 
“From a tech perspective, it’
s 
easy for us to grow and evolve in 
other markets. We exist purely as 
a platform to serve our individual 
donors, community sponsors 
and, most importantly, the grass-
roots organizations that we’
re 
supporting,
” Silverman said. 

To learn more or to make a dona-
tion, visit socialjusticechallenge.com. 
Nonprofit organizations interested in 
partnerships may email support@
socialjusticechallenge.com.

Josh Sklar, Matt 
Greenberg, Steve 
Silverman

RONELLE GRIER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Social Justice Challenge

Three local Jews offer a way to help social
justice organizations achieve their goals.

COURTESY OF SARI CICUREL

Jews in the D
Jews in the D
jews and racial justice

