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