FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 | 19
INNOVATION FUND AT FEDERATION
In addition to the gift to the Israel Museum,
the Foundation is granting $3.5 million
to Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit to establish the Byron and Dorothy
Gerson Centennial Innovation Fund. The
Gersons were long-time donors to Jewish
Federation, receiving Federation’s lifetime
achievement award in 2011. This new proj-
ect complements the Hermelin-Davidson
Foundation for Congregational Excellence,
which was established in the 1990s by
William Davidson and David Hermelin to
support innovative ideas for local Jewish
congregations.
“We hope that the Innovation Fund will
be a resource for new ideas that can be tried
out and that it will help Federation,
” said
Ralph Gerson.
Steven Ingber, CEO of Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit, said “The grant
is a testament to a wonderful couple for
their service to the community. We’re super
excited.
”
Establishing the Innovation Fund
reflects the families’ interests and history.
“Innovation, building and doing were cen-
tral to their lives. This is a family of entre-
preneurs,
” Gerson said.
Ethan Davidson remembers that Byron
and Dorothy wanted to be around doers
and thinkers. “They were particularly inter-
ested in young people, asking, ‘Who’s got
the next idea that’s the next big idea?’” he
says.
Ingber anticipates that the Innovation
Fund grants will focus on offering “some-
thing new and different, something entre-
preneurial with clear program goals and
evaluation. They will be under the engage-
ment umbrella to build a Jewish future.
”
During the first year, grants will be avail-
able only to Federation agencies as the
program is fine-tuned. The intent is to fund
projects that are not part of an agency’s
usual operations and budget. The focus will
be on community engagement efforts, he
explains, since so many Jewish activities and
programs were canceled or limited during
the pandemic.
A committee comprising members of
the Gerson-Davidson family, as well as
Davidson Foundation and Federation staff,
will evaluate grant requests. Ingber says
that most project awards are likely to range
between $10,000 and $35,000.
In addition to the grants for the Israel
Museum and Innovation Fund, the
Davidson Foundation also awarded $5
million to the Detroit Institute of Arts
(DIA) and $1.5 million to the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra (DSO). The Gersons
and Davidsons were long-time supporters
of both cultural institutions. Both Ralph
Gerson and Ethan Davidson remember
attending Young People’s Concerts — Ralph
with his mother and Ethan with his grand-
mothers.The Gersons were art collectors.
The grants that will honor Byron and
Dorothy Gerson will benefit a broad range
of individuals in Israel and Metro Detroit
now and far into the future.
Karen Davidson explained that “this
was a family decision. Bill would have
said ‘of course, of course.’”
The Israel Museum
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, is
Israel’s largest cultural institution
and is ranked among the world’s
leading art and archeology muse-
ums. The museum’s focus is the
art, Judaica and ancient artifacts of
the Land of Israel and beyond, fea-
turing the most extensive holdings
of Biblical and Holy Land archeolo-
gy in the world with a collection of
nearly 500,000 objects.
The museum’s Shrine of the
Book houses the Dead Sea
Scrolls. Another unique exhibit
is an amazing model of Second
Temple Era Jerusalem, which
reconstructs the topography and
architectural character of the city
prior to its destruction by the
Romans in 66 CE.
Source: TouristIsrael.com
COURTESY OF DSO
The Davidson and Gerson
families at the DSO’s 2015
Heroes Gala