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