2015 Philanthropic Theme
Laureate: Michael Douglas

Motivated by his lifelong feeling of estrangement from the Jewish community, Michael Douglas asked The Genesis Prize Foundation to direct his $1 million award, as well as an additional $1 million contributed by other donors, to initiatives fostering inclusion of intermarried couples and their children in Jewish life.

In 2015 and 2016, the Jewish Funders Network administered a matching grants program in honor of Michael Douglas to encourage the development of new initiatives and philanthropy in this sector. After receiving 80 grant applications from 14 countries, the Jewish Funders Network, The Genesis Prize Foundation, and Mr. Douglas selected 28 organizations from 7 countries as winners.

The grant recipients included:

Click here for more detail on the matching grants program.

Hillel International also received an inclusion grant. Funds from the grant were used to train 230 university students from 40 campuses in a peer engagement model.

In 2016, Mr. Douglas and human rights activist Natan Sharansky traveled to U.S. university campuses to speak with students about inclusion, religious pluralism, and pride in Israel. The visits were co-hosted by The Genesis Prize Foundation, Hillel International, the local campus Hillels, and The Jewish Agency for Israel.