The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington named Keren M. Waranch as its new chief development officer, effective Jan. 6, according to a Jan. 3 press release.
In this role, the Kensington resident will build and drive the Federation’s financial resource development and boost its fundraising strategy, systems and relationships. This role marks Waranch’s return to the Federation, where she worked as its assistant director from 2002 to 2007.
“I’m incredibly proud and excited,” Waranch told Washington Jewish Week. “I am very aware of the responsibility of the role and I take that very seriously. … Titles are great, but that’s not really what I’m thinking about; I’m more thinking about making sure that I can help the Federation provide resources needed for all different people.”
“We are excited to welcome Keren back to the Federation team,” Gil Preuss, the CEO of the Federation, said in the press release. “Keren is a dynamic and experienced nonprofit leader, and we look forward to having her expertise as we continue to focus on fundraising and philanthropy in our community through a strategic and engaging approach.”
Part of Waranch’s new role includes leading a team of fundraisers and development professionals at the Federation, something she has done throughout her career. She works to bring that team together in order to maximize its efficiency, Waranch said.
Waranch most recently served as the chief development officer for Americans for Ben-Gurion University for 17 years. There, she managed an annual campaign of $45 million to more than $50 million, a national team of up to 24 professionals and the implementation of a strategic organization-wide approach.
She also worked for Young Judaea Year Course, the largest gap year program in Israel, in 2000 during the Second Intifada. Waranch established relationships and built trust with community members in order to help families decide to send their post-high school child to Israel for a year.
“A key part of development is relationship building,” she said. “I’ve always been able to combine international affairs and Israel and the Jewish community. I always found myself attracted to and coming back to Jewish organizations and, at some point, I knew that that’s where I wanted to stay.”
After earning her bachelor’s in Middle Eastern and Judaic studies at Emory University, Waranch spent one year in Donetsk, Ukraine, with Amitim — “friends” in Hebrew — an international service project started by the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta that aims to unite North American, Israeli and former Soviet Jewish communities.
“I really love connecting people, learning about them and creating community, which I also did in Ukraine,” Waranch said. “I had a lot of community work before that, even if not in direct fundraising. So this is just a different aspect, taking everything I’ve done over my career and being able to apply it to this really significant role.”
Despite a less-than-ideal start — her first day, Jan. 6, was a snow day that prevented her from coming to the office in person — Waranch has settled in.
“There’s not one person I’ve met [at the local Federation] … that hasn’t been really kind, warm and welcoming,” she said.
Waranch said she has much to look forward to in her new role: “I particularly enjoy meeting with people one-on-one and being in the community. The Washington community is so incredible.”
Her goal is to broaden the community that the Federation serves, engaging more and more people across the greater Washington area, “not just Maryland, and not just the pockets where there have been many incredible supporters.”
Waranch has lived in the Washington, D.C., area for about 30 years ever since she attended George Washington University for her master’s degree in 1997. She grew up in a small central Florida town in the vast minority as a Jewish person — “I was that one who was always asked to do the Chanukah presentation.” Waranch also experienced ignorant questions and antisemitism from her classmates.
Now, her two children attend public school in Montgomery County, making her role with the Federation that much more personal.
“Probably my biggest area is combating antisemitism locally and addressing it. And particularly given what I experienced as a child, what I’ve seen when I lived in Ukraine and what’s happened since Oct. 7 … it’s just a driving motivation for me all the time,” Waranch said.
She added that the need for the Federation has only increased with rates of antisemitism and global tension within the Jewish community and she is glad to make an impact during this time.
“In my lifetime … I have never felt the crisis and potential that’s needed for the Jewish community more than right now,” Waranch said. “Being able to connect members of the Jewish community all over the greater Washington area — Virginia, D.C., Maryland — has always been a challenge, and being able to do so at a time when the community is the most at need and making sure that it’s as strong as possible, to me, is critical.”
