Shuli Tropp says she became the executive director of the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington because she was late to shul one day.
“The story goes that I was walking in late to synagogue one Shabbat morning and I ran into a woman, Fran Kritz, and she said to me, ‘Shuli, I’m so glad I ran into you. Can you … ’ and listed like, 12,000 things that she wanted me to do — volunteer work — for the synagogue,” Tropp explained. “I said to her, ‘Fran, I love you. I love this place, I love this shul, but can you give me a few months. I’m leaving my full-time job in a few months and then I’ll have a lot more space to do some volunteer things and she said to me, ‘Awesome, great, sure. I’ll follow up over the summer.’”
The next day, Tropp said, Kritz reached back out to her and asked, “‘What are you doing next? Because we’d love to hire you to come work for Hebrew Free Loan,’ and I said, ‘OK, tell me more.’”
Now, Tropp leads Hebrew Free Loan, which provides members of the local Jewish community with interest-free loans. The agency helps dozens of individuals or families each year, sometimes to assist families dealing with challenges like unemployment or medical expenses, other times to help people build for the future through small businesses or a college education.
Tropp grew up in Baltimore attending Beth Tfiloh Congregation but moved to D.C. after attending University of Maryland and graduating with a degree in accounting. Originally, her plan was to work as an accountant, but during her last year in school, something changed.
“By midway through my first semester [of senior year], I’d accepted a job [in accounting] to start the following September, and I was good — my [job] offer letter was on the fridge,” Tropp said. “I was good to go, but my roommates were all applying for these really interesting jobs, and all of a sudden, I was just like, ‘What am I doing? I have this super boring, great paying job lined up, but is this really what I want to do when I grow up?’”
That question led her to take a trip over spring break to Odesa, Ukraine, through Hillel. Afterward, she had to report back to the trip’s donors about her experience. “It was the most fantastically interesting, mind-opening trip that I had ever been on,” she said.
“That experience of going and reporting back to the funders was really, really interesting to me, and it actually made me realize this is what’s interesting to me,” Tropp added. “There’s this funder conversation, this communication about grants and things like that. That’s actually what I could really see myself doing.”
Tropp did start her career in the accounting world, working six days a week. “You have your first job out of college; you do what you’re supposed to do. You show up at work every day,” she said.
“It did not excite me and this opportunity came up to take a job doing … fundraising at AIPAC, and I jumped on the opportunity,” Tropp explained. “My heart was much more passionate about the Jewish nonprofit world, the fundraising world, etc.”
In 2012, Tropp says she and her husband were expecting their second child and decided to make “the suburban plunge.” She took a position at the University of Maryland’s Hillel as director of institutional advancement and continued to work full-time until 2018. Then, Tropp stepped back from working full-time to spend more time with her family, including her four daughters.
Now living in Silver Spring and attending Kemp Mill Synagogue, Tropp says she works part-time at Hebrew Free Loan. “I oversee our loan process, I oversee our budget, our fundraising, strategic partnerships, everyday challenges, you name it, and I often am doing it in conjunction with my colleagues.”
“One of the things I love about my job is that no two days are the same,” she added.
