When we founded JGO with 15 UCLA MBA students back in 2011, we dreamed – but never imagined – that one day we would become a movement of thousands of Jewish grad students and alumni all over the country.As we grew our initiative, one question continued to drive me crazy – is this thing built to last?I recently attended a dinner where one of the speakers was a prominent executive who served as a Jewish communal activist back in his 20s. He told us about a certain project he worked on that eventually evolved into a thriving organization. He felt so fulfilled when it succeeded, and even after handing over the reins and transitioning to the for-profit world, he stayed involved as a lay leader for years.Unfortunately, things changed. Because of bad leadership, funding constraints, and a myriad of other factors, the organization was forced to shut down. He was devastated.The truth is, if you look around the Jewish nonprofit landscape, you will see a lot of old, well-established institutions, a handful of more recent powerhouses with major backing, a few promising upstarts, and not much in between. It’s not easy to start a nonprofit from scratch, and far more projects have unfortunately failed then succeeded in the last 20 years.Of course that doesn’t mean we should stop trying, and I have a lot of respect for anyone who does something as crazy as start a new Jewish org.But for me, the idea of working on my project for a few years, seeing if it would work out and then doing something else if it didn’t, was never compelling. I wanted to create a Jewish organization for grad students, something that never existed before, that would last in perpetuity – just like the Jewish People itself.Now that JGO has reached adulthood, I am so proud that we, together with our students, alumni, and friends, have built an organization with a solid foundation, a sustainable present and a bright future.Solid, with a scalable grassroots program model that empowers hundreds of student volunteers. Sustainable, with our commitment to fiscal responsibility (like passing our recent independent audit with flying colors) and building a wide donor base. And with a bright future, as the need and demand for JGO’s programs has never been greater or more apparent.May JGO continue growing and thriving for decades to come! Mazel tov!