Editor’s Note: Genesis is an invitation-only investment and social club that bridges American enterprise and Israeli innovation. This letter explores how the organization brings business and philanthropy together, not as two separate activities, but as one.
Most business communities keep their investment activity and their charitable work in separate rooms. There is the deal flow, and then, separately, there is the annual fundraiser. Genesis does not operate that way. From the beginning, the organization was built on a straightforward idea: the same people, the same relationships, and the same energy that drive investment decisions should also drive lasting meaningful impact. Business and humanity in the same room, on the same agenda, led by the same people.
That is not just a philosophy. It is a practice that plays out vividly at the annual Genesis Fundraising Gala, where the community comes together to raise funds for soldiers and victims of war. The event is not a formality or a side project. It is central to what Genesis is. The same members who spend their weeks evaluating deal flow and sitting across from high-potential founders spend that evening directing real resources toward people affected by conflict. There is no version of Genesis where the philanthropy is optional or ornamental. It is part of the membership, and the people who join understand that from the start.
The organization’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Genesis Friends for Life, also formalizes that commitment. FFL channels the collective influence, resources, and relationships of the membership toward causes that reflect what the community cares about most: leadership, service, innovation, and a deep connection to Israel.
That same principle shapes how Genesis approaches investing. The Star of Genesis platform regularly surfaces companies that are not just commercially promising but are solving problems that matter. A recent session featured a publicly traded biotechnology company developing the first oral drug clinically shown to reduce suicidal ideation, targeting a massive gap in psychiatric care for treatment-resistant depression and PTSD. Another session introduced a pharmaceutical compounding facility positioned in a GLP-1 market heading toward $200 billion by 2030, building infrastructure to make critical medications more accessible at scale. These are companies where the investment case and the human case point in the same direction. Genesis gravitates toward that overlap, and so do its members.
It also helps to understand who those members are. Jon Berger, recognized by Genesis specifically for his philanthropy and support of Israel. Cookie Falack, channeling decades of entrepreneurial experience into backing Israeli technologies that improve lives. Josh Spoont, building connections around opportunity, innovation, and causes that matter. Bruce Glasser, using a career’s worth of leadership to mentor the next generation of builders. These are people who have already succeeded financially and are now focused on making sure their time, capital, and relationships carry weight beyond a return.
That shift is not unique to Genesis: the most important driver of success among affluent investors today is the ability to create happiness for others, a number that surged from 18% to 63% consensus in a single year. But Genesis is one of the few communities actually built around that shift.
The chapters in Miami and in New York and New Jersey each carry that same DNA. The events, from holiday gatherings to intimate dinners to Star of Genesis investment meetings, are not networking opportunities in the traditional sense. They are designed to build genuine trust between people who operate at a high level, so that when the moment comes to act, whether on an investment or a cause, the community can move together, quickly, with real conviction behind it.
That is what makes Genesis different from most organizations in this space. It is not a club that also does charity, or a fund that also hosts events. It is a community where those things were never separate to begin with. For leaders who want their business life and their sense of purpose to exist in the same room, Genesis is the room.
Genesis is an invitation-only investment and social club with chapters in Miami and New York/New Jersey. For Israeli startups interested in the U.S. market, contact info@genesisbh.net.