ADL Regional Board Member Alan Frosh shares his passions for philanthropy, sports and the timeless mission of the Anti-Defamation League.
How did you first become involved in ADL? How are you involved now?
In 2013, Janet Bronitsky (former Executive Director of Temple Emanuel) recommended me for the Robert B. Sturm Leadership Fellows Program for young leaders and I was privileged to join this group for a year. From there, I joined the Development Committee in 2014 when my Fellowship ended and was nominated to the board the following year. This board year will conclude my second term and I am currently a Development Co-Chair, the Co-Founding Chair of the NextGen 360 Steering Committee and a member of the Board Membership and Civil Rights Committees. I also recently joined ADL Leadership 2020, which focuses on engaging young professionals across the country in ADL’s national leadership.
What do you do in your professional life?
I run Frosh Philanthropy Partners, an early-stage philanthropic consultancy specializing in start-up, fundraising and resource development. My work focuses on creating foundations and not-for-profit organizations, along with a recent expansion to include counseling social enterprise and venture philanthropy groups looking to expand in Denver.
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I had several fleeting dreams – paleontologist and first baseman for the Rockies were the most notable – but the most enduring was to be the first Jewish President of the United States. On my bedroom walls next to Robert Bakker drawings and posters of Lou Gehrig, Ken Griffey Jr. and Andres Galarraga, I always had an enormous picture of the White House, framed with portraits of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, John Kennedy and the Founders. You could say my love of and nerdy passion for politics started early.
Where were you born? From where do your ancestors hail?
I’m a sixth generation Denver native, with my dad’s ancestors coming across from Eastern Europe in the 1840s. My mom’s family came from Russia around the turn of the 20th century, immigrating through Ellis Island and settling in New York.
What’s your favorite holiday?
Rosh Hashanah. I enjoy the (second) opportunity to share time with family and friends, to welcome a new year, to reflect on challenges ahead and to celebrate objectives achieved.
What’s your favorite food?
Beet borscht, with a boiled potato. I credit my great-grandmother for starting me early and my sister for updating the recipe.
What are you reading?
Other than materials for business school (I am currently studying Managerial Finance), I love historical non-fiction. I just finished Edward Larson’s A Magnificent Catastrophe, about the 1800 Presidential election, and am about to start American Lion, Jon Meachem’s biography of Andrew Jackson.
What’s a special place you have visited?
When my family and I visited Israel in the spring of 1997, I had just celebrated my Bar Mitzvah and was eager to engage with my Jewish identity. The two weeks that followed were harrowing (with four bombings, including the tragic Dizengoff Square incident in Tel Aviv), enlightening and overwhelming. From Tiberius to Bethlehem, from the Golan Heights to Eilat, the country spanned such incredible historical, cultural and political spectrums. It truly was a magical trip and I am eager to return as soon as I can.
What’s one thing every person should know or experience?
Every person should know what it’s like to be the “other.” We so often find ourselves in places of comfort, unaware of the struggles through which others are fighting. Acknowledging and experiencing these hardships should dually offer perspective and engender empathy, both such critical prerequisites to cure the conditions that conceived this adversity.
What teacher or class stands out to you the most in your education and why?
The educator who made the greatest impact on me was my high school basketball coach, Todd Schayes. He encouraged me to pursue an opportunity as a student assistant coach, when I would not have otherwise made the varsity squad, allowing me to experience the meaningful and instructive dynamic of a competitive team. He taught more lessons about life and sportsmanship than I can count and, most importantly, modeled the way to live a life built on principle, service and family.
What are you passionate about personally? What can’t you stop talking about?
I love philanthropy – specifically, engaging new streams of giving in an efficient, direct manner. My parents taught me early that giving back is a critical responsibility of every member of a community, regardless of age, standing or material resources, and I have tried to build a career of facilitating and maximizing philanthropic impact throughout our city and state.
Where can we find you when you’re not working?
I spend a lot of time at coffee shops, both for business and pleasure, but whenever possible, I love to sit in the stands and watch one of our sports teams.
What would be impossible for you to give up?
Coffee – the insomniac’s saving grace.
If you had to teach something, what would you teach?
If not philanthropy, I think my most important lesson would be in bowtie-tying. I have instructed innumerable friends, family and colleagues and would like to think I have it down to a science after nearly two decades dressing like a 19th century Supreme Court justice.
Tell me a story that immediately pops into your mind that was a defining or significant moment for you.
As I prepared for my Bar Mitzvah, my family struggled to find an appropriate and significant way to honor my grandfather, for whom I was named but who passed nearly two decades before I was born. Serendipitously, my dad had a recording of my grandfather blessing the Torah at my uncle’s Bar Mitzvah, which occurred shortly before his tragic and untimely death, and proposed that we play it at my ceremony. Acknowledging the special meaning of recognizing Grandpa Al, but wanting to follow instruction regarding this ancient rite, Rabbi Foster consulted his colleagues and found an excellent compromise – while the voice of the dead cannot independently bless the Torah, if we chanted together, that would not offend the laws of our heritage. As a result, my Bar Mitzvah became an indelible memory in my family’s history and taught me genuinely special lessons about honoring our traditions, relying on our shared values, and how family and faith are an enduring legacy.
Why do you choose to make a financial investment in ADL?
I support ADL because it is the most authentic reflection of the duality of American Judaism through our timeless and thoughtful two-part mission, “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” First, as Jews, we look internally to protect our community from the virulent hatred directed at our beautiful faith traditions and towards Jews as individuals and as a collective, defined here as the “defamation of the Jewish people.” Second, we turn our attention to the broader society in which we live, work and serve, striving to “secure justice and fair treatment to all.” As an American Jew, I frequently feel a tension between these internal and external views, and the ADL’s mission serves as a harmonizing effort.
If you are a legacy donor, why have you chosen to invest in ADL in this way?
ADL’s mission is, unfortunately, a timeless one, requiring that we prepare future generations to continue its work. As a legacy donor, I think it’s critical to plan – hopefully, far, far ahead – for what happens to ADL after I can no longer contribute actively, so becoming a legacy donor was a natural and self-evident decision.
Complete this sentence: For me, ADL is …
. . .truly irreplaceable, innately valuable and powerfully influential.