Isaac Luria

Senior Director of Place-Based Initiatives

Isaac Luria is an organizer, resource mobilizer, and movement builder committed to elevating the voices of spirit and moral courage working to advance racial, economic, and environmental justice across all religions, spiritual traditions, and communities. He currently leads NCF’s place-based initiatives. This includes our funding in the Israel-Palestine region and the U.S. South (at geographies soon to be determined).

Isaac joined NCF in 2017 to support grantmaking in the Voice, Creativity, and Culture: Religious Traditions and Contemplative Practices and Israel-Palestine portfolios. He advised donors and foundations on strategic philanthropy supporting progressive social movements advocating for racial justice and inclusive democracy, as well as Jewish social justice, spiritual community innovation, progressive organizing in Israel, countering white nationalism, and building effective cross-sectoral responses to antisemitism and its causes.

He is a Senior Fellow at the Nexus Project, which studies the role of antisemitism and Israel within American politics, at the Knight Program in Media and Religion of the USC Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism.

Isaac has held leadership roles at Auburn Seminary, a leadership development shop for the multifaith movements for justice, where he led programs that train thousands of faith leaders in media, storytelling, digital campaigning, social media and more. Isaac co-founded Groundswell, a digital platform where hundreds of thousands of people of faith participate in social action. Isaac was also on the founding team of J Street, the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans.

Isaac holds a bachelor’s degree in American studies from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Rabbi Sara Luria, and their three young children.