About Phyllis G. Margolius
Phyllis Ann Goldman Margolius cared deeply about strengthening the Jewish community in Washington, D.C., Israel, and around the world. Where others saw problems, she saw opportunities and solutions, pushing the needle forward and motivating those around her to do the same.
She was loved and cherished by many – not only for her meaningful and charitable work for organizations like the United Jewish Endowment Fund, the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Washington, and the Council of Jewish Federations, but also for her personable demeanor, creative approach to issues, and her determination to succeed even under seemingly impossible circumstances. Phyllis inspired her family, friends, colleagues, and the greater Jewish community at large to get involved, give back, and make a positive impact on our world… just like she did.
The Phyllis G. Margolius Impossible Dream Award
Throughout their lives, Phyllis and her husband of 45 years, Philip, received numerous awards for service to their community. Now, in honor of Phyllis’ legacy, The Phyllis Margolius Family Foundation, Inc. is paying it forward and honoring one local D.C.-area Jewish communal professional with the prestigious Phyllis G. Margolius Impossible Dream Award. This award carries a cash prize of $18,000.
The winner will be someone who has achieved a result against difficult odds – just like Phyllis did. They could have accomplished their goals through innovation, disruption, mediation, relationship-building, a partnership, a merger, a turn-around, and/or transformation.
Our winners:
2026: Rabbi Aderet Drucker, Executive Director and Community Rabbi of the Den Collective
2025: Jennifer Scher, FIDF
2024: Rabbi Ari Israel, University of Maryland Hillel
2023: Rachel Gildiner, Gather, Inc.
Who Is Eligible for the Award?
We accept nominations for any professional working in the Jewish communal world who is working on an impossible dream.
Please do not nominate yourself or a family member — surely someone else would be happy to nominate you.
The recipient requirements are as follows:
Work experience of at least 5 years in the Jewish community
and not more than 20 years*
Currently affiliated with a Jewish organization
Has expressed a commitment to remain in Jewish communal work
Professional resides in the DC area
The ideal recipient will also have the following qualifications:
An exceptional Jewish nonprofit professional
Has had a significant impact on the local, national or Israeli community
Generates outstanding outcomes, often overcoming difficult obstacles
A role model for others
Collaborator on teams
Dedicated to Jewish continuity
Any professional meeting the qualifications and working for a Jewish nonprofit in the D.C. area is eligible for this award. Organizations can be local, national or global, as long as there is a physical or remote D.C. area office and it is the professional’s place of residence.
*Please do not nominate a CEO of our larger Jewish organizations – while we know and are grateful for the dedicated service these leaders perform for our community, this award is meant to encourage and inspire professionals to continue their journey in the Jewish nonprofit world.*
How to Submit a Nomination
We offer an extremely streamlined nominations process. We know everyone in this space values their time, so we ask that nominators create compelling and brief cases for their nominees.
Complete nominations will consist of the following
Nominee CV
The Nominator should download and fill out the Nomination Form. In addition, the Dreamer Statement submitted by the Nominator should include a summary of the project or challenge undertaken, including the vision, obstacles that were overcome, how the person overcame them or is overcoming them, the impact of this undertaking and what success looks like. We seek to understand why this person above others is deserving of this level of recognition.
The Nominator should then send the nominee a Notice of Nomination, after which the nominee will provide their CV to the same email address.
Each part of the nomination process can be emailed separately to the Foundation (pgmff@phyllismargolius.org) with clearly marked nominee identification on the documents and in the subject line of the email.
Nominators or nominees might be contacted to provide additional information to the Foundation.
FINALISTS WILL BE ASKED TO SUBMIT A 5-MINUTE RECORDED INTERVIEW.
Nominations Were Open From November 15, 2025 – December 24, 2025.
Only those individuals with completed nomination kits (all parts of the process) by the deadline will be considered for the award
The 2026 Jewish Communal Professional recognition and Award Event will take place at the BenderJCC on May 7, 2026.
Our Selection Committee
The Impossible Dream Award winner will be selected by our esteemed Selection Committee.
Ted Farber
Josh Maxey
Ted Farber
For over 40 years, Ted Farber helped organizations achieve lasting success through transformational change and organizational management. His extensive career included 17 years as the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and 20 as the President of TBF Consulting. Ted holds certificates in negotiations and executive education from Harvard University and Vanderbilt University, respectively as well as a Masters of Social Work from New York University.
In retirement, Ted lives in Potomac, MD with his wife, Ronni where they are within 10 minutes of their children and grandchildren.
Josh Maxey
Joshua Maxey is the Executive Director of Bet Mishpachah, DC’s LGBTQ+ Synagogue. Building communities of inclusivity and belonging is Josh’s passion. Josh is a member of Washington Hebrew Congregation where he sits on the SEA Change Racial Equity Committee, Co-Chair of the Internal Audit Committee, co-leader of the Jews of Color Cohort, and a member of the Board of Directors. Josh is also a member of the Board of Directors for the National Bell Festival, an organization that works to restore bells and towers throughout the Washington, DC area, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, and Franciscan Mission Service, a lay catholic organization that sends adults overseas to serve in marginalized communities.
Robert Satloff
Robert Satloff has served since 1993 as the executive director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, our nation’s foremost research institution focused on Middle East politics and US regional policy. An expert on Arab and Islamic politics as well as U.S. Middle East policy, his books include Among the Righteous: Lost Stories of the Holocaust’s Long Reach into Arab Lands, the best-selling account of Arab “heroes” and “villains” of the Holocaust that was made into a PBS documentary broadcast nationwide. In addition, Dr. Satloff is the creator and host of Dakhil Washington (“Inside Washington”), a news and interview program that has appeared weekly since 2005 on al-Hurra, the U.S. government-supported Arabic satellite television channel that beams throughout the Middle East. In that capacity, he is the only non-Arab to host a program on an Arab satellite channel.
Susan Turnbull
Susan Turnbull of Bethesda, Maryland has dedicated close to 40 years to community activism at the local and national level through both political and philanthropic efforts. Susan currently serves as a Board Member of Integrity First for America which was instrumental in the lawsuit against the conspirators of the Charlottesville disturbances in 2017. Previously, Susan served two terms as Chair of Jewish Women International, Chaired the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, was a member of the executive committee of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, was a board member of Hillel International and was a long-time board member of the Jewish Social Service Agency and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Washington.
In the political world Susan represented Maryland at the Democratic National Committee for 19 years and during that time served as DNC Vice Chair, Chair of the DNC Women’s Leadership Forum and DNC Women’s Caucus and Chair of the Maryland Democratic Party. In 2011, Susan co-founded Emerge Maryland an organization dedicated to training Democratic women to run for office. She was the 2018 Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor of Maryland.
Simone Friedman
Simone Friedman is the Founder and Chair of the Partnership for Patient Advocacy. She also manages grantmaking across the foundations and other charitable giving programs under the EJF Philanthropies umbrella and serves on the advisory board for the Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy.
We look forward to reviewing your submissions and celebrating this outstanding professional!
Questions? Contact The Phyllis Margolius Family Foundation, Inc. at
Phyllis G. Margolius Impossible Dream Award Announcement 2026
Rabbi Aderet Drucker Named Recipient of 2026 Phyllis G. Margolius Impossible Dream Award
Washington, DC, April 15, 2026 — The Phyllis Margolius Family Foundation is excited to announce that Rabbi Aderet Drucker has been named as the recipient of the 2026 Phyllis G. Margolius Impossible Dream Award. Rabbi Drucker, the Executive Director and Community Rabbi of the Den Collective, was selected by the committee in recognition of her achievements in building intentional Jewish community for adults 20s-40s in Greater Washington.
Rabbi Drucker is the fourth recipient of the Phyllis G. Margolius Impossible Dream Award, given annually to a Jewish communal professional who echoes the character, inspiration, and determination of its namesake, Phyllis Ann Goldman Margolius. Phyllis cared deeply about strengthening the Jewish community in Washington, DC, Israel, and around the world. Where others saw problems, she saw opportunities and solutions, pushing the needle forward and motivating those around her to do the same.
As part of the award, Rabbi Drucker will receive an $18,000 cash prize for her dedication to fostering intentional spaces of belonging and growing meaningful Jewish connections.
“I am deeply honored to receive the Phyllis G. Margolius Impossible Dream Award,” said Rabbi Aderet Drucker. “Phyllis’s legacy of creativity, determination, and belief in what is possible, even in the face of challenge, continues to inspire me. In a time marked by profound loneliness and disconnection in our world, our work at the Den Collective is rooted in cultivating intimate spaces where deep transformation is possible, fostering a community of true belonging, rich Jewish learning and exploration, meaningful relationships with rabbis who walk alongside people with care and guidance, and opportunities for leadership empowerment and development.”
Rabbi Drucker has served as the Executive Director & Community Rabbi of the Den Collective for eight years, helping guide the organization into its milestone 10th year while expanding its reach, programs, and infrastructure into a nationally recognized model of intentional Jewish community for adults in their 20s, 30s, and 40s throughout the Greater Washington area, blending community organizing, pastoral care, and mindfulness to create spaces grounded in Jewish study, leadership development, and meaningful connection.
Prior to joining the Den Collective, Rabbi Drucker was a campus rabbi at Maryland Hillel, where she co-founded the University of Maryland’s first Interfaith Student Fellowship in partnership with a minister and an imam, creating a space that brought Muslim, Christian, and Jewish students together for transformative relationship-building.
She is also a certified Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher through Or HaLev and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, a Global Justice Fellow with American Jewish World Service, and was selected for the inaugural cohort of JCADA’s Ambassador Program, dedicated to creating safe spaces for survivors of intimate partner violence.
“What makes Aderet an impossible dreamer is her approach,” said Diane Schilit and Dani Schneider. “Aderet is a visionary leader whose work blends Jewish wisdom, relational organizing, pastoral care, and mindfulness to create transformative community for adults in their 20s–40s. She is shaping a transformative future for Jewish Washington, innovating from the ground up with a person-centered approach, embedding Jewish learning, empowering members to lead in their homes and communities, and extending the Den’s impact beyond its walls.
The Jewish Community Foundation and The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington have been invaluable partners in the fulfillment of this award.
Phyllis devoted many hours in the work of Federation, and it is one of the many organizations in which she observed the depth of devotion and talent that Jewish professionals bring to our community.
Rabbi Drucker will receive her award at the Impossible Dream Award Celebration to honor Jewish communal professionals on Thursday, May 7, 2026 in Rockville, Maryland. The event is co-sponsored by the Phyllis Margolius Family Foundation, the Jewish Community Foundation of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, and the BenderJCC.