Tracie Olcha

Melbourne, Australia

Tracie Olcha is CEO at the Australian Jewish Funders (AJF), the network of Jewish funders that inspire strategic philanthropy and strengthen community. Tracie works closely with AJF members, global and local philanthropic foundations and a multitude of organisations to support impactful giving. Since joining AJF in 2011, Tracie has spearheaded initiatives that raise awareness and address the big issues facing the Australian Jewish community, with a major focus on innovation in Jewish life and Jewish community building across the generations. She’s all about empowering and enabling people to create meaningful and relevant Jewish experiences for themselves and their peers and is the visionary behind LaunchPad – A Platform for Jewish Community Innovation. LaunchPad inspires Jewish change-makers, to connect, think, create and lead together with an alumni of some 350 change agents in Australia. In 2016 the LaunchPad model was adopted by South Africa and is continuing to successfully engage South African Jewry. In her capacity at AJF, together with leadership at the Pratt Foundation and Jewish Funders Network (USA and Israel), Tracie has been a major driving force in developing annual gatherings in Asia that stimulate awareness and inter-generational dialogue about Jewish peoplehood and the developing relationship between Israel and Asia. The gatherings which have taken place in Hong Kong 2014 and 2017, Singapore 2015 and Shanghai 2016 bring together a network of Jewish funders, lay leaders and entrepreneurs from Australia, the US and Israel, and connects them with Jewish communities of like-minded peers living in Asia. Utilising her unparalleled networks from around the world, Tracie dreams big and makes things happen. She co-founded Mamilla, a six-month program that aims to unlock and activate the power of Jewish entrepreneurs in Australia and connect them with the start up eco-system in Israel. Tracie has been a member of the Moishe House International Council since its inception in 2014. Previously, Tracie taught at Mount Scopus College in the Primary School as well as Program Manager for two years for both the school’s Annual Appeal and Year 11 Conference. Other roles included Education Manager at WIZO Victoria where she was responsible for a myriad of projects including fundraising, marketing, major events and conferences. For 8 years Tracie was the education consultant for the Herald Sun and News Limited, she also worked with the AFL developing curriculum and facilitating workshops and seminars for teachers.