Laughter rippled through the crowd easily and often at Monday’s Jewish Women’s Archive gala, called “So Laugh A Little: An Evening of Jewish Women’s Comedy.” More than 650 guests gathered at the Copacabana for a lineup of female entertainers.

“I’m black and Jewish, which means that I’m proud and guilty,” said actress Rain Pryor, the daughter of Richard Pryor. Lesbian comedienne Judy Gold joked, “I do feel bad for my kids because they have two Jewish mothers.” The audience roared at clips of Gilda Radner and Fanny Brice performances, part of a soon-to-be-released documentary by Joan Micklin Silver, “Only Faster.”

But the woman who received the most applause was the event’s honoree, the founding chairwoman of the Jewish Women’s Archive, philanthropist Barbara Dobkin. Mrs. Dobkin helped start the organization almost 10 years ago. Its mission is to collect and disseminate information on Jewish women artists, activists, and academics.

“I have to tell you, I was never a student of history. But now I’m fascinated by it, and that’s because of the way the archive presents it,” Mrs. Dobkin said.

In addition to her role at the archive, Mrs. Dobkin is the founder of Ma’yan, a Jewish women’s group based at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, and the founding chairman of the Hadassah Foundation. She serves on the boards of the White House Project, Lilith Magazine, and the Women Donors Network.

“Part of it is that I’m not afraid, I just go out there and do it. I’m not risk averse,” Mrs. Dobkin said. And why isn’t she afraid? “I’m not sure why. Part of it I think is the luxury of having a lot of support with my financial resources and a family that’s really supportive around this stuff.”

But there must be a limit to her extraordinary generosity if she wants to leave her daughter Rachel, an artist living in Maine, an inheritance. “I promised my husband I wouldn’t start anything new,” Mrs. Dobkin said.

Guests carried away two mementos of the event: pink feather boas and masks depicting Mrs. Dobkin. The masks bore one of her favorite sayings: “The glass isn’t half empty or half full. It’s a glass. So get to work!”

Many have heeded Mrs. Dobkin’s command. As the archive’s current chairwoman, Nicki Newman Tanner, announced, more than $11 million has been raised in the quiet phase of a $15 million campaign. The organization intends to “stop behaving like a start-up and really move into the mainstream, by institutionalizing the work we’re doing, making it more strategic and more systematic,” the organization’s executive director, Gail Twersky Reimer, said.

Plans include major enhancement of the organization’s Web site. “We think what we have is a model of how ethnic groups can talk about their women’s pasts, “Ms. Reimer said.

Coming soon to the Web site (www.jwa.org) is an exhibit on Jewish women in the feminist revolution, beginning in the 1970s, curated by Judith Rosenbaum.