New global giving movement showcases diversity of Israeli NGOs
“If you look at our cohort, you will see nonprofits from all sectors of Israeli society — from women’s health, to Ethiopian immigrants, to Israel advocacy."
By MAAYAN HOFFMAN'I am Israel' (photo credit: ISRAEL365)
The Heart of Israel, a program run by the Binyamin Fund, is trying to raise funds to bring the last Jews of Ethiopia back to Israel. Leket is an Israeli charity that distributes surplus food to the needy. What are the two organizations doing raising money together?The answer: I am Israel.Last month, CauseMatch and Israel365 partnered to launch what they are calling the “I am Israel” campaign, a collective fundraising page that pulls together organizations from across the Israeli spectrum – secular, religious, Christian, Jewish, right and left.“I Am Israel is about building a stronger and more vibrant Israel through unity and diversity,” said Joseph Bornstein, CEO and founder of CauseMatch. “If you look at our cohort, you will see nonprofits from all sectors of Israeli society — from women’s health, to Ethiopian immigrants, to Israel advocacy. This diversity and unity, this mosaic of passions and shared idealism, is what makes Israel such an incredible place.”CauseMatch ran a similar campaign in 2016. Then, 18 nonprofits participated, raising $2 million for Israeli charities from more than 7,000 donors. This year, CauseMatch opened the opportunity to donate to Christian supporters by partnering with Israel365.Bornstein said Israel365 is committed to running targeted Facebook advertising and email solicitations to its digital network of millions of Christian Zionists. Shlomo Schreibman, vice president of business development for Israel365, said his organization sees I am Israel as a chance to reach younger Evangelical Christians who are giving online.“I am Israel will give Christian millennials a window into the level of diversity that exists in the Jewish state,” said Schreibman.As part of this year’s efforts, CauseMatch is beta-testing a customized donation-tracking dashboard. A small group of select donors were given access to the dashboard and can now log-in, track their donations, explore giving history, and have the CauseMatch platform’s AI automatically recommend new causes based-on their profile.“The system’s AI also analyzes donor’s behavior and giving patterns to provide proactive recommendations to nonprofits about how they can better communicate their impact and inspire their donor base,” he explained.If these donors – and the NGOs – find the system useful, CauseMatch plans to develop it for the masses.
“There is strength in numbers,” said Paul Leiba, director of development at Leket Israel. “It is a positive thing when organizations work together for a range of causes in Israel.”Added Bornstein, “When people donate to an I Am Israel campaign, they aren’t just supporting a specific nonprofit they are passionate about, they are contributing to a global movement for Israel.”
