In a shift in philanthropic giving in the U.S., “Friends of” organizations are outpacing Jewish communal institutions as the main givers to Israeli nonprofits, according to a new study out of New York University and Tel Aviv University.

“We see support for Israel from U.S.-based organizations increasing. What’s changing is the distribution and the types of organizations that are sending money to Israel,” Jamie Levine Daniel, the NYU-based researcher, told eJewishPhilanthropy. 

The joint study based its findings on donations made from 2015 to 2021, meaning it did not include those made following the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks, when there appeared to be a rise in giving to large communal funds, with Jewish Federations of North America raising nearly $900 million with its Israel Emergency Fund.

But in general, across the field, donors are becoming more involved and interested in specific organizations and causes, according to Levine Daniel. As a result, there has been a departure from the giving style seen in decades prior, where the bulk of giving to Israel was funneled through the federation system and other centralized organizations. Though funding remains centralized, with 161 organizations — 7% of the observed donor pool — accounting for over 80% of donations, “Friends of” organizations are outpacing others in the field in terms of growth, according to Levine Daniel.  

“That’s a story of philanthropy writ large. We’re seeing a lot more donor-advised funds and donor control in deciding when and where money is going to be given out,” said Levine Daniel. “Even among individual donors people are saying, ‘I want to give to this specific group. I don’t want to just give to a black box. I want to have more control and more say, ultimately, in where my money is going.’” 

In 2015, “Friends of” organizations accounted for $824 million — then 43% of total U.S. giving to Israeli nonprofits. In 2021, “Friends of” organizations contributed over $1.2 billion — 45% of the total. In contrast, Jewish Communal Institutions (JCI) made up 37% of total giving in 2015, and in 2021, decreased to 29%, with a total contribution of $772 million, an increase of $71 million over five years. 

“The support is consistent. Even among Jewish communal institutions, support is also increasing. It’s just not increasing at the same rate as the other types of organizations,” said Levine Daniel.

For years, U.S. philanthropic giving has been a leading source of funding for Israeli nonprofits. U.S. donors contributed up to three-quarters of international philanthropic funding and 45% of overall funding for the Israeli nonprofit sector in 2021, the most recent year analyzed. That is a pattern that is expected to continue as the researchers analyze the next set of data — which includes 2023, and the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7. 

The study analyzed the giving patterns of around 1,200 U.S. NGOs to Israeli nonprofits between 2015 and 2021. Through publicly accessible IRS 990 forms, the researchers found that giving to the Israeli nonprofit sector has remained stable, decreasing only 1% in 2020 as domestic needs increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and increasing year-to-year overall. In 2021, over $2.65 billion was donated to Israel’s nonprofit sector by American donors. 

“We saw a little bit of a dip, and it still wasn’t even as much as we thought. And then we pretty much saw recovery in 2021,” Levine Daniel said.