The Genesis Prize Foundation (GPF) and its partner, Israeli philanthropist Morris Kahn, have announced the start of a $1 million grants competition aimed at supporting Israeli nonprofit organizations working to advance women’s equality. The competition will be administered by Matan-United Way Israel and is open to Israeli NGOs working in this field. GPF will announce the winners of the competition in September 2018, prior to Rosh Hashanah.

“Advancing women’s equality in all aspects of human endeavor” was Genesis Prize’s chosen philanthropic theme for 2018 when it selected Natalie Portman as its 2018 Laureate,” said Sana Britavsky, Deputy CEO of The Genesis Prize Foundation. “While Ms. Portman has declined to attend the Genesis Prize ceremony in Jerusalem, our foundation is committed more than ever to advancing the cause of women’s equality – a matter of great social importance globally as well as here in Israel.”

GPF has identified the following four areas as priorities for its grant-making in Israel:

• Socio-Economic Participation and Opportunity, in particular for women from Israel’s geographic and social periphery. This area was recognized in the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap as a topic with vast discrepancies between women and men in Israel;
• Creating Gender Equality, particularly around marriage and divorce, and supporting women who are contending with the exclusive jurisdiction of halacha. Women’s inequality in this context has been one of the most acute topics on the agenda for Israeli women, with a disparate and extensive impact on Orthodox women.
• The Rights and Status of Women from Minority Groups: Arab, Druze, Bedouin and Haredi women, women in the LGBT community, new immigrants, and those living on the social periphery all suffer compounded discrimination in almost all areas of life: education, family, political participation and economic security.
• Empowering Women to Resist Violence: While violence has been a pervasive problem for decades, only in the recent past have an increasing number of Israeli women found the strength to speak up, tell their stories of sexual harassment and assault and take action.

Israeli nonprofit organizations interested in applying for grants should click here for more information.

GPF will conduct a matching grants competition in North America for $1-2 million in grants, with the total depending on the amount of matching funds attracted by applicants. The North American competition also will be conducted in partnership with Morris Kahn, and will be administered by Jewish Funders Network. Details about the North American competition will be announced in June. Proposals will be reviewed during the course of the summer and grantees will be announced in the fall of 2018.