Israeli donation website IsraelGives.org announced its public launch (Nov 11), after successfully collecting over $400,000 in donations for Israeli non-profits since it began operation. In enabling internet donations to any of Israel’s 26,000 registered non-profits, IsraelGives has become Israel’s largest online fundraising portal, the first to connect all of Israel’s third sector with supporters and funders around the world.

Along with its identical Hebrew counterpart IsraelToremet.org, IsraelGives allows users both in Israel and around the world to learn about and donate to any of Israel’s 26,000 registered non-profit organizations. IsraelGives enables organizations to gain financial independence from large donors by opening access to online micro-donations from regular Israelis and supporters of Israel around the world. The site removes the barriers to internet fundraising facing non-profits as it is free to join, completely bilingual, and allows organizations to collect tax-exempt donations in both Israeli shekels and US dollars.

IsraelGives seeks to democratize Israeli philanthropy, and in doing so re-define the philanthropic relationship between Israel and the world by providing a variety of ways for supporters of Israel to connect and interact directly with organizations working on causes they care most about. The site encourages transparency amongst non-profits, who are ranked higher as they submit more information about themselves, and can use the site to send regular updates to their supporters. Through the site, non-profits create a profile where they can share information, projects and activities, official documents, photos, videos and news, and post volunteering opportunities. The site enables donors to purchase gift-certificates redeemable as donations to any non-profit organization in Israel, create “charity registries,” for events and post their donating activity on Facebook and Twitter.