There can never be too much good in the world, and doing good is healing. 

That’s what I’ve learned in the weeks and months since Oct. 7, 2023. I’ve watched numerous organizations rush to Israel’s aid, including countless pop-up charities united by a heartfelt mission to help the country recover and heal. Together, these organizations are having an immense collective impact on the ground in Israel. When communities come together from across the ocean, even when they can’t physically be there to help in Israel, they’re all strengthened. It’s the action of coming together and working toward the same goal that impacts all the volunteers and organizations trying to help — no matter where they are in the world.

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I’ve seen this firsthand. For nearly three years, I’ve been working with American Friends of NATAL, an Israeli nonprofit that specializes in treatment and support for war- and terror-related trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and resiliency-building among civil society. I’ve witnessed the way volunteer work impacts personal healing. Doing something actionable and good is healing not only for the recipient but for the doer as well.

You’d think the immense need would naturally unite the philanthropic world — but sometimes, it doesn’t. Competing with each other won’t get us to the same end goal; it only reduces the amount of good we do in the world. Competition in philanthropy leads to decreased trust among nonprofits, donor fatigue, difficulties retaining donors, inefficient or redundant resource allocation and other problems that ultimately hurt the people we’re trying to help.

The antidote is transparency, especially where resource allocation is concerned. When organizations compete without knowing what others are doing, anxiety takes over. But when everyone is transparent, more good can be done. Large and small organizations alike can better understand where to allocate resources to complement each other’s work instead of working against each other.

Consider the origins of our work. The word “philanthropy” comes from ancient Greek, combining the word philos, or brotherly love, with anthropos, meaning human. With its roots stemming from early Greek thought, the most direct translation of the world is “love of humanity.” We express our love of humanity through efforts to help others and improve society. By its very definition, philanthropy excludes competition, and for good reason. When we combine our powers, we make a bigger impact.

Just because we address the same issues doesn’t mean we can’t work together. Take NATAL’s partnership with Hagal Sheli, for example. They offer therapeutic programs to trauma survivors and other demographics. Instead of competing, we’ve joined forces for our surfing therapeutic program for trauma survivors. Rather than creating separate programs that might have competed for resources, we created something far more powerful by joining forces. The program combines the expertise of each organization to deliver better results for the survivor. Our program for Nova Festival survivors and youth in Gaza has become one of our most successful collaborations.

Cross-collaboration with nonprofits focused on different “specialties” can create even more meaningful outcomes for the communities we serve. Our collaboration with Tikkun Olam Makers (TOM), for instance, began in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks. TOM specializes in work with people with disabilities. When they identified people who had suffered trauma during the attacks, they reached out to us and proposed a collaborative project to raise money for the weighted blankets they created for clients at NATAL. This collaboration allowed American Friends of NATAL to connect with TOM’s donors while TOM donors discovered American Friends of NATAL for the first time — creating a much larger pool of donors who could come together and make a bigger impact with doubled reach.

The key to maximizing impact? Sharing knowledge. I believe to have the greatest impact, we need to share knowledge with each other. We have a partnership with the Israel Association of Community Centers, an organization that knows how to manage communities and identify lay leaders within them. NATAL tapped into that knowledge to create a program where lay leaders could attend workshops focused on their own healing. We also built a task force from this group, enabling them to return to their communities and create ripple effects of healing on an even larger scale. This collaboration combines NATAL’s expertise in treating trauma and building resiliency with IACC’s skill in identifying lay leaders, creating together a meaningful journey of healing and hope.

Here’s the truth: Competition in philanthropy is a myth because scarcity doesn’t belong here. There is plenty of work — and money — to go around for everyone. As we say in Hebrew, every pot has a cover, and that’s exactly how it works with donors and supporters. There are endless possibilities to do good in the world alongside those who share your passion.

At the end of the day, a little competition can be healthy and keeps us sharp, but being competitive doesn’t mean cutting anyone down. That’s not the goal. The goal is to do as much good as possible by respecting what others are doing, remaining transparent and building each other up.

Maayan Aviv is the CEO and executive director of American Friends of NATAL.