Opinion

GIVE LOCALLY, QUICKLY AND DIFFERENTLY

We’ve supported over 180 Israeli grassroots projects since 10/7. Here’s what we’ve learned.

In the wake of the trauma of Oct. 7, countless Israelis felt compelled to take action to support their communities in a way that they never had before. They put their careers aside to launch new volunteer-based charitable efforts and organizations to address critical needs facing their neighbors and fellow countrymen. Despite seemingly insurmountable differences, Israelis of all stripes — religious and secular, liberal and conservative, Jewish and Arab — have come together over the past year to launch inspiring, impactful social initiatives that help those whose lives have been upended in various ways by the war. They have taken responsibility for one another.

As American Jews heartbroken by the Hamas attacks and witnessing ordinary Israelis spring into action in response to the crisis, we felt an urgent need to take action ourselves — by making sure to get funds quickly into the hands of those who knew their communities’ needs best.

That’s what inspired us and our partners at the Shaharit Institute to launch the Daybreak Fund. In the year since Oct. 7, Daybreak has provided emergency micro grants to 185 Israeli grassroots projects, the vast majority of which did not exist before the war began. These grantees represent the full geographic and demographic range of the country and address an astonishing range of needs: from refreshment stations for soldiers to support for widows in the Druze community; from birthday cakes for children of families displaced by the conflict to mental health services for survivors of the Nova festival attack. 

A few weeks ago, we traveled to Israel to meet with many of these incredible grantees in person. We toured their communities and the sites of their work, seeing how they’re making a difference in the field. We joined together with them at a grantees summit to hear directly from them about their work, the challenges they have faced, the transformations and evolutions in Israeli society since Oct. 7, and how collaboration with Daybreak has helped them to take action that otherwise likely could not have been possible. 

From what we saw and heard in Israel during this visit and what we’ve witnessed over the past year, we’ve taken away three key lessons about how philanthropists can make an impact in times of unprecedented struggle and adversity: give locally, give quickly and give differently.

Give locally

At a time of war, targeted microgrants can make a difference, even when relatively small in size. When needs are acute in times of crisis, it may seem that a massive top-down approach, based on governmental action and huge investments into major NGOs, is the only approach; but our experiences with Daybreak have shown us that the best experts on how to support a community in crisis are the individuals who live in that community and who start doing the work that is needed before they ever have any funding.

For example, in Tiberias, Yossi Ben Chamo, a teacher by training, woke up the morning of Oct. 8 and began to work with evacuees coming from the south. He recruited dozens of volunteers from the community, worked in every hotel that the evacuees were located, and provided crucial services including makeshift schooling, and access to food, laundry and other urgent needs. All this, before anyone in the city or elsewhere, identified the needs and supported his work.

Give quickly

The infrastructure of large philanthropies serves an important purpose when crafting long-term grantmaking strategies for systemic change over long periods, but what Israel faced over the last year was a dramatically sudden and unprecedented crisis: Tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes; hundreds taken hostage; reservists leaving their families and businesses to deploy to a combat zone for an extended period; and many families mourning their loved ones or awaiting their uncertain fate. 

In those first days of the war, when shelters in the south were considered critical, Itai Berman, an electrician by training, went from town to town making sure that the electricity was working, that the locks to shelters were secure and that the air circulation system was functioning properly. Eventually, his team of volunteers made checks of over 1,000 shelters. Daybreak provided funds to Bermani’s team as he played a central role in rebuilding his community’s sense of security. 

When the needs are so urgent, varied and unexpected, new community service leaders cannot afford to wait until the next quarterly board meeting for targeted funding support. Moving quickly, nimbly and decisively to get funds into the hands of those most primed to use them is critical. 

Give differently

Israeli society is filled with individuals who’ve dedicated their lives to community service. Many have established robust organizations that have met critical needs for decades, and post-Oct. 7 we’ve also seen new leaders emerge who are identifying and filling voids and gaps. In many cases, they represent demographic and geographic groups that have not always received the attention and support that they deserve. 

One of the central fault lines in Israeli society is the lack of Haredi participation in army service at a time when so many are risking their lives to protect the country. DAYBREAK provided support to an expanding program focused on recruiting Haredim to the army, taking advantage of a growing trend of young Haredi men who feel compelled to do their share to contribute to the war effort. Our approach to that contentious issue met the moment in Israeli society. Beyond army recruitment, we encourage fellow funders to heed Daybreak’s example, and adapt to meet immediate needs, just as our grantees have.

As they adapt to the unprecedented challenges in front of them, so too we can put aside preconceived notions about the profile of a typical grantee, the due diligence required, the track record expected and the other, at times, limiting frameworks that can risk holding us back from meeting the moment, and help empower an exciting, impassioned and diverse new generation of leaders.

During our recent visit, we saw before us the breadth of challenges facing the Israeli people in a post-Oct. 7 world. Hearing horrific stories of death, destruction, displacement and grief left us distraught; but the example set by the dozens of grantees we met with also filled us with inspiration and hope. Their individual projects and backgrounds differ, but they share common traits: resilience, innovation and perseverance in the face of uncertainty.

As we mark one year since the pain and horror of Oct. 7 began, let’s recommit to empowering our Israeli friends and family to recover from the ongoing fallout of war and to rebuild their families, communities and country.

Kim and Alan Hartman are New York-based philanthropists and the founders of the Fund for New Leadership. In the weeks following Oct. 7, they launched the Daybreak Fund to provide critical funding support for projects restoring Israel’s social resilience.