Your Daily Phil: Giving to Israel increasingly decentralized — study
Good Monday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on a new study about American charitable giving to Israeli nonprofits. We wrap up last week’s Jewish Funders Network conference and examine the State Department’s cuts to Israeli programs. We feature an opinion piece by Naama Klar and Tracy Frydberg about the relaunch of the Peoplehood Coalition and the significance of getting Israelis to buy into the concept of Jewish peoplehood; one by Alina Shkolnikov Shvartsman, Bar Pereg and Ella Drory about a new report from PollyLabs with ideas for Israel’s post-Oct. 7 recovery; and one by Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg with lessons from a memorable Shabbat among Uganda’s Jewish community. Also in this newsletter: Amit Soussana, Danny Ivri and Kyle Blank.
What We’re Watching
The Paley Center for Media in New York is hosting a discussion tonight on how social media can be used to fight antisemitism. Speakers on the panel, moderated by CNN’s Bianna Golodryga, include ATTN: founder Matthew Segal; author and content creator Hen Mazzig; activist Hannah Bronfman; and Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation Executive Director Maria Zalewska.
What You Should Know
In a shift in philanthropic giving in the United States, “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, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim.
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.
MUSIC CITY MEETUP
From Israel reconstruction to video games, JFN offers a range of topics but no clear road map through current crises
Jewish day schools and Syria’s new government and allyship and democratic institutions and rebuilding northern Israel and gender equity and intergenerational family dynamics and rescuing hostages and pluralism and combating antisemitism and video games and importance of metrics — last week’s Jewish Funders Network conference offered the roughly 700 attendees a smorgasbord of topics for discussion and consideration, along with country music and the hoots and hollers of bachelorettes whizzing by on pedal-powered party bikes, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports from the gathering. The plethora of subjects on tap at this year’s convention stood in contrast to last year’s far more focused event in Tel Aviv, which was held some six months after the Oct. 7 terror attacks and as the outpouring of antisemitism that emerged in its wake was reaching its peak.
Time to act, but how?: The attendees were individual funders and representatives of family foundations and large grantmakers. Most came from the United States, along with roughly 100 from Israel and a smaller number from seven other countries. The annual JFN conference offered those attendees the opportunity to hear from their peers and the small number of outside speakers who addressed the plenary sessions and workshops. Perhaps more importantly, it serves as a venue for informal conversations and discussions among funders and organizations. As at last year’s gathering, there remained an understanding that the current moment demanded more of Jewish philanthropists, and Jewish people in general, amid rising, potentially existential challenges. Yet how philanthropy must involve was far less clear than it was at the 2024 conference, when the needs in Israel and in Jewish communities around the world were abundantly apparent.
MONEY MATTERS
State Department foreign aid cuts slashed $13 million in Israel grants
The Trump administration’s widespread cuts to programs at the State Department slashed $13 million in grants for Israeli institutions, mostly targeting agricultural, scientific and medical research programs, according to a new spreadsheet showing canceled State Department programs shared with Congress and first reported by Politico last week, reports Marc Rod for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
About the grants: The cuts, covering nearly 40 separate grants, mostly impacted Israeli universities and research institutions. A large majority of the grants were focused on agricultural research projects such as crop resilience and water issues. Others were focused on subjects like desalination, wastewater treatment and health-care issues such as combating bird flu. While the spreadsheet does not make clear which accounts funded the research in question, the U.S. has long backed cooperative research programs between American and Israeli institutions under the Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD), Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) program and the Binational Science Foundation (BSF), decades-old programs with strong bipartisan support.
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
ISRAEL-DIASPORA RELATIONS
Meeting canceled between Jewish leaders and Irish prime minister in Washington
“Peoplehood makes the singular point that to be a Jew is to be a part of a global Jewish nation. It’s not just a religion, culture or nationality. In Israel, it’s a radical idea and the work of our time,” write Peoplehood Coalition founder Naama Klar, director of the Koret International School for Jewish Peoplehood at Anu: Museum of the Jewish People, and coalition member Tracy Frydberg, director of the Tisch Center for Jewish Dialogue at Anu, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Why it matters: “Returning Israelis to the Jewish narrative through the lens of peoplehood offers Israeli society a pathway by which to mend the tears between our tribes. It creates the rationale and subsequent pathway to build a relationship between Israelis and global Jewry. Yet, Israelis aren’t familiar enough with peoplehood — amiyut — to have an opinion on it. This is due to the deep foundational nature of Israeli ‘negation of the Diaspora,’ the belief that Jewish life outside of Israel is far inferior, if not wrong. This ideology played a vital historical role in the establishment of the State of Israel and its society. Today, it damages Israeli-Jewish identity and the bond between Israelis and world Jewry. It jeopardizes the realization of our Zionist destiny as an integral part of the Jewish people. The Peoplehood Coalition, a diverse network of over 600 Israelis, is tackling this.”
THE DAY AFTER
‘Rebuilding better’: A provocation and a guide to building the Israel we envision — not recreating what was
“No one sets out to rebuild poorly. And yet, that’s exactly where we may be headed,” write Alina Shkolnikov Shvartsman, Bar Pereg and Ella Drory of PollyLabs in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “As we approach the 18-month mark since Oct. 7, 2023, we observe a fragmented recovery landscape in Israel.”
Next steps: “Through our work across Israel’s social impact sector, global crisis recovery and philanthropy, we’ve witnessed both inspiring innovation and a troubling return to pre-crisis patterns. The gravitational pull toward the familiar grows stronger by the day, threatening to close the narrow window for meaningful transformation. In our previous op-ed for eJewishPhilanthropy (“Beyond the ‘rebuilding better’ slogan: Israel’s window for transformative change is closing,” Oct. 15, 2024) we wrote about that window: the liminal space that emerges when things break. In that space, old norms are temporarily suspended and change becomes possible. We also warned that the window is closing — and that missing this opportunity would be a loss not only for Israel but for the broader region. That warning still holds. But this time, we offer a path forward. Our new report, ‘Rebuilding Better: Beyond the Slogan,’ is both a provocation and a guide — calling on everyone involved in recovery to think more ambitiously about what ‘better’ really requires, and offering practical tools to make it real.”
JEWISH LIFE
Finding nourishment for the body and soul with the Jews of Uganda
“Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah taught: ‘If there is no flour, there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no flour’ (Pirkei Avot 3:17). This aphorism is sometimes taught in relation to philanthropy: Learning cannot flourish without material support — and that’s true. But last summer, my appreciation for the relationship between physical and spiritual nourishment was enriched in the most unlikely of places,” writes Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg, senior rabbi of Beth Am Synagogue in Baltimore, and a member of the national mentor team of the Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI), in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Food and Torah: “Last June, my family and I spent several days with a small but vibrant Jewish community in Eastern Uganda. The Abayudaya (literally ‘the Jews of Uganda’) number approximately 2,000 and boast 11 synagogues… I’ve known about this community for years, having become friends with their spiritual leader, Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, during our time at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies… What I didn’t — couldn’t — understand until we spent the first of two Shabbatot in Nabugoya Village with the Abayudaya was just how much food and Torah learning are interrelated.”
Worthy Reads
Shine Our Light Outward: In the Jewish News, Samuel Gorman shares his perspective on the role of the Jewish people in the world following his participation in the Chief Rabbi’s Ben Azzai Programme, which took him and 11 other Jewish students from across the U.K. to Rwanda to witness the work of World Jewish Relief and its local partners. “At the very beginning of the Torah, G-d relates to us how all of mankind was created b’tzelem Elokim (in the godly image) (Genesis 1:27). Moreover, the great mystics of our faith teach us all humans contain a soul. That soul, they teach, is a chelek Elokah mimaal (piece of G-d). All people, regardless of whether or not they are Jewish, contain a godly essence. Judaism believes all people are created as equals by G-d. It is, therefore, our godly duty to do our utmost to assist any and all people in need… The world can be a brutal place. These days, we are all feeling that reality a bit more than we normally do. Our community faces hardship, but so do many others. I beseech you not to turn inwards. Our hardships present a unique opportunity to feel the pain of others all the more acutely. Tune into the pain of others. We all share a common humanity. We all share a common godly essence. The greatest threat to Judaism is the degradation of our culture from within. For this reason, I implore you to renew your commitment to our core values. Be that light unto the nations and work to fix the wider world.” [JewishNews]
Paradigm Shift: The upheaval following the Trump administration’s shuttering of USAID makes this a good time to consider other models of financial assistance to support international development, write Blair Glencorse and Malka Older in Inside Philanthropy. “We can imagine a world in which each polity — nations, regions, municipalities — sets aside a percentage of their resources for foreign assistance, creating a global fund and pool of expertise for aid where and when it is needed, without the one-sidedness of depending on a superpower, and founded on the understanding that we are all vulnerable to crises or disasters and we all need help at some point. This vision may seem utopian, given how many polities can’t or won’t even set aside enough even for their own emergency needs, but it is both more realistic and more sustainable than a system depending on the extravagant wealth and benevolence of a few rich countries. Even with more limited resources, mutual aid can achieve something top-down U.S. government aid never found a meaningful way to do — create honest, reciprocal power relationships; reinforce locally driven support networks; and bolster trust among citizens and between communities and governments. It will require a change of paradigm, and a change in how we think about helping others, but mutual aid should be a critical part of international development assistance going forward.” [InsidePhilanthropy]
A Meaningful Return: In The New York Times, Julia Jacobs reports on the odyssey of a large religious artifact — a shrine with more than 100 components — procured from a First Nations community in Canada’s Pacific Northwest at the turn of the 20th century and now returned after more than 120 years in a New York museum. “In the early 1900s, Franz Boas, who is considered one of the founders of American anthropology, became fascinated by a large shrine associated with Indigenous whaling rituals off the coast of British Columbia… He had been sent a photograph of the shrine, which belonged to members of an Indigenous group called the Mowachaht. It showed a wooden structure on a small island, surrounded by a tangle of cedar and spruce, that sheltered 88 carved wooden human figures, four carved whale figures and 16 human skulls. Boas decided to acquire it for the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where he was a curator. He was driven by a concept known as ‘salvage anthropology,’ in which researchers saw collecting Native cultural possessions as a way to safeguard them from destruction as Indigenous populations plummeted… On Thursday, a truck containing the many pieces that make up the shrine began its long journey to Vancouver Island, off the southwest coast of Canada, in one of the most significant international repatriations in the museum’s history. ‘We’re ready for it to come home,’ said Marsha Maquinna, who is eight generations removed from the Mowachaht chief who presided over the shrine in the early 1900s. ‘We, as a community, have lots to heal.’” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
CBS’ “60 Minutes” aired a segment Sunday night focused on Israeli hostages, interviewing released captives Yarden Bibas, Tal Shoham and Israeli American Keith Siegel, about the physical torture and other hardships they endured in captivity…
Hamas released a video of hostage Elkana Bohbot, one of the remaining 59 hostages in Gaza; days earlier, the terror group had released a video of Bohbot and fellow hostage Yosef Haim Ohana…
Former Israeli hostage Amit Soussana is one of eight women being honored with the State Department’s International Women of Courage Award…
An Orthodox Jewish pedestrian and two of her children were killed when two cars collided between the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Gravesend and Midwood, sending one of the cars into the crosswalk and the path of the family…
In a flurry of campus antisemitism-related news: Columbia University’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, announced she was resigning after nine months on the job after the school reached an agreement with the Trump administration toward restoring the $400 million cut by the government over the institution’s handling of antisemitism; she will be replaced by Board of Trustees Co-Chair Claire Shipman…
Harvard University cut ties with two of the heads of its Center for Middle Eastern Studies…
Yale University fired an associate research scholar over her failure to cooperate with administrators attempting to address allegations that she had direct ties to the terrorist-affiliated group Samidoun…
And the University of California, Los Angeles “indefinitely” banned its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine…
The Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education published the 34th edition of its Peoplehood Papers series, titled “The Rifts Within Israeli Society – How Should World Jewry Respond?” Over the course of last week, eJewishPhilanthropy published an exclusive preview of the volume with five essays by Adam Levi, Rabbi Sid Schwartz, Yona Shem-Tov, Barak Sella and Jeffrey R. Solomon…
Danny Ivri, the mayor of the Misgav Region of northern Israel, visited Pittsburgh last week as part of a U.S. tour to find partners and funders as the area looks to rebuild following a year and a half of attacks from Lebanon’s Hezbollah…
The New York Times interviewed comedian Alex Edelman about watching a staged version of his one-man play “Just For Us” — performed by another actor…
Houston’s second-oldest Jewish cemetery was vandalized last week, with costs of the damages estimated to be upwards of $10,000…
Following the weekend’s Elite Eight wins by Auburn, Duke, University of Houston and the University of Florida, three of the NCAA’s Jewish coaches — Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, Florida’s Todd Golden and Duke’s Jon Scheyer — are heading to the Final Four this coming weekend…
The Jewish Federation of the Berkshires in upstate New York appointed Rebekah Steinfeld as its next senior development officer…
Zoe Costanzo has been appointed the next chief development officer of the Museum of the City of New York; Costanzo most recently served as senior director of individual giving at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust…
The New York Times examines the Trump administration’s issues with the Smithsonian Institution…
Angela DeWilde was hired as the next CEO of Kansas City’s Jewish Family Services…
The U.K.’s Tate Britain art museum is returning a 17th-century Henry Gibbs painting to the great-grandchildren of a Belgian-Jewish man whose collection was looted by the Nazis in 1940…
Daniel Sugarman, the director of public affairs at the Board of Deputies of British Jews, is joining the U.K.’s Jewish News as deputy editor…
Pic of the Day
The Tel Aviv Admirals ice hockey team faces off against the Jerusalem Capitals last Sunday at UBS Arena in New York in the first-ever professional Israeli hockey match in the United States.
The event, dubbed the “USA Challenge Cup,” was organized by Israel Elite Hockey League and the fundraising nonprofit Israel Friends. The Capitals beat the Admirals 7-6 in overtime.
“There is an incredible global community that has come together over the past year and a half to show immense love and support to the people of Israel,” Kyle Blank, executive director of Israel Friends, said in a statement. “Now, 18 months into this crisis, we cannot forget to raise our heads high as a people and to display strength in unity and resilience.”
Birthdays
Chairman of Danaher Corporation, he owns a 20% stake in the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, Steven M. Rales…
Music producer, band leader of the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert… New York Times best-selling novelist, poet and social activist, Marge Piercy… U.S. senator (D-VT) for 48 years until 2023, Patrick Leahy… Democratic congressman from Massachusetts for 32 years, named co-sponsor of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, Barnett “Barney” Frank… Former syndicated talk radio host on 400+ stations and conservative political commentator under the name Michael Savage, he is also a best-selling author and nutritionist under his real name, Michael Alan Weiner… U.S. Sen. (I-ME) Angus King… Comedian, actor and professional poker player, he played the named teacher in the 1970s sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter,” Gabe Kaplan… Retired professor of special education at Long Island University, Joel E. Mittler… Emmy Award-winning movie and television actress, best known for her role in the sitcom “Cheers” for 11 seasons, Rhea Jo Perlman… Russian ice dancing coach and former competitive ice dancer, now living in Stamford, Conn., Natalia Dubova… Chairman of Apple, Inc. since 2011 and CEO of Calico (an Alphabet R&D biotech venture), Arthur D. Levinson… New Jersey attorney, Steven L. Sacks-Wilner… Scottsdale, Ariz., resident, David L. Freedman… Israeli singer and songwriter, Ehud Banai… Former vice-chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency, David Breakstone, Ph.D…. Author and advertising executive, Joseph Alden Reiman… President at the Detroit-based Nemer Property Group, Larry Nemer… Rabbi of Kehillas Ohr Somayach and lecturer at Ohr Somayach Yeshiva in Jerusalem, Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz… Equestrian and 10-time American Grand Prix Association Rider of the Year, she is a 2009 inductee into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Margie Goldstein-Engle… Emmy Award-winning writer and producer (“24,” “Homeland” and “Tyrant”), Howard Gordon… Consultant for synagogues and teacher at Bruriah High School in Elizabeth, N.J., Judah E. Isaacs… Two-term mayor of Chattanooga, Tenn., until 2021, he is now a special representative for broadband in the U.S. Commerce Department, Andy Berke… Former child actor, now an attorney and celebrity brand consultant, Josh Saviano… Rabbi of the Ashkenazi Jewish community of Turkey, Menachem Mendel Chitrik… Chief legal correspondent at MSNBC, Ari Naftali Melber… Footballer for Beitar Jerusalem, who has also played for Chelsea, Manchester City and West Ham United in the English Premier League, Tal Ben Haim… Internet entrepreneur who is the co-founder and former CMO of Tinder, Justin Mateen… British-French journalist and author, he is a political advisor to the U.K.’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Ben Judah… Jerusalem-born 2010 contestant on “America’s Next Top Model,” she went on to join the IDF, Esther Petrack… Agency partnerships lead at Samsung, Howie Keenan… Ice hockey defenseman, last week he signed an eight-year, $72 million contract extension with the Washington Capitals, Jakob Chychrun… Talmudic scholar Avigdor Neuberger… John Jacobson…
