Israel Donors Push Reform as Giving Surges

JGive expects more than 250,000 Israeli and Diaspora donors to contribute about NIS 500 million through its platform by the end of the year, more than four times its pre-war volume, founder and CEO Ori Ben-Shlomo said on The Deep Dive. Charitable giving to and within Israel has kept rising since the surge that followed October 7.

Emergency giving

Ben-Shlomo said calls came in from New York, Los Angeles and London on October 7, and JGive helped thousands of charities raise emergency funds. The platform also set up a national emergency fund, led in part by a former Israel Air Force commander and a former Supreme Court justice.

At first, the fund paid for essentials such as food, clothing and medication for evacuees from the kibbutzim. Holocaust survivors received support, too. Later, the fund expanded its work to education and rehabilitation.

Ben-Shlomo said he founded JGive after serving in Gaza as a reservist during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. He saw how poor coordination wasted donated goodwill. Before starting the platform, he had worked as a lawyer and general counsel at a major Israeli media group.

He described a change in how Israelis view civil society organizations. “It changed society,” Ben-Shlomo said, adding that Israelis now see such organizations as a “must-have,” not a nice extra.

Diaspora donors and influence

Ben-Shlomo said younger donors increasingly want to give “without the middleman” to specific causes they’ve researched. He contrasted that approach with the grandparents’ generation, which wrote checks to large institutions. Younger donors, he added, increasingly give alongside Israelis rather than simply giving to them.

“Israel is not a young state,” he said. “We're close to 80.” Young people now rank among JGive’s top donors, Ben-Shlomo said. Major charities had previously told him they couldn’t reach that group.

With Israeli elections two weeks away, Ben-Shlomo discussed Diaspora Jews who feel connected to Israel’s future but can’t vote. He called giving “the best way” for them to have a say, and said it shapes the country more than politics. “Politics divides people, and giving connects people,” he said.

He also discussed rising antisemitism and pressure on Jewish communities abroad to fund their own security while supporting Israel. Those donors, Ben-Shlomo said, have shifted the balance toward their own communities without ending their support for Israel. He argued that Israel’s government and donors should now help Diaspora communities in return.

Donor reform and civil society

Ben-Shlomo said he worked with Israel’s Tax Authority to introduce donor-advised funds, familiar in the United States, and allow donations of stocks and other assets. He called the changes “a game changer.” He said further reform was needed, including ceilings on tax benefits for major donors.

He described a broader goal: building Israel’s “fourth power.” After defense, the economy and technology, he said, the country needs a society “that makes sure no one is left behind,” built from the ground up like the start-up nation.

Asked whether he was optimistic about the next generation, Ben-Shlomo told the story of a reserve officer badly wounded in Lebanon who organized a campaign for another patient while still in rehabilitation.