An Israeli nonprofit organization founded 35 years ago is serving over 100,000 people annually through nature-based programs for individuals with disabilities, operating with a budget of approximately NIS 10 million while facing an NIS 800,000 shortfall, according to its director Amos Ziv.
Lotem, established in 1991 and directed today by Amos Ziv, organizes nature trips, workshops and activity groups for people of all ages with physical, cognitive, emotional and sensory disabilities. The organization operates nationwide, with offices in Yokne'am, Jerusalem and Beersheba, and during times of crisis its teams operate in over 25 locations nationwide, including hotels and kibbutzim hosting evacuees.
Fiscal Model and Funding Challenges
The organization's annual budget is about NIS 10 million and it is currently short NIS 800,000, according to deputy director-general for education Einav Blum. She said Israeli banks donate very little and that the low dollar-shekel exchange rate has hurt the organization because most contributions are in dollars from donors abroad, while bills are paid in shekels. Participants pay only a small amount for excursions.
Ziv said the organization wants organizations, businesses and individuals to "adopt" a disabled child or an activity and to be partners, not just donors. Among the projects donors can support is the Mother Nature Program, a safe and restorative day-long outdoor experience for mothers and their children who are victims of domestic violence. It includes hiking, cooking and art workshops that help promote trust and self confidence; a weekly nature club in schools for those who cannot leave their indoor environments regularly; and class field trips.
Service Delivery and Infrastructure
Lotem's trips take place in small groups accompanied by trained guides with experience working with a variety of disabilities. The organization has 60 workers, including paid employees and volunteers, among them young women fulfilling national service. The organization created a 1.5 km. trail at the Hashofet Stream near Yokne'am with assistance from Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund. The path is stroller- and wheelchair friendly and includes an old flour mill, a bridge, a waterfall, wood benches and picnic tables. Ziv said a million people, more than at Masada, trek there every year.
Lotem's Valley of Peace park is in the Menashe Heights just outside Yokne'am Illit. It is a 40-acre nature reserve and historic ecological farm with a wheelchair-accessible education center. Children with disabilities can press grapes with their feet and crush olives to make oil while appreciating and connecting with nature.
Educational Partnerships and Scope
The organization also runs school trips for people with special needs. Ziv said some 65% of all schools, including special-education frameworks, as well as pupils at Jerusalem's Alyn Rehabilitation Center for Children and Youth, Ilan, Shalva, Akim, and adults with disabilities, participate throughout the year. Special groups, including organizations for children at risk and women in battered women's shelters, are invited to take part.
Ziv said the organization promotes empowerment, development of life skills, promotion of motor skills, and familiarization with basic concepts in nature, alongside education for tolerance and acceptance of differences. He said everyone deserves to experience nature and called it "a necessity, not a luxury."
Specialized Programs
The organization's nature-based retreats support survivors of trauma and terrorism, as well as soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Its "Integra-Teva" program brings together diverse groups, including Jews and Arabs, to learn ancient agricultural techniques. It also operates an in-service training center for professionals from the government and the private sector to better integrate people with special needs into society.
Blum said the organization works a lot with soldiers who were physically injured and suffer from post-trauma, working with their family, horses and specially-trained dogs. Since Oct. 7, the organization has seen a dramatic increase in demand for its service because there is a lot more emotional distress, Blum said.
Leadership and Personal Stories
The chairman of Lotem's board is Sorin Hershko, 70, an Israeli hero and paratrooper who served on the assault team during the 1976 Operation Entebbe hostage rescue mission. He was severely wounded during the raid, sustaining a spinal injury that left him permanently paralyzed from the neck down.
Jacob Milstein, a fifth-generation farmer from Kibbutz Merhavia in the North, said his connection with Lotem was lifesaving. After suffering a stroke while working as maintenance manager at the nonprofit organization's Emek Hashalom farm, he said Ziv visited him in the hospital and told him: "Jacob, your job with us is reserved for you. When you recover, you will come back to us, and together we will find the right place for you." Milstein said that after a long rehabilitation process, he returned to work as an instructor and that his physical, mental and cognitive abilities improved greatly.
Regulatory and Bureaucratic Obstacles
Blum said Lotem works with the Nature and Park Authority, the Antiquities Authority and others, but there is a lot of bureaucracy. She said some organizations set up one accessible picnic table and claim they do not have enough budget, and that some authorities are just lazy. She said many sites meet legal standards but are difficult for the disabled to reach.
Lotem was involved with the kibbutzim and moshavim on the Gaza border before the Hamas-led terror onslaught of Oct. 7. Immediately after that, the organization sent teams to evacuees in hotels and kibbutz guest houses, taking them on nature trips and vacations to help calm them.
Why This Matters:
Lotem demonstrates how private nonprofit organizations can deliver essential services at scale without relying primarily on government funding, serving 100,000 people annually with a lean staff of 60 workers and volunteer support. The organization's funding challenges—an NIS 800,000 shortfall and currency exchange pressures—highlight the vulnerability of organizations dependent on foreign donations while facing domestic costs. Its partnership model with businesses and individuals, rather than government expansion, offers a sustainable approach to addressing social needs. The organization's ability to rapidly respond to the Oct. 7 crisis, deploying teams to 25 locations, illustrates how nimble private-sector solutions can complement or exceed government response capabilities. The bureaucratic obstacles Blum describes underscore how regulatory compliance alone does not guarantee accessibility, and that private initiative often succeeds where public authorities fall short.