“Has the Covid-19 crisis impaired your ability to contribute, and will it affect your scope of giving in the future?”
“Yes, it hurt by giving ability, I am not as wealthy as I was before the crisis. Yes, it will affect my scope of giving, I will give more money”. (Boaz Raam)

Following are insights from a zoom call with Israeli social funders and senior NGO managers in light of the Covid-19 crisis. The call, modeled after “You Can’t Ask That” (T.V. format), provided answers addressing the main “Ma Nishtana”, or what has changed and is different during Corona times. How this will affect donations and NGOs.

The social funders demonstrated true partnership and commitment:
We saw how quickly the Israeli donors adjusted their giving to help the NGOs they support and who were hurt by Covid-19. This included additional emergency funding in special and urgent cases.

For the short term, we are witnessing an increase in Israeli donations, in response to urgent Corona needs.

We heard a realistic view of the future:
“There isn’t an “after Corona”. We’re facing an entirely new world and we must adapt ourselves to what is in store”.
We must prepare for the next crisis – financially and operationally, invest in infrastructure, diversity and gradually create a new mix of income sources.

An opportunity in every crisis:
An opportunity to work together, in collaboration with organizations from similar fields. An opportunity to merge organizations led by lay leadership, in order to become more efficient, save on operating-costs and deal with decreased income.

It is important to continuously stay in touch:
With both the organizations and their investors, not only with longtime donors, but also with active partners in order to change and adjust to the changing reality. Now more than ever, it is important to modify and focus the organization’s activity and mission, and see it as an opportunity to approach new donors in order to diversify and create sources of income.

This zoom call was a collaboration between Committed to Give (Yecholim Notnim) and Am Israel Chai. We would like to thank the members of CTG, who were forthcoming, honest and open hearted, and the leaders of the NGOs for their uncompromising tireless work and commitment to the Israeli society especially during these challenging times.

For the entire call in Hebrew: