About JFN Israel
JFN Israel, established in 2008, enables Israeli funders to exchange ideas about their philanthropic involvement and expand their giving circles, both in Israel and overseas. JFN’s Israeli members enjoy a wide range of services and tools developed particularly for the Israeli philanthropic community. Israelis make up a quarter of JFN’s membership, and JFN’s international conference is held in Israel every third year.
JFN Israel’s staff offers consulting and expertise to all JFN members – regardless of nationality – who are interested in funding in Israel. All JFN members get one free session of Israel advisory services.
JFN Israel is a leader in developing the philanthropic field in Israel by eliminating barriers to giving, bringing donor-advised funds to Israel, advocating for giving-friendly government policies, managing matching grants programs, mapping Israeli giving, and encouraging the growth of an Arab-Israeli philanthropic community.
JFN Israel Operates on Three Pillars
The Funder and the Family
Through a personal connection with the funder and their family, JFN is able to accompany its members on their philanthropic journey, whether it’s an extended family with four generations-long legacy of giving or young entrepreneurs embarking on their first steps in meaningful giving.
Strategic Philanthropy: Members of the network enjoy a wide range of expert lectures, enrichment workshops and strategic toolkit development, including training on civil society engagement and professionalism in addition to work with national and local government agencies. In an effort to promote impactful strategic giving, JFN publishes guides for intelligent giving in a wide range of areas, including in-depth analysis and recommendations for action.
Advisory Services: JFN helps funders build a giving strategy that reflects personal and family values using tools tailored to organize their philanthropic giving. JFN assists philanthropists from Israel and abroad in building an effective and smart strategy for giving in Israel, through field analysis and mapping, facilitating personal learning tours, as well as meetings with leaders, other funders, opinion leaders and senior executives from all sectors of the society relevant to their areas of interest. All JFN members are entitled to one free advisory session on Israel giving.
Family Philanthropy: Through workshops, lectures, and group processes, JFN members are exposed to giving through a family context, learning how to structure a family decision-making mechanism and how to engage "future generation" in family philanthropy. As part of the "Next Gen" program, participants explore personal, value dilemmas, and develop their own path to philanthropy.
The Network and Community
Meetings and Networking: Network meetings provide an opportunity for building relationships, sharing initiatives and learning innovative models of giving that form a fertile ground for collaboration. JFN conferences in Israel and around the world combine unique content, professional experts and hundreds of philanthropists who are eager to learn and share their experiences, deepen their relationships with fellow philanthropists and become an integral part of shaping the nature of Jewish philanthropy in the present and future.
Member-To-Member Connections: As a network organization, we encourage funders to meet colleagues with the same interests for personal connection, learning and mutual exploration.
Peer Groups: JFN members who share common interests form peer groups to lead mutual learning and sharing processes, which include meetings, seminars and events, as the basis for creating collaborations.
Young Funders Forum (ages 30-50): The forum brings together over 50 young funders from diverse backgrounds, convening four times a year to build community and learn advanced philanthropic strategies that are appropriate for young funders in a changing world.
Philanthropic Collaborations: JFN helps funders and foundations build philanthropic coalitions, integrating proven models and offering continued guidance and support from expert staff. Working together on shared goals, philanthropists can leverage resources, share knowledge and experience, and diversify risks, enabling them to make a significant social impact.
Development of the Philanthropic Field in Israel
Establishment and Development of New Philanthropic Tools (Keshet-DAF): Through Keshet — a nonprofit public benefit corporation JFN established together with the Institute for Law and Philanthropy at Tel Aviv University, and Committed to Give — Israelis can now access the tax benefits and expert services long enjoyed by the hundreds of thousands of Americans with donor-advised funds. We’re confident this will revolutionize philanthropy in Israel. Overseas foundations that allocate money in Israel are also eligible to open donor-advised accounts through Keshet, saving them the expense and hassle of operating an office in Israel. The Keshet model is similar to the American system of donor-advised funds, but, aware of the concern that some American donor-advised funds (DAFs) sit dormant, allocating little of their overall holdings to charitable organizations, we took steps to create a new model in which donor-advised funds are incentivized to allocate their holdings. Learn more here.
Read about Keshet-DAF in the Times of Israel.
Read about Keshet-DAF in Inside Philanthropy.
Matching Grants: Matching grant programs are initiatives of philanthropic foundations who choose to develop their philanthropic impact by expanding the pool of funders in a given field.
Philanthropic Development in Arab Society: With the growth of philanthropy in Israel, a group of philanthropic leaders within Arab society is also emerging. JFN Israel assists this group in formulating the vision and goals for building an Arab donor network in Israel.
Philanthropic Investment Map in Israel: JFN initiated and led a unique study to map the scope and characteristics of philanthropic activity in Israel and to provide donors with insight on where philanthropic money is invested and how it meets the challenges of Israeli society.
Identifying and Removing Barriers in the Philanthropic Field: JFN works to identify and remove legal, regulatory and other systemic barriers to giving, thus encouraging philanthropy in Israel.
We look forward to meeting you, sharing more details and exploring opportunities for collaboration.