Tzedaka/charity (illustrative)
Tzedaka/charity (illustrative)Ben Bresky

This Tuesday, Israel will synchronize its annual philanthropic campaign with the global Giving Tuesday campaign in order to help shatter the one-day World Record for online giving which currently stands at $46 million dollars.

IsraelGives, a major facilitator of charitable giving to Israel and the official Israeli coordinator of Giving Tuesday, is calling on every Israeli donor to contribute to the campaign in order to help paint a much more accurate picture of Israel than that which is commonly portrayed by the international media – one of a generous, altruistic, and compassionate nation.

The CEO of IsraelGives, Yonatan Ben-Dor, told Arutz Sheva a bit about the history of the day and why it is so important for Israel to join this international movement for giving.

“Giving Tuesday started four years as an initiative by the 92nd street ‘Y’ in New York City. It began as a social development to help offset the commercialism that takes place during the previous week with Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday," he began. 

“Being a Jewish Institution they thought of Israel right away when they decided to take it internationally in the project’s second year.”

Giving Tuesday in Israel is now three years old. Currently twelve countries worldwide take part. It begins in the US and ends in New Zealand. “ Ben-Dor said that “this is the biggest day for online donations during the year.”

Ben-Dor described the work that IsraelGives is doing to help bring Giving Tuesday to Israel. “We have been recruiting in the non-profit community in Israel to bring awareness to the day, and to help Israelis join this global movement for good, and be part of what seems to inevitably be for the breaking of a world record for the largest online giving day in world history.’

“On another front, IsraelGives has been trying to get Israeli companies to get involved and  show the world that Israel is much more than what the see on their TV screens beyond, and that we are a country that cares about non-profit and social causes and that people here are as generous as anywhere else in the world.”

Israel’s 2014 Giving Tuesday campaign alone raised over a million NIS for Israeli causes in a single day, and organizers predict drastic growth thanks to the first-ever synchronization of the national and global giving campaigns.

IsraelGives is set to reach a cumulative charitable giving milestone of its own on Giving Tuesday: NIS 100 million raised for Israeli non-profit organizations via IsraelGives.org since 2009.

“As a global movement for giving, Giving Tuesday is powered by people who want to give back to their communities. In Israel, where giving is part and parcel of our culture and values, there’s no telling how much we can raise for our homegrown non-profit organizations,” said Ben-Dor.

“We call on every Israeli citizen to join this global movement for good and help us paint a much more accurate picture of Israel than that which is commonly portrayed by the international media. In addition to being a part of a World Record, every Israeli donor will help solidify our image as a generous, altruistic, and compassionate nation.”

Ben-Dor also encouraged the international community to think of Israel on Tuesday. “We encourage people to consider giving to Israel on Giving Tuesday, not only to support organizations in your own country but to support Israel on that day. It is easy to do that through IsraelGives.org and to show how much you care about Israel.”  

Giving Tuesday is happening around the world on December 1, 2015.