A landmark report released Wednesday by the E.H.L Consulting Group entitled "Philanthropic Support for Israel's Nonprofit Organizations by U.S. Donors," shows that American philanthropic support to nonprofits in Israel rose, with more philanthropists patronizing specific organizations.
E.H.L. Consulting, a Pennsylvania-based fundraising organization, analyzed charitable giving patterns to 80 Israeli non-profits from 2001-2006, examining four major sectors: Arts and Culture; Education; Health, Hospitals and Diseases; and Human Services.
According to the study, charitable giving to Israel grew by 64 percent over the 7 year period. The most marked rise in giving was recorded in the Arts and Cultural division, with a growth of 82 percent. Health, Hospitals, and Disease prevention giving rose by 66 percent, as did Human Services giving, with Educational institutions charity growing by 42 percent.
E.H.L. Consulting's report relied on statistics from Giving U.S.A., an annual yearbook of charitable giving in the United States put together by the Giving U.S.A. Foundation and the Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University, for data comparisons between U.S. nonprofits and their Israeli counterparts. Aggregate charitable giving to Israel was disproportionate to the growth in philanthropy in the United States, with the same U.S. nonprofits only averaging a 20 percent growth from 2001- 2006.
The report also indicates that many American donors to Israeli causes prefer to invest and become involved with specific organizations rather than give their money to be dispersed by large "umbrella" organizations like the Jewish Federation.
According to Giving U.S.A., Americans gave $11 billion more dollars in 2007 than in 2006, sharing their wealth to the tune of $306 billion.
Israeli Charities Concerned For Future
The High Holiday season is considered a particularly auspicious time to give charity, with nonprofits making appeals to donors for all types of Jewish and Israeli causes.
Yet despite the positive trend reported by E.H.L., fundraising efforts are expected to be hampered by the chaos on Wall Street that has followed the failure of the Lehman Brothers investment bank, the last-minute sale of Merrill Lynch to the Bank of America and a 13th-hour bailout of insurance giant A.I.G. by a combination of the New York Federal Reserve, JP Morgan and Chase banks.
Concern Among Funded Organizations
Spokesman for the Jewish Agency for Israel, Michael Jankelowitz, told Israel National News, "It's an issue that concerns all israeli not-for-profits. It's still too early to give exact figures… the Jewish Agency is following with utmost concern..."
Jankelowitz said that while the Jewish Agency's charitable drive for 2008 is already secured, the results of the organization's 2009 campaign remain to be seen. "We've already seen with the subprime [the mortgage market crash], that it's had an impact on Jews to contribute less in general and to overseas concerns in particular. We already saw the results; people not being able to fulfill the pledges to which they'd committed.
"And on top of it," Janekelowitz said, "the Jewish Agency's is a dollar-based budget. In the past the dollar's been worth nearly five shekels, now it's only at three and a half."