The issue of all issues in the non-profit world must surely be how to attract donors to your cause. Every day, thousands of good causes vie for the attention of those with big hearts and the capacity to give.
There are countless ways of getting funding—foundation grants, federations, private donors, personal connections, revenue-driving events, fundraising galas, crowdfunding, and, of course, a rich uncle. It’s not an exact science. Raising money in the Jewish world can be one big wonderful mess.
Into this mess have jumped Gila and Adam Milstein with a dose of Israeliness.
Adam is co-founder and National Chairman of the fast-growing Israeli-American Council (IAC); Gila is President of Stand By Me, an organization that supports Israeli-American cancer patients and their families in Los Angeles. They are co-founders of the Milstein Family Foundation, which supports a wide range of pro-Israel organizations.
The Milsteins live and breathe the non-profit world, so they should know what’s missing. A year ago, they saw something missing, so they started The Donor Forum, a private, flexible and efficient model to connect pro-Israel donors with pro-Israel causes.
About once a month, a group of donors get together over lunch and get pitched by select causes. It’s great if you have a short attention span—the pitches last less than 15 minutes. There’s no direct solicitation at the lunches. The idea is to make the connections between the parties for any future follow-ups.
Forum members commit to giving a minimum of $10,000 annually to the organizations featured. A steering committee helps select the causes and recommend new members to the Forum.
Why do I say this funding model is like a dose of Israeliness? It’s not just because my friend Adam and I frequently use that term when talking about what the IAC has brought to the Jewish community. Adam didn’t specifically refer to “Israeliness” when he brought up the Forum, but he didn’t have to. It clearly applies.
One reason is the speed and simplicity—it’s tchik tchak, you’re in and out. There’s no year-long process of cultivating donors and building relationships so you can eventually make an ask. Here, the connection gets made instantly. It’s all about the quality of the idea and the people making the pitch, and you see it all in one shot, face to face.
The other sign of Israeliness is the kind of causes they pick— feisty with significant potential. Some of the groups that already have pitched include JLens, Reservists on Duty, The Lawfare Project, Heroes to Heroes and My Truth.
At their most recent luncheon a few weeks ago in Westwood, I saw two pitches— from the Haym Salomon Center (HSC), a news and public policy group, and Students Supporting Israel (SSI), a pro-Israel grassroots movement on college campuses and high schools.
Here, the connection gets made instantly. It’s all about the quality of the idea and the people making the pitch, and you see it all in one shot, face to face.
HSC is like guerilla media. It creates all kinds of original content—news stories, commentary, analysis, opinion— and disseminates it throughout the mainstream media so that it will benefit Israel and the Jewish community. At the luncheon, the presenter showed his hand right away—we must transform the culture, he said, if we want to influence the views on Israel, and the best and quickest way to do that is through the mainstream media.
He showed examples of how media stories can be biased against Israel while being completely accurate. He also showed how a headline slanted against Israel can easily be fixed. Then he rattled off the obligatory metrics— over 1200 articles and media mentions published online and in print, bylines in prestigious publications, and so on— and where new money would go to help them grow.
After 10 minutes or so, donors had the key information they needed.
SSI was definitely feisty. The two presenters who run the organization were all about “boots on the ground.” They showed how they have mobilized students on over 40 campuses to open SSI chapters and how they advocate for Israel using creative techniques built on unabashed Zionist pride. Of the examples they showed, I think my favorite was a huge blowup doll of Pinnochio right next to an Israel Apartheid Wall.
They also rattled off metrics, which include victories against BDS initiatives as well as the passing of pro-Israel resolutions. They showed their budget and how much money they were looking for to accelerate their growth. Every funding item was broken down.
After the lunch, donors got to ask questions and schmooze with the presenters. I think everyone was grateful that the whole process took so little time and was so focused.
The only things missing, perhaps, were the Turkish coffee and a little yelling.
David Suissa is president of TRIBE Media Corp./Jewish Journal and can be reached at davids@jewishjournal.com.
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