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Israeli Charities

The number of Israeli charities is overwhelming, literally tens of thousands. In order to select a reasonable subset, we used the following criteria. List provided by Beth David’s Israel Action Committee. The charities should be:

  • Highly rated (we researched several rating sites, the URLs are at the end of the list).
  • Based in Israel and focused on welfare of people of Israel and country development.
  • Apolitical
  • Tax-exempt in US (the names listed are the names of American affiliates)
  • The list should have a reasonably broad range of categories, but not to be very long, to keep our readers focused. For those who have more time to spend in exploring further, a list of websites where more charities and their ratings can be found is given at the end of the list.

The following is a list of selected charities:       

POVERTY
American Friends of Yad Eliezer 

Yad Eliezer feeds, clothes and helps to educate over 14,000 families throughout the state of Israel. They do this with food, emergency assistance, big brothers and big sisters for children without a parent, and many more services. http://www.af-ye.org/

American Friends of Leket Israel 
Leket Israel, the National Food Bank, is the leading food rescue organization in Israel. Unique among all other organizations that serve the poor in Israel, Leket Israel’s sole focus is rescuing healthy, surplus food and delivering it to those in need. https://www.leket.org/en/       

American Friends of Meir Panim 
Meir Panim is Israel’s largest assistance network for the needy. It provides relief to the impoverished – young and old alike – via a dynamic range of food and social service programs https://www.meirpanim.org 

IDF SOLDERS
Friends of the Israel Defense Forces   

Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) was established by a group of Holocaust survivors to provide for education and wellbeing of the men and women who serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as well as the families of fallen soldiers. https://www.fidf.org/about-fidf     

Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans  
The mission of FIDV-Beit Halochem is to care for Israeli servicemen and women disabled in the line of duty. Beit Halochem centers provide therapeutic, sports and recreational facilities to help them resume lives of purpose and dignity. https://fidv.org/   

HEALTH AND DISABILITIES
American Friends of Magen David Adom   

Magen David Adom is Israel’s national ambulance, blood-services, and disaster-relief organization, serving as emergency medical first-responders for the state’s population. https://afmda.org/

Israel Cancer Research Fund    
Israel Cancer Research Fund is the largest nationwide charitable organization in North America solely devoted to supporting cancer research in Israel. https://www.icrfonline.org/ 

Enosh 
Enosh, the Israeli Mental Health Association works to promote mental health issues for individuals dealing with a psychiatric disability and their families. https://www.israelgives.org/amuta/580019800

Friends of United Hatzalah of Israel   
United Hatzalah of Israel is the largest independent, non-profit, fully volunteer Emergency Medical Service organization that provides the fastest and free emergency medical first response throughout Israel. https://israelrescue.org/

ENVIRONMENT
American Society for the Protection of Nature

American Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel supports the work of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), Israel’s oldest and largest environmental organization. http://www.aspni.org

Jewish National Fund
JNF works to ensure a strong, secure and prosperous Israel for the Jewish people everywhere. It focuses on developing infrastructure for ecology and heritage preservation; community building in Israel’s north and south; and connecting the next generation to Israel. https://www.jnf.org/

EDUCATION
AMIT Children
Recognized by the Education Ministry as the premier educational network in Israel, AMIT provides more than 34,000 children equal access to the most cutting-edge, Jewish values–based education, giving them the tools, knowledge, and skills they need to succeed in the 21st century. https://amitchildren.org/

Israel Scholarship Educational Foundation 
The foundation supports Israelis who have completed military or national service. It focuses on young Israelis from underserved and immigrant communities throughout Israel. http://iseffoundation.org/

CULTURE
American Friends of the Israel Museum
Founded in 1965, the Israel Museum is the largest cultural institution in the State of Israel and is ranked among the leading art and archaeology museums in the world. http://www.afimnyc.org/

America-Israel Cultural Foundation    
The America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF) supports and develops artistic life in Israel by awarding scholarships and grants. AICF makes a vital contribution to the cultural foundation of Israel and strengthens her relationship with America. http://www.aicf.org/

CHILDREN
Friends of ALYN Hospital   
ALYN Hospital is Israel‘s premier rehabilitation center providing rehabilitation to physically disabled children from birth to young adulthood. https://alynus.org/

CHARITY WEBSITES
Israel Gives
https://www.israelgives.org/pages/index  Good for search. Identifies the charities that are tax-deductible in the US. Allows selecting charities by the area of activities, and getting a charity transparency rating

Charity Navigator https://www.charitynavigator.org/  Provides rating and details about a charity.

Cause:Israel
https://www.causeisrael.org/ Good for search. Very large selection, but the site requires registration

Midot 
http://www.midot.org.il/english-2015#NPO  An Israeli website. Lists charities that received “Midot’s Seal of Effectiveness”

GuideStar
https://www.guidestar.org/search  Good for rating, if you know the charity name. Requires registration for searching.

CharityWatch
https://www.charitywatch.org/home  Lists top rated charities. Small selection