Give2gether: The Modern Pushka

In a recent blog post Yossi Prager says that:
“AVI CHAI has been shifting its philanthropic approach from a go-it-alone foundation to one that seeks to co-create initiatives with other funders in the fields of day schools and summer camps – with special interest in financial viability, building capacity at key institutions…..[emphasis added].”  How can that be achieved?
One of the most powerful memories of my Yeshiva days (Yeshiva Toras Chaim at South Shore, Long Island) was walking the neighborhood with a pushka (charity box) in hand, collecting money so that the yeshiva could pay its’ bills. The Yeshiva actually cancelled school one day to send us out into the community with those pushkas. Is that what allowed the yeshiva to survive and become a financially viable institution which to this day continues to build capacity? Doubtful, as then the “big gifts” were what really saved the school from bankruptcy (at that time the Gruss foundation). But putting those pushkas into our hands connected us in a visceral way to the school and the realities of what it meant to create and maintain a place of Torah.
In 5771/2011 the pushkas that we can put into the hands of students and campers, present and past, as well as the wider net of supporters are the tools of the digital age. Without them we are simply sitting back and waiting for the messiah to fund our communal institutions.
More and more donors and modern fundraisers use their social networks to spread the word about their impact and online campaigns.
The give2gether (www.give2gether.com) platform lets both non-profits, their donors and champions integrate different social networking sites – like Facebook, Twitter Google and LinkedIn – directly into their campaign websites, and then automatically track the visitors and contributions that come in from those networks. give2gether was built from the ground up for this new generation of modern philanthropy.
Part of creating community around an institution is not only the educational messages and inspirational activities (which obviously are essential) but also to give a sense of ownership to the participants in the community. Every day school and camp that does not already have an active Facebook page, twitter account, newsletter (with lots of video and pictures) is essentially saying we do not want to build community. But we all need to go one step further, which is to democratize the funding process as well, and bring the community together around specific campaigns and goals.
When I was a kid if we sold enough Barton Pesach candy in a fundraising drives we got points, those with the most points received “prizes.” That element of gaming and healthy competitiveness within the community has stuck in my mind to this day — and we need to relive those days with virtual candy and Facebook “likes.”
Give2gether allows an institution to flourish in the new/old world of community building, but it takes work. If the pushka I received over 30 years ago stayed in my house it would remain empty, and so would my sense of connection and ownership to my Yeshiva. But we were encouraged to out and make “friends” and “followers,” who would help us fill the pushka.
If we care about sustainable financial viability and capacity building we need to be using the best tools out there — let the community building begin.
Jacob Ner-David serves on the Advisory Board of Give2gether. Jacob is a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and most importantly father of seven. Based in Kibbutz Hanaton in the lower Galil, Jacob is Chairman of NoProblem (www.noproblemppc.com), AttracTV (www.attractv.com), and serves on the board of PresenTense (www.presentense.org).