What We Do

Israel World Jewry Bureau

Through the Israel-World Jewry Bureau, the Birmingham Jewish Federation extends our community's reach beyond Birmingham, supporting agencies that strengthen Jewish life and assist those in need across the globe.

Funding Life-Changing Work Around the Globe

The Israel-World Jewry Bureau (IWJB) is a unique allocations process, developed in 2004, that has enabled The Birmingham Jewish Federation to help fund important agencies doing vital work for people in need in Israel and around the world. 

Through the Israel-World Jewry Bureau allocations process, dollars raised by our annual campaign, as well as dollars contributed by the Birmingham Jewish Foundation, are not only making a critical difference in the lives of those we help but also enabling members of our Birmingham community to work in direct partnership with our brothers and sisters in Israel and elsewhere around the globe.

Our Allocations Process

The Israel-World Jewry Bureau allocates funds to organizations worldwide, but federal legislation requires that all recipient agencies be affiliated with a US charitable organization or receive approval from the Jewish Federations of North America through its oversight process. 

The Israel-World Jewry Bureau committee is composed of members of our community who review applications and make decisions based on priorities set by the committee, which vary year to year.

Thank you to our 2026 IWJB Committee Members!

Ilyse Brobst, Liora Chessin, Blair Fingerhut, Sally Friedman, Emily Friedman, Bobbie Goldstein, Dave Landy, Randi Landy (Vice Chair), Abby Litovsky, Josh Rutsky, Andy Saag, Sarah Schaeffer (Committee Chair), Andrew Sperling, Mitchell Spielberger, Alex Wittner

Organizations We Support

In 2026, the IWJB Committee awarded grants totaling almost $190,000 to 17 nonprofit and social service organizations that do vital work to support people in need in Israel and around the world.

Whether their field is education, mental health, veteran rehabilitation, food insecurity, or one of the many other causes supported by our 2026 IWJB partners, all of these organizations are working tirelessly towards their life-changing and life-saving missions.

Below is a list of our 2026 IWJB grantees.

Ability. Diversity. Inclusion.

ADI (Ability. Diversity. Inclusion) cares for children and young adults with severe disabilities, empowering Israel‘s most vulnerable individuals to reach their greatest potential. It provides cutting-edge therapeutic and recovery services to individuals needing inpatient and outpatient care at the first-ever rehabilitation hospital in Israel‘s south.

Dental Volunteers for Israel

Dental Volunteers for Israel (DVI) is the ONLY totally free dental clinic in all of Israel, offering state-of-the-art treatment, thanks to volunteer dentists from all corners of the world. DVI offers free dental care to Jerusalem’s at-risk children, youth, needy elderly and Holocaust Survivors, regardless of race or religion.

Ethiopian National Project

ENP’s SPACE (School Performance and Community Empowerment) Scholastic Assistance Program promotes academic growth and improvement by providing supplementary tutoring to students in small groups. Along with its commitment to improving students’ academic performance, SPACE  also works to improve students’ self-esteem and leadership skills through lessons that address obstacles to social integration and personal development.

Honest Reporting

Honest Reporting- The mission of HonestReporting is to ensure truth, integrity, and fairness and combat ideological prejudice in journalism and the media as it impacts Israel. HonestReporting engages the next generation and educates the public to understand and value the above aspirations.

Impact Israel

Impact Israel (on behalf of Yemin Orde)- ImpactIsrael mobilizes supporters in the U.S. to uplift Israel’s at-risk youth and Israeli society by partnering with Yemin Orde Youth Village and Village Way Educational Initiatives. Yemin Orde Youth Village is an acclaimed safe haven and year-round 24/7 school for at-risk Jewish teens from Israel and around the world.

IsraAID

IsraAID- IsraAID is an international non-governmental humanitarian aid organization based in Israel. Since their founding in 2001, their teams have worked in emergency and long-term development settings in more than 60 countries around the world. IsraAID provides humanitarian assistance all over the world to overcome extreme crises and has provided millions with the vital support needed to move from destruction to reconstruction, and eventually, to sustainable living.

Keren Or

Keren Or Jerusalem Center for Blind Children with Multiple Disabilities is dedicated to the education and care of children in Israel who are visually impaired and also cognitively, developmentally, and/or physically disabled. Their mission is to provide their students with comprehensive care, stimulating educational experiences, and rehabilitative therapies designed to help them reach their full potential and lead lives that are meaningful and productive.

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 and food banks worldwide, Leket Israel’s sole focus is rescuing healthy, surplus food and delivering it to those in need through partner nonprofit organizations.

Matriot

Matriot is the leading women’s organization advocating for women’s freedom from divorce refusal (i.e. “get” abuse). Mavoi Satum works to address the problem of get refusal both at the personal and at the national level – providing assistance to individual “mesoravot get” (women who have been refused a Jewish divorce), along with advocacy campaigns aiming for a broad and systemic reform in Israeli society.

Nevet

Nevet is a nonprofit organization dedicated to opening up educational opportunities for children and teenagers from vulnerable populations by providing them with food security. Nevet is the only organization of its kind in Israel designed to provide this practical response to an increasingly troubling problem in Israeli society. Nevet works with school-aged children, aged 6-18, from all backgrounds and ethnicities- Jews, Arabs, Bedouin, religious, and secular.

Operation Lifeshield

Operation Lifeshield provides above-ground protective shelters for areas of the country vulnerable to incoming rocket attacks. Operation Lifeshield is an emergency campaign to save innocent lives by providing Israel’s threatened communities with the protected air raid shelters they so desperately need.

Orr Shalom for Children and Youth

Orr Shalom is a non-profit organization that cares for children and youth at risk that have been removed from their parents’ custody by welfare authorities due to an extreme lack of protection and parental dysfunction. For over 40 years, Orr Shalom has sought to provide these children with everything they were lacking – immediate protection, a warm home, an embracing family environment, and everything that a child needs for proper development and a real chance for an improved present and future.

SELAH

Selah- Israel Crisis Management Center provides comprehensive support to immigrants throughout Israel whose lives have been torn apart by tragedy and who lack the resources to cope. In times of crisis, each individual has different needs.  With compassion and discretion, Selah strives to identify the most urgent emotional and practical needs, and respond to meet them.

Tenufa Bakehila- Building Hope

As Israel’s only large-scale non-profit home repair organization for poverty-stricken homeowners, Tenufa Bakehila has dramatically changed the lives of over 8,000 families to date, providing them with a healthy, nurturing and safe home environment.

The Jaffa Institute

The Jaffa Institute is a social services agency that assists severely disadvantaged children and their families, without distinction of religion or national origin, from the impoverished communities of Jaffa, South Tel Aviv, Bat Yam, and Bet Shemesh in Israel. The Jaffa Institute’s vision is to create a community in which children are nourished, educated and supported so that they become strong contributors to Israeli society. They work to provide program participants with the educational, nutritional, therapeutic, and social enrichment they need to escape the cycle of intergenerational poverty.

Women's Spirit

Women's Spirit is a non-profit dedicated to helping women survivors of abuse find employment and achieve economic independence, empowering them to break free from poverty and the cycle of abuse. Women’s Spirit supports women in the “day after” phase — a critical time when they are striving to begin a new chapter in their lives while still dealing with the challenges and crises stemming from the abuse they have endured.

Yashar LaChayal

Yashar LaChayal provides various forms of support to IDF soldiers from impoverished families, those injured in the line of duty, and bereaved family members of those who fell in Israel’s defense.  

Zahal Disabled Veterans Fund

Zahal Disabled Veterans Fund provides rehabilitation treatment & programs for men and women who were wounded in the course of their IDF service and were left with a lifelong disability.

IWJB Policies and Guidelines

Policy Statement

The Israel-World Jewry Bureau of The Birmingham Jewish Federation gives preference to grant requests from organizations/agencies that focus on our key target areas:

  • Safety and Security of Jewish Communities in Israel and Elsewhere
  • Social Services
  • Portrayal of Israel in the Media
  • Combatting Antisemitism
  • Strengthening the connection between the people of Birmingham and the people of Israel and the Jewish World
  • Economic Development
  • Immigration and Absorption

Guidelines

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

  • Grantee must be a 501(c)(3) – mandatory.
  • They must have an “American arm” or “Friends of…” Or, if they do not have this, the grantee must be approved by Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)* Every organization that applies for IWJB is sent for vetting by an IWJB staff member to JFNA.
  • Programs and projects that have an impact on many people for a limited cost.
  • The request must be solely for Israel or World Jewry.
  • Preference will be given to organizations with an established Local Advocate and/or a strong Birmingham community history/affiliation.

Activities and Agencies that the IWJB is reluctant to fund:

  • Religious institution
  • Political groups/organizations/campaigns

Vetting Procedure

We do not believe in giving directly to overseas organizations without a thorough vetting process of their financials, boards and board member affiliation.

In order to maintain the highest standard of due diligence, we vet IWJB recipient organizations through our partners at the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), and we only send funds overseas through JFNA or by giving to organizations that have a U.S. affiliate or “Friends of…” agency.

Want to get involved with IWJB?

To learn more, contact Hadas at the form linked below.