November 15, 2009, Updated September 24, 2012

IsraelGives.org has collected more than $400,000 for Israeli non-profits in its first few months of operation, becoming Israel’s largest online fundraising portal and the first site to accept online donations to any of Israel’s 26,000 registered non-profit organizations. The donation website announced its public launch on November 11.

Along with its Hebrew counterpart IsraelToremet.org, IsraelGives allows users in Israel and around the world to learn about and donate to Israel’s non-profit organizations. The site opens access to online micro-donations from regular Israelis and supporters of Israel around the world.

It also removes the barriers to Internet fundraising that non-profits face, as it is free to join, completely bilingual and allows organizations to collect tax-exempt donations in both Israeli shekels and US dollars.

IsraelGives encourages transparency among non-profits, who are ranked higher as they submit more information about themselves, and can use the site to send regular updates to their supporters.

Founder Yonatan Ben-Dor says, “The world needs to know about the hundreds of thousands of people and non-profit organizations working to make Israel a better place – that’s the picture of this country that has been hidden for too long… “

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