Sharing Knowledge in Philanthropy

The Silo Syndrome

NGOs worldwide grapple with a set of common social ailments, yet many live in professional silos, busily reinventing the wheel. Whether due to ignorance, territoriality, or lack of resources, the end result for humanity is a waste of time and resources.

In my role as CEO of an international philanthropic foundation, I receive hundreds of grant applications annually. It never ceases to amaze me how many NGOs ask for funding to run experimental pilot programs to address what they perceive to be unmet social needs, when in fact successful models already exist. 

Breaking Out of the Silo

It is my view that NGOs do not have proprietary rights to the social welfare models they create. NGOs essentially are public agencies funded by public funds; as such, their products should be "open source" and available to the public.

The Friedberg Charitable Foundation has decided to lead by example. An NGO we support in Israel has developed a successful poverty-reduction model, and we are hereby making it "open source" to the global community. 

Background

Israel’s contribution to the global community is not limited to scientific and technological breakthroughs. Its diverse population’s trademark ingenuity is applied with equal enthusiasm to the development of public welfare programs designed to empower the disadvantaged elements of Israeli society. “Start Up Nation” creates non-profit services that are just as powerful and effective as the new businesses it spawns, and they, too, could benefit humanity.

Israel’s non-profit sector is a highly competitive environment. With a population of eight million, Israel has approximately 45,000 non-profit organizations - a ratio of 1:178. By comparison, the US population is 320 million, and there are one million public charities - a ratio of 1:320. Israeli NGOs are tightly scrutinized by a governmental regulation agency, and financial and governance documents are accessible to the public online. It is an industry in every sense.

Governmental ministries in Israel outsource the provision of many essential public services to NGOs via calls for tender, generating competing offers. Contracts are awarded to NGOs through a transparent process on the basis of expertise, good governance and access to matching funding - the government will typically provide only 50%-80% of the program’s operational costs, and the NGO has to raise the rest. Obtaining a governmental contract is the equivalent of a successful exit by a for-profit start-up - it brings the NGO financial stability and the acquirement of an industry gold-standard.

Israel’s population is extremely heterogeneous, including Jews and non-Jews from diverse ethnic, cultural and geographic backgrounds. The majority of Israelis are immigrants, or first-generation descendants of immigrants, from virtually every region in the world. The country’s largest ethnic groups has roots in North Africa.

Poverty-Reduction Programs 

Over the last two decades, Israel has drastically curtailed social benefits such as welfare support, unemployment compensation and child allowance. The income gap has widened, and today approximately 20% of the population lives below the poverty line.

Various governmental and quasi non-governmental organizations are looking to NGOs to develop an intervention model that proves effective in helping families extricate themselves from debt and poverty.

Yedidut Toronto, an Israeli NGO supported by The Friedberg Charitable Foundation, has developed a successful poverty-reduction program called Kidum (literally, “advancement / promotion”). Created in 2010, Kidum rests on three pillars: family cohesiveness, financial literacy and employment. 

 In 2014, Kidum serviced 320 families and generated the following outcomes:

• 40% of families increased their income by at least 20%
• 50% of unemployed participants obtained a job
• 27% of employed participants reported improved job conditions
• over 60% of families (in the program for 6 months or longer) closed the gap between monthly expenses and income by over $250/month

Yedidut Toronto has invested much time and money to develop this successful intervention model, and is now in the process of sharing it (at no charge) with other NGOs and communities that are engaged in empowering families to extricate themselves from debt and poverty. So far, Yedidut Toronto has shared the program with four Israeli NGOs. Some NGOs have adopted the program in its entirety and are employing it successfully to service their own beneficiaries, while others have incorporated only selected elements into their existing intervention models.

 By sharing Kidum, Yedidut Toronto will indirectly help many more people than the organization could reach on its own. And by making Kidum “open source,” the model itself will be further improved by the NGOs worldwide that adopt it partially or entirely. Wider use of the model will also generate larger volumes of data that will help to more accurately evaluate its impact.

This knowledge exchange involves sharing the intervention model manual in its entirety (at no charge); hosting international representatives in Israel to observe Kidum as well as other poverty-reduction programs for approximately two weeks; and sending Yedidut Toronto representatives abroad to provide on-site training, also for approximately two weeks.

Yedidut Toronto’s staff is multilingual and would be happy to communicate in English, Spanish, Portuguese and, of course, Hebrew.

Philanthropists or NGO professional staff who wish to find out more about this knowledge exchange can contact me at [email protected]

More importantly - let's start sharing!