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New Israel Fund (NIF)
In 1979, a new organization was founded to focus on social and economic justice in Israel as a dramatic response to international Jewish philanthropic giving. Rather than sticking to a traditional "party line" approach, the organization challenged Israel to engage its young democratic traditions in a more vocal manner.
By the mid-1990s the New Israel Fund had made modest progress in its agenda, both politically and from a fundraising perspective. It had just raised thirteen million dollars in 1996 and was on the verge of becoming a vocal alternative to traditional Israel-focused giving in the United States.
They approached Passion Marketing to help them achieve the lofty goal of increasing its fundraising within a three-year period, establishing regional offices around the country and world.
Process
Passion Marketing took New Israel Fund through a strategic marketing process in order to identify its key goals and objectives. Among those were:
- To become a major philanthropic player influencing the Jewish community's agenda in the United States, in Israel and around the world
- To raise additional dollars, with breakthrough giving of an additional five million dollars annually within three years
- To distribute enough money on an annual basis to cause grassroots change and to transform Israeli society
Once goals were clearly defined, Passion Marketing helped them to determine their unique messaging for the marketplace.
In addition, we developed a highly targeted media plan, creating and placing ads only in places where the marketplace was already ripe for fundraising, including the New York Times and selected Jewish press around the country. These ads were agenda-oriented, raising issues that were rarely discussed among supporters of Israel, but were not so critical as to alienate the community.
At the same time, great care was taken to position the organization in concert with American and Jewish values so that their unique agenda could not be dismissed as overly radical thereby creating a unique identity and leadership position for them in the community.
Results
In year one, NIF experienced a forty percent increase in funding - going from thirteen million to seventeen million dollars two years ahead of their goal. By year two, they had doubled their donor rolls.
In addition, it became a major player in the role of American Jewish philanthropy and caused the entire communal funding platform to shift toward a more issue-oriented approach in order to compete for dollars.
They also provided the community with a new approach to support progressive issues in a way that allowed people to positively support Israel while still reserving the right to review Israeli policy and democracy critically.
Today the campaign continues with 18,000 donors contributing twenty-two million dollars annually.
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