I am always struck by the number of Israeli charities that depend…. really depend on volunteers. A quick search of PEF charities that include “volunteer” in their description comes up with over 40 entries. We always ask amutot whether their Israeli donor-base is growing, but lately we also ask about growth in their their volunteer base.
A recent study regarding volunteerism in Israel was not complimentary and countered my intuitive and anecdotal evidence. During a meeting with Ahuva Yanai from Matan i asked her to share her perspective and share it below as a guest post.
Geoffrey
We should try harder.
A survey conducted last month by Matan-Investing In The Community was published in” The Marker“, a widely read newspaper concentrating on economics. Two of the questions were: do you donate to any kind of amutah and if you volunteer in an amutah or any other social organization/project? 40% replied that they donate to an amutah and 82% responded that they do not volunteer in any kind of framework. This statistic corresponds exactly to the information published by the Israeli government’s Central Bureau of Statistics in 2012.
I think that the low percentage of volunteers is due to the fact that Israelis volunteer in their immediate environment and don’t consider that to be volunteering. Even those serving in the military reserves don’t consider themselves as volunteers. Therefore, the percentage of volunteers is likely to be considerably higher although we have some way yet to go to improve the situation.
Gallop, which conducted a similar survey internationally, found Israel to be in 36th place among 150 countries. Not a very high position.
Statistics from the US show that volunteering is double the figure in Israel and that donations from businesses are higher than those in Israel. Despite these various surveys I remain optimistic. Matan (United Way Israel) has for the last 13 years encouraged philanthropy in Israel both in terms of money and in-kind in addition to volunteering. In all ways of investing in the community we can see significant changes. Personal involvement by each individual or business is now the expected social norm and an integral part of the dialogue. According to research, young academics are volunteering more and this increases when there is the possibility of improving the socio-economic situation. Volunteering is becoming, more and more, an important value that represents the social consideration and, accordingly, states that one is successful if one invests in the community and is aware and active in that community.
We see in the business world the increase of volunteerism together with funds or services in-kind which reflects a great deal more than 10 years ago but still less than desired. Then the question in the Israeli business world was whether to invest in the community. This was followed by how to invest in the community and today the question is how to involve stake holders and the various parties more in the community both in terms of funding and personal volunteering. I know that throughout the years that Israel’s socio-economic state, high taxation and military service has created a feeling that there is no room left for additional contributions. However, our contact with thousands of employees who donate and volunteer, with private donors in Israel reinforces our view that this contention is irrelevant for the greater part amongst the civilian population in Israel. There still remains the persistent question of the role of government responsibility. This subject demands separate attention. The conflict between the functions of government and civil society as a whole is now the main topic as was highlighted during the 2011 summer demonstrations.
Ahuva Yanai | CEO | Matan