Many organisations in Israel do vital work by focusing on a single issue. Our strength lies in taking a wider view. We combine deep experience with a long-term strategy, supporting and connecting smaller organisations so that their efforts add up to lasting change.

When you make a donation:

• We invest it in long-term strategic programmes.
• We hold a Rapid Response Pool (20% of our funds) that enables us to deliver emergency grants within 24 hours to meet urgent needs.
• We help our partners coordinate their response to rising extremism and threats to democracy.
• We provide professional, legal and mental assistance to our partners.
• We nurture emerging Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
  

Our partners must meet our funding guidelines. They must be registered not-for-profit organisations in Israel, and therefore vetted by the Israeli government. Every partner, no matter how big or small, must declare in detail how it will use NIF funding, before any grants are awarded.

NIF Israel a dedicated Evaluation Unit in-house that monitors our partners on a regular basis, to ensure that funds are being used effectively, efficiently and for the purpose for which the grant was approved.

Organisations will not be eligible for NIF grants or support if they condone violence or use violent tactics, participate in party-political activity, promote antidemocratic values or support the 1967 occupation and subsequent settlement activity.

We also refuse to fund organisations that advocate for the human rights of one group selectively over another, violate the human rights of any group or individual or reject the principle of universal human rights. Racist or discriminatory language is unacceptable in any context.

Since 1979, New Israel Fund has empowered Israelis and Palestinians to defend democracy and stand up for a fair and just society for all.

NIF has provided more than $450 million (including £50 million from the UK) to more than 900 grassroots organisations working to defend democracy and human rights.

In the aftermath of the horrifying attacks on 7 October, NIF’s emergency response provided over £5 million towards housing, education and mental health aid to tens of thousands of Jews and Arabs in the Negev.

Our Gaza humanitarian appeal raised £2.3 million for Clean Shelter and World Central Kitchen delivering food, water and hygiene products to civilians in Gaza.

NIF has nurtured many of Israel’s best-known and most impactful civil rights organisations, including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Israel Women’s Network, Adalah: the Legal Center for the Arab Minority and Bizchut: the Human Rights Center for People with Disabilities.

Many organisations do vital work by focusing on a single issue. Our strength lies in taking a wider view. We combine deep experience with a long-term strategy, supporting and connecting smaller organisations so that their efforts add up to lasting change.

Moreover, rather than providing social services to Israel’s disadvantaged communities, we empower marginalised Israelis and Palestinians to organise and speak for themselves – and to effect long-lasting change.

Since 40 years, NIF has been a significant driver of social change in Israel, bringing previously neglected issues to the forefront of national attention. NIF-funded organisations have changed laws, set up support groups, trained leaders and raised awareness on a range of social issues.

Almost every significant organisation working for justice, equality and democracy in Israel was supported by NIF at some point during its evolution.

We and our partners are active across the borders of 1948 Israel, in the Golan Heights and via Israeli organisations in some areas of the West Bank where our help is needed. During the Gaza War, we also supported several humanitarian aid organisations in Gaza, and we plan to continue investing in the recovery and rebuilding of Israel’s south and the Strip.

NIF UK also engages a growing community of supporters in Britain through educational and cultural events that highlight the realities of Israel today and offer a much-needed space for passionate yet respectful discussions on the changes and challenges affecting Israel, Israelis and Palestinians.

NIF was set up as a partnership between Israelis and Jewish liberals across the globe.

NIF’s global CEO, Daniel Sokatch, is based in the USA. Its executive director, Mickey Gitzin, is based in Israel. Any key decision-making, whether about strategy or funding, happens together, involving NIF Israel and NIF USA equally.

Throughout the years NIF has expanded to include branches in the UK (1996), Canada and Australia. There are now also smaller affiliates in Germany and Switzerland.

Applications for grants are made to the NIF Israel office. These applications are then reviewed by staff and by grants subcommittees, including relevant experts in each area, before being put forward for scrutiny at international board meetings.

Every partner, no matter how big or small, must declare in detail how it will use NIF funds before any grants are awarded. NIF monitors our partners on a regular basis, to ensure that funds are being used effectively, efficiently and for the purpose for which the grant was approved.

All NIF’s activities and financial statements are collated in our annual report and on our website. We aim to be fully transparent about our donors and partners and publish audited financial statements each year.

Our partners cannot always foresee what the reality in Israel will demand of them. When the unexpected happens, they need to be able to draw on additional funds at short notice.

For this reason, NIF has always had an emergency fund of 20% of its yearly budget. Civil-society organisations are able to ask for grants from this fund within 24 hours.

In the aftermath of the horrifying attacks on 7 October, NIF’s emergency response provided over £5 million towards housing, education and mental health aid to tens of thousands of Jews and Arabs in the Negev.

During the Iran war in June 2025 we raised more than £180k to provide direct support to marginalised communities affected by the war.

The New Israel Fund’s goals include defending democracy and human rights for Israelis and Palestinians alike, and advancing partnerships between Arab and Jewish leaders and communities.

NIF funds not-for-profit organisations that are registered with – and approved by – the Israeli government. This includes those that work to improve human rights and social justice in the Occupied Territories.

NIF-supported organisations have ensured that Palestinians are able to access and cultivate privately owned land beyond the separation barrier, and that Israeli soldiers are better-educated on their responsibilities to address settler violence.

In 2022, multiple NIF grantees worked together to oppose the construction of illegal outposts in the West Bank. The outposts were subsequently evacuated and dismantled.

The New Israel Fund stands for a just, safe and equal Israel. We partner with and fund Israeli organisations that deliver a fairer society for all.

Through our work, we:

• Empower minorities and marginalised people
• Defend democracy and human rights for Israelis and Palestinians
• Advance partnership between Arab and Jewish leaders and communities

Work with Arab organisations is therefore vital to realising NIF’s goals – and to achieving a stronger Israel for all.

Our recent achievements include:

• Increasing female representation in Arab municipal governments
• Persuading the University of Haifa to make its campus entirely bilingual (Hebrew and Arabic)
• Developing Arab-Jewish coalitions in mixed cities
• Deplatforming racists and supremacist organisations and combatting incitement to violence against Arabs
• Introducing a five-year, NIS 5.2 billion ($1.6 billion) socioeconomic plan for Negev Bedouin, designed in part by Bedouin local leaders

None of these would have been possible had we not been working in close partnership with Arab organisations.

Together, we are developing the ideas, leaders and strategies necessary to bolster democracy in the long term. We are able to influence national attitudes towards the occupation, and to develop policies to advance equality and justice.

‘Arab-Israeli’ used to be the default term for Israel’s Arab citizens. However, many felt that ‘Arab’ was too generic a label: it ignored their Palestinian identity and historical links to the land.

The term ‘Palestinian citizen of Israel’ locates Palestinian Arabs concretely in the land that was historically theirs. But it also makes clear the difference between those Palestinians who live in the Occupied Territories and those who are full citizens of Israel.

NIF works closely with Arab partners, and a key part of that partnership is deferring to their greater knowledge of their own communities. We therefore prefer to use the term that our partners are most comfortable with.

NIF partners with and funds Israeli organisations that defend democracy and deliver a fairer society for all. This means supporting freedom of speech and non-violent expressions of belief.

We therefore oppose any attempt to criminalise non-violent tactics, including the global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

However, we do not support the BDS movement. We believe its tactics are counterproductive, and we are concerned that BDS is used by some to undermine the existence of the state of Israel as a Jewish homeland.

We do not fund global BDS activities against Israel. Nor do we support organisations that have global BDS programmes.

However, NIF opposes the 1967 occupation and subsequent settlement activity. Gross injustices affect the lives and opportunities of Palestinians under varying degrees of Israeli control. These include limited access to land, water and electricity, detention without charge, restrictions on movement and lack of permission to build homes.

NIF funds not-for-profit organisations that are registered with – and approved by – the Israeli government. This includes those that work to improve human rights and social justice in the Occupied Territories.

We will not exclude support for organisations that lawfully discourage the purchase of goods or use of services from settlements in the Occupied Territories.

NIF recognises that extremist politicians are trying to weaken Israeli democracy by undermining the rule of law and limiting the rights of minorities.

However, we firmly oppose attempts to prosecute Israeli officials in foreign courts. Instead, we are dedicated to combatting attacks on Israeli democracy. We want to ensure that Israel retains a strong and independent judiciary, a free press and non-partisan committees of inquiry, so that Israeli leaders can be held fully accountable to the law.

The New Israel Fund does not involve itself in the specifics of the peace process. However, our goals include defending human rights for Israelis and Palestinians alike, and advancing partnerships between Arab and Jewish leaders and communities.

Gross injustices affect the lives and opportunities of Palestinians under varying degrees of Israeli control. These include limited access to land, water and electricity, detention without charge, restrictions on movement and lack of permission to build homes.

NIF is proud to support those in Israel – Jewish and Palestinian – who work relentlessly to support human rights in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

Organisations will not be eligible for NIF grants or support if they condone violence or use violent tactics, participate in party-political activity, promote antidemocratic values or support the 1967 occupation and subsequent settlement activity.

We work to influence government policy at all levels in Israel. We do not lobby in the UK or in any other countries outside Israel.

New Israel Fund UK raises money from individuals and from foundations. The vast majority of money raised through donations is transferred to Israel.

In addition, funds are spent on connecting NIF supporters with our work on the ground in Israel. This includes education and youth outreach work, as well as speaker events.

Additional costs that allow us to deliver our charitable activities include IT, payroll, administration, communications, human resources and health and safety.

Donors in the US, Canada and the UK – as well as a growing number of Israeli philanthropists – provide more than $30 million a year to cover the running costs of NIF’s operations.

NIF was set up as a partnership between a group of Israelis and a group of Jews in San Francisco. Any key decision-making, whether about strategy or funding, is still shared equally between Israel and San Francisco.

NIF has now expanded to include branches in several US cities, and these branches are involved in deciding where grants should be allocated.

NIF also has a number of overseas affiliates: in the UK, Canada and Australia, as well as newer affiliates in Germany and Switzerland. While these affiliates fully support the US and Israeli NIF leadership, they function independently.

Representatives from NIF UK attend international NIF board meetings. However, they are not involved in any decisions about how funding is allocated.

NIF partners and works with organisations that share our values. We evaluate grantees rigorously, and select them only if they share our primary aims, to:

• Empower minorities and marginalised people
• Defend democracy and human rights for Israelis and Palestinians
• Advance partnership between Arab and Jewish leaders and communities

Increasingly, extremist politicians in Israel are trying to undermine its democracy, limit religious freedom, sideline women and diminish the rights of Palestinian citizens. We therefore realise that we are fighting a prolonged war against the demise of democracy.

Much of our fundraising in the UK at the moment is focused on fighting this war. As well as tripling our emergency fund, we have created a civil-society hub to support and defend frontline activists. And we are strengthening the infrastructure necessary to defend democracy and advance equality and justice in Israel.

Our grantees must accept that both Jewish and Palestinian peoples have a right to national self-determination, and that non-Jewish citizens are entitled to full equality within a democratic Israel.

Organisations will not be eligible for NIF grants or support if they condone violence or use violent tactics, participate in party-political activity, promote antidemocratic values or support the 1967 occupation and subsequent settlement activity.

We also refuse to fund organisations that advocate for the human rights of one group selectively over another, violate the human rights of any group or individual or reject the principle of universal human rights. Racist or discriminatory language is unacceptable in any context.

NIF’s guidelines are designed to inform its grant-making, capacity-building and project decisions. These highlight three principles:

1. Respect for a multiplicity of viewpoints;
2. Transparency to grantees, donors and the public at large
3. Compliance with standards of accountability and due diligence

Criteria for Grant-Making and Support

1. Compliance with the laws of the state of Israel
2. Respect for the principles of the New Israel Fund and compliance with its policies and procedures
3. Relevance to NIF strategic priorities, including:
   • A focus on social change
   • Strengthening Israel’s democratic values and institutions
   • Missions that fall within one of NIF’s six general issue areas: human rights and democracy; shared society and combating racism; social and economic justice; religious freedom; Palestinian citizens of Israel; and New Initiatives for Democracy.
4. Nonprofit status
   • Registration as an amuta or a company for the benefit of the public;
   • Publicly available bylaws;
   • Audited financial reports;
   • Confirmation of proper accounting procedures as required by Israeli tax authorities and possession of a certificate of tax withholding at source.
   • The above eligibility requirements will not apply to individuals or coalitions requesting capacity-building services from Shatil.

Organisations that engage in the following activities will not be eligible for NIF grants or support:

1. Participate in partisan political activity
2. Promote anti-democratic values
3. Support the 1967 occupation and subsequent settlement activity
4. Violate the human rights of any group or individual, advocate human rights selectively for one group over another and/or reject the principle of the universality of human rights
5. Condone or promote violence or use violent tactics
6. Employ racist or derogatory language or designations about any group based on their religion, race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
7. Works to deny the right of the Jewish people to sovereign self-determination within Israel or to deny the rights of Palestinian or other non-Jewish citizens to full equality within a democratic Israel.
8. Engage in activities at odds with the positions, principles, or vision of the New Israel Fund.

Learn more about New Israel Fund’s Principles.

New Israel Fund is a Registered Charity, whose number is 1060081.

New Israel Fund is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales, whose number is 3296825.