$1.0M in expenses

Infrastructure for the pro-democracy movement alongside our work to safeguard democracy and human and civil rights, over the last decade NIF has invested in building up and sustaining the infrastructure required for the long-term survival of israeli democracy. This work focuses on three areas: public mobilization; creating new vision, ideas, and policies; and leadership development. Selected impacts include: securing funds for early childhood education: when daycare subsidies were withheld from yeshiva students who defied their obligation to enlist in the army, the labor ministry blocked the release of these funds to all beneficiaries. A high court petition by the berl katznelson foundation subsequently forced the government to release state funds for these subsidies. The court ruled that the subsidies cannot be used as a bargaining CHIP and has moved to ensure that the 74,000 families who rely on them can access these funds. Cultivating young progressive leadership: hamigdalor, a program that provides progressive educational content for informal educational frameworks, launched collaborations with large mainstream youth movements such as israel's national scouts movement, comprising more than 80,000 members. Such partnerships mark a significant step toward legitimizing democratic values across broad sectors of israeli society.

$2.4M in expenses

Seizing the moment: a vision of peace and security NIF's seizing the moment program combines two strategies: 1) building support for a diplomatic solution to the israeli-palestinian conflict and advancing a vision for israel's future that is based on equality, democracy, and justice, and 2) blocking actions that further entrench the occupation and the settlement enterprise and create conditions that make peace unachievable. The first (building) strategy consists of support for think tanks that are developing concrete plans and policy proposals to bring about a negotiated resolution to the conflict and conducting advocacy work. The second (blocking or anti-occupation) strategy involves thwarting negative developments in the occupied palestinian territories (opt), such as de facto annexation of parts of the west bank, the expulsion of palestinians from west bank villages, and soaring settler violence. Selected impacts include: reviving the peace movement: NIF has played a significant role in reviving the peace movement through the it's time peace coalition. Comprised of over 60 civil society organizations, it's time emerged as a formal coalition following the success of its inaugural pro-peace rally on july 1, 2024. The coalition's goals include creating broad public support base for an israeli-palestinian agreement, strengthening leaders who are talking about peace, and putting a negotiated resolution on the public agenda. Devising a peace plan: grantees the berl katznelson foundation and mitvim institute: the israeli institute for regional foreign policies continued developing the "the israeli initiative"-a policy proposal charting a path to end the war and lay the groundwork for a negotiated peace between israel and the palestinians.

$1.8M in expenses

Safeguarding civil rights and democracy the civil rights and democracy sphere remains a core focus of NIF's work and is led by the efforts NIF's flagship grantee, the association for civil rights in israel (acri), and adalah: the legal center for arab minority rights in israel, as well as new initiatives that NIF established to respond to the myriad threats to freedom of expression and freedom of protest. NIF launched the civil society protection hub in 2023 to combat government threats against ngos and activists. The hub continues to serve as a clearinghouse for attacks against individuals or ngos and connects them to an array of NIF-funded services (including legal aid, resilience training, enhanced cybersecurity, mental health and security support, and customized support for activists in the west bank). It has helped more than 160 individuals and organizations, providing legal assistance to protesters who were arrested, thwarting attacks against activists on digital forums, and supporting activists in the west bank working to safeguard palestinian human rights. The hub also engages in proactive litigation and other actions against extremists threatening activists. Selected impacts include: ensuring equal participation in student government on campus: in december 2024, the hub's legal team provided counsel to the chapter of omdim beyachad-naqif ma'am (standing together) at the technion-israel institute of technology after its members were disqualified from running for student government, purportedly amid a broader campaign on campus to silence arab voices. Based on the hub's advice, the students petitioned the northern district court, prompting a ruling enabling the standing together candidates to run and ultimately win a quarter of the seats. Defending filmmakers' freedom of speech: in november 2024, the hub helped ensure the screening of the documentary film 1948 - remember, remember not, despite government efforts to censor the film for allegedly "slandering the state of israel and its soldiers." the hub led a public relations campaign which demonstrated that the efforts to censor the film were anti-democratic, leading to a sympathetic piece on the principal newscast of the mainstream channel 12. Additionally, following the hub's legal work, the culture ministry's film council acknowledged that it was not authorized to censor private screenings, setting a positive precedent.

$1.8M in expenses

Equality and partnership in the negev this program will convene jewish and bedouin residents of the negev in a regional partnership. The goal is to rehabilitate the negev, in the aftermath of october 7 and the war, based on the principles of equal resource allocation; positive relations between jews and arabs; and mutual respect and shared responsibility. Selected impacts include: making the south safer: in a landmark decision following advocacy by sikkuy-aufoq: for a shared and equal society and the regional council of unrecognized villages, the national planning authority issued a directive that allows structures used as schools and welfare services in unrecognized bedouin villages to be fortified with shelters or safe rooms. Supporting bedouin villages in the negev: in cooperation with partner organizations and technion students, the regional council of unrecognized villages launched an app that maps bedouin villages where the government has not made good on its commitments to service provision. This information will enable local leaders and activists to advocate for local rights with stronger, more precise data.

$37.3M in expenses

"Other" In addition to the programs outlined above, NIF also provides core grants to organizations that carry out important work outside of the aforementioned categories, as well as rapid response grants to contend with emerging threats or leverage unique opportunities for social change. Examples of core grants include: Tebeka - Equality & Justice for Ethiopian Israelis advances the rights of Ethiopian-Israelis and combats racism against this community. Tebeka runs a legal hotline for Ethiopian Israeli victims of racism, files lawsuits against individuals and entities that treat members of the Ethiopian community in a racist way and promotes policy changes aimed at preventing racism. Joint Lobbyist for Refugee Aid Organization supports a joint lobbyist working in coordination with the major refugee rights organizations to promote a fair and humane policy for asylum seekers in Israel. Tag Meir - Light Tag is a coalition comprising over 50 organizations from across the religious-secular spectrum, Tag Meir works to combat "price-tag" attacks and hate crimes and weaken the extremist religious forces that incite and encourage violence against religious minorities in Israel. Examples of rapid response grants include: Alsirag: Regional Council for Unrecognized Negev Arab Villages - to provide a temporary solution for residents of the unrecognized Bedouin village of Wadi Al-Khalil, who were left homeless following the razing of their village. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum - for a public campaign to increase public support for a hostage deal and to emphasize the urgency of reaching such a deal. The Aguda - The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel - for emergency action by the Asylum-Seekers' Department of the Aguda and HIAS to help undocumented gay Palestinian asylum seekers who have fled to Israel to escape persecution due to their sexual/gender identity. Project Violence - A-Limut - to support this public database that collects reports, testimonies, and visual documentation of cases of violence against protesters. The organization works to ensure the freedom of protest in Israel and provides emotional support, media assistance, and legal advice to demonstrators. Union of Journalists in Israel - for a public campaign against the closure of the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) and against other measures the government is adopting to limit the independence of the media in Israel.

$1.7M in expenses

Nasij: bolstering palestinian-israel civil society nasij ("tapestry" in arabic) seeks to invigorate and empower palestinian-israeli civil society, so that it can better address the problems facing arab communities. We are providing select organizations, social entrepreneurs, and activists with comprehensive support in the form of NIF grants and capacity building. Over three years, this program will target three groups through dedicated tracks: fledgling initiatives or organizations; mid-size organizations; and young leaders. Nasij aims to jumpstart the capacities of ngos and activists to create stronger palestinian-israeli civic leadership that can in turn better advocate for the community's needs. Selected impacts include: the fourth cohort of rawabit ("connections"), nasij's leadership course for young palestinian-israelis, launched in november 2024 with 16 participants. Rawabit imparts participants with skills and knowledge to effect social change and guides them in exploring their palestinian-israeli identity. High demand for the program and the excellent pool of applicants show that the course has addressed an important need.

$927K in expenses

Jewish-arab partnership NIF recognizes that the only path forward for a democratic israel is through the creation of a true partnership between jewish and palestinian israelis. That is why we have invested in initiatives that foster cooperation on the local and national levels, that educate toward tolerance and mutual responsibility, that create greater equity in health care and media representation, and that combat racism, extremism, and incitement against israel's palestinian minority. Selected impacts include: highlighting partnership during wartime: in an effort to keep jewish-arab solidarity visible and central to public discourse, and with support from an NIF rapid response grant, have you seen the horizon lately? Produced a series of videos highlighting jewish-arab partnership on october 7 and in the wake of the war. Those videos can be viewed in english, hebrew, and arabic, and have garnered millions of views across social media platforms. Building the next generation of jewish-arab partnership: as part of its education series, ajeec-nisped (arab-jewish center for equality, empowerment, and cooperation - negev institute for strategies of peace and economic development) brought together 120 fourth and fifth grade students from the bedouin village of rahma and the jewish town of yeruham. The event included activities for both children and their families, as well as the general public. The children participated in outdoor activities, circus workshops, and discussion circles led by participants in ajeec's gap-year program.

$544K in expenses

Gender equality & religious freedom NIF works to safeguard the civil rights of women and the lgbtq+ community as part of its ongoing social change work. Selected impacts include: celebrating pride in the negev: supported in part by an NIF rapid response grant, lgbtq+ activists and organizations held a pride conference and the fourth annual pride parade in the southern town of mitzpe ramon in 2024. Hundreds of people participated in the parade and conference in a demonstration of residents' commitment to progressive values. Keeping women in basketball: after a campaign by israel hofsheet, the governing body of the israeli basketball association has ruled that the bylaws must be amended to prohibit the arbitrary exclusion of female players on religious grounds. This change resulted from a three-year campaign, ending the practice of benching female players when mixed teams play teams with religious players.

$107K in expenses

Contending with crime and violence in arab society NIF is a key partner in a three-year pilot program aimed at combating crime and violence in arab society. Crime and violence, along with police neglect of such crimes, affects all aspects of the daily lives of arab citizens. The forum raised nis 3 million (more than $830,000) in 2024, and NIF donated $250,000 to the project. With these communal funds, the forum has supported the staffing of a new arab headquarters for addressing crime and violence (operating under the auspices of NIF grantee national committee for heads of arab local authorities). It will coordinate much of the work on the ground and convene experts to formulate data-driven interventions that can be carried out by local authorities and civil society organizations. Select program partners will receive NIF grants and media training as well as capacity-building consultation.