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HERITAGE FLORIDA JEWISH NEWS, JANUARY 31, 2014
A growing movement of corporate philanthropy
Children participating in an educational activity with JVP Community, a nonprofit
founded by the Israeli high-tech entrepreneur Erel Maryalit.
By Ben Sales
TEL AVIV (JTA)-- When
the Israeli mobile maps start-
up Waze accepted a buyout
from Google for more than
$1 billion in June, each of
the company's 100 employees
walked away with an average
of $1.2 million from the sale.
An even bigger check,
though, went to Baruch
Lipner, a Canadian Israeli who
hasn'tworked in the high-tech
or finance industries for a
decade. The acquisition put
$1.5 million on his desk.
A veteran of the venture
capital world, Lipner is now
the sole employee of Tmura,
a nonprofit that pushes Israeli
start-ups to donate stock op-
tions to charity. If any of the
donating nonprofits merges,
goes public or is bought,
Tmura cashes in the options
and distributes the money to
Israeli youth and educational
charities. If the start-up fails,
Tmura carries none of the risk.
Even though Tmura owned
less than 1 percent of Waze,
the record-breaking deal
made 2013 a banner year for
Tmura, comprising approxi-
mately three-quarters of the
$2 million it raised.
"Our small fraction of a per-
cent was worth a lot of money
very quickly," Lipner said.
"A lot of the entrepreneurs
running these companies are
good people who are happy
to help."
Waze wasn't the only Israeli
company giving back in 2013.
As the country's economy
has grown in recent years,
experts and corporate advis-
ers are seeing a steady uptick
in corporate donations and a
growing culture of corporate
responsibility.
Israeli corporate philan-
thropy experienced a nearly
sevenfold jump between 1998
and 2008--from 89 million
shekels, or about $25 million,
to 600 million shekels, or
about $172 million--accord-
ing to Hebrew University's
Center for the Study of Phi-
lanthropy. More recent data
isn't available, but observers
say the upward trend has
continued.
Good Vision, an Israeli
corporate social responsibil-
ity consultancy that counts
El Al Israel Airlines and Bank
Leumi among its 25 clients,
prepared reports for three
companies on corporate giv-
ing last year. Now it is writing
10. Of the 320 companies
partnering with Tmura, 54
donated options in 2013.
According to the 2013
Maala Index, which measures
Israeli corporate giving, the
82 companies that reported
giving gave about 1 percent
of their profits to charity, a
rate similar to the American
corporate giving average.
Maala CEO Momo Mahadav
says the percentage has risen
only slightly since 2008, but
that the number of companies
reporting data has nearly
doubled.
"If we look at the last 10
years, there is a critical mass
of Israeli companies that are
committed and regard giving
to the community as one of
the things they should do,"
Mahadav told JTA. "The bad
news is that that critical mass
is about a third of the large
companies in Israel. Two-
thirds are less committed."
Good Vision CEO Ivri
Verbin says corporate social
responsibility goes beyond
writing a check. He notes that
most Israeli companies urge
their employees to make in-
kind donations by doing pro-
bono work or volunteering
with nonprofits--a reflection
of what some say is an Israeli
reluctance to donate in cash.
Many Israelis feel burdened
by high taxes, Verbin says, but
they're happy to lend a hand.
"It's not enough to give
money," he said. "It's much
more important to be honest,
to be responsible. In Israel it's
easy because even the CEOs
like their employees to vol-
unteer."
Good Vision aims to pair its
clientcompanieswith charities
that could benefit from their
services. The leading Israeli
insulin manufacturer Novo
Nordisk, for example, joined
with the Israeli Cycling Federa-
tion to fund a bicycle program
for Israeli youth because cycling
helps prevent diabetes.
Asimilar logic inspired JVP
Community, a nonprofit cre-
ated by Erel Margalit, founder
of the venture capital firm Je-
rusalem Venture Partners. By
funding youth programming
and educational initiatives
in poor Jerusalem neighbor-
hoods, JVP Community hopes
to foster social entrepreneur-
ship that will complement
the firm's encouragement of
Israeli business.
"We tell the kids about
high-tech to make them part
of the start-up nation," said
JVP Community CEO Yair
Zaafrany. "They don't have
opportunities. They want to
be soccer players, which they
can't achieve, or bus drivers or
barbers. We want to give them
more opportunities, and the
connection with JVP opens
that world for them."
Founded in 2002, the non-
profit receives a quarter of its
budget from JVP. Employees
of JVP volunteer in the youth
programs and the participants
are brought to visit the firm's
offices. Other start-ups fund-
ed by JVP also have donated to
the nonprofit through Tmura.
In recent years, several
professionals say, the biggest
challenge has been teaching
Israeli companies the value of
organized giving. But as more
and more corporations have
increased their charitable
work, Lipner expects other
companies to follow suit.
"When we first started to
pitch the model to give op-
tions to charity, it was an
educational project," Lipner
said."Once we started making
real money, the story started
to change."
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