An Israeli organization is using the tricks and tools that have led to success for Israeli start-ups, to narrow the gap between the country's haves and have-nots.
(By David Halevi)
There's a distressingly widening gap in Israel - between the haves and have-nots, between the folks at the top of the economic ladder and those further down. It's an unhealthy situation, asserts Daphna Murvitz, director of Israel Ventures Network (IVN) - a unique organization that aims to bridge the gap between the "two Israels" by employing strategies that have transformed the country into a high-tech tiger in the social action sphere.
Building strength by investing in entrepreneurship through hands-on venture philanthropy is what the IVN is all about. Entrepreneurs from some of Israel's most successful companies - including Benny Levin, founder of NICE Systems, Ofer Shainberg of Concord Ventures, Ofer Timor of Delta Ventures, and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat - are now, or have been, mentors for companies that received assistance from IVN.
"IVN was started by some of the most important entrepreneurs in Israel in order to bring management knowhow to organizations that seek to have an impact on society," Murvitz explains.
And many of these organizations were started by and for groups and populations that are definitely not in the upper echelons of society, relates Murvitz, clarifying that "this is not about the successful entrepreneurs 'going down to the people' to share their wisdom… - no one is on a pedestal. They take as much from the communities as they give." In that way, says Murvitz, minds meet, making Israeli society stronger.
Teaching sustainability
"We work in several ways to assist social service organizations to bring their visions from concept to reality," explains Murvitz. "Volunteers from the high-tech and business world bring their business and entrepreneurial skills to organizations, teaching them how to build self-sustaining organizations that can survive in the long-term - especially important now, with donations harder to come by as a result of the recession."
This current model is a change from the way IVN operated just a few years ago, when it was more involved in raising money for organizations and helping them to get off the ground. Instead, IVN now teaches their clients how to finance themselves, using innovative methods to raise money that can be self-sustaining, as opposed to giving them a one-time donation.
Regardless of the funding model, IVN has very specific criteria for the kinds of organizations it works with. Murvitz says: "We want ideas and projects that can eventually be adapted to work on a larger scale or that can be duplicated by others." For example, a jobs program that was started in the north after the 2006 Lebanon war by a private group, organized with help from IVN, developed a model that was so successful it was eventually taken over by regional government - and a similar program was instituted later in the Negev in the south.
"Programs like that, which can be replicated and expanded on a large scale - often by government - are the kind of programs IVN is looking for," Murvitz declares. In all cases, IVN seeks organizations that will have an impact on the community - creating jobs, and otherwise helping to foster an atmosphere of economic growth.
From high-tech to prayer shawls
Indeed, IVN has helped organizations that have taken on some of the most hard-to-crack problems in Israeli society. For example, it was instrumental in building a group that trains Ethiopian immigrants for tech jobs. In six years of operation, Tech-Career has placed graduates in jobs throughout Israel's high-tech 'Silicon Wadi' companies. According to Tech-Career director Asher Elias, himself the son of Ethiopian immigrants, "all those who have gone through the course are working at well-paying jobs, mostly in programming. Some are making as much as NIS 20,000 a month."
That's remarkable for members of an immigrant community coming from a lifestyle and background so different from those of a modern, high-tech society. Now, as a mature 'start-up' training program, with the tools it needs to manage itself and raise funds for its training and job placement efforts, Tech-Career is considered a successful 'graduate' of IVN.
IVN currently works with organizations from a diverse spectrum of Israeli society. For example, there's Mishkan Hatchelet, which specializes in manufacturing prayer shawls (tallitot) and related items. The company is located in Beersheba, one of the fastest-growing cities in Israel as well as one of the poorest, with much of the population comprised of new immigrants, including many Ethiopian and Soviet Jews who have arrived in recent years.
While jobs tend to be few and far between for many of these immigrants, Mishkan Hatchelet is providing employment for more than 70 people in the area. Like other IVN clients, Mishkan Hatchelet is being mentored by a top executive (in this case, Ron Moritz, a 25-year veteran of companies like Symantec and Microsoft, who guides the organization in setting business policy, marketing its products, manufacturing efficiency - in short, everything the company will need to stand on its own two feet, expand its operations and provide more work in a job-starved region.
Entrepreneurial innovation for social impact
The strategy is successful with non-profits as well, Murvitz recounts. "One of our clients, Click-Savi, finds work for elderly people, including some who are housebound, making crafts, greeting cards, magnets, mobiles, and many other items. The workers enjoy having a sense of accomplishment, as well as the companionship of their fellow workers."
The organization sells the products in a retail store and on the Internet, and the money earned goes toward the running of other programs for the elderly, including social clubs, a day care center for disabled seniors, an occupational therapy program, and much more. A film made about a women's theater group at one of the senior's clubs can be viewed at the Culture Unplugged website.
Once again, IVN's impact is felt on the bottom line. "With the recession, the pie of donations to groups like this is smaller, so we see entrepreneurial innovation - using the tools of the marketplace to make a social impact - as the way to not only support groups like Click-Savi, but to ensure that they prosper," Murvitz relates.
"Instead of shrinking their services in response to smaller contributions, Click-Savi and many other groups have, thanks to the mentoring and guidance of IVN, been able to expand their services, learning how to manage themselves and develop markets for their products and services, with the income and profits plowed back into the organization to create even greater social impact," she adds.
Other clients include a group helping Bedouin women to commercialize their traditional weaving skills, a website that helps to match employers with job seekers, and a group that transforms organic garbage into high-quality compost.
Murvitz says that the beauty of IVN is that as each of these groups works with populations in need of help, IVN provides them with the tools they need to keep themselves in business, doing what they do best - which is helping their clients.
In a world where the 'cycle' is usually a vicious one, IVN's methods and strategies are helping to develop a much more positive social cycle - where the tricks and tools that have made so many Israeli businesses successful are now bringing that same success to Israel's less-fortunate, via the social service organizations dedicated to their welfare.
