ORAH grant for Ukraine
Donations bring the total funds donated by The ORAH Fund since its 2016 inception to over $1.9 million.
RELIEF for Ukraine has been added to ORAH’s growing list of funding allocations.
An out-of-cycle donation of $20,000 was made to The Joint, on an emergency basis, the investment fund – whose directors’ fees go entirely to charity – announced last Friday.
“We will actively seek additional organisations that may assist families affected by the war in Ukraine,” ORAH added.
The new donations bring the total funds donated by ORAH since its 2016 inception to over $1.9 million.
Other recent donees range from local social enterprises, to “central charities like Jewish House” and large “umbrella” organisations with a focus beyond Australia such as UIA, as ORAH co-founder and director Carole Pillemer revealed to The AJN.
New additions to ORAH’s list include Community Health Support, a new NSW-based health services support program; Friendship Bakery, a Vaucluse-based social enterprise startup of the disability-focused Friendship Circle; and an initiative to provide charitable organisations with subscriptions to Catchafire, the “skills-based volunteer matching” platform which connects not-for-profits with talent seeking to donate their time and skill. Pillemer estimated that one disability-focused organisation has already gained $60,000 worth of free services through its subscription.
That last initiative has proved particularly fruitful, said Pillemer, who estimated that One&All – an Alexandria-based hub for children with special needs to “learn to play and be active” with activities such as yoga and juicing – gained $60,000 worth of free services through its subscription.
Victoria’s Chag in a Box was a new addition to ORAH’s half-yearly allocation list, receiving nearly $8000. By its own description, the organisation aims to provide “food parcels for the vulnerable during the Jewish holidays”.
Other Victorian organisations that made the list were the Israel for Youth Foundation (CJES), and the Australian Zionist Youth Council (AZYC), each receiving $10,000; as well as Camp Gan (Chabad), and the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA).
So what does ORAH look for, in a potential donee?
“We focus on disadvantage [and] growth in the community,” Pillemer said. “You’ve really got to sit down with organisations [to see] who they are helping.”
Yet ORAH also aims to be an “opportunistic” giver, added Pillemer. While some donees such as JNF and UIA are well established, there are situations involving “grassroots organisations”, such as the Australian Jewish Fertility Network, where “you’ve got to give them a go”, said Pillemer.
Pillemer spoke about the personal gratification of being involved with ORAH, when people go up to her and say, “thank you for your donation”, she said that, to her, it should really be the other way around. “I say thank you for your work in our community, because what they do is really hard.”
Speaking for the future, Pillemer added, “My next milestone will be to make $2m of donations, which will be exciting.”
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