new york | After a five-year pilot period that was, by all accounts, an enormous success, the Birthright Israel program has entered a new phase.
It is working to ensure its sustainability, broaden its base of financial support and accommodate an explosion in the number of Jewish young adults interested in taking part.
To that end, Birthright recently launched a new foundation aimed at expanding the number of philanthropists funding the program, which over the last five years has brought nearly 80,000 Jews who have never been on a peer tour on a free trip to Israel.
When it began, Jewish communities worldwide — largely the North American Jewish federation system — the Israeli government and a group of 14 philanthropists had agreed to divide evenly the funding for the $210 million program.
According to Birthright, the federation system is giving Birthright $5 million for 2005, the Jewish Agency for Israel another $5 million, philanthropists $13 million and Israel is providing $10 million.
Although the program’s financial picture seems better than it was at the height of the intifada, it still does not allow Birthright to accommodate even half of the young North American Jews hoping to participate.