The True Meaning of Charidy

Dear Anash—family, friends and neighbors,

Over the past two years, Charidy has matured from a fascinating phenomenon to a proven and powerful new reality in fundraising. Our platform has helped raise more than $60,000,000 from 80,000 donors for 520 Mosdos. Most of these organizations have established Charidy as a part of their annual fundraising strategies, many on their second or third annual campaigns.

And while everyone is impressed, we recognize that among Anash, the platform is now a common day occurrence. On some days, it feels like every fifth post on Facebook is campaign-related—especially this month of December when 25% of all year-round donations are made. Yes, Charidy is taking over your newsfeeds.

As someone who’s been with Charidy from almost the very beginning, I appreciate this chance to pull the screen back on this platform and take a look at what is really happening here.

In the traditional consumer market, it used to take huge investment and risk to design, produce and market a product. Only the top global companies could afford to dream big. And only the wealthiest investors could afford to invest in a business idea or product they believed in.

Beginning in 2008, with the launch of Indiegogo, consumers gained unprecedented control of the products they enjoy and the companies they invest in. Today, products that we see on the shelves of Target and Walmart were dreamed up yesterday by an 18-year-old entrepreneur in her basement. This market shift was made possible by the power of crowdfunding and small-dollar donations.

(Even the laws have changed to acknowledge this reality. Today, a private investor without accreditation can legally and proudly become an early shareholder in a multi-billion-dollar industry.)

With sites such as GoFundMe, this phenomenon expanded to personal need funding: in the past, a person saddled with major medical expenses had to fight with insurance, knock on doors or complete endless applications from public-charity organizations. Today, those funds are raised in days by caring friends and family, and used in their entirety by the deserving recipient.

These two platforms and over 500 others like them have successfully harnessed the power of the public to solve age-old problems. They’ve made funding faster, smarter and far more powerful.

Today, with Charidy, founded by our CEO Yehuda Gurwitz, this phenomenon is alive and growing for the first time in our common charitable giving.

A few years back if someone would tell you: “If we could get $18 from every Lubavitcher, we could help fund every Lubavitch Mosad today”, you would think they’re dreaming. “It’s a beautiful thought, but it’s simply not possible to do,” you’d reply.

Over the past two years, you, through Charidy, have actually done it for over 500 Chabad and other Jewish organizations!

For decades we watched helplessly as nonprofits spent months planning and producing high-end fundraisers that netted just 20%, or flew around the world for a building campaign that could collapse after years of effort. We have all guiltily tossed direct-mail letters and auction catalogs in the trash, wishing there was a better way.

Today, you are the better way. What crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo have done for for-profit businesses, Charidy is doing for charity.

But we are just the medium, the technology and service. What lies behind all of this are the organizations that we love and care about, moving into a game-changing, much-improved, healthier mode of fundraising.

Because of Charidy, and the giving of thousands of people who care about causes close to them, a Shliach or educator pitches an idea to you in the morning and funds an 6-story building before Mincha! This organization can now spend the other 364 days of the year involved in it’s real “campaign”—creating a better world.

This is the power of the crowd. The power of you. Of us. Of everyone together.

We see big donors excited to give more because they know their money is doing more, and the cause they support is answerable to the entire community. As repeat-Matcher™ Yerachmeal Jacobson told me, “My donation is insured by the one-thousand $18 donors who are now equal shareholders in this project’s success.”

We see people prioritizing their giving in this way. People ask why they’d send a private envelope that goes no further than the amount of the check, that cannot complete a project or reach a goal together with the entire community.

The more successful a campaign is, the less you will be asked to participate in giving in any other way. What we’d normally be asking you door to door, day after day, is now a blip on your screen in one day.

But what do we do with the overload?

As a working-class family, my family gives maaser to our kids’ schools and our siblings’ Chabad Houses. Of course, we would also love to give to all of our community schools and even to the many worthy global Chabad projects. We’d love to give a little bit to the Chabad House in Maryland run by a Yeshiva acquaintance and to the Cheder in Los Angeles that my nephews attend.

But we certainly can’t give $100 to every hardworking moisad out there. We know that it is simply impossible to give to every campaign that you believe in and it is therefore unnerving to be asked. It’s not because you don’t want to give; you DO want to give, you just simply can’t.

This is where your personal interests are so important.

In this social media world, we are all aware of everything that our friends are up to. We live in a more connected, smaller world than ever before. So, just as you do when someone knocks on the door, or a banner blocks your screen: Be selective. If you see a campaign underway, and feel pressured to participate, you can ask yourself: Have they served me in any way? Do I know its leader and support his or her vision? Are they on my radar of causes that I would normally give to? Am I the intended client for this incredible offer? If not, we encourage you to say a mental “No, thank you,” and move right along. That’s okay!

As our non-profit partners and Matchers™ can confirm, launching responsibly is a key to our strategy. With fifteen fundraising specialists on staff, we research the donor bases for every potential campaign to see how much they could raise organically and we advise them to campaign within that range. Not how much they can squeeze from someone who is six degrees separated.

As an example: On a day last week that a Crown Heights school held a Charidy campaign, 21 Jewish organizations (mostly non-Chabad) held campaigns too. Most of us did not hear from or about them because the Anash community was not promoting them. As this platform matures and more nonprofits use it wisely, you will see more of what you love and less frequently.

Some people have wondered if the numbers are real, if matchers really come through and if your donation makes the difference. The answers are Yes, Yes and Absolutely!

Charidy verifies every matching pledge by either verifying the deposit, or by having the Matcher™ sign a document confirming his pledge. (This is a level of commitment that a nonprofit could rarely do on its own.) An unprecedented level of accountability.

When the dust settles on January 1, and year-end fundraising is behind us, we hope you look back at the estimated $60 million that you will have raised in the last 2 years—a number that would be closer to just $30 million without you. Think about the lives affected by these yeshivos, mikvahs, shuls—and the menuchas hadaas (peace of mind) you’ve given to the friends, families and organizations close to your heart.

Look at your $18 dollars that changed Lubavitch education forever. You pitched in to take Menachem Education Foundation to a completely new level in one day as an alternative to spending six months and thousands of dollars planning and advertising a Chinese Auction.

Look at your $18 that is building the 6-story Mayanot World Center at the entrance to Jerusalem, welcoming the world’s Jewish college students with the invigorating taste of Torah and Chassidus.

True, sometimes the challenges are greater and the impact less glamorous. But can you feel any less proud of the $18 that paid back-salaries for scores of teachers in one of the most relevant Mosdos in our community? And now, as practical stakeholders, don’t we feel more practically entitled to take part in the plans going forward?

Crowdfunding has vastly improved the way we do business. Investors of any size can choose to fund a product that they believe in and become a shareholder as that product develops. That revolution is coming to charitable giving for the first time, and you and I are the reason why.

Who else but Lubavitch to innovate in this way? And who else than you to be the driving force?

Ashreichem yisroel mi chamocha!

Are you ready to test me?

Today, my brother Asher is running a Charidy campaign. With his permission, I ask that you do not donate to him unless: 1) You are a member of his community; 2) You have given or considered giving to him in the past; or 3) You feel like giving a few dollars to an unknown Shliach—only today, your $10 will purchase a Jewish center for the 300 Jews of Mcallen, Texas.

We at Charidy continue to innovate every day to make our platform more productive and more targeted to each campaign’s intended donor base.

We deeply value your partnership in improving the way we all give Maaser (and maybe a little more) and the way nonprofits fundraise. And we appreciate your questions and comments on improving our world faster and better than ever!

With gratitude and blessing,
Moshe Hecht & The Charidy Team