Really, I was minding my own business.

It was January 1, my wife was shopping at The Address in The American Dream Mall, and I was settled into one of those comfy sofas by the ArtScroll seforim and books niche in the back. I was reading a magazine or newspaper and people-watching.

All of a sudden I’m approached by one of the most sincere, social and outgoing people I’ve ever met in a major mall, in the middle of the day.

She tells me her name is Kyra Appel Spivak, the director of membership growth for the Daily Giving organization, which is based in New York but supports causes across the U.S. and in Israel and has attracted donors from all over this country and in 47 other countries. Daily Giving is proud of the fact that 100% of the funds they raise go to the causes they support.

She proceeds to inform me about the benefits of Daily Giving’s approach, which enables a donor to arrange to automatically give tzedekah every day, to benefit 75 worthwhile Jewish and Israeli groups under the Daily Giving umbrella. (For a list of the causes, please see: https://dailygiving.org/beneficiaries/#daily-beneficiaries-section.) The groups include Aish HaTorah, ATime, Camp HASC, Chai Lifeline, Ezer Mizion, Leket Israel, Magen David Adom, and dozens more.

Kyra’s approach piqued my interest because it was so socially confident and a bit fearless. In my experience, it’s also rather unusual.

So I shifted the conversation and started asking her questions.

I subsequently learned that she has been with the organization for over seven months and has presented a similar spiel to over 500 people in that time, with an estimated 10% success rate in person and additional sign-ups after follow-up. As someone who’s worked for or been around Jewish communal groups for decades, I found this rate of return truly remarkable, as she is enlisting donors not from vetted prospects but from strangers. I had to admire her drive, her determination and her results.

Now, without a doubt, a significant share of her success has to do with the cause she is promoting. Daily Giving has attracted over 20,000 donors who each sign up to give $1 or more a day or $365 a year to a range of groups, many of which are not as well known as others but all of which do essential work in the community.

I hope you’ll join me in my admiration of Kyra’s work and her approach. For more information about Daily Giving and to sign up, please contact Kyra at [email protected]. To sign up to be a giver, go to dailygiving.org

Harry Glazer is the Middlesex County editor of The Jewish Link. He welcomes reader feedback and can be reached at [email protected].