(Courtesy of My Tzedakah Fund) It’s about time to disrupt the status quo with our tzedaka and community philanthropy.

Tzedaka is one of the most fundamental parts of being a Jew. The Hebrew word for “giving,” natan, is a palindrome, teaching us that giving charity is a unique experience where the donors benefit from the act of giving just as much as the recipient. Tzedaka doesn’t just help the receiver, it transforms the giver. Tzedaka is more than just giving your pocket change or from your bank account; true tzedaka requires an open heart.

But the unfortunate reality is that for most of us, current tzedaka opportunities feel inauthentic and the act of giving becomes burdensome. Why?

Jewish nonprofit fundraising efforts are chaotic—many rely on guilt and pressure. Capitalizing on Jewish holidays and obligations, donors are bombarded with the ask, giving their tzedaka without intention, without heart. These traditional efforts ignore entire generations of givers to whom these methods are largely unengaging. One-time donations are momentarily impactful, but leave the donor disconnected from the act of giving, from true tzedaka. What crowdsourced campaigns get right is that they capitalize on impulsive social giving, but they miss the major potential of turning an impulse gift into a lifelong donor and ambassador—becoming part of the donor’s life and legacy.

It’s time we revolutionize this entire process. Modern Jewish donors, demanding more sophistication and more transparency, are looking for ways to impact change. The Jewish community needs to take examples from other industries for best practices when it comes to engaging a wider audience. Micro donations have proven successful with ideas like Macy’s and Domino’s raising millions of dollars through “round-up” efforts and Amazon Smile encouraging all of us to “be a part of something bigger,” raising over $286 million. President Obama’s famous 2008 campaign revolutionized political fundraising. Not only did the campaign prove unequivocally the power behind micro donations, but it created a generation of ambassadors for the cause as well as learned the tools to actively engage users and effectively solicit repeat donations. In January 2008, Obama raised $28 million online, with 90% of the funds coming from smaller donations. Most importantly, the success of the campaign freed him up to focus on more important work.

Yet, many nonprofits struggle to elicit and retain micro donations, as some studies show that only 20-45% of donors donate to a cause more than once.

Launched in September 2020, MyTzedakah is trying to create a new generation of ideological and intentional donors. Their innovative platform allows donors to create their own fully customizable charitable portfolios and automate their giving to all the causes that align with their values on a monthly recurring basis. Donors are empowered to both choose causes they know and love, and simultaneously learn about new causes they’ve never heard of. They select as many nonprofits as they want, add them to their portfolio, and then set their donation on a monthly basis. The average donor on MyTzedakah donates $180 a month to their portfolio of six to seven global causes.

MyTzedakah donors are making their charitable choices in moments of calm—intentionally committing to the charities that align with who they are, ensuring that their tzedaka, their ma’aser, is personal and thoughtful.

Our goal at MyTzedakah is to enable donors to get into the habit of authentic, consistent and sustaining tzedaka giving, to be ideologically committed to charities all year long. We want donors to put their hearts and souls into their portfolios, creating charitable legacies that they can be proud of. There will be no such thing as relying on the top 5% of wealthy individuals to sustain the charities of the world, no more urgent and guilt-filled fundraising campaigns—tzedaka will be democratized, with all of us contributing what we can, impactfully and intentionally.

MyTzedakah’s vision is authentic, disruptive and sorely needed in the Jewish philanthropic world. And together, we’re going to be the ones to change the game.

Be a game changer; make your monthly fund today: https://mytzedakah.com.