Hope is Mandatory is a for-purpose organization hoping to make a big impact and a meaningful difference by supporting hostages and their families. While we are currently hoping to raise additional funds, to date we have raised close to $100,000 and donated those funds directly to hostage families.

Hope is Mandatory was founded shortly after October 7, 2023. I noticed that most if not all advocacy and fundraising was focused on benefitting Israel and the IDF, and combating antisemitism. I realized that the hostages and their families were not the priority they deserved and needed to be. I and others began by advocating online and offline as we had all been asked by the families to do. Along with spreading awareness by consistently sharing names, faces and stories of hostages, we contact local representatives, as well as the U.S. president and Prime Minister Netanyahu. We will continue this until every hostage is reunited with their loved ones, and we encourage others to do the same.

In July 2024 we extended our reach with a few small events that helped raise funds. Shortly after, we began the formal process of becoming a 501(c)(3). We are very new and very small, despite the needs of those we help being tremendous and long-term. All our work is currently being done on a volunteer basis.

Hope is a verb. An action. It is not a passive feeling but rather an intent to take concrete steps, to take action towards desired goals. In this case, the goal is doing our part to advocate for and help hostages and their families.

While we welcome private inquiries and are fully transparent, we do not publicly share the names of the hostages or families we have helped, nor do we share their images or create videos with their stories as a way to generate donations. Part of how we understand and align with giving and philanthropy is that it is meant to be done in the purest ways, with humility. While it certainly makes fundraising more challenging, it is of the utmost importance for us to get it right and to do right by the people we help. For our organization, that means honoring and maintaining the privacy of those we help as noted on our website. It sets us apart. What also makes us different is that we are the only organization focusing on hostages and their families. We help by directly depositing funds to them. We understand that their needs will likely be long-term, even those whose loved ones do not or did not return to them alive. We hope to raise needed funds so that we can be around to help as many families as we can, as long as needed.

We have learned that having a family member as a hostage does not necessarily mean that financial assistance is needed. There are families who have their own campaigns that they started themselves. We help those in need and those who have not asked for help publicly on their own. What many people do not realize is that in addition to the emotional and physical needs, many family members of hostages have not worked since October 7, 2023. They have been advocating full-time for their loved ones. Additionally, many hostages are the breadwinners of their family.

Our current goal is to raise $1.5 million to contribute to helping hostages and their families as best we can. We do this through research and vetting the families we already know, as well as those we hear are in need, and we connect with them directly. We understand what their needs are and make our donations based on what we learn.

If you’d like to donate to our current campaign, please visit www.hopeismandatory.com