An impact investment committee, dedicated to advancing education, employment and community development in Israel, in models that generate financial return alongside high value social impact. The profits are reinvested in additional initiatives.
The Challenge
Although an advanced country with a prosperous economy, and perhaps because of this, socio-economic disparities in the State of Israel, as well as intergenerational circles of poverty, are deepening. Complex social challenges such as educational barriers and inequalities in income and employment opportunities, which result from cultural, social, political, moral, and economic factors, require informed, long-term, and sustainable solutions that drive social change. Social initiatives that bring about such a change require in-depth understanding, planning, long-term funding, and impact management with rigorous monitoring and evaluation.
The Menomadin Foundation is a partner in the Si3 impact investment committee: A diverse portfolio of educational, employment and community development investments. Photo by: Si3; Top: Abraham Hostels
The Opportunity
Acknowledging that philanthropy alone cannot adequately address the magnitude of such increasingly diverse and complex issues, alongside its extensive strategic philanthropy involvement in Israel, the British organization UJIA established Si3, a channel dedicated to impact investing in Israel.
The Menomadin Foundation is a partner in the Si3 Investment Committee, and assists in building a diverse portfolio of educational, employment and community development investments, that generate social impact among the groups and communities most in need, alongside profits. Thus, beyond the direct benefit of these investments, they create an ever-green pool of capital, with each pound raised not only invested in an impactful venture, but also generate economic gain that is reinvested in additional ventures. The ventures are designed in replicable models, with ongoing monitoring, measurement and impact management.
Si3’s social investments better advance UJIA’s social mission to strengthen vulnerable communities in Israel, by creatively engaging funders in the UK who have not previously directed their philanthropic efforts towards Israel, enabling them the opportunity to create an extraordinary social impact through educational, employment and community development endeavors that repay the investment made in them.
