Danni Franks at Respecs
Myisrael: one woman’s mission to reconnect UK charitable donors to Israel
By Michelle Rosenberg
Danni Franks fell in love with Israel at 13.
She’s now 43, made Aliyah in 2004 and lives with her six-year-old son Yoni in central Tel Aviv. So it’s fair to say that the love affair for the former JFS pupil is far from over.
“I always wanted to make my mark on Israel,” she says, “to do something that changes lives.”
As the founder of and driving force behind the aptly titled Myisrael, home to small but life-changing charities in Israel that fall under the radar of the UK Jewish community, it’s fair to say that her mission has been well and truly accomplished.
Myisrael, established in 2008, currently has 19 adopted charities, including food banks, a vital support group for the Jewish Ethiopian community, therapeutic horse riding for adults and children, and dental care for Jerusalem’s poorest children.
To date it’s distributed over £3 million.
“The idea starting forming after I met Caryn Green, back in 2005, just after I arrived. We chatted on a camping trip and she told me that for a job, she ran a centre for English-speaking teenagers-at-risk in Jerusalem. They helped around 1,000 kids turn their lives around each year and I loved the sound of what she did. I was shocked though, when Caryn explained how hard it is to raise what they needed to do their really important work. I was even more shocked to discover that they had never raised a penny in the UK! And why not? Because they just didn’t know how to do it. They didn’t have the resource or the know-how. When I was living in the UK, I would have LOVED to have donated my £50 to Caryn’s project (Crossroads, which we still support today) because there, it would have funded a therapy session for a kid who is estranged from his family; it could have bought a winter coat for a teenager who spends most of her time on the street; it could have made a difference. But I didn’t know that Crossroads existed. And they didn’t know how to find me.”
Danni vowed to help Crossroads and under-the-radar charities like them; to help them connect with donors in the UK and to give them a platform to tell their story.
“And I vowed to find a way to do it right,” she tells me.
“To give UK donors the choice of exactly where their money goes. And to give them piece of mind that every penny they donated was going directly to grassroots charities in Israel that had been carefully vetted and really needed their money.”
And so the idea was born.
Danni with Michal at Click
It took Danni three long and often lonely years working from her bedroom to turn the idea into a reality.
“I knew no-one in Tel Aviv. But quickly enough I found my people and would say after a couple of years, I found my place. There is a fantastic ex-pat community and we became each other’s family, celebrating Shabbat and the holidays, picking up each others’ kids, going away for weekends as families.”
(On a journalistic note, it would be remiss of me to omit from this piece that her only regret is the lack in Israel of anything vaguely resembling a Marks & Spencer. But as I can sympathise, I’m happy to let it slide).
“I worked out what I needed to do and who could help me with each part. I guess I’m resourceful. I worked out how much it would cost to set it up and approached three people I knew to fund that amount. I found a web designer and graphic designer through Tanglo (an English email community mailing).I asked a dear friend, who is an accountant, to be on my board and he registered the charity in the UK. I got the logo designed by an Israeli girl who one of my friends met whilst walking his dog.”
So far, so Israeli.
But the hard part for Danni and her fledgling endeavour was working out how to let the UK Jewish community know what they were doing.
“And getting the message across, that we would make sure that every penny they donated went somewhere good,” she adds.
Team shot at Family Nest
Setting up on her own was hugely emotionally challenging.
“I had lots of support and people involved in different parts of Myisrael, but I had very little budget to get the help I really needed and emotionally, there was no-one who got the full picture of what I was trying to do.
The Myisrael team is small and dedicated. Six mums. And all, apart from Danni, part time.
“We all work from home. We have a weekly meeting on Skype, which works really well and keeps us all in touch with what is going on.
It’s abundantly clear that Myisrael is Danni’s very personal and passionate way of giving to the country she loves.
“We let donors choose. We have the 100% promise that all their money goes to the projects, because we raise funds for our running costs separately. We vet our projects stringently and monitor them on an ongoing basis. We tell our donors how they made a difference. We come up with tailor-made initiatives to connect with young people. Like our Chanukah Campaign, Bar and Batmitzvah projects (http://www.myisraelcharity.org/support-us/barbat-mitzvah-project) ) or our Gift List (https://dans40th.myshopify.com)) Our team are totally connected to what happens on the ground in Israel. They see and hear the stories for themselves and so their passion and dedication is clear. And we launched in the digital age. So we appeal to younger donors. And we can set up emergency appeals within minutes, because we don’t have a bureaucratic structure. We know our project founders and directors. We are a source of strength to them. They can call us when they need advice, support. We know understand their needs and we work with them to make them stronger. Sometimes, they just need a friendly voice at the end of the phone. And sometimes they need money, quickly. For something unforeseen. They know we are always there for them and we’ll do whatever we can to help.”
The high points for Danni and her team are always the success stories.
“The emails from the project directors about the impact that we’ve had, about how we helped them in their mission and the impact it’s had on real lives. Like the one from Shari, the founder of the Lemonade Fund that gives grants to women who are in financial distress as they battle breast cancer. Shari calls Myisrael her Chanukah miracle. And she tells us of all the women who she’s been able to help with our support.”
The stories are equally heart-breaking and uplifting to the extent that I’m travelling to Israel in June to meet with Danni and see for myself some of the work undertaken by Myisrael.
Stay tuned.
http://www.myisraelcharity.org
Michelle Rosenberg is a writer, women’s historian and former LBC broadcaster. She was recently appointed as JMA women’s editor. Please send any relevant press releases, interview and profile opportunities to
