OPINION: The unseen economic impact of current events on Jewish life
As British Jews rally to support Israel and global emergencies, local welfare and community services face funding shortfalls amid shifting charitable priorities
When crises break, Jews rally to lend further support to meet the challenges. It might mean charities supporting local everyday Jewish life struggle to get the necessary funds.
Major current crises affect our charitable giving priorities, as they should. When people are in acute difficulty or need, our instincts to support them ought to kick in. And the evidence we have suggests that Jews understand this clearly and adjust their giving behaviours accordingly.
There are several recent examples. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the virus was having a devastating effect on the elderly, particularly in care homes, donations to Jewish Care increased by about £5m, climbing from a total of £17.2m in the year prior to the end of March 2020, to £22.4m for the following year.
Even more strikingly, in the early stages of the war in Ukraine, donations to World Jewish Relief reached £17.8m for the year ending June 2022, climbing by over £10m compared to the previous year, as people responded to WJR’s emergency campaign.
Most recently, donations to the Community Security Trust rose from £7.8m for calendar year 2022, to £10.1m for 2023, which of course included the October 7 attacks in Israel and the subsequent rise in antisemitism in the UK. They described their 2023 results as “a level of charitable income far above any previously experienced by CST”.
Magen David Adom accounts tell a similar story. Donations in year end 2022 totalled £5.2m, a similar amount to their totals in the previous few years. However, in 2023, again largely in response to the October 7 attacks, they jumped to £16.9m.
These examples all capture the responsiveness of British Jews; their willingness to give to key Jewish charities working to support Jews in a state of crisis, trauma or difficulty, at home or abroad.
However, it is unclear whether these increases represent an increase in the overall generosity of British Jews in recent years, or a simple shift in their charitable priorities.
Or, put another way, whether people have given more overall in the midst of these crises, or whether they have given the same amounts as they did previously, but have just adjusted their giving to prioritise these specific crises over and above other causes.
Much more work is required to fully answer this question, and in all likelihood, both phenomena are happening. Yet our recent survey examining British Jewish responses to the October 7 attacks suggests that our giving priorities have changed over the past year in subtle, but important ways. Invited to select one of four charitable areas they prioritise most, 11% identified Israel charities, up from 5% two years previously. That, in itself, is unsurprising – it is clear and obvious that Israel needs our support at the moment.
Jews predominantly live their Jewish lives locally and continue to need local welfare, educational and religious services as much as ever, perhaps even more so
But it is also instructive to see what else has changed. Prioritisation of ‘general charities in the UK’ is also up, as is ‘aid for the poor’ overseas, albeit minimally so. Yet ‘Jewish charities in the UK’ appear to have taken the most significant hit.
Even though they still hold first place among these priorities, the proportion of British Jews saying these types of charities – which include major community players such as Jewish Care, Norwood, and JW3 (and JPR, of course) – has taken something of a hit.
We won’t know for sure until we have a complete picture of income for 2024, but even small shifts in this direction can significantly impact community services. Indeed, with charities facing increased costs for utilities, supplies, equipment and salaries, this could become an increasingly serious issue.
Israel needs charitable support now, more so than it has done for some time. Work involved in combating antisemitism and providing security to the community has also become an increased priority. But at the same time, Jews predominantly live their Jewish lives locally and continue to need local welfare, educational and religious services as much as ever, perhaps even more so. Indeed, these services constitute the lifeblood of Jewish life.
So, as you are thinking about where to invest your charitable funds over the coming year, don’t let the current crises blind you to more local needs – if Jews don’t prioritise them, it’s really not clear who else will.
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