In 1999, with the lofty goal of bringing every young Jewish adult to Israel free of cost, the nascent Birthright Israel launched its first trip to the Jewish state. Over the next 25 years, the organization would bring over 900,000 young Jews from some 70 countries to Israel. 

Last night, at a gala marking a quarter century of activity at Manhattan’s Pier Sixty, Birthright Israel Foundation’s CEO Elias Saratovsky announced two new goals: a $900 million fundraising campaign aimed at securing the organization’s future and bringing 200,000 participants to Israel over the next five years.

The campaign has already secured more than $220 million in commitments, Saratovsky told eJewishPhilanthropy — $132 million toward its $650 million goal for trips, and $90 million toward its $250 million goal for legacy commitments.

“We have a solid foundation of gifts,” he told eJP. “We’re grateful to everyone who has given so far, and now the opportunity we have in front of us is to ask the entire Jewish community to support an organization that has impacted the entire Jewish world over the last two and a half decades.”

Alongside Jewish summer camps, Birthright trips are credited with increased connection to Israel and Jewish engagement among participants, research from Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies has found. A participant on the first Birthright Israel trip, Saratovsky also credits that experience for his own Jewish involvement. 

But at $5,000 per participant, the signature trips are also a mammoth financial undertaking, requiring both logistical mastery and a constant funding stream. (See: the organization’s efforts to quickly charter a cruise ship in order to evacuate participants who were stranded in Israel after the skies were closed during the war with Iran last June.)

Since its early days, Birthright has benefited from support from some of the Jewish community’s most prolific donors — chief among them Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt, as well as Sheldon and Dr. Miriam Adelson, who donated half a billion to the organization over 15 years; following Sheldon Adelson’s death in 2021, the family scaled back its contributions, encouraging other donors to fill the gap. 

Many of those supporters — representing nearly every major Jewish foundation and individual donor family — turned out for the Manhattan gala — a sprawling, candlelit affair packed to capacity. Attended by nearly 1,000 trip alumni, along with Jewish professionals and donors, Lynn Schusterman was honored for her contribution to the project, delivering a speech about the love that her late husband, Charles, had for Israel and the butterfly effect she’s witnessed since the program launched. 

“Each of you in this room has the power and the responsibility to decide how the story of Israel and the Jewish people unfolds. When my late husband, Charlie, passed away, I had this idea of creating what I call ‘the Charlie’ — young people who had gone on Birthright, got past their community and [gave] back from what they had learned and the impact of Birthright,” said Schusterman. 

The event was emceed by Jonah Platt. Schusterman’s daughter, Stacy, and the co-president of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Lisa Eisen, co-chaired the event. Other speakers included Birthright Israel cofounder Charles Bronfman, Saratovsky and Birthright Israel CEO Gidi Mark.  

“This is a room filled with leaders, with dreamers, with community,” said Platt. 

Fortunately, for an organization seeking nearly $700 million in donations, it was also a room filled with philanthropists.