In June 2024, Nathan Cummings Foundation’s Board of Trustees approved an updated strategy for our place-based work in Israel-Palestine.
To align this work with our north star of advancing racial, economic, and environmental justice (REEJ), we decided to expand our geographic area to include the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza, and to use the following pillars to guide our efforts:
Social and economic disparities inhibit many residents’ full participation in society and stoke long-standing tensions between communities. By addressing these disparities, we can help nurture a more-just society. We seek to help them build shared community, advance public policy, shift narratives, and strengthen civil society.
Existing governance systems in Israel and Palestine contribute to a lack of peace, stability, and safety for all peoples in the region. We seek bold new thinking from Israelis and Palestinians about how to promote more-democratic, human-centered, secure, and dignified approaches to governance.
Climate change and environmental degradation threaten the health and well-being of all residents of Israel-Palestine, which contributes to instability and injustice in the region. We advance inclusive environmental justice solutions through land use and ownership; energy and environmental sustainability; and resource management.
Israel-Palestine is a region in great pain and with great promise. NCF seeks partners building bridges to a future where everyone can thrive within a just and democratic society.
Isaac Luria, Senior Director of Place-Based Initiatives
NCF researched social, economic, and other disparities to determine which populations should be our primary focus. Our research led us to Palestinians living in Gaza, Palestinians living in the West Bank, Ethiopian Jews, Mizrahim (Jews whose families came from the Muslim world), Bedouins, Russians, Haredim (strictly Orthodox Jews), and Palestinian Israelis. We will concentrate our resources in these communities. But given that this list is not exhaustive, we may support other communities as well. And our focus list will evolve over time, based on data and what we learn on the ground.
NCF approaches the region of Israel-Palestine as a single region encompassing the areas within the State of Israel’s 1967 borders as well as the West Bank and Gaza. We are open to supporting work throughout this region, in line with our approved strategies and when possible based on the results of our ongoing risk assessments.
All of our work is guided by our stated values. In addition, at our core we are peacebuilders, so we do not support groups that advocate for, or seek to justify, violence against Palestinians or Israelis.
NCF has funded within the 1967 borders of Israel since the early 1990s. This work has helped build the environmental-justice sector, strengthened the leadership of women from all demographic groups, supported pro-democracy movements within Israel, and reduced socio-economic gaps between populations in Israel. Our updated strategy encourages NCF to pursue direct partnerships with Palestinian communities living in the West Bank and, when conditions allow, in Gaza. We will continue to support marginalized communities in Israel.
We publish the names of all grantee partners here.
Yes. We seek partners who tackle problems in their communities with innovative solutions. We are open to learning more about business ventures, investment funds, and novel nonprofit approaches aligned with our place-based strategy for Israel-Palestine.
At this time, NCF is sourcing opportunities directly and does not currently solicit submissions from the wider public for the portfolio in Israel-Palestine. If this approach were to change, we will notify community members via our newsletter, which you can sign up for here.
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