Israeli Donor Donates $20 Million to Ogen Social Bank in Israel

Israeli non-profit group Ogen raises $30 million for Coronavirus aid.

Twenty-five per cent of Israeli non-profit organizations, on which hundreds of thousands of Israelis depend for daily services in health care, welfare, education and more, have discontinued payments.

At a time when unemployment rates are rising sharply and millions of Israelis and businesses are facing major financial instability as a direct result of the pandemic, the Ogen Group announced that it has raised $30 million to provide emergency survival loans and financial mentoring to small businesses, nonprofit organizations and the unemployed who cannot benefit from unemployment.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, over one million workers have registered for unemployment or unpaid work leave in Israel, 54% of whom are self-employed and are not eligible for unemployment benefits. Moreover, more than 20,000 small businesses have been turned down for government-guaranteed loans.

The financial impact has also pushed Israel’s non-profit sector to the breaking point. As a result, 25% of Israel’s non-profit organizations, on which hundreds of thousands of Israelis rely for day-to-day support for health care, welfare, education and more, have shut down their services.

However, recent donations have brought the total capital of Ogen loans to $100 million, but the figure still represents less than 0.5 percent of the Israeli credit market, according to a statement released by the organization. 

Currently, Ogen can only finance five thousand loans per year, a number that during the financial crisis generated by the Coronavirus pandemic is insufficient.

This non-profit organization has already initiated a large-scale wave of emergency loans, distributing $2 million in interest-free personal loans, nearly $3 million to small businesses and more than $3.5 million to help non-profit organizations, which has used all the available Ogen funds. 

Most of the new funds came from an anonymous Israeli donor who donated $20 million as a sign of civic and social responsibility to those affected by the financial crisis.