The Hadassah Foundation has awarded grants to five Israeli organizations that are increasing women’s representation in top government roles, addressing the needs of the country’s most vulnerable and marginalized women and girls, helping Ethiopian women advance professionally, and working to eliminate the root causes of gender inequality. The five new grantees serve a wide range of women and girls throughout the country.
Participants at a workshop run by Hadassah Foundation grant recipient Empowering Ethiopian Women. (Courtesy photo)
Each of the following Israeli nonprofits will receive a Core grant of $80,000 over three years:
- Adva Center, a think tank that focuses on innovative research on social inequalities with a special emphasis on gender and infrastructure support for women’s and feminist organizations, policy advocacy at governmental and municipal levels, public education, and community engagement. The Hadassah Foundation grant supports Adva’s gender-related work.
- Empowering Ethiopian Women, one of the few Ethiopian-led feminist organizations in Israel. The organization offers specialized programs to foster self-confidence and provide mentorship and peer support, as well as improve participants’ career readiness, financial literacy, and communication and negotiation skills.
- The Institute for Gender Equity in Education, an initiative of the Society for the Advancement of Education that seeks to foster an equitable educational environment where every student can fulfill their potential free from gender bias. Its grant will fund a program focusing on girls in fifth and sixth grade, a critical developmental stage when many girls shy away from leadership roles.
- Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution, an initiative of ATZUM-Justice Works. The task force engages the government, legal community, enforcement agencies, media, and the public in systemic efforts to eradicate sex trafficking and prostitution in Israel and to ensure victims’ access to services. Learn more in this translation of a recent article on the Israeli news site Walla.
- The 5050 Initiative, housed within Tzedek Centers, presses Israel’s political parties to commit to forming candidate lists that are gender-balanced, with women equally represented at all levels. Tzedek Centers is an organization dedicated to strengthening democracy, fostering civic engagement, and advancing justice.
Atzum-TFHTP CEO Moria Silfen (left) and trafficking survivor Luba Fein with MK Merav Michaeli (center). (Courtesy photo)
Except for Adva Center, which has received multiple past grants, all of the funded organizations are first-time Hadassah Foundation grant recipients.
“Recent research and news reports indicate that women are drastically underrepresented in Israel’s key decision-making roles and face major setbacks in its labor market,” said Dr. Olga Brawman-Mintzer, a Hadassah Foundation board member and chair of the foundation’s 2025 Core Israel grants committee. “The Israel-Hamas war has only exacerbated inequalities, which is why this is a particularly critical time to invest in Israeli women and girls. We hope our grants inspire other funders to join us.”
Hadassah Foundation Chair Ellen Soffar Steinberg said, “These five new grant recipients join our diverse roster of 11 ongoing Israeli grantees. Together, they are taking on many of the most significant problems holding Israeli women back, among them male-dominated political parties, subtle discrimination in school, insufficient support for girls and women in professions where they are underrepresented, and a predatory sex-trafficking industry.”
Later in 2025, the Hadassah Foundation will award approximately $400,000 in additional multi-year grants to organizations in both Israel and the United States.
Meet all the Foundation’s current and past grant recipients here.
The Hadassah Foundation leads the movement to revolutionize the role, perception, and impact of all who identify as women and girls in Israel and the American Jewish community. Established by Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America in 1998 to refocus the priorities of the Jewish community through creative grantmaking, the Hadassah Foundation has awarded more than $12 million to almost 120 organizations in Israel and the U.S. Jewish community.