NGO Monitor has analyzed the NIF’s 2018 financial reports (latest available), which detail grants to 280 Israeli non-governmental organizations (NGOs). We focus specifically on the 20% of the NIF’s funding that is distributed to 31 political advocacy NGOs claiming to promote human rights.

In analyzing NIF’s financial documents, NGO Monitor found that:

• NIF’s 2018 expenses were $31.4 million, a 3.76% increase from 2017.   Total revenue was $32.6 million, an 11.78% increase from 2017 ($29.2 million).
• Total authorized grants to all 280 NGOs supported by NIF were approximately $15 million in 2018, compared with $13.6 million in 2017 (See Table 1).

Key Findings

• The NIF continues to fund a number of NGOs involved in political activities related to the Arab-Israeli conflict, as documented by NGO Monitor.
• In 2018, the NIF authorized $3,125,190  million in grants to 31 political advocacy groups. This represents a 1% increase in funding for these types of organizations (See Table 2). These funds represent 20% of the grants authorized by the NIF.
• It appears that NIF no longer funds Siso and Mehazkim.
  • According to its founders, “SISO unites Jewish progressive forces in the Diaspora with Israeli initiatives for coordinated action and collective impact to end the occupation.” SISO’s first executive director was Jessica Montell, former B’Tselem executive director.
  • “Mehazkim” describes itself as “Left-wingers from across the country” who promote their political agenda through “demonstrations, social media, online and real-world protests, investigations and creating news.”
• NIF increased its grants to Breaking the Silence, Bimkom, Gisha, and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I).
• It is unclear if these changes in annual grants to individual NGOs reflect a policy change or a pattern of multi-annual grants.
• The amounts listed in the annual financial statements comprise both “core grants” made directly by the NIF and “donor-advised” grants. NIF details the division between these two funding formats in a separate online report.

Table 1: Overview of NIF Finances 2015-2018 (amounts in USD)

Table 2: Multiyear Review of Authorized Grants to Political NGOs (2012 – 2018, USD)