NIF Funding Guidelines

The NIF’s guidelines are designed to inform its grant-making, capacity-building and project decisions. These highlight three principles:

1. Respect for a multiplicity of viewpoints;
2. Transparency to grantees, donors and the public at large
3. Compliance with standards of accountability and due diligence

Criteria for Grant-Making and Support

1. Compliance with the laws of the state of Israel
2. Respect for the principles of the New Israel Fund and compliance with its policies and
    procedures
3. Relevance to NIF strategic priorities, including:
         a. A focus on social change
         b. Strengthening Israel’s democratic values and institutions
         c. Missions that fall within one of NIF’s four general issue areas: human and civil rights;
             social and economic justice; religious pluralism and tolerance; and protecting Israel’s
             environment.
4. Nonprofit status
         a. Registration as an amuta or a company for the benefit of the public;
         b. Publicly available bylaws;
         c. Audited financial reports;
         d. Confirmation of proper accounting procedures as required by Israeli tax authorities
             and possession of a certificate of tax-withholding at source.
         e. The above will not apply to individuals or coalitions requesting capacity building
             services from Shatil.

Organizations that engage in the following activities will not be eligible for NIF grants or support:

1. Participate in partisan political activity
2. Promote anti-democratic values
3. Support the 1967 occupation and subsequent settlement activity
4. Violate the human rights of any group or individual, advocate human rights selectively for
    one group over another and/or reject the principle of the universality of human rights
5. Condone or promote violence or use violent tactics
6. Employ racist or derogatory language or designations about any group based on their
    religion, race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
7. Works to deny the right of the Jewish people to sovereign self-determination within Israel, or
    to deny the rights of Palestinian or other non-Jewish citizens to full equality within a
    democratic Israel.
8. Engage in activities at odds with the positions, principles, or vision of the New Israel Fund.