Some of the most meaningful work the network does happens because of people who give time, networks, expertise, and presence — alongside or instead of writing a check. Here are the ways.
Bring Chinuch Atzmai's work to your shul, your office, your social circle. Most of our growth in any given community happens because one or two donors decide to share what we do — at a kiddush, at a parlor meeting, in a small WhatsApp group. We will give you the materials, the talking points, and the staff support; you bring the relationships.
An evening at your home for ten to twenty friends. We bring an executive director, recent stories from the field, and (where logistically possible) a video from one of our schools. You bring the room. The result, year over year, is some of the most engaged donors in the network.
Many of our most meaningful donor relationships begin with a school visit during a trip to Israel. Email a few weeks ahead with your travel dates and we'll arrange a guided morning at one of the schools — meet a rebbi, see a classroom in session, meet the menahel. There is no minimum gift size to visit. The visit costs us almost nothing and changes how donors think about the work.
Lawyers, accountants, marketers, designers, software developers, fundraising consultants — many of our most-used internal tools and policies were built by donors who offered hours instead of dollars. If your skill set is one we could use, write to us and tell us what you do. We will tell you honestly whether it fits a current need.
The U.S. operation is run with the input of regional advisory committees in the major Jewish population centers — New York, Lakewood, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, the U.K. If you have a deep interest in our work and the time to give to it seriously, we would welcome a conversation about a committee role.
Some of the work that matters most is invisible. Children in development towns, mechanchim under pressure, families in tight situations. If you take on regular tehillim or tefilla for the work, write to us and we will add a list of communities and current matters that need a particular zechus. There is no obligation; the offer of tefilla itself is a meaningful contribution.
We don't have a "volunteer-of-the-month" program, a points system, or recognition tiers for non-financial help. The work is the work. We try to match what people offer to what the network actually needs at a given moment, and we say no clearly when there isn't a fit. That's better for everyone than a polite yes followed by silence.
If you are not sure where you fit, write to partners@chinuchatzmai.org with a short note about who you are and what you'd like to offer. Someone on the team will respond within one business day.
Most volunteers eventually begin a recurring monthly sponsorship as well. The two go together; neither replaces the other.
Sponsor a child →