[Gazette Profile] New Platform Paves Way for Jewish-Centric Crowdfunded Projects

Whilst two platforms already operate to provide crowdfunding services for Jewish projects, a recently launched site, Jewcer has already helped raise significant sums taking over the mantle of helping Jewish projects find a voice and financial support through the power of the crowd.

Jewcer was founded by five friends Ziv Ben Tzour, Moriya Blumenfeld,  Amir Give'on, Naomi Leight, and Shira Shimoni, having identified a gap in Jewish-centric crowdfunding when similar platforms appeared to be dormant. After pooling their own money together to fund the site, Jewcer was launched in March 2012. The idea behind the platform was inspired at an event hosted by BINA, the young professional division of the Israeli Leadership Council aimed to help better connect local Jewish-Americans and Israelis with Israeli focused foster programs. The Jewcer team believe Jewish crowdfunding can take connectivity a step further by enabling Jewish and Israeli communities to get their peers more involved and to make donations to vital projects through crowdfunding.

Any project with a strong Jewish connection can be submitted for consideration to be posted on Jewcer for funding. Although the founders intended to target a US based young cosmopolitan market, Jewcer will accept any Jewish project from around the world with work under way to better facilitate international transactions. The platform operates the traditional all or nothing model which aims to motivate project owners to work harder in convincing the crowd their project is worthy of funding. 

"Our personal mission with Jewcer is to change the way projects get funded in the Jewish community and in Israel — basically connecting people to projects, connecting people to people.”  - Naomi Leight, Co-founder Jewcer

Since launching, Jewcer has already helped various projects reach and even exceed their funding target, raising overall the sum of nearly $40,000 from over 500 donors. Projects that will come to fruition thanks to crowdfunding include a film entitled The Hummus Wars, a comedy tour that will raise money for charity whilst helping to promote a more positive image of Israel, a program that aims to combine biblical readings with Yoga exercises, and a Jewish brew pub and performance venue. One project that is gaining prominence is the Israeli Ambassador Program aimed at helping teenagers to become more knowledgeable about Israel and go on to act as ambassadors in the positive promotion of Israel focusing on US/Israeli relations. The project has already been funded with 22 days remaining. 

For more information click here to visit the Jewcer platform.

Image Credits; Jewcer (Copyright; All Rights Reserved)