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World Mizrachi

and MyTzedakah Fund

Revolutionize

Next-Generation

Giving

As yeshivah and seminary students near the end of their year of Torah study in Israel, World Mizrachi and
MyTzedakah Fund are partnering to help them develop their own personalized tzedakah portfolio.
Rabbi Elie Mischel spoke with MyTzedakah’s founder, Carly Rothenberg Friedman, to learn more.

Tell us a little about your Aliyah story and why you
launched MyTzedakah Fund.

Since I studied at Midreshet Harova in 2007, Aliyah has
been the driving force of my life. On my first date with
Marc, my future husband, I told him: “I am making Aliyah
in five years so if that is not on the cards for you, there
won’t be a second date.” Five years after our wedding,
together with our 10-month-old daughter, Noa, we were
on a plane to Israel. Now, five years into our life as Israelis,
we haven’t looked back. We feel like our souls were meant
to be here, and that only in Israel can we become who we
are meant to be.
The year we made Aliyah I invested in my startup,
MyTzedakah Fund. Building a tech platform and an entire
company geared towards revolutionizing the way the next
generation of Jewish philanthropists give to tzedakah was
only possible because I am living in the startup nation,
filled with tech superstars who are also passionate about Carly Rothenberg Friedman, founder of MyTzedakah
tzedakah and philanthropy. Being a woman in the tech
space, and especially the Jewish nonprofit tech space, has to them. Donors are able to build their own customizable
its unique challenges. But I truly believe that because I am giving portfolio, filled with the causes that they want to
in Israel, I have been granted seats at tables with both tech support and invest in. They then choose an amount they
giants and Torah giants, without hesitancy. Being in this want to donate every month, and we automate their giving
forward-thinking environment has accelerated my growth for them, so their tzedakah can be donated in a way that’s
as a female tech entrepreneur and founder. most sustainable and impactful for the Jewish world –
through monthly recurring revenue. I built this platform
with my own personal needs in mind; as much as I valued
How does MyTzedakah work? What is unique about giving tzedakah, I realized I was donating the majority of my
your organization?
ma’aser funds to fundraising campaigns when my friends
MyTzedakah is the tech solution empowering the next ran for marathons and posted them on Facebook. But that
generation of Jewish philanthropists to give tzedakah in form of giving didn’t feel meaningful or personal to me. It
a way that’s most impactful, intentional and meaningful felt more like supporting a friend, rather than building a

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