Friends of the Israel Defense Forces

FIDF is a U.S.-based nonprofit that finances educational, financial, well-being, cultural, and infrastructure programs for IDF soldiers and veterans, along with assistance for wounded soldiers and bereaved families.[1][5] Its audited statements organize its work into construction, educational and scholarship, and well-being and recreational programs; the organization also describes itself as non-political and non-military.[5][6]

FIDF was established in 1981 by Holocaust survivors who had immigrated to the United States and sought to support the Jewish state and the soldiers who defend it.[1][7] The organization was incorporated under New York law on December 15, 1981, and began operations on April 1, 1983.[5] It is classified as a publicly supported organization under Section 509(a)(1) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, with contributions and special-event income constituting its primary revenue sources.[5]

Headquartered in New York City, FIDF operates regional offices and chapters throughout the United States and Panama.[1] Depending on the source and reporting date, figures for the number of chapters range from 24 to 25.[7][2] The organization describes itself as non-political and non-military, stating that under U.S. and Israeli law it cannot sponsor military equipment or assist with military activity.[6] It funds direct requests from the Association for Israel's Soldiers — the IDF's official charitable partner in Israel — on behalf of the IDF and Israel's Ministry of Defense for soldiers', veterans', and family members' health, well-being, and education needs.[6]

Rabbi Steven Weil served as FIDF's CEO, with Morey Levovitz serving as board chairman until both resigned in July 2025 amid an internal investigation.[8][9] The Jewish Virtual Library lists FIDF under its Military-related websites.[10]

FIDF's most prominent educational initiative is the IMPACT! Scholarship Program, which began in 2002 and provides four-year college scholarships to former IDF soldiers who served in combat or combat-support units and come from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.[1] Scholarship recipients are required to complete 130 hours of community service each year during the scholarship term.[5] By 2023, the program had provided scholarships to more than 20,000 veterans, with FIDF funding 3,382 college or university scholarships in the 2023–2024 academic year alone and granting approximately $16.9 million in scholarship assistance during 2023.[5][1] A separate Horizons program covers two-thirds of tuition for low-income veterans who do not qualify for the full IMPACT! scholarship.[3]

Beyond higher education, FIDF runs programs addressing soldiers at several stages. The Formal Education program offers a four- to five-month course enabling soldiers to complete their studies and earn a high-school diploma.[11] Project Overcome assists individuals previously deemed unfit for service due to criminal records, addiction, or behavioral challenges, providing tutoring for high-school equivalency examinations; most participants subsequently integrate into regular military units, and some later become officers.[3][11] Mamriot delivers early cyber and technology training to teenage girls, with half drawn from disadvantaged communities.[11] Momentum prepares soldiers for civilian life, Professional Training develops vocational careers, and Spectrum of Talent offers a six-week supported track for soldiers on the autistic spectrum.[11]

FIDF's audited 2023 statements report that approximately $5.1 million was devoted to educational programs in 2023, reaching around 28,000 soldiers.[5] Tel Aviv University's Carmeli Fund — a one-time educational grant for former lone soldiers at the university — states that students receiving full-ride assistance from organizations such as FIDF are ineligible to apply, illustrating how its eligibility rules account for existing scholarship aid.[12]

Among FIDF's most distinctive commitments is its comprehensive support for lone soldiers — IDF service members who have no immediate family in Israel. The organization supports approximately 7,000 active-duty lone soldiers, of whom roughly half are Israelis, including orphans and those from broken homes, and half are volunteers who made aliyah from abroad to serve.[13] Support encompasses a 24-hour call center, government advocacy, social gatherings, financial assistance, holiday vouchers, flights home, a yearly waterpark event, and housing through the Warm Home program.[13] FIDF allocated approximately $4.9 million to lone-soldier support in 2023.[5]

A notable physical expression of this commitment is a six-story, $15 million housing complex in Rishon LeZion, built to accommodate nearly 200 lone soldiers.[3] FIDF has also partnered with Nefesh B'Nefesh, the Jewish Agency, Garin Tzabar of the Friends of Israel Scouts, and Israel's Ministry of Immigrant Absorption in a joint program to help young immigrants from North America enlist in the IDF. The program provided financial grants, social assistance, and food packages every three months during service, followed by personal professional guidance on study and career opportunities after discharge.[14]

Since 2005, FIDF has been a founding partner in Wings, a program established jointly with The Jewish Agency and the Merage Foundation. Wings accompanies more than 3,500 young immigrants each year from more than 50 countries, providing career guidance, emotional support, financial coaching, and assistance in adjusting to life in Israel and succeeding in the IDF.[15][16] The program's reach is illustrated by the experience of Davida, a former lone soldier from Chicago who was called up for reserve duty after the October 7, 2023 attacks; Wings arranged to fly her mother and brother to Israel for Passover and housed them in a hotel for two weeks during the war.[15]

FIDF provides direct financial assistance to soldiers experiencing economic hardship throughout their service. Cash subsidies, holiday gift packages, food vouchers, and other aid are distributed to soldiers in financial distress and their families; in 2023, approximately $5.7 million was provided to around 20,450 soldiers.[5] The COVID-19 pandemic and Operation Guardian of the Walls contributed to a reported tripling in the number of soldiers experiencing financial hardship in the preceding year.[2] Pre-enlistment vouchers help low-income recruits purchase basic service necessities before they begin their military duty.[2]

Passover seders and holiday meals are organized for soldiers remaining on bases during holidays, and grocery gift cards are distributed to soldiers from low-income families.[3] FIDF's Adopt a Brigade program provided approximately $1.6 million to support 27 brigades representing more than 75,000 soldiers in 2023, while the Adopt a Battalion program provided approximately $2.5 million to 93 battalions representing more than 30,000 soldiers.[5]

On the infrastructure side, FIDF's construction programs fund the building, refurbishment, and maintenance of recreation and sports centers, cultural and educational facilities, synagogues, memorial rooms, auditoriums, soldier recreational homes, and social clubs throughout Israel.[5] In 2023, FIDF transferred approximately $12.1 million in cash for construction activity, with construction-program services totaling approximately $36.2 million after accounting for changes in grants payable.[5] Supported facilities on military bases include gyms, sukkahs, lounges, and sports centers intended to improve soldiers' quality of life during service.[3]

FIDF's Wounded Soldiers program supports service members who suffered wounds, injuries, or trauma during service through recovery assistance, advanced medical and technological rehabilitation equipment, service and therapy dogs, and emotional and financial support.[17] In 2023, the organization supported more than 2,000 wounded veterans with approximately $0.8 million.[5] FIDF also sponsors an annual Unity Race honoring Druze soldiers who died protecting Israel and provides trained service and therapy dogs to disabled soldiers. Its stated beneficiaries include Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Druze soldiers.[5][2]

The Bereaved Families program delivers financial, therapeutic, and emotional assistance to families who lost soldiers in service, including dedicated retreats that support healing and rebuilding.[17] The Legacy Summer Camps program brings B'nai Mitzvah-age siblings and children of fallen soldiers to camps in the United States, creating a connection between the families of Israel's fallen and supporting American Jewish communities.[17]

FIDF has also outlined an $87.5 million plan for comprehensive mental-health solutions for active-duty soldiers and veterans. The plan encompasses a resilience, mental-health, and trauma research and development center, early detection and prevention, active-duty treatment, and veteran treatment developed in partnership with Sheba Medical Center and the IDF Disabled Veterans Organization.[17] Its 24-hour recharge sessions provide 300 soldiers at a time with a break from combat, physical rehabilitation, and screening for early signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.[17]

FIDF's Spiritual and Heritage Programs connect soldiers with Jewish history, culture, texts, values, and traditions. In 2023, approximately $2.6 million was spent on related articles and activities, reaching more than 20,000 soldiers.[5]

FIDF is also a partner, along with The Jewish Agency and the Genesis Philanthropy Group, in the Nativ program, which works each year with close to 1,400 immigrant IDF soldiers, many from the former Soviet Union.[18] Nativ offers a six-week immersive experience involving Jewish texts, history, philosophy, travel within Israel, Shabbat observance, and Jewish holidays; many participants subsequently choose an optional extended conversion course.[18] The program is intended to connect immigrant soldiers and others who feel disconnected from their heritage with Jewish culture and history.

FIDF has also invested in digital commemoration. In cooperation with Yedioth Ahronoth and Yad La-Banim, the organization helped create the digital memorial project Gal-Hed, built to document and commemorate soldiers and security personnel killed during the Iron Swords war that began on October 7, 2023. FIDF contributed to building the digital infrastructure and making memorial databases accessible to the public.[19]

The Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, prompted FIDF to launch an Emergency Campaign. FIDF reported providing approximately $57.6 million through its 2023 Emergency Campaign, with stated uses including $28.4 million for field hospitals, ambulances, ventilators, defibrillators, and other medical supplies, and $29.2 million for clothing, personal well-being needs, and financial assistance for wounded soldiers and bereaved families.[5]

By a later accounting on FIDF's emergency-support webpage, the organization reported committing $250 million in cumulative emergency campaign funds, alongside $63 million for core programs in 2024.[20] Equipment provided included portable X-ray machines, blood warmers, DNA analyzers, and search-and-rescue gear, as well as hygiene supplies and clothing for soldiers deployed in the field.[20] Operation Hug arranged flights for lone soldiers' loved ones to visit Israel during wartime.[20]

The post-October 7 fundraising surge — more than $285 million annually, more than double the organization's typical level — marked a sharp increase in donations made through FIDF.[4]

FIDF's significance within American Jewish philanthropy is reflected in the scale of its fundraising and program expenditures. A 2007 Brandeis University study of Jewish philanthropic organizations ranked FIDF among the leading organizations in the Social Welfare category, reporting that it raised $47 million that year from individual donors and foundations for causes in Israel.[21] The study also included FIDF among the larger organizations whose directors were interviewed and identified improved database management, online advertising, creative marketing, and larger professional fundraising staffs as strategies associated with increased revenues among the organizations studied.[21]

By the time of a 2020 profile, FIDF had surpassed $1 billion in cumulative fundraising over nearly four decades and counted more than 150,000 donors.[3] Signature fundraising galas have sometimes raised as much as $60 million in a single evening.[4] At a 2017 Beverly Hills gala attended by approximately 1,200 people, FIDF raised $53.8 million.[22] That event announced a $16.6 million gift from Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison — described at the time as the largest single gift in FIDF's history — designated to help construct well-being facilities at a new training campus for the IDF's coed infantry units.[22]

Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks, FIDF reported raising more than $285 million annually.[4] Fundraising events in Manhattan and Miami Beach featured prominent guests: Noa Argamani spoke in Manhattan about her captivity by Hamas, while Mike Tyson appeared at a Miami Beach event where organizers announced that $10 million had been raised.[4] FIDF's audited 2023 financial statements report total program services of $142,174,494, including $36,239,677 for construction programs, $23,262,186 for educational and scholarship programs, and $82,672,631 for well-being and recreational programs.[5]

FIDF has faced controversies concerning its governance, its claims of institutional status, and its public profile.

In July 2025, board chairman Morey Levovitz and CEO Rabbi Steven Weil resigned following an internal investigation commissioned by FIDF's board after a three-month inquiry.[9] The 18-page investigative report, based largely on confidential testimony, alleged concentration of authority, conflicts of interest, lavish spending, the awarding of contracts to associates without oversight, and contributions to a toxic workplace culture — allegations linked primarily to Levovitz.[9][4]

The report was not legally binding, and some allegations were rejected by the investigating committee or deemed to require additional evidence; FIDF and Levovitz declined to comment to Ynet.[4] Former chair Nily Falic was designated to serve temporarily as chair, while Maj. Gen. (res.) Nadav Padan was assigned day-to-day operational leadership pending a board vote on his appointment as CEO.[9] FIDF stated that it was committed to building a culture of transparency, collaboration, and unity.[9]

A related dispute involved FIDF's San Francisco branch, described as one of the organization's major fundraising centers. Following the dismissal of the local branch director and a breakdown in communication with national leadership, the branch froze approximately $7.5 million in annual donations. The internal investigating committee characterized the episode as a serious communications failure and warned that the strategic relationship could deteriorate without corrective action.[4]

FIDF's claim to be the sole U.S. organization officially authorized to collect donations for IDF soldiers has also drawn scrutiny. FIDF states that its exclusive status rests on designations issued by IDF Chiefs of Staff Gadi Eisenkot in March 2017 and Aviv Kohavi in February 2019.[23] The IDF spokesperson's office, however, declined to confirm the claim and referred questions to the Association for Israel's Soldiers.[24] American Friends of LIBI asserted equivalent authorization; its vice chairman said the distinction was primarily a matter of marketing, and FIDF subsequently acknowledged LIBI's status.[24] A 2013 report described FIDF as an independent American nonprofit with no formal ties to the IDF — a characterization that stands in tension with the official-partnership language that FIDF adopted in later years.[25]

FIDF's public fundraising events have also been targeted by protests. The Anti-Defamation League has noted that major FIDF gatherings are among the pro-Israel events targeted for demonstration by Jewish Voice for Peace.[26]