In Israel, opportunity knocks via KIEDF
Catalyst
Key programs:
KIEDF Managing Director Carl Kaplan and KIEDF Board Chairman Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Eitan Ben Eliahu oversee these key programs based on the KIEDF model that puts philanthropic dollars to work to help fuel Israel’s economy.
- KIEDF Small Business Loan Fund leverages loan guarantees and provides interest subsidies to small businesses lacking access to credit on reasonable terms, in partnership with Bank Otzar Hachayal and Discount Bank;
- KIEDF Microenterprise Fund provides loan guarantees to economically disadvantaged populations seeking to establish home-based and other small businesses, in partnership with Economic Empowerment for Women, other organizations, and Bank Hapoalim;
- KIEDF Israeli Arab Loan Fund leverages loan guarantees to businesses owned by Israeli Arabs, or jointly owned by Israelis and Israeli Arabs, in partnership with The Center for Jewish and Arab Economic Development (CJAED) and Mercantile Discount Bank;
- KIEDF Koret Fellows Program provides annual fellowships to exemplary postgraduates to serve as economic policy advisors for select members of the Knesset and other government agencies. The program strives to develop legislative and regulatory policies that facilitate small-business development, employment expansion, and private-sector, economic growth.
KIEDF loan recipient Amo Electronics in Tel Aviv employs Arabs and Jews who work side by side on electronics installations in Israeli homes and offices.
Koret Foundation
Koret Fund
Board of Directors
- Susan Koret, Chair
- Tad Taube, President
- Richard Atkinson
- Michael Boskin
- William Coblentz
- Robert Friend
- Richard Greene
- Stanley Herzstein
- Abraham Sofaer
Staff
- Jeffrey A. Farber, CEO
- Susan Wolfe, Director of Marketing & Communications
From the President
Looking back on more than a quarter-century of grantmaking, Koret directors are unanimous in their appraisal of our most powerful initiative to date: Koret Israel Economic Development Funds (KIEDF).
KIEDF has successfully channeled nearly $100 million in private loan funds into job creation, bringing self-sufficiency and dignity to thousands of Israeli business owners and their employees.
Since its modest inception in 1994, KIEDF has grown to become Israel’s dominant private-sector, small-business development program. KIEDF was the model for the Israeli government’s own small business loan program launched in late 2003.
More recently, we have merged the Koret Fellows Program in economic policy research with KIEDF, creating synergy between policymaking and small-business issues. Koret Fellows are selected from the brightest graduates of Israel’s universities and placed with members of Knesset or regulatory agency heads. Their mission is to develop and advocate free-market policies that address issues which facilitate small-business development, employment expansion, and private-sector, economic growth in Israel.
In the following pages you will read the stories of some of our loan recipients, and learn how KIEDF has changed their lives.
The American Friends of KIEDF (AFKIEDF) offer organized support for the work of KIEDF. Under the leadership of AFKIEDF President Abraham D. Sofaer, the American Friends’ fundraising, advocacy and strategy help move Israel toward a free-market economy and serve to enhance economic expansion in Israel’s private sector. For more information, visit www.afkiedf.org.
Tad Taube, President
Koret Foundation
Koret Fund