A Dollar a Day Adds Up to $10 Million

Five years ago, Dr. Jonathan Donath, a chiropractor in New York, came up with an idea: what if you could easily donate a dollar to charity every single day? How much of an impact could it have if everyone did it? After all, every mitzvah, no matter how small, can make a huge difference.

So, Donath and some friends created Daily Giving, a website and 501(c)(3) organization where people could sign up to give a dollar a day to a different Jewish charity. The word quickly spread and it now has over 14,000 members from 39 countries – and counting. That means that every day, one organization gets over $14,000, and on July 6, Daily Giving is set to hit $10 million in total donations since its inception in 2019.

“For just a dollar a day, you get to give a diversified portfolio of organizations that help families suffering from poverty and widows trying to support their children and organizations for cancer, Jewish prisoners, special needs children, and substance abuse and mental health issues, and a whole lot more,” said Donath. “It’s been amazing to see our impact grow.”

My favorite part is the unity that we're creating by coming together to give to our brothers and sisters who are less fortunate.

Some of the beneficiary organizations include ADI, which provides for Israeli children, adolescents and adults with severe disabilities and pioneers cutting edge therapeutic and recovery services; Chai Lifeline, which brings joy to young and seriously ill patients; and Pantry Packers, which delivers crates with food and household maintenance supplies to Israel’s poorest senior citizens and families, and this website, Aish.com.

Ezer Mizion, the world’s largest Jewish bone marrow registry and another Daily Giving beneficiary, swabs an IDF soldier for every $50 given to them. Because of the donations, 3,419 soldiers have been swabbed and are part of Daily Giving's "donor pool.”

“In the last year alone, seven lives have been saved from our donor pool,” Donath said.

Seventy-nine organizations have received the daily donation, the cycle repeats and goes back to the first charity. The organizations receive 100% of the donations, which are charged to members’ credit cards on a monthly or yearly basis. Daily Giving raises all their back-end expenses and marketing costs from private donors.

“My favorite part is the unity that we're creating by coming together to give to our brothers and sisters who are less fortunate,” said Donath.

Each year, Daily Giving receives hundreds of new applications for organizations that want to be included. It has a grants administrator, an allocation committee and a rabbinical council that vet and ultimately decide what charities are added to the list.

“People see Daily Giving as their own charity navigator,” Donath said.

Dr. Jonathan Donath

Sometimes, people look at the list of beneficiary organizations and then make a larger donation to that charity on their own. Often, people start with $1 a day and then become inspired to give more.

People are also giving in the merit of the sick becoming healed, the memory of a loved one, or singles finding their bashert, their match. One single woman in her mid-thirties signed up to give a dollar a day, and then she signed up for a second dollar a day as a merit to meet her future husband. The week she signed up she met someone, and six months later they got engaged.

"I know four other women who were not dating anyone, signed up for $2 a day, $1 for their future husband, and are now engaged,” Donath said.

Donath is the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, and was particularly inspired by his grandfather, Rabbi Moshe Holcer, who treated everyone like family. During the Holocaust, even when his grandfather, a diminutive man, was starving, he’d give his meager rations to men far bigger than him who he thought needed to eat more than him. “I fully attribute Daily Giving to him.”

Our conservative goal is to distribute an additional $60 million over the next five years.

Donath is excited about the $10 million they've distributed, and is focused on increasing that amount. Donath said, "Our conservative goal is to distribute an additional $60 million over the next five years.”

Their aim is to get at least 100,000 Jews to sign up to give $1 a day.

“God gave each of us so much,” Donath said. “Every day when we open our eyes we have so much to be grateful for. It's important that we give back.”

To find out more or to become a daily giver, please visit www.DailyGiving.org.