Calling all performers, educators, and anyone streaming content to a virtual audience during the pandemic: You can make a difference by asking your audience to donate to AJWS’s COVID-19 Relief Fund. The proceeds will go directly to frontline responders distributing humanitarian aid and helping stop infection in vulnerable communities in Africa, Asia, Central American and the Caribbean.

Thank you for spreading the word and dedicating your virtual event to saving lives in the developing world!

What’s the need?

COVID-19 is disrupting and destroying lives everywhere. With 35 years of experience responding to disasters, AJWS knows that this crisis poses an existential threat to the vulnerable people who depend on us across the developing world. The pandemic is already magnifying inequality between rich and poor, and igniting a new rise in authoritarianism, bigotry and violence in the communities where AJWS works.

AJWS is responding by supporting hundreds of grassroots organizations that are working around the clock to get aid, personal protective equipment and life-saving information to women & girls, refugees, LGBTQI+ people, ethnic minorities, and more.

But we need to spread the word and raise funds so we can continue this support and reach more people. That’s where you come in!

Download this Guide

How can you help?

Dedicate your streamed event to AJWS as a fundraiser to fast-track funds to vulnerable communities worldwide fighting COVID-19.

If you are planning a virtual concert, workshop, class, lecture, or livestreamed event of any kind on any streaming platform, you can raise funds for COVID-19 relief in any of these four ways:

• Direct your audience to donate to AJWS at ajws.org/covidsupport.
• Direct your audience to your own Facebook fundraiser.
• Direct your audience to a fundraiser hosted on the AJWS website.
• Include AJWS in a list of organizations working in the developing world to halt the spread of COVID-19.

Feel free to use the following sample text to promote your fundraiser:

My event [concert/class/etc.] will be raising funds for American Jewish World Service—an international human rights organization working in 19 developing countries to help people protect themselves from COVID-19 and defend their human rights in the most vulnerable communities on earth. Please donate in honor of my livestream to support their work at ajws.org/covidsupport.

Spread the Word.

Educate your audience about the impact of COVID-19 on developing countries and how they can make a difference by supporting AJWS’s COVID-19 Relief Fund. Read the information below to learn about AJWS and our pandemic response, so you can tell your audience how their support will change the world.

American Jewish World Service:
Fighting COVID-19 and Defending Human Rights Around the World

How is AJWS responding to COVID-19?

COVID-19 is disrupting and destroying lives everywhere, but it poses an existential threat to vulnerable people across the developing world. In the world’s poorest communities, it is nearly impossible for people to take shelter and distance physically from others. In areas with crowded housing, poor sanitation, limited medical care and high rates of poverty, the effects of this crisis will be catastrophic. What’s more, many authoritarian governments are using the pandemic to crackdown on the human rights of their citizens, from silencing journalists to discriminating against LGBTQI+ people. The pandemic is already magnifying existing inequality between rich and poor, and it’s igniting a new rise in authoritarianism, bigotry and violence in the developing world.

AJWS is responding by supporting hundreds of grassroots organizations in 17 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean that are working around the clock to get aid, protective gear, and life-saving information to women & girls, refugees, LGBTQI+ people, ethnic and religious minorities, and more—all while continuing their ongoing fight for the human rights of these vulnerable populations.

Here’s a snapshot of AJWS’s pandemic relief:

• Distributing Humanitarian Aid: The local organizations AJWS funds are distributing food, soap, hand sanitizer and protective masks to those who need it most. This aid is saving lives by preventing starvation and slowing the spread of COVID-19.
• Spreading Life-Saving Information: AJWS developed and distributed a toolkit of critical information about COVID-19 safety in 10 languages. Our local partners are also spreading this information through radio broadcasts, social media campaigns and even loudspeakers, reaching communities in remote regions without internet.
• Protecting Human Rights: Many governments in the developing world are using this pandemic to persecute and blame already oppressed minorities. AJWS’s grantees are fighting back and insisting that the human rights of all people be respected as this crisis unfolds.

What are examples of AJWS’s work during the pandemic?

• UGANDA: After 19 young people were arrested in a violent raid of their LGBT shelter and falsely accused of spreading COVID-19 in March, AJWS partner organization Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum fought relentlessly for their release. After an intense legal battle, all charges were dropped on May 18 and the young people won their freedom.
• INDIA: Following India’s complete lockdown, hundreds of thousands of newly jobless migrant workers returned to their villages, often on foot. AJWS partner organization HUMSAFAR is providing food to the migrant workers, as well as families unable to support returning family members.
• THAILAND: With the price of protective masks surging, AJWS partner organization Love Pattaya is buying supplies for rural communities to make and distribute personal protective equipment for their villages and local hospitals.
• SENEGAL: With domestic abuse soaring as people are unable to leave their homes, AJWS partner organization Association des Juristes Sénégalaises opened a crisis hotline for women suffering from violence and launched a public awareness campaign about this rising problem.
• HAITI: To counter misinformation about COVID-19 spread by the Haitian government, an AJWS partner organization of independent journalists, AyiboPost, have produced and distributed educational videos about how to prevent COVID-19 infection.

These are just five of the 541 amazing organizations AJWS supports around the world—many of whom are now on the frontlines of responding to COVID-19 in their communities. Your donation will ensure that they can fight the pandemic and continue to defend human rights at this pivotal moment in human history.

What is AJWS—and what does it do?

American Jewish World Service was founded in 1985 to help some of the poorest and most vulnerable people around the globe realize their human rights. We support local, grassroots organizations and activists who know how best to help their communities. In 2021 alone, we supported 541 social change organizations in 17 countries in the developing world—all fighting for justice and standing up against poverty, violence, discrimination and authoritarianism.

AJWS was founded on the Jewish principles of tikkun olam—that we must all work to make the world a better place—and that all people on earth deserve to live with dignity and freedom.

AJWS has responded to some of the biggest crises in the world, including the Darfur and Rohingya genocides, the 2013 Ebola epidemic in Liberia, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the ongoing practice of child marriage in India.

Want to learn more? Read about AJWS’s response to COVID-19.

If you have any questions about fundraising for COVID-19 relief at your next virtual event, please email Justin Jacobs at jjacobs@ajws.org.