Honoring Donors in New Ways

High-tech Video Donor Tzedakah Boxes: From Names to People

I have an aversion to dedication walls. The names are carved in stone, or etched in glass. They look like they’ll last forever; and perhaps they will. There is always a great uniformity in those names. Each name is etched in the same material, same type style, same size. If I am part of the community I might know the names for a generation or two. If I’m from the outside, they are just names. But in fact they are not just names. They are people. They are families. They represent lives. These folks believed in this institution enough to give of themselves and their resources to support it. I want those names to come to life; I want to know their story. I am curious about who they are, where they came from, what is important to them, why they chose to contribute, where they learned the value of giving.

My Donor Pushke is an oversized technological tzedakah box. It stands about 40” high. A large, interactive computer screen is on top. When a coin or bill is dropped into a slot on the top, the list of donors appears on the screen. When a particular name is touched, a screen briefly appears stating the person or family’s name and what they dedicated in the building. Then the people themselves comes alive with a brief video in which they tell who they are, where they learned about the value of tzedakah, why they believe in the institution, what are their wishes for the new building, their blessings and their history.

As long as the viewer continues to explore the list of names, the screen remains active. It is not only names that now are immortalized, but one gets an intimate glimpse into the inspiring lives of who these people actually are and why giving is important to them.

Of course, this is also a magnificent tool to educate others about the value of tzedakah. This is especially important to capture as the generation of those who almost intuitively understood the value, the necessity and the responsibility of giving are dwindling. What better way to capture this heritage than by hearing it directly from those who “get it”. The stories that pour out are truly inspiring. These High-Tech Donor Video Tzedakah Boxes are customized both visually and functionally to meet your organization’s needs.

Building A Life of Giving Together
Tzedakah and the Remarkable Legacy of Maurice and Vivienne Wohl

By Elyssa Moss Rabinowitz and David Moss
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 2011

We matched images from buildings the Wohls had donated with texts that embodied the remarkable giving philosophy of the Wohl’s to create an art book on the value of Zeddakah.