“My passion is making a philanthropic impact,” says 27-year-old investor Max August. “The cause I’ve most championed and focused on is supporting the families of Israeli soldiers.” August, a Harvard graduate and Birthright Excel alum, has been working in the private equity field for five years at General Atlantic as the company’s Israel representative, and is returning to the US to study for his MBA degree at Stanford University.
Over the past two years, he has become an impassioned supporter of IDFWO, serving on the board of the American Friends of IDFWO, participating in events, and working to attract new donors. Growing up, he had little connection to Israel. “I was not particularly observant or connected to Israel growing up,” says August.
He attributes what he terms his “Zionist awakening” to his years as a Harvard undergraduate, where he studied economics and government. August became very passionate about Israel and his Jewish identity. He was deeply involved as a pro-Israel activist on campus, and started the Israel Summit at Harvard, which became one of the largest student-led pro-Israel campus movements.
While there was no single moment or experience that caused the change in his values, August recalls the impact of his early Hebrew studies at Harvard. “I took beginner’s Hebrew at Harvard, and in my third week of the class, we translated Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem, for the first time. I never knew what Hatikvah meant, even though I’d heard it, but I didn’t know what it meant, and then I started crying in class. I was so moved that I now understood what Israel’s national anthem meant. The notion of being a free people in our homeland was new to me, even as a 20-year-old college sophomore.”
August dates his deep involvement with IDFWO to his attendance at the funeral of Maj. (res.) Mark Kononovich, who was killed in the Gaza Strip on January 22, 2024, leaving behind a wife and four children. “I didn’t know him,” says August, “but I went to pay my respects. His eldest son, who was around nine years old at the time, said the Kaddish memorial prayer, and his six-year-old daughter got up and said, ‘I miss you already, Abba.’ It just rattled me to my core – the sacrifice that he made and that hundreds of others like him have made. I wanted to understand more of how I could support these families, what the government was doing, and what different philanthropic organizations were doing.”
After being introduced to Shlomi Nahumson, CEO of the IDF Widows & Orphans Organization, August joined the board of the American Friends of IDWFO, and since then has devoted several hours each day working with the organization.
August explains that there are several factors that he finds appealing about the IDFWO as a philanthropist. First, he says, is its unique nature. “There are countless organizations focused on emergency aid relief for Israel, which is obviously important,” he says, “but to me this was a need that’s not being met by the government or by existing philanthropic organizations.”
He terms the critical circumstances of IDF widows and orphans as a “perfect storm of massive need,” pointing out that there are 750 children of soldiers who have fallen since October 7, and 250 of them are under five years old. “From this war alone,” he notes, “we’ve had forty-one pregnant widows. “It’s a heartbreaking statistic to think that 41 women have given birth without their husbands by their side because they fell defending the State of Israel. That means that 41 husbands went to battle knowing that their wives were pregnant at home, knowing that they might not come home.”
Perhaps what motivates him most in his support of the IDFWO is its proactive nature that attempts to improve the lives of widows and orphans in a practical manner. August has been particularly active in supporting IDFWO’s “Bonim Atid” program (English: Building Futures) that strengthens and empowers the employment skills of IDF widows and orphans to promote their economic independence and personal growth. The program provides bereaved family members with opportunities for personal and professional advancement, while cultivating the skills required for success in today’s changing labor market.
“My view of philanthropy is that it’s important to give people fish, but it’s even more important to teach them how to fish themselves. That is the embodiment of the Bonim Atid program. We take widows and orphans over the age of eighteen and help them rebuild their careers with professional training. We also help them rebuild their personal lives with courses like Finance 101, how to manage family finances, marketing courses, and how to leverage AI. We’ve also launched one-on-one career consulting sessions, and we’re constantly iterating and building new programs. That’s been the section of organization that I’ve been most involved with on a day-to-day basis.”
August says that he is working to raise awareness of the IDFWO in the American Jewish community. “It’s both an organization and, frankly, a cause that’s still not front and center in the American Jewish philanthropic community. It definitely needs to be brought to the attention of more people, because these are people who really need our help.”
At the ripe old age of 27, Max August finds himself in the thick of fundraising and philanthropy. How can others who are just starting their careers, who may not yet have significant financial resources, become involved in the activities of the IDFWO or other worthwhile organizations?
“I’m a big believer that being involved in nonprofits is not solely a dollar question,” shares August. “I think people can do a lot with their time. Especially with this organization, there are a number of camps throughout the year where we take many volunteers, and I’ve helped recruit volunteers. The first thing I would say to young people is that even if you don’t have the dollar resources, you can still make a difference. Second of all, I would say that small donations make an impact, particularly when you’re an organization of our size. I believe that every dollar moves the needle and makes a difference.”
As an example, he cites how the IDFWO provided emergency food assistance to hundreds of families during the 12-day war with Iran and sent gift cards of 500 shekels to 350 widows and orphans affected by the war. “A few hundred shekels can help feed a family that’s struggling to put food on the table during an intense time. We see that small dollar donations can really make a difference.”
Thinking out loud, August considers why he, a 27-year-old with no children or family of his own, has taken on widows and orphans as his cause. “I think we have a tremendous responsibility to support these families. They’ve made the ultimate sacrifice. But the second part of my answer is that I’m obsessed with my parents. I think that underlying so much of my passion for this organization is that I couldn’t imagine my childhood or my life without my parents. And so to me, the opportunity to support children whose fathers are not there for them because they gave their life for Israel and the Jewish people is, in so many ways, motivated by my deep affection for my parents.”
This article was written in collaboration with IDF Widows & Orphans Organization (IDFWO).