When actress and producer Gal Gadot was named the 2025 Genesis Prize laureate, Israel was still grappling with the long aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks. Gadot, one of the country’s most globally recognized public figures, chose to use her platform and the Genesis Prize to address a need that philanthropy had largely underserved: “helping the helpers”, those working to heal Israelis over the long term.
Rather than accept the $1 million prize, Gadot redirected it entirely toward Israeli therapists, educators, social workers, and caregivers serving Israelis still coping with the psychological devastation of war. The Genesis Prize Foundation (GPF), led by co-founder and chairman Stan Polovets, is seeking to double the award funds to $2 million in partnership with Jewish Funders Network (JFN) and additional donors.
A Model Built for Multiplication
To understand why this initiative matters, it helps to understand how the Genesis Prize works. Since its founding in 2013, the foundation has operated on a model that is unique in the philanthropic world. Each laureate has chosen to forgo the $1 million prize, which they redirect to causes of their choosing. The foundation then works to attract matching donors, effectively multiplying the initial award. As Genesis Prize co-founder Polovets has explained, this approach has often “doubled and tripled the annual $1 million prize, galvanizing other funders around important philanthropic causes.”
That track record is substantial. Over the past 12 years, the work of The Genesis Prize Foundation has resulted in more than $50 million in grants distributed to over 230 nonprofit organizations across 31 countries. The foundation has partnered with the Jewish Funders Network in the United States and Matan / United Way in Israel, both of which serve as convening organizations to attract additional philanthropic participation.
The Gadot initiative follows this same structure, with the Jewish Funders Network serving as a co-administrator. The matching-gift model is central to the design. The goal is not simply to distribute $2 million, but to use that funding as a signal to other philanthropists that this category of support deserves serious attention.
Why Mental Health Infrastructure, and Why Now
The framing of this initiative reflects a deliberate choice. Much of the philanthropic response to October 7 has, understandably, prioritized emergency relief, direct aid to victims, and humanitarian assistance for displaced families. Those efforts remain essential. But Stan Polovets has emphasized that the Gadot initiative is designed to fill a different gap, one that becomes more critical as the acute emergency recedes and the longer-term work of recovery begins.
“Long-term recovery depends on having enough qualified people and institutions to help individuals, families, and communities rebuild,” Polovets said in describing the initiative. “Israel,” he added, “is confronting trauma on a national scale, and the therapists, social workers, educators, and caregivers responding to that trauma are, by most accounts, stretched well beyond capacity. The initiative aims to strengthen that professional ecosystem and fund training for additional support staff, so that recovery can be broad and durable rather than narrow and temporary.”
The logic is one of multiplier effects. A single well-trained trauma therapist or community mental health worker can serve dozens or hundreds of people over time. Funding the professionals who deliver care reaches far more individuals than direct aid alone, and it builds capacity that will remain long after the initial grant period ends.
The Role of the Genesis Prize Laureate
Gal Gadot’s decision to dedicate her prize to this initiative was not simply a gesture. It reflects a pattern that has defined the Genesis Prize since its inception. Previous laureates have consistently chosen to forgo the financial award and direct it toward causes that resonate personally. Michael Bloomberg established a global social entrepreneurship competition. Steven Spielberg directed his award toward racial and economic justice organizations. Albert Bourla funded the construction of a Holocaust museum in Thessaloniki, Greece. Barbra Streisand supported women’s health, climate action, and Ukrainian aid.
For Gadot, the connection to Israel’s recovery is personal. A proud Israeli, she is seeking to bring both funding and visibility to an underserved category of humanitarian work. As Polovets noted in discussing the foundation’s broader philanthropic vision, laureates do more than contribute money; their public alignment with a cause can mobilize additional funders and bring global attention to issues that might otherwise go unaddressed.
The foundation has been clear that Gadot’s role is substantive. Her decision to dedicate the prize and her public endorsement of the initiative are important expressions of advocacy that can help mobilize other philanthropists.
Grants, Process, and Accountability
The Genesis Prize Foundation will make final grant decisions in consultation with the Jewish Funders Network, using a structured review process intended to identify organizations with demonstrated capacity, strong track records, and alignment with the initiative’s goals. The foundation has indicated it intends to move with urgency while maintaining rigor, ensuring that funds reach the organizations best positioned to expand trauma care, train additional professionals, and sustain services over time.
Stan Polovets has been direct about the scope of the challenge relative to the resources available. Those involved in the initiative do not claim that $2 million is sufficient to address Israel’s full mental health needs in the wake of October 7 and subsequent regional conflicts. The goal, rather, is to make a targeted investment in a strategically important area, one where the funding can have outsized effects by strengthening institutions and training professionals who will serve communities for years.
Success, as Stan Polovets has framed it, will be measured not solely by the number of dollars distributed, but by what those grants produce: more trained professionals, expanded service delivery, stronger organizations, and more Israelis receiving sustained psychological support.
The Broader Significance
This initiative follows more than a decade of the Genesis Prize’s growth and impact. The foundation has been flexible in responding to needs. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the 2023 prize shifted away from recognizing a single individual to honoring a collective group of Jewish organizations and activists providing humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians. When the October 7 attacks occurred, the 2024 prize was directed to Israeli organizations supporting hostages and their families, providing medical care, psychological counseling, and long-term recovery assistance.
These adjustments reveal a foundation willing to adapt its framework to meet the demands of the moment. Stan Polovets has described this approach as one of “innovation, inclusivity, and agility,” and the Gadot initiative is consistent with that orientation. Where previous cycles focused on direct crisis response, this year’s effort turns toward the sustained, structural work of healing.
The initiative is also explicitly non-sectarian in its humanitarian framing. Grants are directed toward organizations serving people in Israel who are coping with war-related trauma and disruption, without religious qualification. The foundation has been straightforward in describing this as a response to specific societal and humanitarian needs rather than a religiously defined program.
For those tracking how major philanthropic institutions respond to prolonged conflict, the model being employed here merits attention. Matching-gift structures, partnerships with established philanthropic networks, and a focus on institutional capacity rather than only direct aid represent a considered approach to long-term recovery.
What is clear, for now, is that the co-founder and chairman of the Genesis Prize Foundation and his team have identified a social services gap and that the foundation’s decade of experience building philanthropic partnerships positions it to make the effort consequential. Stan Polovets and the foundation have spent more than ten years demonstrating that a single prestigious award can serve as a lever for tens of millions of dollars in cascading philanthropic impact. The Gadot initiative is being applied to one of the most pressing humanitarian needs of this moment.
