Israel`s First Public Service Venture Capital Fund
	Tmura to Foster Culture of Giving
Tmura, The Israeli Public Service Venture Fund is a not-for-profit entity that was recently established as a public service by the Israeli venture capital community. The main objective of the fund is to support educational initiatives, youth opportunities, and other charitable activities in Israel. This will be accomplished by sharing in the wealth being created by the country`s technology sector and, at the same time, developing a "culture of giving" within the high-tech sector in a way that addresses the capabilities and constraints of growth companies. Tmura is looking to receive "donations" of equity stock from private Israeli and Israel-related high-technology companies and, to a lesser extent, from public companies and individuals. The fund will allocate the proceeds from these donations, once liquid, to worthy non-profit causes in Israel, with a focus on education/youth-related organizations. “The model provides an excellent way to get entrepreneurs and young high tech businesses to make a contribution, while keeping in mind the economic demands of the companies themselves,” said Yadin Kaufmann, who founded the fund this year. “The donations aren’t in money, but the companies allocate a small portion of stock to charity. Additionally, our focus is through the venture capital community, which gives shareholders the opportunity to agree jointly to be diluted slightly for the good of society,” said Kaufmann. He added that Tmura has benefited from a group of lawyers who have given their pro-bono time to the project. “They’ve developed a very standardized and streamlined donation procedure which greatly facilitates the donation process,” Kaufmann said. “Tmura” is the Hebrew word for “change” or “metamorphosis” and also means “value for money”. It is also a play on the word “truma", which means “donation”. Similar structures operate in the leading high-technology centers in the US, where they operate as “Entrepreneurs’ Foundations,” supported by the leading VCs, banks, and service providers active in the region. Kaufmann is co-founder of Veritas Venture Partners. Vertias, which was founded in 1990, manages venture funds that invest in early-stage high-technology companies in Israel. Kaufmann has served on the boards of numerous high-technology companies in Israel, including Gilat Satellite Networks, Class Data Systems, and Mercury Interactive. “There are many good reasons for businesses to get involved in their community,” said Kaufmann. “Involvement is important to employees, who like to know that their company is actively involved in their community. This is especially important in the high tech sector, which is a leader in the Israeli economy and can take the lead in giving back and improving the society. Additionally, giving is good PR, and broadens the business network as well.” Kaufmann added that Tmura is intended to be a long-term project. “Initially, it will take some time until we can give out grants of our own to charities. The timing depends donating companies reaching maturity.” More information on Tmura is available at www.tmura.org.
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