Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the various partnerships formed in the Israeli elite-philanthropy field throughout the crisis, this paper examines how philanthropic collaborations were impacted by the Pandemic; and how the perceptions of the philanthropic actors affected regarding intra-philanthropic collaborations, and inter-sectoral partnerships with government? In the background of such partnerships lay complex and dynamic interactions of Israeli philanthropists with the government - power relations that have been influenced over the years by socio-political changes, and tensions between the business sector and the political elite. Moreover, The Pandemic reached Israel in the midst of a protracted political crisis, reflected in provisional governments without an approved budget adversely affecting NPOs. Based on an ethnographic study, we contend that the Pandemic unfolds as a catalyst and a refiner. Within the Intra-philanthropic sphere, it accelerated and strengthened collaborations, and sharpened an understanding of their advantages; while in the sphere of inter-sector partnerships, it promoted, among philanthropic actors, a sober and careful perspective towards governmental agencies, and sharpened their rethinking of the nature and essence of such partnerships
This paper was written by Dr. Noa Krauz-Lahav and Galia Feit from ILP and was published in the Working Papers Series Volume XII, ISTR, 2021.