Full Breakdown
Gal Gadot Channels Genesis Prize into $3 Million Mental-Health Initiative
By Drooid · · How we work
Initiative Overview
The Genesis Prize Foundation announced a three-year, $3 million program that will fund 24 Israeli nonprofit organizations delivering trauma-care and mental-health services. The funding combines Gal Gadot’s $1 million Genesis Prize award with a $2 million matching campaign led by the Jewish Funders Network. Recipients such as Make-A-Wish Israel, United Hatzalah and CareGivers Israel will provide treatment, counseling, caregiver training and social-work support to frontline professionals, educators, families and under-served communities across northern, central and southern Israel.
Background and Need
The program targets the psychological fallout from the October 7, 2023 attacks and the subsequent wars. Former state comptroller Matanyahu Englman has estimated that up to three million Israelis exhibit symptoms of trauma or post-traumatic stress linked to those events. Mental-health clinicians, social workers, educators and caregivers continue to face heavy demand while many cope with their own trauma.
Key Figures
- Gal Gadot – 2026 Genesis Prize laureate who redirected the prize money toward mental-health and trauma-care initiatives.
- Stan Polovets – Co-founder and chairman of the Genesis Prize Foundation, who organized the matching-donor effort and publicly framed the initiative as a fulfillment of the prize’s philanthropic purpose.
Data and Funding Details
- Prize money: $1 million (directed by Gadot).
- Matching donations: $2 million generated by the Jewish Funders Network.
- Applications received: 150 nonprofit proposals.
- Organizations advanced to review: 54.
- Final recipients: 24, each required to secure a matching contribution from a new or existing donor.
- Geographic reach: Programs operate in northern, central and southern Israel, serving mental-health professionals, frontline workers, educators, family caregivers, children, young people, war-trauma survivors and under-represented groups.
Official Statements & Responses
Gadot emphasized that recovery “starts from within” after three years of conflict and hardship, and she linked her decision to her Jewish heritage and a collective responsibility to care for the hurting. Polovets described the initiative as a concrete expression of the Genesis Prize’s mission to turn recognition into tangible impact, noting that past laureates have similarly directed prize resources toward humanitarian causes.
Verbatim Quotes
- “After three years of war, loss, and extraordinary hardship, I believe recovery starts from within,” — Gal Gadot
- “Some of these organizations bring different communities together by their very nature. Others are simply there for people at their most vulnerable. But they all share the same idea: caring for one another is how we begin to move forward.” — Gal Gadot
- “But they all share the same idea: Caring for one another is how we begin to move forward.” — Stan Polovets, co-founder and chairman
- “By strengthening the people who care for others, we can begin to heal families and communities, restore a sense of connection, and create the possibility of a more peaceful future.” — Stan Polovets, co-founder and chairman