B'nai B'rith International

B'nai B'rith International is the oldest Jewish humanitarian, human rights and advocacy organization.  For 165 years, B'nai Brith has been meeting the unmet needs in your community and your world.

Why do we exist?

B’nai B’rith International, the Global Voice of the Jewish Community, is the oldest and most widely known Jewish humanitarian, human rights, and advocacy organization.  Since 1843, BBI has worked for Jewish unity, security, continuity, and tolerance, meeting your unmet needs in the community and on the international scene.

B’nai B’rith reaches out to people in need regardless of race or religion, providing low-income senior housing, holiday packages for the poor, and supporting tolerance programs. BBI also factors strongly in the legislative field, advocating for healthcare and working with local and federal officials on policies of interest to the Jewish community.

BBI has members in more than 50 countries around the world, playing an important role in international diplomacy as the only Jewish organization with a fulltime presence at the UN, as well as at the European Union and the OAS. With an office at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva and the B’nai B’rith World Center based in Jerusalem, BBI fights anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias while championing international human rights.

In times of crisis, BBI is on the ground providing long-term support that covers the necessities that other organizations often overlook. When a tsunami hit Southeast Asia in 2004, the B'nai B'rith Disaster Relief Fund contributed nearly $1 million to help meet immediate needs and address long-term rebuilding of lives and livelihoods. Eight months later, the Gulf Coast of the United States was devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Through its B'nai B'rith Gulf Coast Hurricane Relief Fund, B'nai B'rith raised more than $1.1 million to assist the victims of these deadly storms, providing emergency supplies, food, and medicine as well as supporting local projects to help families hit by these disasters, including a Habitat for Humanity house.

What have you accomplished?

After natural disaster strikes or conflicts erupt, B’nai B’rith is often one of the first humanitarian organizations on the scene and one of the last to leave. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the Gulf Coast region, B’nai B’rith gave a $100,000 grant to the city of Gulfport, Miss., which was were earmarked to hire an administrator to manage the development of housing funds from grants and other sources. Those efforts garnered a $9 million federal grant, which was used to help rebuild the city. Money allocated from BBI’s Disaster Relief Fund also helped pay for the renovation of three long-term senior citizen housing units in devastated St. Bernard Parish, La.

When an earthquake registering 8.0 on the Richter scale shook thousands of Peruvian citizens into a dire situation, B’nai B’rith joined with other organizations to send medical teams and rescue crews to the torn country. B’nai B’rith Peru purchased and delivered truckloads of supplies, such as food, cooking utensils, and plastic covers, to the disaster zone while doctors and nurses visited 23 villages, treating around 300 people a day.

B’nai B’rith supporters responded to the call for action after a tsunami hit South Asia in 2004, raising nearly $1 million to help meet the region’s immediate needs, including medical attention and food supplies, and address long-term rebuilding of lives and livelihoods.

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