Lifting the Curtain

Yeshivabound.com is a new project I created to finance the cost of yeshiva tuition. I had the idea last year when I remembered a new story about a woman who got out of credit card debt through anonymous donations via a website she created. I figured; Why not do the same thing? Thanks to a story Shmais published, we've raised $1,107.28. I've been emailing several other news sources and three are likely to publish the following:

B”H

Four years later…almost one hundred thousand dollars apiece in tuition and expenses for High School. This is the result of a promise they made to themselves at pivotal moments in their young lives. Each young man had achieved the lofty goal of completing yeshiva in spite of having come from backgrounds almost completely devoid of any Judaism whatsoever. Dovid Staples, 17, a geir who declared at his bar mitzvah a little more than a year after becoming Jewish that he was going to Yeshiva, and Adam Finck, who had gone from a skateboarding kid with punk rock hair to shliach to the small community of Brattleboro, Vermont set their sights once again on a new goal; S’micha.

However, before reaching the goal of S’micha they must attend Zal. Both fine young men have been accepted to the esteemed Yeshiva Gedolah in Melbourne, Australia. Getting accepted wasn’t the problem. Both young men had excellent references. The problem, once again is paying the tuition.

The brainstorming began. It was clear they could not finance the cost themselves, but how could they still raise the funds? They needed a way to reach hundreds of people. They needed an easy way for people to contribute even from a distance. They needed something that would be extremely easy for their donors, something they could do right from their own home. Dovid turned to his friend Adam, “You know, this sounds a lot like a website.” Thus the idea for Yeshivabound.com was born.

Dovid Staples appointed himself the architect of Yeshivabound.com. Not that he knew the first thing about web design – he’s the one who owned the computer, so by default the job fell to him. This proved to be a daunting task. Adam’s mother, Charna Gross, however, offered key advice and guidance and Yeshivabound.com finally began to take shape. In June of 2009, it was launched.

On the website visitors can read the short biographies of Dovid and Adam and donate increments of money through a secure Paypal service. One innovative feature are the donate buttons, which are designated according to time-value instead of money value. By dividing the tuition into hours, days, weeks, or even months of learning, visitors get a better feel for what they are paying for. “It’s a much more satisfying way to give,” says Staples. “When someone sponsors, say, an hour (only $4.00) they see exactly how their money is being used. They know that one hour of our learning is thanks to them.”

Perhaps the most convenient feature is the Auto-Mitzva Button. This feature allows visitors to subscribe to monthly $25 donations. “$25 a month is a mere eighty three cents a day; something to think about when you buy your morning coffee,” Staples explains.

Another perk for donors is the ‘Our Donors’ page; a page dedicated to any person who donates, unless they choose to opt out. The Yeshivabound boys explain they want their donors to be just as involved as they are.

The biggest obstacle facing the Yeshivabound boys is promotion of their website. “We obviously don’t have much to spend on marketing. We have a Facebook page and that is the main vehicle for promoting ourselves. We mostly rely on word-of-mouth,” says Staples. Through Facebook they’ve gotten several hits from across the globe, especially in the U.S., the U.K., Israel, and Australia,” but exposure has not yet translated into big dollars. “I can’t figure out how to get people who visit the site to go the next step and press that big “DONATE” button,” grins Staples, “We are just starting to get people to look at the site, but I can’t honestly say it’s raised a significant amount as of yet. I decided to put a Donate One Hour button on the home page and say ‘Since you’re already here, at least donate an hour!’ I think that’s worked at least once. We just need more exposure; after all we are only about three months old, so I am confident things will change. School starts in October so we hope it changes really soon!”

The parents of the yeshivabound boys are immensely proud of their efforts. “It bothers me that I can’t do more to help my son with the tuition. This was an extremely difficult year. I know it will get better soon. I am so inspired that it hasn’t discouraged him. In fact, it’s been like a driving force stirring him to think of other ways to get to Australia.”

The ambitious Yeshivabound boys indicate the website doesn’t stop with them. They hope that one day Yeshivabound.com will be a source of financial help for other up-and-coming bochurim like themselves. “It wouldn’t be in the very near future,” says Staples, “but many charitable organizations started out with just a few people invested in their own cause. If Yeshivabound.com really works for us, we can see it turning into something a lot bigger.” Finck agrees, “I already have a bochur in the lineup when the time comes.” Someone has already asked if they would be willing to sell the nameYeshivabound.com. “That would be cool.” Finck stated. Turning to his yeshivabound friend, Dovid joked, “I suppose we could do that for twenty four thousand dollars. After all, that’s our tuition.”