Tikkun Olam Makers (TOM) is an international nonprofit venture, which inspires and supports a global movement of communities that create and disseminate affordable and accessible open-source solutions to neglected needs of vulnerable populations including people living with disabilities, aging populations, and those who are living in poverty.
ABOUT
US
To realize this vision, TOM created a network of communities where skilled volunteers and students develop, manufacture, and distribute low-cost assistive technology. These communities identify individuals with unmet needs (needs for which there are no affordable or accessible solutions in the market); design and create tailored solutions for those individuals; and document the solutions in TOM’s online portfolio. All solutions are freely accessible online, allowing anyone worldwide to download the designs and manufacture the technology.
TOM also connects communities across religious, political and national lines from dozens of countries, including bringing together Israeli and Palestinian, and Jewish and Arab communities across the Middle East. TOM’s mission – as well as its name – is rooted deeply in the Jewish value of ’Tikkun Olam’ ("to repair the world" in Hebrew), a universal idea that encourages every person to contribute toward improving themselves, their community and the world.
TOM originated in Israel and is now headquartered in New York City. It is a project of Reut USA, a US-based 501(c)(3) organization.
TOM was launched in Israel in 2014 by the Reut Group, which is an Israeli nonprofit strategy and leadership group founded by Gidi Grinstein. Since inception, the mission of TOM has been to address acute needs of vulnerable populations by creating and disseminating affordable and accessible solutions to their needs under the motto: Affordable and Accessible for Anyone Anywhere.
OUR
STORY
TOM was inspired by the teaching of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z”l that “building things together” is the best way to “heal broken societies.” Thus, we envisioned TOM to become a platform that operates across religious, political and national lines. A primary passion of TOM has been to support peaceful coexistence in the Middle East by connecting Jews and Arabs, as well as Israelis and Palestinians through humanitarian collaboration.
Our name, Tikkun Olam Makers invokes the Jewish value of tikkun olam - repairing the world, in Hebrew - that challenges every person to contribute to the betterment of their community, society and humanity. Indeed, TOM is a platform that allows thousands of people from around the world to contribute their skills, inventions and innovations for the benefit of others.
Under Gidi’s leadership, TOM was designed as a bold moonshot project with the goal of helping 250 million people. After its inception in July 2014 in Israel, TOM quickly became an international venture, which is now led from New York City.