Fiverr founder Micha Kaufman launches Next Generation Foundation to operate educational villages for Israeli youth aged 15 to pre-military service

Kaufman, who has led Fiverr for 16 years, co-founded the Next Generation Foundation with Wix president Nir Zohar and educators Shirley Rimon Bracha and Liza Ben Hamo. The foundation operates youth villages in glamping tents offering six-week educational preparatory programs (mechinot) that combine liberal values, Judaism, critical thinking, and Zionism.

The first village opened at Aaronsohn Farm in Atlit. The foundation plans to expand to northern Israel, the Maalei Jerusalem area, and southern Israel, with each village potentially costing as much as $10 million a year, funded primarily by Kaufman's own money and that of his partners.

Kaufman aims to house at least 17,000 young people a year in each village, targeting teenagers from geographically and socially peripheral areas. He describes this as 'the biggest educational project in Israel in a decade' and plans to expand the foundation's educational initiatives to ages 3 to 30.