How a New Nonprofit Is Solving Financial Struggles from the Ground Up

Shalom Goodman grew up in a comfortable home in Chicago. Despite living with a lifelong stutter, he has successfully built a flourishing career and family. Over the years, he has worked as an SEO Editor at Chabad.org, Business Insider, and The Wall Street Journal, contributing to some of the biggest stories of recent years.

Happily married with a child and enjoying a wonderful career, he was living a seemingly picture-perfect existence when, one day, he received a text that changed everything.

A friend shared that someone they both knew in the Jewish community was financially overwhelmed. The man didn’t have enough money to purchase the bare essentials for the Passover holiday that was to begin the following evening.

Shalom immediately posted about the situation on his WhatsApp status and within 15 minutes he had raised $5,000 for the family.

“I was just amazed. I realized that even though I’m just an average guy, I can meaningfully help someone in need,” says Goodman. “When I shared the story with my close friend, he responded, ‘That was incredible. You’ve got to continue doing this. I will not hang up the phone until you promise me that you will open up a group to help other people as well.’”

Collective Kindness

Goodman lives his life with a strong sense of obligation to help others. Today, that ‘small group’ has evolved into an operation called Collective Kindness. Just 18 months old, this organization has more than 23 part-time employees and has raised almost one million dollars, helping 110 families break the cycle of poverty.

Shalom Goodman (Photo credit: Dani Diamond, as part of the Faces of Orthodoxy Project.)

Goodman explains why he became so dedicated to this cause. “I come from an amazing home. I have parents who were able to easily provide for us and help others. I’d always imagine if I was from a poor home with no connections and had parents with immense debt. I stutter, and my inability to talk freely can be debilitating. I could have ended up a mess.”

Treating the Root Cause

Goodman says that what sets Collective Kindness apart from other organizations is that they don’t just simply hand out money. Rather, they help each family get back on their feet, and try to solve the problem at its core so that it won’t recur. Judaism views this as the highest form of tzedakah, one which preserves the dignity of the recipient and helps him in the most profound way.

At the inception of the organization, Goodman was an SEO Editor at The Wall Street Journal and spent his evenings helping families. “Any time someone sincerely needed money, I did a fundraiser, and here you go. That’s amazing and all but over time I realized it’s extremely ineffective, and in a way, enabling the problem.

“In general, the way things work today is if a wealthy man is asked to help out a family, the main option is to give money. That is not always effective. It’s akin to arriving at the ER and saying, ‘I’m in pain all over,’ and they just hand you an aspirin. It will help out for an hour, but afterwards, the pain worsens. Someone might have cancer or may need an X-ray. They need an expert who looks inside. That’s what we do. We diagnose the issue and come up with a custom plan to heal, working with experts who use extreme care and confidentiality.”

The goal of Collective Kindness is to help people help themselves. Certified accountants look at how much a family is earning and spending. Therapists interact with them, debt experts help them get their debt under control, job coaches help them secure a better position, and so on. They tailor their approach to meet the unique needs of each family.

Smart Kindness

Collective Kindness has evolved into something unique in how they help people stop the cycle of financial insecurity at its roots.

Their program, Smart Chesed, (the Hebrew word for kindness) is a transformative approach to charity that provides a “hand up” instead of a hand out. By addressing the root causes of financial challenges through personalized and comprehensive support, the program empowers families to achieve long-term stability and lasting solutions, rather than relying on temporary fixes. This innovative model was first introduced by Reb Avrohom Leventhal of Leman Achai in Israel, who now serves on Collective Kindness’ Advisory Board.

It also differs from a Free Loan Society in a big way.

“Giving someone a loan is great for some, but when someone is not making ends meet, it can serve potentially as a band-aid. It could be actually enabling bad behaviors to continue. With Smart Chesed and Collective Kindness, we use all our tools: our CPAs, our Case Managers, and our myriads of experts and connections to get in the weeds with clients, and figure out the crux of the matter,” says Goodman.

Shalom holding his newborn son

“We find out why they ended up in this situation, and work with them to build skills and provide them with tools to avoid this happening again, putting them on a path to success. With a loan, all you need is one person handing out checks. We have 23 experts who work with our clients.”

Success Stories

“There was a guy in his fifties who hadn’t worked in three years and was a day away from being evicted from his home. If we had simply handed him money, we would have stopped the eviction process, but it would have happened again.

“I told the rabbi who shared his situation, ‘I’ll make you a deal. Tell him we will only pay off his eviction if he joins Collective Kindness and works with them in every way.”

It was a deal.

“With the help of Collective Kindness, this man was able to find an occupation that paid $150,000 a year. He works hard but now he is able to help himself. He is a mensch and he feels awesome.”

Goodman shared another example of a community leader who was loved by all. “He actually was seen as a community activist and well-connected. He operates a large institution, and everyone in his town loves him. But if you looked on the inside, his wife was unhappy. They were not earning a respectable, adequate living and had a ton of debt.”

His wife called Goodman and asked, “How is it that I’m just not able to buy essentials?”

His operation brought in an accountant and a therapist who helped the couple budget their spending. They helped arrange for a raise in his salary and designed a financial plan, including getting their debt under control.

“He needed a plan of action. Now he is earning more money, has an amazing marriage, is not overwhelmed with debt, and he is already helping others who were in his same predicament. Smart Chesed is an endless cycle of helping others. We are not aiming at someone who just wants an easy hand out. Our operation isn’t easy. It takes a lot of work, but if you want to see a change, we will work with you.”

Leaving the WSJ

Goodman eventually left his position at The Wall Street Journal, dedicating the majority of his time to his organization. In addition, he continues to assist companies with their online marketing strategies as an SEO Advisor.

“When people hear that I left my stable job to open up a non-profit, they think I’m whacked. But after I explain our operation, they recognize its importance, and most people always share that they know someone who might be a match and in need.”

Goodman is driven to help others and needs partnerships to continue his incredible work.

“We’re already overwhelmed with people who need our assistance and services. We want partners who can help us help others.”

Goodman has partners in some cities where they introduce families that are fit the criteria and they underwrite the amount it will cost to help.

While they are not equipped to help people with extreme debt or to the point of bankruptcy, they will still share resources even when a family is not a match.

The top reasons people go into debt is that life (especially in large cities) is expensive, expectations in the Jewish community are high, and many people are financially illiterate.

“It’s hard to make ends meet. We see many middle-class families who just can’t make it. We believe in them, but we hold them accountable to make better choices. People get addicted to credit cards. We are in the midst of creating an education wing that’ll help with this, teaching newly engaged couples about basic financial literacy.”

Goodman, along with his dedicated team of experts, gives their time, heart, and soul to growing this amazing organization, and are putting all their effort and focus into one goal: helping as many families as possible become financially (and emotionally) self-sufficient through the Smart Chesed method.

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