Israel Schachter: Power Broker

Jul 19 2024

Israel Schachter has been using his influence as a global relationship-builder to raise more than half a billion dollars for thousands of nonprofits.

As history shows us, nothing of positive consequence happens in our world without people coming together to work for change. Bringing people together takes a special type of person — someone who has the ability to be that one degree of separation, who can provide that magic elixir that can bridge worlds and build relationships for the greater good.

Israel Schachter is just that type of person. Schachter is founder and CEO of CharityBids, a creative agency and production company that for more than twenty years has helped thousands of nonprofits around the world exceed their fundraising goals by staging in-person and virtual events that have involved a myriad of big-name celebrities, from Sir Elton John to Drake, Usher to Jamie Foxx.

Though not in the entertainment business directly, Schachter finds himself one part producer, one part impresario and every part a man whose life’s mission is to help individuals, charities and businesses accelerate their growth by leveraging his gift for building relationships.

“At the core of everything I’ve ever done is helping people, because my parents have a deep sense of responsibility to the people and the community,” Schachter explains in a recent interview with Dolce. His father, Rabbi Hershel Schachter, is a renowned authority on Jewish law, and the life lessons passed down to Schachter and his eight siblings by their parents have stayed with him and shaped him.

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“Everything you do has to be meaningful and purposeful and has to have an impact to help the people around you,” he says. “Even CharityBids, for example. It might be a business, but we’ve raised more than $500 million for charities along the way. Helping people has to be in everything we do. If it’s not making an impact, it’s probably not going to be interesting to me.”

It is a confident yet modest man who can just casually mention that he has raised half a billion dollars for charity, but that is also a testament to how he grew up. “I didn’t grow up with affluent parents, but I learned from observing them that generosity has nothing to do with how much money you have,” says Schachter.

“You have billionaires who are cheap and you have people who have no money who are extremely generous. It’s like a way of life — if you’re generous with your heart and generous with your ideas or time, or even giving someone a smile, that’s generosity. It’s the way you treat people. If you treat people nicely, you are being very generous. I think that’s the most important lesson I learned from my parents, and to treat everyone with respect regardless of their background or what their social or economic status might be. People are people, and everyone deserves to be treated with respect.”

One of Schachter’s favourite sayings is “Integrity is currency.” “No one passed it on to me, but it’s something I realized over the years as I began to build businesses,” he says. “When I say integrity is currency, if you’ve never screwed anyone and you’ve always been straight with people and have a good reputation and a good name, that’s something no one can ever take away from you. Ultimately, it’s worth more than all the money you could ever have. Your integrity is all you have — if you lose your integrity, it doesn’t matter how much money you have, no one is going to want to work with you.”

It seems that everybody wants to work with Schachter. He and his team at CharityBids are creative, out-of-the-box thinkers who encourage their clients to bring that thinking to their fundraising and their brands, and CharityBids delivers memorable, elevated guest experiences to every event they produce.

Schachter grew up in New York City and moved to Toronto, his wife Shoshana’s hometown, when he was 24. It was shortly after his arrival in the city that he was introduced to Chai Lifeline Canada, an organization that for the past 18 years has been stepping up to provide much-needed programs and services for families living with a child with a severe illness.

He has been producing Chai Lifeline’s annual Harmony and Hope Gala ever since, including acting as co-chair along with Shoshana of this past April’s Gala, where more than 1,200 supporters of the charity gathered to raise funds and enjoy the evening, which was capped by a stellar musical performance by famed Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with whom Schachter and his wife have become close friends.

“I Love What I Do And I’m Able To Help People Every Day With All The Things That We Do And It’s The Best Feeling In The World. I Go To Sleep At Night Knowing That I Did The Right Thing.”

As usual, Schachter brought his passion to a cause he truly believes in. “I would never attach myself to something I don’t believe in, and I would never ask you to support something I don’t support or ask you to participate in something I’m not participating in,” says Schachter. “When people hear and see passion they feel like you’re on to something they’re missing out on — they want to be part of it. When you’re real, it’s very hard for people to ignore passion. That’s the approach I’ve taken. It’s just the way I am.”

An Orthodox Jew, Schachter puts his faith and his wife and their children before everything else in his life. It is perhaps this grounded approach to his life and work that allows him to relate so well to the A-list celebrities and personalities he has worked with and who populate his world, everyone from former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to Jay Leno, Stevie Wonder and the cast of Saturday Night Live.

“If I meet someone, I’m not going to talk to them about things everybody else is going to talk to them about,” he says about his approach to the famous. “So if I’m with an actress or actor, I’m not talking about their movie. Talking to a musician, I’m not talking about their music. You develop a very different relationship when you’re communicating on a different frequency than everyone else — you kind of stand out. So if I’m the only one who’s in Elton John’s house and never mention a word about music and I’m only talking about his children and his family, his health or his summer plans, I’m showing I care more about him as a person and not as a celebrity. When you connect that way, you realize they are just people like everyone else.”

“I tell people all the time I don’t feel like I work,” says Schachter. “I love what I do. I’m able to help people every day with all the things that we do and it’s the best feeling in the world. I go to sleep at night knowing that I did the right thing. There are a lot of people around who are selfish or greedy or just think about themselves, and I personally don’t know how they sleep at night. But I sleep very well — not enough hours, but I sleep very well.”

Through his life’s work of building relationships and teams, bringing people together, and his passionate dedication to raising funds for so many charities and causes, Israel Schachter is helping many other people sleep at night just as well.

INTERVIEW BY MARC CASTALDO

www.charitybids.com
@charitybids
@ischachter

Israel Schachter: Power Broker

Israel Schachter has been using his influence as a global relationship-builder to raise more than half a billion dollars for thousands of nonprofits.

As history shows us, nothing of positive consequence happens in our world without people coming together to work for change. Bringing people together takes a special type of person — someone who has the ability to be that one degree of separation, who can provide that magic elixir that can bridge worlds and build relationships for the greater good.

Israel Schachter is just that type of person. Schachter is founder and CEO of CharityBids, a creative agency and production company that for more than twenty years has helped thousands of nonprofits around the world exceed their fundraising goals by staging in-person and virtual events that have involved a myriad of big-name celebrities, from Sir Elton John to Drake, Usher to Jamie Foxx.

Though not in the entertainment business directly, Schachter finds himself one part producer, one part impresario and every part a man whose life’s mission is to help individuals, charities and businesses accelerate their growth by leveraging his gift for building relationships.

“At the core of everything I’ve ever done is helping people, because my parents have a deep sense of responsibility to the people and the community,” Schachter explains in a recent interview with Dolce. His father, Rabbi Hershel Schachter, is a renowned authority on Jewish law, and the life lessons passed down to Schachter and his eight siblings by their parents have stayed with him and shaped him.

Article Continued Below ADVERTISEMENT


SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT

“Everything you do has to be meaningful and purposeful and has to have an impact to help the people around you,” he says. “Even CharityBids, for example. It might be a business, but we’ve raised more than $500 million for charities along the way. Helping people has to be in everything we do. If it’s not making an impact, it’s probably not going to be interesting to me.”

It is a confident yet modest man who can just casually mention that he has raised half a billion dollars for charity, but that is also a testament to how he grew up. “I didn’t grow up with affluent parents, but I learned from observing them that generosity has nothing to do with how much money you have,” says Schachter.

“You have billionaires who are cheap and you have people who have no money who are extremely generous. It’s like a way of life — if you’re generous with your heart and generous with your ideas or time, or even giving someone a smile, that’s generosity. It’s the way you treat people. If you treat people nicely, you are being very generous. I think that’s the most important lesson I learned from my parents, and to treat everyone with respect regardless of their background or what their social or economic status might be. People are people, and everyone deserves to be treated with respect.”

One of Schachter’s favourite sayings is “Integrity is currency.” “No one passed it on to me, but it’s something I realized over the years as I began to build businesses,” he says. “When I say integrity is currency, if you’ve never screwed anyone and you’ve always been straight with people and have a good reputation and a good name, that’s something no one can ever take away from you. Ultimately, it’s worth more than all the money you could ever have. Your integrity is all you have — if you lose your integrity, it doesn’t matter how much money you have, no one is going to want to work with you.”

It seems that everybody wants to work with Schachter. He and his team at CharityBids are creative, out-of-the-box thinkers who encourage their clients to bring that thinking to their fundraising and their brands, and CharityBids delivers memorable, elevated guest experiences to every event they produce.

Schachter grew up in New York City and moved to Toronto, his wife Shoshana’s hometown, when he was 24. It was shortly after his arrival in the city that he was introduced to Chai Lifeline Canada, an organization that for the past 18 years has been stepping up to provide much-needed programs and services for families living with a child with a severe illness.

He has been producing Chai Lifeline’s annual Harmony and Hope Gala ever since, including acting as co-chair along with Shoshana of this past April’s Gala, where more than 1,200 supporters of the charity gathered to raise funds and enjoy the evening, which was capped by a stellar musical performance by famed Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with whom Schachter and his wife have become close friends.

“I Love What I Do And I’m Able To Help People Every Day With All The Things That We Do And It’s The Best Feeling In The World. I Go To Sleep At Night Knowing That I Did The Right Thing.”

As usual, Schachter brought his passion to a cause he truly believes in. “I would never attach myself to something I don’t believe in, and I would never ask you to support something I don’t support or ask you to participate in something I’m not participating in,” says Schachter. “When people hear and see passion they feel like you’re on to something they’re missing out on — they want to be part of it. When you’re real, it’s very hard for people to ignore passion. That’s the approach I’ve taken. It’s just the way I am.”

An Orthodox Jew, Schachter puts his faith and his wife and their children before everything else in his life. It is perhaps this grounded approach to his life and work that allows him to relate so well to the A-list celebrities and personalities he has worked with and who populate his world, everyone from former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to Jay Leno, Stevie Wonder and the cast of Saturday Night Live.

“If I meet someone, I’m not going to talk to them about things everybody else is going to talk to them about,” he says about his approach to the famous. “So if I’m with an actress or actor, I’m not talking about their movie. Talking to a musician, I’m not talking about their music. You develop a very different relationship when you’re communicating on a different frequency than everyone else — you kind of stand out. So if I’m the only one who’s in Elton John’s house and never mention a word about music and I’m only talking about his children and his family, his health or his summer plans, I’m showing I care more about him as a person and not as a celebrity. When you connect that way, you realize they are just people like everyone else.”

“I tell people all the time I don’t feel like I work,” says Schachter. “I love what I do. I’m able to help people every day with all the things that we do and it’s the best feeling in the world. I go to sleep at night knowing that I did the right thing. There are a lot of people around who are selfish or greedy or just think about themselves, and I personally don’t know how they sleep at night. But I sleep very well — not enough hours, but I sleep very well.”

Through his life’s work of building relationships and teams, bringing people together, and his passionate dedication to raising funds for so many charities and causes, Israel Schachter is helping many other people sleep at night just as well.

INTERVIEW BY MARC CASTALDO

www.charitybids.com
@charitybids
@ischachter

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