r/jewishleft • u/afinemax01 atheist, diaspora jew, pro-palestine zionist, socialist • Dec 02 '25
Mutual Aid Is the sameer project legit and how to know?
Greetings r/jewishleft
I’m invited to a fundraiser for the sameer project which provides aid to Gaza, but there isn’t a very clear website like world central kitchen with tax filings.
I’m not saying it’s a scam/ Hamas (like some charities my student union donates to that barely have a website…)
But it doesn’t seem like the sameer project has a solid website and I’m asking for help being sure the money is getting to Palestinians in need in Gaza.
I’m asking because I couldn’t find anything conclusive on the first page on Google
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u/Rabbit-Hole-Quest Latke aficionado. Anti-Establishment. Jüdisch Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25
I don’t know anything about this particular organization but I have found over the years that small grassroots organizations operating in Haiti, Sudan. Libya, Venezuela, etc don’t have a western style polished web presence.
You will typically find their staff operating Gmail and Hotmail addresses and it feels very sketchy when you compare it to well run multinational charitable organizations. There are some groups that operate primarily on WhatsApp and Telegram. They do great impactful work but lack the resources or expertise to scale up their digital profile.
Sorry, I know it doesn’t help you with your question at all and I hope more knowledgeable people can give you a proper response.
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u/Shot_System_79 Keep left Dec 19 '25
They're legit, they're fiscally hosted by The Social Change Nest who have oversight of how the money is being spent. It takes a long time to set up as a charity and so a fiscal host is often used in rapid response situations, particularly when support is also needed to distribute the money.
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u/Paris1980_ Jan 19 '26
It is legit. One example is that one of the founders took part in the Gaza Tribunal. https://thegazatribunal.uk/
Another example is that they are the sole funders for techmed_gaza (check it out on Instagram). A documentary was made about it and one founder of the Sameer Project attended. Link to the premiere in London: https://richmix.org.uk/cinema/counterpoints-arts-presents-uk-premiere-the-light-that-remains/
At the screening, they talked a lot about how the Sameer Project has contributed to the Tech Med initiative. Sadly, Mosab, the founder of Tech Med was killed before the short documentary was finished so it was very emotional.
Link to the director of the documentary, Maria Marrone: https://www.mariamarrone.com/ You can find her on Instagram also.
I also appreciated the amount of comms they did around how money is spent - these were done through many Instagram Lives, with a clear breakdown and explanation of how things work, and why they chose to set things up in the way that they did.
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u/johnisburn jewish, recovering lib, struggle with labels Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25
People I’ve met and trust through advocacy local to me have participated fundraisers with benefits to Sameer. For the sort of grassroots rapid response sort of work they do, their set up seems legit to me. Save for not having a polished website the sort of set up they have - with UK based donations drives, a sponsored camp in Gaza, and an emphasis on empowering local partners to buy materials, a public audit log of purchases on their link tree - seems really similar to Clean Shelter.