Keren Shemesh – the Beit Foundation, was founded in July 2005 and is the leading non-profit
organization in the city. The foundation’s main goals are to improve the lives of Beit Shemesh
residents through projects in the fields of education, employment, culture and welfare. The NGO’s
executive committee consists mostly of Beit Shemesh residents.

When the foundation was founded, its main goal was to break the cycle of poverty in the city by
providing equal opportunity in education and access to quality education for all the children of Beit
Shemesh. By subsidizing part of the parents' costs, we help children from challenging economic
backgrounds to experience the depth and variety of educational opportunities available to all
children. The goal is to let the children of Keren Shemesh dream and believe in themselves by
reducing the financial worries involved in their education.

Today, mainly due to a deeper strategic cooperation with the Beit Shemesh municipality, the
foundation operates in diverse fields with the overarching goal of promoting, developing and
implementing programs and initiatives to improve the city of Beit Shemesh.

In the field of education, the foundation promotes projects of excellence in education, scholarships
for higher education, mentoring for school children and education for responsibility.

As part of the cooperation with the municipality, the foundation operates the Employment bureau, a 
flagship project that leads innovative models to promote employment, employers and workers in
the city of Beit Shemesh.

In the fields of infrastructure, leisure, culture and sports, the foundation worked to renovate the
Artists House (the historic courthouse in the old city) and is also engaged in raising resources for the
establishment of public parks and gardens as well as for the benefit of Sportek, while the
construction of the infrastructure for its establishment begins in November 2022.