Charendoff: “No single individual should have the authority to make significant financial decisions for a nonprofit.”

from The New York Jewish Week: Sephardim Move To Restructure Charities In the wake of criminal financial allegations at the top of the Syrian Jewish community’s leadership, the larger Sephardic community is working to reform the way its charities operate, demanding more transparency and oversight, The Jewish Week has learned. In a series of conference calls and meetings in recent days, Sephardic lay leaders and rabbis have proposed stringent measures that would discourage the widespread practice of individual rabbis holding sole control over discretionary charitable funds, and call for routine audits of charities, sources told The Jewish Week. At the same time, an international network of 800 donors to Jewish charities – including major family foundations – is considering barring grants... Continue Reading

The Economy and It’s Impact on Philanthropy

Last Thursday afternoon, the UJC sponsored the 4th in a series of conference calls seeking to bring current information to the community on how we are being effected by the current global economic climate. Titled, The Economy and It’s Impact on Philanthropy, participants included Richard Berner, managing director, co-head of Global Economics and Chief U.S. Economist at Morgan Stanley; Lucy Bernholz, founder and president of Blueprint Research & Design, Inc; and John Ruskay, executive vice president and chief executive officer of UJA-Federation of New York. The call, along with the previous three, are available in MP3 format here. In this post, I am going to briefly focus on John Ruskay’s comments, how UJA-New York Federation responded and some thoughts for the upcoming campaign. This is... Continue Reading

Meet the Future Today: The Level8 Network

Young Jewish American adults represent 36% of all Jewish American adults; yet only 13% donate to Jewish causes. Only 2% donate to their various federations. You might ask, why is this? “In their views, the institutionalized Jewish community does not meet their needs or speak to their interests as young people.” [Reboot study 2006]. With the goal of empowering the next generation of sustainable Jewish giving, Wharton grad and former Philadelphia Moishe House leader Shelby Zitelman has launched The Level8 Network. A project of the 2009 class of the PresenTense Institute, Shelby describes her endeavor as “a grassroots philanthropy fund that teaches the tools of effective philanthropy by utilizing the collective resources of young Jewish professionals to support innovative nonprofit organizations.” The... Continue Reading

UJC Tackles The Economy and It’s Impact on Philanthropy

Tomorrow the UJC will sponsor a tele-conference call that will bring together recognized experts from the field of economics, nonprofit strategy and Jewish philanthropy for a rare, cross-sector dialogue on these important themes and to reflect on the interrelationships between the economy, the future of the nonprofit sector and giving trends. Participants include Richard Berner, managing director, co-head of Global Economics and Chief U.S. Economist at Morgan Stanley; Lucy Bernholz, founder and president of Blueprint Research & Design, Inc; and John Ruskay, executive vice president and chief executive officer of UJA-Federation of New York. Call-in information is available here. [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

Investing in Jewish Youth

This article originally appeared in the FJC News. 1967. New York: American businessman Sanford Bernstein founded the Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, specializing in investment management. Within 15 years, Bernstein became one of the largest firms on Wall Street. Within the next 15 years the annual turnover from clients served by the Company reached 80 million dollars. 2009. Moscow: The Avi Chai Foundation allocates a sizeable grant to Or Avner, the educational umbrella organization which, among many other projects, oversees Jewish children’s summer camps in Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union. Thanks to this funding, educational projects threatened with closure due to the financial crisis were literally saved. As in previous years, more than 2,000 children will benefit from overnight... Continue Reading

How Do We Tell Our Story?

Haviv Rettig Gur writing in The Jerusalem Post: Solomon urges behavioral changes in Jewish community The Jewish world can have a strong recovery from the damage wrought by the worldwide recession and the Madoff fraud, but only if it figures out how to tell a story worth hearing, according to Jeffrey Solomon, president of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies and a former senior vice president of the New York Jewish federation. The havoc wrought on Jewish communal life will likely be felt for years, Solomon believes. In the Tuesday talk, an event of the Council on Israel-Diaspora Affairs of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, he noted that the Madoff fraud alone “killed 51 foundations and seriously injured 143 others. In the context of the worst recession since the Great Depression,... Continue Reading

NewsBits: The Joint Worries and Steinhardt Makes New $5m. Gift to AHA

from The Fundermentalist: JDC faces significant budget crunch The Joint is in the early stages of planning its budget for 2010, according to Schawger’s previous letter, dated June 30, and is anticipating a significant budget deficit – most of which he seems to be laying in the lap of the federation system and its umbrella organization, the UJC/Jewish Federations of North America. About 20 percent of the Joint’s budget, which in 2009 is $332 million, is made up of undesignated funds given by donors for core operating expenses. The UJC provides the lion’s share of that. In May 2009, the Joint had $73.8 million in undesignated funds, of which the UJC and the federation system provided $37 million. But the picture for 2010 is much worse, as the Joint is anticipating a 12 percent budget cut,... Continue Reading

18 Under 18: The Next NowGen

from JVibe: 18 Under 18: The List is In JVibe’s first-ever “18 Under 18” awards were years in the making; the responsibility of choosing these remarkable teens wasn’t taken lightly. We received nominations from March through May from all over North America, and the competition was fierce. Since we’ve never run an awards program before, we didn’t know what to expect. We were floored by the creative and inspiring accomplishments of the young adults who were nominated. From philanthropy to theater to helping the disadvantaged to music, we found the nominees’ talents not only varied but also deeply passionate. The hardest part of the whole process for us was choosing only 18 teens; every teen nominated was truly inspirational. The winners, listed in alphabetical order, represent those who... Continue Reading

Sandy Cardin on The Future of Philanthropy

Schusterman Family Foundation president and communal leader Sandy Cardin spoke last week at Jerusalem’s PresenTense Institute on his view on where philanthropy is and is going. Here’s Sandy live – including his 2009 adaption of The Wizard of Oz for the philanthropic world. [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

JAFI: The Dust is Settling; Now What Needs to Be Done?

The Jewish Agency for Israel’s (JAFI) Assembly and the Board of Governors’ meetings just ended and the dust is beginning to settle. Although it was reported that there were sweeping changes to JAFI’s relationship to the Israeli political system this was somewhat exaggerated and I sense there was more playing with smoke and mirrors than actual renovations to rehabilitate an ailing institution. This holds true also for the final approval of Natan Sharansky’s appointment as Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency. In 1929, when the Jewish Agency for Israel was created it was, for all intents and purposes, the administrative arm of the World Zionist Organization to implement the Balfour Declaration and establish the “Homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine.” With successive changes... Continue Reading

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