Hadassah last month celebrated the beginning of their Centennial celebrations and made a point of telling all. What they didn’t tell us about was the latest series of staff reductions. The following is from a letter sent in early March by Nancy Falchuk, Hadassah’s president:

Dear Colleagues:

As we reported in January at our midwinter meetings, we will be further restructuring HWZOA’s National Headquarters staff, effective this week. This restructuring will create a more efficient organization, more responsive to the needs of our members, and in keeping with our commitment to continue providing life-saving health care in Israel for the next century.

It is with considerable regret, however, that we are forced to reduce National Headquarters staff by 25 percent as part of this restructuring.

I understand the hardship this decision places on many of you. HWZOA leadership has explored a variety of options before making this decision. HWZOA genuinely values the service of our dedicated National Headquarters staff and will do our best to mitigate the impact of this decision.

In January 2009, Hadassah laid-off 25% of their professional staff and in November of that year, an additional 5%. In just 26 months, Hadassah has reduced their professional staff by almost 50%.

There are many questions left unanswered including – what is the fallout from the Madoff settlement on the organization’s cash flow and, probably more important, how far have donations declined in the past few years.

In notifying Hadassah’s board of this action, Falchuk said, “Hadassah will not be distributing any further statements.”