Letter to AFMDA Board of Directors and All Staff
January 19, 2011
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
It is with tremendous sadness that we inform you that the undersigned hereby resign from our positions as officers, members of the Executive Committee and members of the Board of Directors of the American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA).
We take this step with heavy hearts because we are troubled that the leadership of Magen David Adom (MDA), and some of the members of AFMDA’s Board of Directors, do not appear to share our commitment to our roles as responsible and independent fiduciaries, exercising sound judgment in full compliance with the letter and spirit of American laws and donor expectations.
AFMDA has had an enviable and extraordinary 70-year history of continuous support for the people of Israel, raising hundreds of millions of dollars in America for our mission of saving lives there. Under our leadership these past two years, AFMDA has remitted over $40 million, more funds for MDA projects than ever before.
We are especially proud that under our leadership, AFMDA has dramatically strengthened its governance and added talented professionals to our senior staff. We have enhanced our financial accountability, as demonstrated through our commitment to compliance and our three independent external audits with clean opinions. And we have focused and improved our fundraising to position AFMDA for even greater future success in our lifesaving mission. Under our leadership, we have elevated the awareness of the noble mission of Magen David Adom throughout the United States.
We are proud to have had the opportunity to serve and enhance this successful organization, but we refuse to abdicate or compromise in any way our fiduciary duty to AFMDA and its donors.
B’Shalom,
Lewis Krinsky-Former National Chairman
Harvey Rafofsky-Former Vice Chairman, Fundraising and Development
Jeremy Fingerman-Former Vice Chairman, Projects and Allocations
Thomas Kaplan-Former Treasurer Miriam Sparrow-Former Secretary
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What is the purpose of a letter like this? if you feel something is wrong, then say what it is as opposed to letting us guess what terrible thing either the members who stepped down were accused of or what the MDA has allegedly done.
Is the problem too high of administrative fees, negligence, what? We need greater transparency and less face saving.
Because the head of MDA in Israel is accused of $46M tax evasion, and other alleged mismanagement, the US arm insists that their checks go direct to the Israeli contractors doing the work, and not to the organization. Makes sense to me.
Evidently some on the board would just pass the cash along, with no oversight. That violates US law. A US citizen can’t deduct charity given to a foreign organization. If all the US arm does is pass along the cash to Israel, it is essentially the same as giving direct to the foreign organization. There needs to be oversight. Not that the US group manages the Israeli projects, only to be sure that what is paid for is what is received. And if MDA can’t accept that, after 70 years, they need to look to their own leadership.