Touching the world of Jewish philanthropy, here are a few more items appearing recently on other Web sites you may find of interest.

The European Council of Jewish Communities (ECJC) has announced it will soon be opening offices in Israel. The ECJC is active in dozens of Jewish communities in 40 countries across Europe, working to connect millions of young Jews to their Jewish identity and to the Jewish lifestyle, through educational, economic and cultural projects.

from Inside HigherEd:

‘Jewish Studies, Jewish Money’

The panelists were to consider four questions. To summarize the first three: To what extent has Jewish philanthropy shaped the growth and content of Jewish studies as a field; have such external influences changed over the years; and does Jewish studies stand out, apart from the sciences, for its dependence on outside cash? To quote the moderator, Steven J. Zipperstein of Stanford University, on the fourth, “When is money too expensive to accept?”

The Monday afternoon panel, held during the annual conference of the Association for Jewish Studies, featured what one panelist described as “two elephants in the room” – the overall financial crisis and, specifically, the Bernard L. Madoff case. For all the talk of negotiating agendas attached to money, would it still be free-flowing?

both from The Jerusalem Post:

Treasury seeks to help nonprofits

The Finance Ministry is easing the conditions of financial guarantees required by nonprofit organizations, which will increase state funding by an annual NIS 150 million as the global economic crisis dries up private donations.

Jewish Agency: Na’aleh will not be cut

Amid concerns that Jewish Agency cutbacks were threatening the continued operation of Na’aleh, an agency spokesman promised the unique youth aliya program would survive, one way or another.

from the JCC London Blog:

Other People’s Money

I was in Bucharest as part of a conference to debate what it means to be a JCC.  We hoped to tease out the essence of ‘JCC-ness’. We explored the power of community, the importance of shared values, tikkun olam, and daily struggles to make Jewishness live in a non-religious way. We admired the pride of those who are managing to bring something Jewish back to places from which it had almost completely disappeared.

from Birthright Israel Next:

Over 1,000 Shabbat Dinners, All Hosted By Alumni Of Birthright Israel

The program launched its pilot stage in May this year and to date there have been 1,025 events.