NewsBits: The Jewish Web

The following are items appearing on other Web sites you may find of interest.

from the London Jewish Chronicle:

Revealed: the secret JNF cash transfers

Hundreds of thousands of pounds were transferred from JNF UK to an Israeli organization set up by its former leaders without being stated in the JNF accounts.

Nes Israel (as it was originally known) came under the scrutiny of the Charity Commission and its Israeli equivalent last year and has been under investigation this year by forensic accountants called in by the JNF’s new leadership.

from the LA Jewish Journal:

If you stream Kol Nidre, they will watch

When Rabbi Naomi Levy conducted Kol Nidre services this year, her congregation numbered 200,000, stretching from Canada to Colombia and from Japan to Norway.

Watching online on their computers were a student group at a Dartmouth College dormitory, Jews and non-Jews in small isolated communities across the United States, the bedridden and terminally ill, disaffected young Jews who never go to shul and single mothers who couldn’t afford the cost of High Holy Days tickets.

from the Jewish Advocate:

Brandeis attempts to stop the brain drain in Jewish education

Induction and retention at Jewish day schools has been an increasingly challenging task for school administrators. In an effort to stem the tide of Jewish day school teachers leaving the profession within the first few years, Brandeis University’s Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education has launched a unique program.

from the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle:

For nonprofits in a tough economy, marketing pitch must be perfect

With nonprofits facing a shrinking fundraising pool as funders either lose money or become more tightfisted, organizations will have to come up with an effective pitch for convincing donors that they are running tight ships. And nonprofits have to recognize that their messaging may be their meal tickets.