In the middle of the summer, Brian Abrahams, CEO of American Friends of Sheba Medical Center, received a call from the large Tel Aviv-area hospital with an unexpected request: to purchase a trailer from Ohio that will soon become a women’s health clinic in Ukraine, reports Lev Gringauz for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Compact facility: The clinic is being organized with Corridor, an Israel nonprofit providing aid to Ukraine, and Kvitna, a Ukrainian reproductive health fund. It will include two examination rooms in the space of a small mobile home, and its Ukrainian staff, comprising an OB/GYN, a psychologist and a nurse, will be able to treat roughly 20 patients a day. The clinic will also offer telehealth appointments with Sheba doctors in Israel.

Addressing violence: The clinic will also provide abortions — an operation that an increasing number of Ukrainians need, according to the clinic’s founders. Early on in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “there appeared women and girls who, after the bomb shelters and bombings… were in a terrible state,” said Uriel Shtern, the founder of Kvitna, “with a variety of reproductive health issues brought out by the war, as well as rape.”

Bureaucratic hurdles: The clinic is about to begin operating. In mid-November, the trailer was shipped to the Polish-Ukrainian border, where the organizers have been waiting to finalize operating permits with the Ukrainian government. One of the organizers expects the last of the bureaucratic hurdles to be cleared and for the clinic to be treating patients this month.

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With Israel’s national political system increasingly polarized after five general elections in less than four years, a recently launched program to train local-level political leaders aims not only to bring together mayors and municipal heads from Israel’s various sectors, but give them the tools and skills needed to soothe social divisions, deliver more equitable public services and provide a crucial link between citizens and the national government. “In Israel, the [national] government does not have a direct impact on the individual. It creates policy on a national level, but the bottom line is that local leaders such as mayors are the contact between the citizen and the government,” professor Moshe Zviran, head of the Bloomberg-Sagol Center for City Leadership at Tel Aviv University, told Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash.

Background: ??Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Sagol family launched the new center at the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University earlier this year with the aim of strengthening local leadership across Israel. The yearlong program was inspired by a similar initiative run by Bloomberg Philanthropies at Harvard University, and culminates in a trip to Boston and New York City.

Taking on the challenge: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, “The Bloomberg-Sagol Center builds on all the work Bloomberg Philanthropies is doing to help local leaders around the world innovate, lead effectively, and share ideas for tackling complex problems.” Yossi Sagol, chairman of Sagol Holdings Corporation, said the Bloomberg initiative at Harvard University made him realize the need for a similar program in Israel, and hopes that “we will be able to bring best in class skills and advanced doctrines from the business world to the local authorities and its leaders.”

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“‘If it’s too good to be true, then it is too good to be true.’ ‘Let your conscience be your guide.’ ‘Don’t eat yellow snow.’ Passed down from generation to generation, these simple lessons are essential. Just as we educate ourselves to protect against unwanted consequences of other decisions, with the right guidance and experience, we can educate ourselves to avoid disaster when it comes to charitable giving,” writes Randy Spiegel of R&D Philanthropy, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Show me your papers: “More than 85,000 charitable organizations registered in Canada (with a charitable registration number) and 1.8 million in the U.S. (with 501(c)(3) status) are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. Charitable organizations should provide you with confirmation that the charity return has been filed and all filings are up to date. If you have other questions, ask them, to ensure that your gift is used as intended. You have every right to request the tax returns, the 990s or in Canada the T3010 returns of an organization, to satisfy yourself that there are no issues or surprises.”

Who’s the boss: “Charitable organizations do not operate in a vacuum; governing volunteer bodies, frequently called a board of directors, oversee and approve organizational strategy, policy and operational activities. Responsible charities have accountability and operational rules in place to mitigate risk (i.e., fraud, unapproved purchases) and to ensure that the objectives of the charity are always being met. Directors have a fiduciary responsibility and are trustees, serving for the good of the community. If it is not immediately evident, never hesitate to ask who is on the board and who — lay or professional — you can speak to about your gift.”

Read the full piece here.