Your Daily Phil: Understanding the fuss over latest Trump tax talk
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we examine funders’ concerns about a possible tax change that could significantly hamper Israel donations and interview Israeli philanthropist Haim Taib, who was selected to light a torch at this year’s Yom Ha’Atzmaut ceremony. We spotlight a new partnership between a Los Angeles synagogue and Kibbutz Ruhama near the Gaza border, and report on Mark Mellman stepping down as president of the Democratic Majority for Israel. We feature an opinion piece by Jordana Grunfeld on the potential of a “blended finance” model for supporting Israel’s post-Oct. 7 recovery; and one by Ambassador Marina Rosenberg on the relationship between the trivialization and distortion of facts about the Holocaust and global antisemitism today. Also in this newsletter: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Alex Soros and Eric Lachter.
What We’re Watching
Yom Hashoah, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Day, begins today at sundown. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington will hold a remembrance ceremony this morning. In Poland, the annual March of the Living begins today.
What You Should Know
One line in a recent Bloomberg article about potential Trump administration executive orders has sent parts of the Jewish philanthropic world into a frenzy with the prospect of a major, possibly disastrous, change in the mechanism for making tax-deductible donations to Israeli nonprofits, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim.
Last week, the financial news outlet reported on a slew of moves that it said are under consideration by the White House targeting the tax-exempt status of environmental nonprofits. It mentioned that the Trump administration was also considering the elimination of the so-called equivalency determination, a process that grants foreign charities a similar status to domestic ones for tax purposes. This process also permits U.S. foundations to issue direct grants to charities abroad without special approval from the IRS.
Such a change would have a profound impact on the ability of donors — individuals and organizations — to make charitable gifts directly to Israeli nonprofits.
White House officials have since denied to Politico that there are any plans to target nonprofits’ tax-exempt status or to issue executive orders targeting nonprofits, without specifically mentioning potential changes to the equivalency determination process.
For now, Jewish philanthropic leaders are encouraging that donors remain calm, double down on compliance measures and communicate with overseas grantees about possible next steps.
“Make sure that your house is in order,” said Andrés Spokoiny, the Jewish Funders Network’s president and CEO, in a statement issued to JFN members on Monday. “In general, it’s never a good idea to play fast and loose with compliance, so now’s the time to look for screws that need tightening.”
Currently, these policy measures remain hypothetical, and dealing in hypotheticals can be risky, Spokoiny told eJP. And even if implemented, he added, any such challenges are likely to be met with legal pushback. “The president can sign an executive order. But that doesn’t mean that things automatically happen,” he said.
But for the last week, he’s been fielding questions from leadership of a number of nonprofits, both within the network, and from Israel — which prompted him to put out the statement. Nonprofits in Israel are concerned about losing funding or the process becoming more complicated if the tax codes change, said Spokoiny, a regular and public critic of the Trump administration.
“There’s rumors and there’s media reports and there’s questions, so people get nervous… My response to them is that we still don’t know. What we can do is to be compliant, which is a good thing to do in any case. And then let’s see how things play out,” said Spokoiny. “The Jewish community is adaptable, right? Even if equivalency determination goes away, we’d find a way. But it’ll be a shock to the system.”
Limiting or eliminating equivalency determination would complicate the process of giving to international charities, and eliminate tax incentives for donors who decide to give to overseas causes, which would likely reduce giving, according to Geoffrey Stern, president of PEF Israel Endowment Funds.
Taking away equivalency determination would mean that U.S. taxpayers can no longer give tax-deductible contributions to foreign entities, said Stern. So while larger nonprofits with domestic “American Friends of” counterparts might be more resilient, a tax code change could deal a heavy blow to the smaller Israeli nonprofits that may not be able to afford to set up such entities.
“But it’s kind of like a Wild West,” said Stern. “It’s hard to make any sort of long-term plans when the guardrails are being changed so quickly. How does an Israeli organization know that if they set up their own American friends that that won’t be in question at a certain point in time?”
Q&A
Israeli philanthropist Haim Taib tapped to light torch at official Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration
Over the past few days, the identities of the figures selected to light the ceremonial torches at the official ceremony in Jerusalem marking the start of Israeli Independence Day have been announced, with almost all of them connected in some way to the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks. On Tuesday, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who is organizing the ceremony, announced another torch-lighter: philanthropist Haim Taib, the founder and president of the Mitrelli Group and Menomadin Group, as well as the Menomadin Foundation and the Israel-Africa Institute.
Taib spoke with eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross on Tuesday, following the announcement, about his selection, his philanthropic priorities in Africa and Israel, as well as his family’s experiences during World War II and the connection he sees between the Holocaust and the Oct. 7 attacks.
JAG: I’ve written in the past about your philanthropic work in Africa, particularly through Save A Child’s Heart, as well as your support for the Welfare Ministry with developing a strategic plan for it. Why did you select those areas to focus your philanthropy on?
HT: Save A Child’s Heart has been operating for many, many years. I joined something like 15 years ago. I’ve helped bring hundreds of children from Africa [to Israel for heart surgery], from Angola, Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, now from Malawi, and many more. I’ve always contributed when there was a need. Why children? There’s no value more important than saving a life, particularly when it’s a child.
In addition, after we brought children from Africa to [Wolfson Medical Center outside of Tel Aviv for treatment], we also started developing local capabilities. We did this in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, the Ivory Coast and Angola. We’ve been doing that by bringing doctors to Israel [to study] and by exporting equipment from Israel. So we’ve created the ability among local staff to perform operations.
When we started doing philanthropy in Israel, we decided to invest in writing national roadmaps. We started this with the Welfare Ministry. We wrote this in cooperation with the Hebrew University, with professor John Gal, one of the leading experts on welfare in Israel.
Never before had long-term, multiyear plans like this been written in Israel. We began this under the previous welfare minister, Meir Cohen, and when the government changed, we also presented it to Minister [Ya’akov] Margi. Both of them embraced it and are implementing it.
Calif. synagogue partners with Gaza border Kibbutz Ruhama to help it rehabilitate, create personal ties
A new partnership being developed between Kibbutz Ruhama in the Sha’ar HaNegev region of southern Israel and Valley Beth Shalom synagogue, one of the largest Conservative congregations in Los Angeles, aims to redefine Israel-Diaspora community relationships by emphasizing a more personal and ongoing connection that involves all sectors of the communities, the project leaders told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judith Sudilovsky. “We’re really trying to get to know the recipients of our work, and we’re trying to build programming that will help us continue our relationship,” said VBS member Rich Robin, committee chair of the newly created Israel Relationship Fund.
New world order: The California congregation initially committed $140,000 toward Kibbutz Ruhama’s building of a skate park and bike bump track for the first such teen park in the region, and also for the renovation of its community center and senior center following a visit to the kibbutz by a delegation of the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, which has also partnered with the project with a matching donation. “Many synagogues try to act alone, and many federations, of course, act with the funds that they’ve collected… This lays the seed for perhaps the way that synagogues and federations can work together in this kind of new world order of philanthropy,” he said.
TRANSITIONS
Mark Mellman steps down as president of DMFI
Democratic Majority for Israel’s founder and president, Mark Mellman, a pollster and decades-long fixture of Democratic politics who sought to counter a rising generation of Democratic politicians critical of Israel, is stepping down from his leadership of the pro-Israel organization six years after its founding. The organization did not give a reason for his departure, which will come at the end of this week, reports Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Origin story: Mellman launched the organization in early 2019, soon after the first members of the Squad — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) — took office, with the stated goal of fighting anti-Israel forces in the party and maintaining the Democratic Party’s historic support for Israel. DMFI did not announce a successor for Mellman but said in a press release that its board “will announce soon new leadership.”
A call for catalytic capital to rebuild Israel
A call for catalytic capital to rebuild Israel
“Catalytic capital — or ‘blended finance,’ as it is often called — can take different forms, but it typically involves investment from government and philanthropic sources that helps generate or secure greater amounts of capital flow from private sector institutions,” writes Jordana Grunfeld, a correspondent for Impact Entrepreneur magazine, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “These three layers (public, philanthropic and private) might have different risk-return profiles within the same funding platform or project, but each plays a vital role in getting it off the ground… Grants can only go so far, but catalytic capital can set off an investment chain reaction that is orders of magnitude greater, more sustainable and much broader in the scope of its social benefit.”
In the post-Oct. 7 context: “In February, the Financial Innovations Lab released a report in conjunction with Apollo Global Management that delves into the details of a centralized funding platform for projects in the Western Negev. The Israel Forum for Impact Economy (IFIE), which supported the work by [the Milken Institute], is designing a similar fund. ‘Philanthropists are going to give millions and millions of dollars to rehabilitate. The State is going to give millions and millions of dollars to rehabilitate. Why not work together to attract more capital, right?’ Vanessa Kacherginsky, CEO of the IFIE, told me in a recent interview. ‘If you subsidize or de-risk investment, you could increase the pie… This is the perfect storm that Israel needs to rebuild the economy in a different way.’”
SURVEY SAYS
Erasing history: How Holocaust denial and distortion is fueling antisemitism
“On the eve of Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) in Israel, we must renew our commitment to historical truth as the world grows dangerously comfortable with forgetting,” writes Marina Rosenberg, former Israeli ambassador to Chile and now senior vice president for international affairs at the Anti-Defamation League, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Crunching the numbers: “ADL’s Global 100 survey, encompassing responses from countries representing 94% of the global adult population, found that less than half of respondents — just 48% — acknowledge the historical reality of the Holocaust. Moreover, we found a clear connection between Holocaust awareness and antisemitism: People who accept the historical truth about the Holocaust are much less likely to harbor antisemitic beliefs… While less than half of adults globally acknowledge the Holocaust happened as history records it, a majority (51%) still believe that Jews talk about it too much. According to the ADL, this belief is one of the most predictive indicators of antisemitism, with a staggering 74% of individuals who strongly endorse this view showing high levels of antisemitic beliefs. Ironically, even in regions where most people know about the Holocaust — such as the EU, where nearly 80% recognize the Holocaust’s historical reality — 18% still insist that Jews talk too much about their suffering. Of these respondents, 60% have significant antisemitic views, compared to just 26% among the broader EU population. These findings are not just numbers on a page or your screen. They are warnings.”
Worthy Reads
After the Fire: In The New York Times, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro reflects on the arson attack at the governor’s residence in Harrisburg. “I woke up to yelling in the hallway. A few seconds later, there was a bang on the door. It was just after 2 a.m., and a state trooper in the hallway of our private living quarters at the governor’s residence said there was a fire in the building. We needed to evacuate immediately. My wife, Lori, and I ran to the bedrooms where our kids and two dogs were sleeping. We got them up quickly and followed the trooper down a back stairwell to the driveway. At that point, standing in the cold, damp air, knowing that all the kids were accounted for, we began to wonder what had happened… The beautiful state dining room — where my family and I celebrated our Passover Seder with family and community just a few hours earlier — was completely destroyed… plates we had eaten our Seder dinner on were broken and covered in soot. The Haggadah — our prayer book for the Seder — was burned so badly, only a few short lines of text were recognizable… I was told with certainty that the fire was a deliberate, targeted attack by an arsonist… And 13 hours after the arsonist invaded our home, I stood at the window that he had climbed through, receiving an update from the Pennsylvania State Police, and then made clear to the people of my state that nothing would deter me from doing my job — and nothing would deter me from practicing my faith openly and proudly. And I meant it. After I concluded my remarks, I rejoined my family to celebrate our second Passover Seder.” [NYTimes]
Feeding Into Stereotypes: In a Q&A in Politico, Alex Pascal, who helped craft the Biden administration’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, expresses concern that President Donald Trump’s approach to the same problem could make things worse. “By directly linking billions of dollars of federal research funding to ostensibly combating antisemitism, I think it plays very much into long-standing tropes about Jews wielding financial leverage to pursue their so-called interests. I think that parallel is quite obvious. That’s where I’m worried about the administration taking those actions in order to ostensibly protect Jewish people and fight antisemitism. It’s the connection with financial leverage… I think the Trump administration’s so-called campaign against antisemitism is pretty transparently not at all about antisemitism. I think what it’s about is going after institutions of higher education, trying to weaken and kneecap colleges and universities, as well as going after immigrants and foreign students. It concerns me deeply that the administration is using Jews and using the guise of antisemitism to erode our civil rights, to erode and attack institutions of higher education and free thought. And that worries me deeply, for the sake of American democracy and for the sake of the safety of Jewish people in America.” [Politico]
Politics in the Pulpit: Between October 2021 and October 2024, sermons across denominations of Judaism tended to focus on politics and Israel, and that only increased after Oct. 7, Ben Sales reports for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Jewish People Policy Institute, based in Israel, used AI to analyze 4,400 sermons, sourced from 34 Reform, Conservative and Modern Orthodox synagogues and rabbis and mostly dating from October 2021 to October 2024… ‘It’s not only about the fact that there is politics in the sermons. Politics gets a very central place,’ said Ghila Amati, the survey’s lead author. ‘Almost every sermon was about politics after Oct. 7. Another finding was about — not only was it about politics, it was about Israel.’ Amati acknowledged that for regular American synagogue attendees, of course, the notion that politics and Israel are central topics of discourse — from the pulpit and at the kiddush buffet alike — isn’t exactly a surprise. But for the researchers in Israel, where synagogues don’t double as community centers the way they do stateside, the data demonstrated strong connections to Israel across American Jewish institutional life — confounding expectations both about synagogues and about the perception of Israel among American Jews.” [JTA]
The Son Also Rises: New York magazine’s Simon van Zuylen-Wood profiles Alex Soros, who in 2023 was named the successor to his father’s Open Society Foundations. “After Alex was announced as chair, the organization’s first president, Aryeh Neier, spoke for many when he said, ‘I expected Jonathan to be the one.’ Someone with deep OSF ties says, ‘The real story is that every single person who knows the family knows that Alex was exactly the wrong person to lead the foundation.’… As invested as he is in the success of the Democratic mainstream, Alex is simultaneously supportive of the party’s progressive wing, via OSF-funded NGOs that advocate left-leaning stances on immigration, criminal justice, and other issues. As one donor adviser puts it, Sorosworld is the ‘metronome’ that sets the tempo of the progressive movement… Despite his reluctance to criticize the activists his foundation funds, he can seem out of sync with them, rolling his eyes at the advertising of one’s pronouns and the left-wing censoriousness of the past era… An hour or so into our first meeting, Alex’s chief of staff, Laura Silber, shows up to accompany him to his next engagement, a tour of the new Anne Frank exhibition at the Center for Jewish History, where he is on the board… Later, Alex discusses the way the ‘Never Again’ attitude toward the Holocaust has faded as young Jews take Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as their focal point for assessing their historical identity. But during the 30-minute tour, he walks in a foggy silence, his hands jammed in the pockets of his coat. Afterward, our group repairs to a conference room for pastries and he attempts a compliment: ‘It’s a good exhibit. I mean, being a connoisseur of these types of things, I’ve seen one in every European country in my life.’” [NYMag]
Word on the Street
A new survey released yesterday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults say their household contributed money to a charitable organization in the past year — mainly less than $500 — with the plurality giving to religiously affiliated nonprofits. Adults under age 45 were more likely than older Americans to have not made charitable donations…
The Birthright Israel Foundation has hired Eric Lachter as its next chief marketing officer…
The Rudlin Torah Academy in Richmond, Va., dedicated its gymnasium to Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who attended the school before moving with his family to Israel. Goldberg-Polin was killed by Hamas in August after nearly a year in captivity.
The Supreme Court appears likely, based on yesterday’s oral arguments, to side with religious parents who want to be able to opt their children out of reading books in public schools that they believe are against their beliefs…
Minnesota Twins outfielder Harrison Bader confirmed that he will play for Team Israel in the 2026 World Baseball Classic; Bader, whose father is Jewish, had planned to play in the 2023 tournament but was sidelined by an injury…
Israeli budget carrier Israir received a temporary, two-year approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation to begin flights between Israel and the U.S., with full approval expected in June…
Aliza Magen, who as deputy director of the Mossad was the highest-ranking woman in the Israeli intelligence agency, died at 97…
Walter Frankenstein, who survived the Holocaust by hiding in Berlin with his wife and children and spoke widely about his experiences, died on Monday at 100…
Pic of the Day
Israeli soldiers tour Yad Vashem in Jerusalem today on the eve of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom Hashoah.
Birthdays
Founding member of the rock band the National, he was a collaborator on three of Taylor Swift’s studio albums, Aaron Brooking Dessner… and his twin brother, also a member of the National, Bryce David Dessner…
Stage, television and film actor, Alan Oppenheimer… Owner of Council Bluffs, Iowa-based Ganeeden Metals, Harold Edelman… Ohio resident, Patricia Ann Haumann… Retired real estate brokerage executive, he held leadership positions at Merrill Lynch Realty, Prudential California Realty and Fox & Carskadon, Terry Pullan… Retail industry analyst and portfolio manager at Berman Capital, Steve Kernkraut… Chair emeritus of Israel Policy Forum, he serves as chairman of Trenton Biogas, an organics recycling-to-energy business in Trenton, Peter A. Joseph… Health services researcher focused on smoking cessation programs for women, maternal health and child health, Judith Katzburg, PhD, MPH, RN… Deputy director of NCSEJ, the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry, Lesley L. Weiss… Principal of Philadelphia-based Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy, Larry Ceisler… Gary Pickholz… Retail sales manager at Chrissy’s Collection, Janni Jaffe… Co-founder of Gryphon Software, he is the author of a book on the history of antisemitism, Gabriel Wilensky… CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, the primary proponent of the Magnitsky Act… Washington-based executive director of the Orthodox Union’s Advocacy Center, Nathan J. Diament… Heiress and businesswoman, style and image director for the Estée Lauder Companies, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer… CEO of Aish HaTorah, Rabbi Steven Burg… President and CEO at Americans For Peace Now until four months ago, now president and CEO at New Jewish Narrative, Hadar Susskind… Jewelry designer, Jennifer “Jen” Meyer… Director of viewpoint diversity initiatives at Maimonides Fund, Ariella Saperstein… Founder and CEO at 90 West, a Boston-based strategic communications firm, Alexander Goldstein… Co-founder of Edgeline Films, he co-directed and co-produced “Weiner,” a documentary about Anthony Weiner’s campaign for mayor of NYC in 2013, Joshua Kriegman… Vertical lead at Red Banyan, Neil Boylan Strauss… Israeli singer-songwriter, now based in Seville, Spain, known for Ladino music of the exiled Jews of Portugal and Spain, Mor Karbasi… Deputy director of the Mid-Atlantic region of J Street, Adi Adamit-Gorstein… Branded content editor at Axios, Alexis Kleinman… Former University of Michigan quarterback, now a fund manager in NYC, Alex Swieca… Director of the Jewish Renewal Administration, Elisheva Mazya… Executive editor and strategist at ILTV News, Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman…
