Goodbye
You may have noticed that the ordinarily vociferous Fundermentalist has been awfully quiet recently. Well, that’s because some changes have been brewing.
JTA and The Fundermentalist have been my home for the past four years, and you all have been the neighbors that I have loved and probably ticked off from time to time. But it's time for me to leave the nest.
In coming months, I am sure you will hear more about JTA’s plans for the future. I wish them luck. As for myself, you’re not quite off the hook. I’ll still be keeping close tabs on the Jewish nonprofit world, but my lens will widen.
Several projects are in the offing, but soon I will start a blog on the website of the Chronicle of Philanthropy about religious giving.
The blog, called “The Rising Tithe,” will dissect how charities spend the estimated $100 billion per year Americans give to religious causes. It will look at Christian, Muslim, Jewish and other religious charity, the motivations behind their adherents’ giving, how from the top-down religious groups raise and disburse money -- and how on the ground those dollars are helping.
I look forward to hearing from all of you in the future. Please reach out to me at my personal email address. (I’ll never turn down a good scoop.)
Writing The Fundermentalist has been my distinct honor, pleasure, and sometimes headache, and I will forever cherish the opportunity that I had to do so.
For now, I bid thee a farewell and a thank you,
Jacob “The Fundermentalist” Berkman
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Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund to close and be split three ways
One of the country’s largest Jewish foundations will close in two years and its assets will be divided among the foundations of its founder’s heirs.
The San Francisco-based Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, which has about $280 million in assets, will close at the end of 2012, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The 60-year-old foundation will continue to make grants until then, but after the end of next year its assets will be divided among the philanthropies of John and Douglas Goldman and their sister, Susan Gelman, the heirs of Richard Goldman, who died at 90 in 2010. Rhoda Goldman died in 1996.
The foundation has given out some $700 million since it was started by Goldman in 1951, with most of the gifts focused on environmental, health and Jewish causes.
In 2010, the foundation distributed $12.6 million to Jewish causes, including the Israel Project, the Chronicle reported.
Of the three funds that will receive the remaining assets, Gelman’s Morningstar Foundation is the most active in Jewish causes.
"My dad didn't believe in the perpetuity of foundations," John Goldman told the Chronicle. "He always told us he thought it was important to have foundations recognize what was happening in a contemporary setting, with contemporary people."
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And now it’s official… Steven Rakitt to head DC Federation
Here's the press release:
D.C. FEDERATION NAMES STEVEN RAKITT AS CEO
Jan. 5, 2011
The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington has hired Steven A. Rakitt to be its Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer.
Rakitt, currently the President and CEO of The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, was unanimously approved by the federation’s board of directors and will begin his tenure next month.
“It is an honor and privilege to be selected for this position,” said Rakitt. “My personal values and passion have always aligned with the mission of Federation. I look forward to forging my experience and passion for this work with the strong foundation of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.”
Rakitt will be tasked with championing the federation’s mandate to inspire, connect, educate and support Jews locally, in Israel and around the world.
From 2000-2010, Rakitt served as President and CEO of The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, where he led one of the largest non-profit organizations in the Southeast.
“I am delighted that Steve, a seasoned large-city Federation executive, will serve as our next CEO,” said the federation’s President, Susie Gelman. “He is a talented and capable leader who has dedicated his entire professional life to serving the Jewish community. His expertise will prove invaluable as we build a stronger, more vibrant Jewish community in the Greater Washington region.”
Before serving in Atlanta, Rakitt spent seventeen years as a senior professional at The Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, including seven years as Executive Vice President. Rakitt has been very involved in the continental Jewish Federation movement, as a chair of The Jewish Federations of North America’s Large City Executives Forum and as a member of the Executive Committees of the Jewish Agency for Israel and The Jewish Federations of North America.
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Rakitt choice to become head of Washington federation
Federation hire: The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington is coming closer to hiring as its CEO Steve Rakitt, the longtime top executive of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, but the process is not yet complete, the Washington federation’s president told The Fundermentalist.
Rakitt, whose name has been swirling around federation circles in recent days, would replace Misha Galperin, who left the Washington federation in late spring to head the North American operations of the Jewish Agency for Israel. While the federation’s top lay leader, Susie Gelman, confirmed that Rakitt is the choice to replace Galperin, the federation still must take several steps before it can make Rakitt a formal offer.
According to Gelman, the federation’s search committee first must make a formal recommendation to its executive committee, which then must pass along the recommendation to its board for approval. None of that has happened yet, she said.
“There are a few levels we are still getting through,” Gelman said. “The name is not incorrect. It is moving along positively, but we are not yet at the end of the process. I am a big believer in governance and letting our governing bodies do what they are supposed to do.”
Gelman said that the federation would like to complete the process by early January. Rakitt has been the president of the Atlanta federation since 2000.
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The Times’ take on the AJWS video
The New York Times yesterday dissected the recent Judd Apatow directed public service message for American Jewish World Service.
The video, which was unveiled at the 70th birthday party for its president Ruth Messinger/lavish fund-raiser for the organization, provides sometimes raunchy slapstick about Judaism from a mix of famous Jewish and non-Jewish A-listers.
Apatow, who produced the segment for free, took a risk with both the content and the performers – as did the AJWS for sending it viral – but the risk seems to have paid off, as the video and two outtake clips have garnered more than 1 million views, according to the Times:
The shorter versions include some raunchier takes, like the one in which John Mayer, the guitarist and singer, says, “I’m John Mayer, and since I’m only half-Jewish, I’m only half-circumcised.”
Until recently, nobody would have thought it advisable for a Jewish philanthropy to embrace ethnic humor. But Ms. Messinger, who at 70 remembers a time when Jews had to be far more sensitive to stereotyping, says that the film has been an unqualified success.
There has been “almost no criticism,” Ms. Messinger says. “Some loved it because it appealed to their notion of what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century, and some loved it because it’s funny.”
“What it means to be Jewish in the 21st century” — Ms. Messinger’s words allude to an old debate among Jews, about whether Judaism is a religion, a culture or, to use the word preferred by Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, a civilization.
Mr. Apatow’s video offers Judaism detached from synagogue observance or ritual piety — perfect for Hanukkah season, American-style. The Jews here are interested in matzoh, dreidels, Jewish humor, good works and a self-deprecating Jewish humor that can be comfortably shared with gentiles.
“I am a secular type,” Ms. Silverman said in an e-mail this week. The “J” in American Jewish World Service may stand for Jewish, she wrote, but “it’s just because it’s run by Jews (like the media and the banks).
“But it’s for everyone and anyone in need, and they do truly just work.”
Mr. Apatow, one of the all-powerful media figures Ms. Silverman had in mind, e-mailed a similar comment about his Judaism.
“I am the kind of Jewish person who feels very Jewish but does not practice at all,” he said. “I did not take part in this project because Jewish people run this charity. I got involved because they do very important work that is changing many people’s lives in a positive way.”
If you want to hear Mayer actually describe the half-circumcision, here are the out-takes from the video:
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Gordon: American Jewish Congress is not facing a clawback
Despite a published report to the contrary, the president of the American Jewish Congress told The Fundermentalist Monday that his struggling organization is not facing a so-called clawback attempt by the trustee of Bernard Madoff’s estate in an attempt to re-coup money.
On Friday, eJewishPhilanthropy posted a report stating that the embattled organization was in settlement talks with Irving Picard, who has filed about 1,000 lawsuits seeking money from individuals who actually made money in Madoff’s multi-billion dollar scheme. Any money won in the lawsuits would be returned to those who lost money in the scheme. Among those being sued are about two dozen nonprofits, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
A number of those in Picard’s crossfire have struck deals with the lawyer to avoid court, requiring them to pay back millions of dollars voluntarily. Hadassah: The Women’s Zionist Organization of America is the most notable nonprofit to have reached a deal, after agreeing to return to Picard $45 million of the estimated $90 million the organization actually made on its Madoff investments, as we old you last week.
Striking a deal with Picard could have been a difficult proposition for AJCongress, which has been teetering on the brink of extinction for the past two years, and was reportedly all but shut down this summer.
eJewishPhilanthropy reported:
According to Bruce Buechler, the attorney representing AJCongress, “We are in the final stages of hopefully reaching an agreement. The reality is we have a deal in place with Picard’s people. Simply put, we just need a little more time to get our boards’ approval.”
AJCongress, which pretty much closed up back in July, had previously stated they lost $21 million of their $24 million endowment in the collapse of Madoff’s firm. One must wonder how they will actually pay any settlement arrangement.
But, according to the AJCongress’ Gordon, the organization was working on an agreement, but it was about how much the organization would receive from Picard, not how much it would pay him.
“There is no talk of a clawback from us with the trustee,” Gordon told The Fundermentalist. “We, like most organizations, are in discussion with how to settle this and are trying to move toward a solution. There has never been any serious meaningful discussion about a clawback. I don’t want the trustee to pick up these comments and feel I have broken his trust…. But Madoff stole approximately $23 million from us. There has been no discussion about [the American Jewish Congress] paying back money.”
The AJCongress, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, had between $16 million and $18 million in two accounts bequeathed to the organization by two long-standing supporters, Martin and Lillian Steinberg. The money was left to the AJCongress in a Madoff account.
The organizations subsequently invested another $7 million of its own in another Madoff account.
All of that money, Gordon said, was lost, and whatever money was withdrawn from the accounts was far less than the original investments. In comparison, Hadassah began investing with Bernard Madoff Securities in 1988 with a $7 million gift, and then deposited another $33 million into its Madoff accounts. By April 2007, it had withdrawn $137 million.
“Hadassah signed for a completely different reason,” Gordon said. “I can in all honestly say [a clawback] never seriously crossed my mind once.”
Gordon added that despite laying off most of its staff in late July, AJCongress is continuing to run and is now contemplating its future.
"We are operating and working on a number of different projects," he said. "Obviously we are in a period of evaluating how to move forward.... the nature of how we go forward has not been determined yet."
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New York City charter school exec to head Hebrew charter school incubator
The former chief academic officer at New York City’s Office of Charter Schools will leave his post to become the head of the Hebrew Charter School Center, a privately funded group designed to build the Hebrew charter school movement.
Aaron Listhaus spent a year and a half helping to oversee charter schools in New York City, where he was responsible for the oversight of academic programs and accountability for the city’s nearly 70 authorized charter schools.
In January, he will become the head of the HCSC, a nonprofit organization created by the Areivim Philanthropic Group in 2009 to help advance the Hebrew language charter school movement.
HCSC works with planning teams and existing charter schools across the country to build capacity for designing new Hebrew language charter schools, provide resources for established schools, train teachers, create a network of Hebrew language charter schools, and to help communities start the schools.
“I am thrilled to be joining the Hebrew Charter School Center team and have an opportunity to be at the forefront of this exciting new movement that is bringing innovative, high-quality dual language public schools of choice to children across the country,” Listhaus said. “It brings together my personal experience of learning Hebrew as a young child, my teaching experience in a dual language setting and my work in school design and support to the development and promotion of a network of Hebrew Language Charter Schools across the country. I can’t wait to get started.”
Here is the release from the HCSC:
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Repair the World: New study shows social impact of short-term service learning programs
Repair the World this morning is set to release a study into the long-term effect of short-term service learning programs such as alternative spring breaks.
In the lead up to the report, which will be released in a conference call at 11:30, Repair officials say that they recognized that within the broader service community, skepticism exists about the impact of short-term service and volunteerism. Beyond that, they say they know that within the Jewish community, there has been discussion about the purpose of Jewish service-learning programs -- the balance between impact on participants and impact on communities in need.
Because of this, the survey Repair is set to release today focuses not on the participants in the programs but on the communities in which they operate and looks a the impact that the programs have.
Repair officials say they wre surprised at the survey's findings, and think they will have significance both within and beyond the Jewish community.
In particular, they say, the report finds that that short-term volunteerism jump starts local volunteerism.
“Young volunteers bring energy and excitement to the community and help residents realize that the work they are doing is both fun and important to the community,” a spokeswoman form the organization told The Fundermentalist. “The volunteers' presence is an incentive for residents to get involved, especially community residents who are in the same age group as the volunteers. In one community, for example, immersive Jewish service-learning volunteers are helping spur a whole movement of volunteerism by young people in a way that had not happened there before.”
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Zuckerberg among nine new Jewish individuals and families to take the Giving Pledge
Wednesday, 17 more billionaires announced that they had taken the Giving Pledge, a statement that they intend to give away at least half of their wealth before they die.
The pledge, an initiative started by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet, has drawn mixed reviews, with some hailing it as revolutionary and others panning it, as most of the first group of signatories, which was announced this summer, included mostly those who had after already making philanthropic commitments that far exceed 50 percent of their wealth.
This second group, which brings the total number of pledge takers to 57, includes at least one big name that is a philanthropic neophyte, facebook founder, Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg, the world's youngest self-made multi-billionaire, who made his first significant charitable gift this year, $100 million to the Newark school system.
“People wait until late in their career to give back. But why wait when there is so much to be done?” Zuckerberg said in a press release from the Giving Pledge organizers. “With a generation of younger folks who have thrived on the success of their companies, there is a big opportunity for many of us to give back earlier in our lifetime and see the impact of our philanthropic efforts.”
By our count, among the new signatories are nine Jews or Jewish couples:
- Nicholas Berggruen
- Lee and Toby Cooperman
- David and Barbara Green
- Carl Icahn
- Sidney Kimmel
- Michael and Lori Milken
- Dustin Moskovitz
- Charles Zegar and Merryl Snow Zegar
- Mark Zuckerberg
Here are some other relevant statements from the release:
- Lee and Toby Cooperman: "[We] feel it is our moral imperative to give others the opportunity to pursue the American Dream by sharing our financial success…In the 1930’s, Sir Winston Churchill observed that 'We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.'…It is in this spirit that we enthusiastically agree to take the Giving Pledge."
- David and Barbara Green: "Like my parents and their parents before them, you don’t have to be wealthy to give. You can give your time, your talents and your passion. We congratulate those who have taken on this wonderful pledge."
- Carl Icahn: "Until Bill, Melinda and Warren started this project, I never considered going public with my intentions. However, I certainly see the value of a project that encourages wealthy individuals to step forward and commit to use their wealth for the common good. I hope that by adding my voice with those who are supporting this project, we will all encourage others to participate."
- Sidney Kimmel: "My thinking is rather simple: I learned as a young boy that sharing with others is the right thing to do, a lesson I observed from my father’s willingness to share even our meager means with those less fortunate. Ever since, it has never been difficult for me to continue to do the right thing."
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Steinhardt: I am not retiring from Jewish philanthropy
Michael Steinhardt, the hedge fund manager turned full-time Jewish philanthropist who spearheaded Birthright Israel, told The Fundermentalist that despite a comment he made at his recent birthday party, he is not retiring as a Jewish philanthropist.
According to an Op-ed written by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach in the Jerusalem Post, Steinhardt, who just turned 70, told guests that he would be stepping away from Jewish philanthropy over the next year. But Steinhardt is now saying those comments were misconstrued.
“I would like to clarify a brief comment I made about my future plans at a private gathering to celebrate my birthday that seems to have been misconstrued by some of my friends in the Jewish community,” Steinhardt told The Fundermentalist in a statement. “Let there be no doubt that I remain fully committed, personally and financially, to my various philanthropic pursuits in the Jewish world — including the Steinhardt Foundation, the Areivim Philanthropic Group and Birthright Israel. These are critical priorities for me, and I intend to stand by them in the next few years and beyond.”
Steinahrdt has given away upwards of $100 million to Jewish causes, most of them focused on building Jewish identity and Jewish education.
He might, start to play a smaller role in the operation of his foundation and in several of the projects he has started. In recent years, his daughter Sara Berman, has become a leader in the Hebrew charter school movement, which is the primary focus of Areivim, a fund that Steinhardt set up to help start Jewish charter schools.
“Now, as I suggested at my party, my day-to-day involvement in these groups and programs may wind down over the next few years, and I will likely rely on my trusted family and staff to take a more active leadership role moving forward,” Steinhardt said. “But my commitment to and support for these causes will remain as strong as it ever has been.”
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