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Och to become next Birthright Foundation chair

By Jacob Berkman · June 25, 2008

Daniel Och will become the chairman of the board of the Birthright Israel Foundation. Och, ranked No. 317 on the Forbes 400, which was published in September, will take over for Susie Gelman, who has held the position since 2004.

The Birthright Foundation is the entity through which all money from private donors flows into the program.

Och, the founder of Och-Ziff Capital, who was worth $1.5 billion at the time of the Forbes ranking, is also a board member of the Robin Hood Foundation and is active in the UJA-Federation of New York.

Here’s the news release.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 25, 2008

CONTACT: Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications, (202) 265-3000

Birthright Israel Foundation to Receive New Board Chair
Dan Och to replace Susie Gelman

NEW YORK, NY - Daniel Och, the Wall Street money manager, Jewish community philanthropist and a member of the board of the Birthright Israel Foundation, will become chair of that board July 1.

Since late 2004, Susie Gelman has held the position of chair of the Foundation, and presided over a board - now of 34 - that oversees the work of the Foundation. The Foundation provides the largest single component of support for Taglit-Birthright Israel trips, with a projected $62 million flowing from private philanthropists to the trip program in 2008.  Increasingly, the Foundation board has taken an interest in supporting not only the trips themselves, but the continuing Jewish journeys of alumni once back in the United States.  Birthright Israel NEXT has emerged as a leading provider of events, curriculum and social networking for these 130,000 highly targeted 20-somethings of American Jewish life.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to work with the outstanding board and staff of the Birthright Israel Foundation in advancing the mission of the Taglit-Birthright Israel program,” says Susie Gelman, outgoing chair of the board, “namely to strengthen Jewish identity and the younger generation’s connection to Israel and her people through the trip experience and the post-trip offerings of NEXT.  I will continue to be involved in the foundation’s activities,” she said, “and I am delighted to hand over the chairmanship to my friend and fellow Birthright Israel enthusiast, Dan Och, who brings great commitment, philanthropic leadership and expansive vision to the efforts of the Birthright Israel Foundation.”

Och says he plans to continue to the raise the profile of the Birthright Israel Foundation, boost support for NEXT programming for trip alumni, and enhance the partnership between Taglit-Birthright Israel and Jewish organizations.

“Susie Gelman and I and the rest of the board have worked hard to ensure Taglit-Birthright Israel remains an extraordinarily successful program,” says Och. “I look forward to continuing this tradition, expanding on the progress we’ve already made, and ensuring that Taglit-Birthright Israel continues to bring hundreds of thousands of young Jewish adults to Israel.”

Daniel S. Och is the Chief Executive Officer, an Executive Managing Director and the founder of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group. Prior to founding the firm in 1994, Dan spent eleven years at Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he was a Vice President. In addition to serving on the Board of the Birthright Israel Foundation, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Wall Street division of U.J.A., a member of the Board of the American Jewish Committees, a member of the Board of the Robin Hood Foundation, a Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, a member of the Undergraduate Board of the Wharton School, a member of the Board of Endeavor, and a Trustee of New York-Presbyterian Medical Center.

The Birthright Israel Foundation, originally an American conduit for funding for the Taglit-Birthright Israel trip program, was reconceived in late 2004 with the mission of building broad-based support of the trip program and of representing the program and its need for funding with American Jewish life.

“We are so fortunate to go from strength to strength, with two inspirational, hard-working and committed leaders like Susie Gelman and Dan Och,” says Jay Golan, president of the Birthright Israel Foundation. “As the Foundation embraces new challenges in working with Jewish young adults and seeks to fund these challenges, we continue to have both role models for our alumni and respected peers of the leaders in American Jewish life.”

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JDC-Jewish Agency deal falls through over ORT funding

By Jacob Berkman · June 24, 2008

The Fundermentalist has learned that a deal between the Jewish Agency and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee over how the two organizations split the money they get from the United Jewish Communities fell through last week – essentially because JDC does not want to fund World ORT anymore.

The Joint and the Jewish Agency divide the $180 million or so that the federation system allocates for their core budgets each year at a 75/25 percent split, with the larger portion going to the Jewish Agency.

That deal has been in place since the disaster that was ONAD was terminated in 2006. The UJC, JDC and JAFI have been renegotiating the deal since November and appeared to have one in place essentially to continue that funding split for the next two years.

But over the past couple of weeks, JDC, which is in a budget crisis, threw a wrench in the gears by telling the Jewish Agency that it no longer wanted $3 million that comes out of its budget for World ORT to come out of its budget. Instead, the JDC wants money for ORT to come off the top of the UJC’s overseas budget before the Joint and the Jewish Agency split the cash. That would reduce JAFI’s share of the money.

This was a no-go for the Jewish Agency, which has no relationship with ORT and would in essence have to pay for 75 percent of its allocation. As one source told me: “This would be like if the Jewish Agency asked that all money that goes to aliyah come off the top before we split the money.”

The three sides will now go through a mediation process. I’ll link to my upcoming story on the subject as soon as it’s published.

UPDATE: Here’s my full story on the topic.

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Comings and goings: Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation

By Jacob Berkman · June 17, 2008

The country’s largest Jewish-focused foundation, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, which has about $2.3 billion in assets and gives away more than $110 million per year, has hired two new program officers.

Amy Kleine will focus on grants addressing the issues of workforce development, homelessness, and hunger.

Alycia Steinberg will focus on grants addressing the issues of health care, especially focused on direct services for older adults.

Both will also serve on the team responsible for administering the foundation’s Maryland Small Grants Program for non-profits seeking operating budget grants of up to $50,000 a year for two years.

On the job opening front, there are again more development director positions open all over the country.

Jewish Family and Life Media in Boston is looking for a Development Director.

And Hillel has a number of jobs open at local outposts:

• Development and Office Manager-Hillel Second Generation, Aventura, FL.
• Development Coordinator-Johns Hopkins University Hillel, Baltimore, MD.
• Development Director-New Orleans Hillel, New Orleans, LA.
• Development Director-Towson University Hillel, Towson, MD.
• Development Director-University of Virginia Hillel, Charlottesville, VA.

And here’s the Fundermentalist pitch: If you are a foundation or non-profit professional and know of any openings or new hires, let the Fundermentalist know at .

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Jewish Agency powwow this month

By Jacob Berkman · June 12, 2008

The Jewish Agency will hold its Board of Governors meetings at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem, June 22-25.

The 121-member board, which meets three times a year in Israel, has several important issues on its agenda, according to Jewish Agency insiders.

Primarily, the Agency board will take a hard look at its budget. The Agency, which takes in most of its revenue stream in dollars, has been hit hard by the falling greenback. Its income has stayed relatively stagnant, but costs in Israel and overseas have skyrocketed. The dollar, simply, not only does not stretch as far as it used to; it is shrinking, putting the Agency in a budget crunch.

The board will only have preliminary discussions about the brewing crisis at this meeting. Said one source, “It is till too early to say where things are headed, except that any person with a brain and head on his shoulders knows that the dollar is not worth 4.5 shekels anymore. It is worth 3.3.”

The falling dollar is putting more pressure on the Agency’s North American Council to raise extra money from the North American Jewish federation system, on top of the annual allocation the Agency receives from the United Jewish Communities. The Agency, like its overseas counterpart, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, could have some difficult decisions to make.  Rumor has it that the JDC is facing layoffs.

The Agency will not pass its 2009 budget until November. Its entire Delegates Assembly will meet four days before the UJC’s General Assembly, which will be held in Jerusalem this year from Nov. 16-19. There, a preliminary budget will be passed. The Board of Governors will then meet Nov. 19-20 and will ratify the budget.

Also on the agenda for the meeting later this month, the Agency’s Unity of the Jewish People subcommittee will be taking a hard look at the conversion issue.

In other news ... Last week, the Agency presented its “Flex Aliyah” plan to the Knesset’s Immigration and Absorption Committee. Flex aliyah, which some in the organization are calling “trial aliyah,” would allow potential immigrants a longer temporary stay in Israel before deciding if they want to make aliyah.

Here’s the press release:

Friday, June 6, 2008
JEWISH AGENCY INTRODUCES ‘FLEXIBLE ALIYAH’ MODEL AT KNESSET
Prospective immigrants will be given ‘temporary resident’ status for up to several years

The Jewish Agency wants the Israeli government to consider a new plan which would allow Jews who are considering moving to Israel a longer period to stay in the country as temporary residents before applying for full citizenship, Jewish Agency Director General Moshe Vigdor told the Knesset’s Aliyah, Absorption and Diaspora Committee earlier this week.

The new plan, which is being worked out with the Interior Ministry and the Ministry Immigrant Absorption, will allow Jews to live in Israel for up to several years before taking on the status of new immigrant ("oleh") and becoming Israeli citizens. During this time, the prospective immigrant would be able to see how life in Israel is as he or she acclimates in the Israeli workplace, pursues further education, finds housing, etc. The Knesset committee expressed its support for the new plan.

“The goal of this plan is help people make the decision to move to Israel,” said Jewish Agency Chairman Zeev Bielski.

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