With a vision that has been unfolding and mushrooming for twenty years, the Rebbe called for the establishment of Tzivos Hashem in the fall of 1980. Children were a top priority for the Rebbe. Rather, each Jewish child was a top priority for the Rebbe. From his vantage point as world leader and spiritual giant, he understood the intrinsic promise held by children, and he founded Tzivos Hashem to cultivate and nurture them so that they could grow to be strong and healthy in body, mind and soul.

The Rebbe himself would hold communal meetings, which he called rallies, with thousands of children at a time. And it was the Rebbe himself who spoke to the children directly and put great responsibilities on their shoulders. Not only did the Rebbe see children as the promise of a better tomorrow, the Rebbe saw children as the promise for a better today.

Judaism stresses that chinuch, Jewish education, should begin at an early age to prepare for adulthood. The Rebbe emphasized that not only are children’s mitzvos for the sake of practicing for the future, but that their mitzvos, now, while they are young, have significance in and of themselves. Through his confidence in them and his expectations, the Rebbe actually confirmed a child’s self esteem and challenged children to use their inborn strengths and talents for good.

The Tzivos Hashem relationship did not flow in just one direction, of commander to commandee. The soldiers of Tzivos Hashem gave nachas to the Rebbe as he watched them increase their mitzvos and perform them with greater care. And it was the children who were able to identify with and express the Rebbe’s passion to bring the world to peace and goodness, as they would sing for him their theme song:
We Want Moshiach Now.

Over the years, its attention has turned to more complex problems, including how to counter the missionary threat. Israel has attracted some 100 missionary congregations and cults because it offers a large concentration of Jews, many of whom are prime targets due to their economic distress and unawareness about Judaism. Fighting the missionaries, who have millions of dollars a year at their disposal, has long been one of Yad L’Achim’s top priorities.

Another focus of attention is assimilation. Though it was once thought that this could not be a problem in a Jewish country, not even for the secular, the tragic facts show an increasing number of Jewish girls getting involved with foreign workers and, even more so, with Arab men. Indeed, Yad L’Achim gets some1,000 calls a year reporting such cases.

Our Anti-Assimilation department responds to all such calls. In some cases, this means launching military-like rescues from hostile Arab villages and setting the women up in “safe” houses around the country, where they can build new lives for themselves.

Yad L’Achim has other departments as well, including one devoted to the spiritual absorption of immigrants from the CIS and one that helps register children in Torah schools.

OMAHA, Neb. — The Canadian investment managers who paid $1.68 million in a charity auction to win lunch with investor Warren Buffett believe the meal will be worth it because of what they might learn from the billionaire.

The Glide Foundation, which receives all the auction proceeds, identified Salida Capital, which is based in Toronto, as the winner of last month’s auction.

Salida CEO Courtenay Wolfe she’s looking forward to talking to the 78-year-old Buffett about his experience and his perspective on the world.

“We’re excited to talk to him about broader themes that are affecting the global markets,” Wolfe said.

Buffett annually auctions off a lunch to benefit Glide, which provides social services to San Francisco’s homeless and poor.

Wolfe said she and her two partners at Salida plan to bring five of the firm’s biggest supporters to the lunch with Berkshire’s chairman and chief executive. The owners of the Smith & Wollensky restaurant in New York contributed $10,000 to Glide and will again host the lunch.

“Lunch with Warren Buffett is something we have always had on our ‘dream list,’” she said.

Salida is marking its tenth anniversary this year, and Wolfe said it has recovered well from last year’s difficult market, so the time seemed right to bid.

Salida’s investment managers try to identify macro trends and take advantage of them, Wolfe said. Currently, the firm is heavily invested in commodities because Wolfe says they expect consolidation in the resource area.

Wolfe said having lunch with Buffett should be great personal development.

“This is a personal and professional investment by partners of the firm,” she said. “For us, the opportunity to sit down with him face-to-face for lunch one-on-one and have a dialogue with him. For us, that’s invaluable. And it’s also going to an incredible cause.”

Glide’s founder, the Rev. Reverend Cecil Williams, said he is thankful for the support from both Salida and Buffett. Glide relies on donations for most of its $17 million budget.

“Glide is so fortunate that we were able to raise this amount of money which will help San Francisco’s poor and disenfranchised,” Williams said.

Buffett’s late first wife, Susan, introduced the billionaire investor to Williams and the Glide Foundation. Buffett has said he enjoys being able to help Glide with the lunch because he’s never found another charity more effective at lifting people out of despair.

Buffett is renowned for his investing success. The company owns more than 60 subsidiaries including insurance, furniture, clothing, jewelry and candy companies, restaurants, natural gas and corporate jet firms and has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

But Buffett is also known for his plan to gradually give most of his $36 billion fortune to five foundations over time. The biggest chunk of Buffett’s Berkshire stock will go to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Salida’s bid is less than the record-setting $2.1 million bid that won last year. That 2008 bid on lunch with Buffett was the most expensive charity item eBay had ever sold.

Previously, the most expensive charity item ever sold on eBay was a letter from Democratic senators blasting conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh for using the phrase “phony soldiers” on his program. The letter signed by 41 senators sold for $2.1 million on eBay in October 2007.

The proceeds from Limbaugh’s auction went to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, which provides scholarships to children of Marines or federal law enforcement personnel who were killed while serving their country. And he matched the bid.

http://blog.taragana.com/n/charity-says-canadian-investment-firm-paid-168m-for-lunch-with-billionaire-warren-buffett-103402/

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC Canadian funding corp CEO

ICRF acts like the venture capital bank of cancer funding in Israel. Unlike many of the enormous government and private “cancer establishment” funding institutions, ICRF is open to imaginative new approaches and will often take a risk on new ideas. Research grants are awarded based strictly on merit – they do not favour any individual, institution or scientific point of view. The grant review process is rigorous, ensuring that only the most promising cancer research is funded. ICRF’s Scientific Review Panel is composed of more than 30 leading cancer researchers from Canada and the United States.

ICRF was founded in 1975 by a group of Canadian and American researchers, oncologists and lay people who were committed to the growth and development of Israel and to fighting cancer. They realized that a unique confluence of circumstance had positioned Israel to excel at cancer research:

Superb scientists: Israel has the world’s highest per capita concentration of scientists and physicians. The only thing the country needs more of is money to properly fund research.

Cost-effective research: the cost of conducting a research project in Israel is
30 per cent less than that of running the same project in Canada and the United States.

Well-equipped research network: Israel has a network of well-equipped laboratories, sophisticated hospitals and universities. Monies contributed go directly to advancing knowledge, not on constructing buildings or paying administrative costs.

Unified health care system: all Israelis belong to a national medical program, so record keeping and bio-statistical data collection are relatively simple.

Ethnic diversity: the Israeli population comprises of ethnic groups from many countries, making the nation itself a superb “laboratory” in which to study the role of environmental and cultural factors in the development of cancer.

http://www.icrfbuzz.org/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7:about-icrf&catid=6:about-icrf&Itemid=8

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC  Canadian funding corp CEO

(IsraelNN.com)

The American Jewish Committee has the mission to safeguard the welfare and security of Jews in the United States, in Israel, and throughout the world and to enhance the quality of American Jewish life by helping to ensure Jewish continuity and deepen ties between American and Israeli Jews.

American Red Magen David for Israel (ARMDI) is the only authorized fundraising organization in the United States for Magen David Adom, Israel’s equivalent to a Red Cross Society. ARMDI supports the MDA Emergency Medical, Ambulance Blood and Disaster Services.

The American Technion Society (ATS) supports the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel’s premier university, to ensure the Technion’s continued excellence and achievement. The future of a secure and economically independent Israel is in high technology, and the future of high technology in Israel is at the Technion.

For more than 88 years, the Anti-Defamation League has been combating anti-Semitism and bigotry of all kinds. Their web site chronicles the history and current status of many issues in this ongoing battle.

Since 1843 B’nai B’rith, “Children of the Covenant,” has carried forward the idealistic mission: uniting Jews in service to their community and the world. B’nai B’rith is the world’s largest Jewish human rights, community action and humanitarian organization.

The Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations is composed of independent organizations whose unity of purpose is a secular expression of our Jewish heritage, with particular emphasis on the cultural and ethical precepts of Jewish learning.

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations represents 52 national Jewish organizations from across the political and religious spectrum. The Conference provides a forum for deliberations of American Jewish leadership and a central address for key American, Israeli and other world leaders to consult on issues of critical concern to the Jewish community.

Giving Wisely, sponsored by the School of Social Work of the Hebrew University, is the Internet Directory of Israeli nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, developed to help donors to evaluate and make educated decisions (or even know which organizations are legal) so that they can choose those that are closest to their own areas of interest.

Hadassah the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, is a volunteer women’s organization, whose members are motivated and inspired to strengthen their partnership with Israel, ensure Jewish continuity, and realize their potential as a dynamic force in American society. In Israel, Hadassah initiates and supports pace-setting health care, education and youth institutions, and land development to meet the country’s changing needs. In the United States, Hadassah enhances the quality of American and Jewish life through its education and Zionist youth programs, promotes health awareness, and provides personal enrichment and growth for its members.

• Newtown (PA) Chapter of Hadassah

Hadassah Kaddish is a program under which your donation to Hadassah ensures that the ancient Kaddish prayer will be recited each year beneath the Chagall windows at Hadassah Hospital in Jeruslaem.

JCC Association of North America is the leadership network of, and central agency for the Jewish Community Center Movement. It is comprised of more than 275 JCCs, YM-YWHAs and camps in the US and Canada, annually serving more than one million members and an additional million non-member users.

Jewish Family & Life (JFL), a fast-growing pluralistic entrepreneurial non-profit organization, is the world’s leading publisher of original Jewish content online. Their on-line presence includes:

• JewishFamily.com
• GenerationJ.com
• SocialAction.com
• JVibe.com
• MzVibe.com
• JewishSports.com
• JewZ.com
• JBooks.com

Jewish Deleware is a fine example of a website devoted to a regional Jewish community.

The first fifty years of the Jewish National Fund were spent purchasing the land that would become the State of Israel. Now after another fifty years spent developing the land for the people, and with the continued assistance of supporters from around the world, JNF has a vital role in conserving and protecting the ecology of the land for now and the future. The JNF web site offers a lot of ways to help Israel, including planting trees in Israel and helping Israeli victims of terrorism.

MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger is a national, nonprofit agency which allocates donations from the Jewish community to nonprofit organizations providing food, help and hope to hungry people of all faiths and backgrounds.

NAVAH Organization provides financial and social support to victims of terrorism in Israel. NAVAH receives donations that are used to assemble care packages to be delivered by groups of volunteers to victims and their families in Israel. Each package contains a loving message from donors and the organization works to facilitate contact between donors and recipients if it is requested. NAVAH also provides direct financial assistance to help victims meet their increased expenses as they recuperate from their injuries.

United Jewish Communities represents 189 Jewish federations, 400 independent communities and 700,000 people across North America, who contribute more than $2 billion every year to help repair the world. The UJC site is a rich source of news and information about Jewish affairs and charitable works.

World ORT is one of the largest non-governmental education and training organisations in the world, with past and present activities in over 100 countries. A non-profit, non-political organisation, ORT’s objective is to meet the educational and vocational requirements of diverse students throughout the world. Currently, ORT educates or trains more than 290,000 students annually, through its network of programmes, training centres and schools.

http://middleeastfacts.com/links/links_jewish_charity.php

The report reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO

More and more people who think of themselves as average donors are creating Donor Advised Funds at the Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto. As a matter of fact, over 30% of the almost 300 Foundation funds are Donor Advised Funds.

“Many people don’t realize they can do all their charitable giving through the Foundation,” says Carol Kassel, Director of the Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto. “They can support causes of their choice, here, in Israel or anywhere in the world where Jews are in need. And it makes giving so much easier. Donors don’t need to write separate cheques for each donation or create different charitable vehicles.”

There are many ways to put yourself in the driver’s seat when it comes to making decisions about your philanthropy.

One way is to set up your own private foundation to look after your annual grants to any charity you like. For most of us, this sounds a bit daunting.

And it is. Not only from the financial point of view, which requires that you disburse at least 3.5 percent of the invested assets each year without disturbing the initial capital, but setting up your own foundation is a cumbersome and expensive process. You need a board of directors, investment consultants, and legal and accounting experts to incorporate, register and organize your private foundation. There is a certain need and a place for these private foundations, but for most of us – it is a stretch.

Fortunately, there are other alternatives. “A Donor Advised Fund is a simple, convenient way to streamline all your charitable giving,” explains Kassel. “The whole purpose of a Donor Advised Fund is to put the donors at ease by letting the Jewish Foundation look after all the administration of the fund. The donors can then concentrate on the causes that mean the most to them.”

HOW A DONOR ADVISED FUND WORKS

•   A donor may start a fund with a minimum contribution of $10,000 of cash or other assets.

•  The donor receives an immediate tax deduction when he or she makes a contribution to the fund, but does not need to make a quick decision about which charities to support.

•   The donor may recommend distributions from the fund to registered charities whose activities fall within the broadly defined charitable mandate of the Jewish Foundation.

•   The assets in Donor Advised Funds are pooled and invested by professional money managers who are selected to manage the funds wisely and profitably. By pooling funds for investment and administrative purposes, the Jewish Foundation is able to minimize costs while engaging first rate fund managers.

•   Last fiscal year, our pooled funds earned 10.5%.

•  Donors are free from administration and record keeping. The Jewish Foundation processes distributions, mails cheques to recipients, administers and invests the assets of the fund and issues regular financial reports on the status of the fund to the donor. This frees the donor to concentrate on the rewards of charitable giving.

•   Donors enjoy ready access to the knowledge and experience of the staff of the Jewish Foundation regarding the Jewish community’s local and overseas needs and the organizations that exist to serve those needs.

“These funds provide the greatest flexibility and convenience without burdensome reporting requirements and high administrative costs. They offer terrific tax advantages as well,” says Kassel.

“Our donors are often people who don’t want to just write a cheque,” explains Kassel. “They want to be more actively involved in their philanthropy. They want to support the organizations that will directly impact the issues they care deeply about.”

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO