Posts Tagged year
Evangelicals’ rabbi wants to know why the Jews aren’t saving FSU Jewry
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which raises about $100 million per year in small donations from evangelical Christians and gives the money to Jewish and Zionist causes, is miffed that the Jewish people are not coming up with more money to help Jews in the former Soviet Union.
He is miffed that the government of Israel is seemingly Welsching on several million dollars that it pledged to help the Heftsiba school system in the FSU.
Heftsiba, which was started as a covert operation run out of the office of Israel’s prime minister during the 1960s as a way to sneak Zionist education, Hebrew education and Jewish religious supplies to Soviet Jews, became its own school system after the fall of communism. It was run out of the Israeli Education Ministry for nearly 20 years before being handed off to the Jewish Agency for Israel about two years ago, according to Eckstein.
Last year the 26-school Heftsiba system looked like it was going to be a casualty of the economic downturn, the Madoff scandal and the Jewish Agency facing an $80 million budget cut. But then in February Eckstein’s IFCJ stepped in with emergency funding.
Eckstein said that he would match up to $5 million in funding over the course of this year to keep the schools afloat, so long as other Jewish donors matched the funds. The Israeli government pledged to pitch in $1 million. Based on that pledge, the fellowship cut a $1 million check to Heftsiba.
According to Eckstein, Israel has yet to pay up, even though it said it would do so immediately.
“The bottom line is that the government said it would take care of Heftsiba, but it hasn’t even sent the money it owes from six months ago, and yesterday I get a letter from the school in Kharkov, Ukraine, that they are closing their doors,” Eckstein told The Fundermentalist on Tuesday. “They never got the money from the government of Israel and have no reassurance they will be able to get funding in September, so there goes 125 Jewish kids in Harkov, who don’t have a Jewish future.”
Eckstein said that he has been pushing the government to come up with the money. But the responsibility for paying the $1 million is being passed from ministry to ministry, with no one wanting the money to come out of their own budget, Eckstein said.
He had a meeting with Knesset members on June 2 to press for the money. He was unable to get an answer, but was told that the Education Ministry will take over the Heftsiba system from the Jewish Agency next fall.
The Israeli government pledged to “give $1 million, and it hasn’t even done that yet, and they are going ahead and accepting commitments for next year before they have even honored their commitment from past six months,” Eckstein said, chiding the Israeli government. “Who is to believe them? I certainly don’t.”
The money to Heftsiba was part of an $12 million pledge that the fellowship made to save three Jewish school systems in the FSU, including $6 million to keep the Chabad school system running. The Chabad system was heavily financed by Lev Leviev, the diamond mogul who saw his stock plummet by 90 percent, losing him a half a billion dollars over the past year.
The fellowship also gave $1 million to the Shma Yisrael school system, which had been heavily financed by the Reichmann family of Canada.
While most charities are floundering, the fellowship is on pace to raise more money this year than it ever has. Last year the organization took in roughly $90 million; this year, Eckstein said, it is already 20 percent above pace. He project that the fellowship will end up raising between $110 million and $120 million in 2009.
But Eckstein wants to know why the Jewish community is not stepping up to offer more assistance to Jews in the former Soviet Union, after spending 20 years of helping to build a community there.
“The Jewish community can’t come up with $2 million for future of Jewish children?” he said.
Even taking into account the Madoff scam and the economic crisis, Eckstein said it was a “shonda” — or shame — “that world Jewry, can’t pay for the $2 million and it has to have Christians from California or from Florida pay.”
http://blogs.jta.org/philanthropy/article/2009/07/14/1006538/eckstein-wants-to-know-why-the-jews-arent-saving-fsu-jewry
reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC Canadian funding corp CEO
Charity says Canadian investment firm paid $1.68M for lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett
Posted by admin in Aid Services, Environmental, Health, Hockey, Israel, School, family on July 15th, 2009
Winner of $1.68M lunch with Buffett identified
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
Report from Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO: ORT Canada ends the year on a high.
Posted by admin in Aid Services, Cuba, Environmental, Health, Hockey, Israel, School, Torah, Uncategorized, Youth, family on June 17th, 2009
ORT Canada has rounded off the year with two glittering fundraising events in Montreal and Toronto.
ORT Montreal’s 23rd annual Benefit Gala attracted 1,000 people to the city’s Place des Arts for an evening of fine food, top line entertainment and the chance to recognise the extraordinary contribution made by Stella and David Gelerman.
“The Benefit Gala brings together people bonded by two common interests – a commitment to support worthy causes and a desire to share in an enjoyable evening,” said ORT Canada President Arthur Silber. “Honouring the Gelermans, who set such a great example of community service, allows us to do just that.”
Dida Burku and husband, ORT Montreal President Jacob Kincler, with Stella and David Gelerman.
Mr and Mrs Gelerman arrived in Canada from Ukraine in 1981 and set up Advantech AMT Inc, which is now a world leading designer and manufacturer of satellite and wireless telecommunications products with facilities in the USA, Europe and Canada.
The special presentation to Mr and Mrs Gelerman was made by Anthony Broccolini, on behalf of his family who were last year’s honourees.
“We are proud to be associated with the Gelerman family and grateful for their continued and generous support,” said ORT Montreal President Jacob Kincler, himself a graduate of an ORT school.
ORT Montreal continued its tradition of providing the best entertainment with locally born illusionist Alain Choquette and 12-year-old singing sensation Nikki Yanofsky, who received three standing ovations.
Honouree Shane Baghai addresses ORT Toronto’s Local Hero reception at Toronto’s elegant Dominion Club.
Meanwhile, in Toronto, one of the city’s leading businessmen, Shane Baghai, was named ORT Toronto’s Local Hero in a Global Village, the second recipient of this annual award.
Mr Baghai, a graduate of the ORT educational network that existed in Iran before the revolution, repeatedly stressed how honoured he was to be the recipient of the award. This modesty was, said ORT Toronto President Carrie Katz-Lehman, one of the many qualities that led to his being nominated.
“Shane’s connection with ORT, his commitment to education generally, his affinity to Israel and Jewish life are all reasons why he is such a fitting recipient of this award,” Mrs Katz-Lehman said.
Mr Baghai arrived in Canada 23 years ago with a young family and only $1,500 in his pocket. He founded Shane Baghai Homes, which has become known as North America’s largest custom-home builder. His developments rely increasingly on alternative energy sources such as wind turbines and solar power and are located close to public transport hubs – all part of Mr Baghai’s vision of “green solutions for better living”.
In a message sent to the Local Hero reception, World ORT Director General Robert Singer said it was deeply gratifying that this year’s honouree was an ORT alumnus.
“In an age when the vacuum created by ignorance and underdevelopment is so often filled with destruction and aggression, the success of ORT graduates in building careers and contributing to society is a beacon of hope,” he said.
http://www.ort.org/asp/article.asp?ID=510