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Q4 4441 14P

The

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21728 W. Eleven Mile
Harvard Row Mall
Southfield. Ml 48076

11/12

1999

28

Rd.

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group of about 20 people includes
Seagrams heir Charles Bronfman,
Detroit's venerable Max Fisher,
Crown Oil's Lester Crown of
Chicago, former. CBS owner Larry
Tisch, the Limited's Les Wexner of
Columbus, Ohio, former hedge fund
expert Michael Steinhardt, Marvin
Lender of Lender's Bagels, and insur-
ance executive Richard Goldman of
San Francisco.
The group, which formally meets
hile communal atten-
twice
a year, is unique in that its mem-
tion has focused on the
bers
have
their own private founda-
creation of the United
tions, some with professional staff,
Jewish Communities
which run creative programs and spend,
— a merger of the United Jewish
collectively, hundreds of millions of dol-
Appeal and the Council of Jewish
lars for Jewish and other causes.
Federations — and the
The beauty of these foun-
choice of Stephen Solender
dations is that they can
as its president, another, less-
take on bold, innovative
publicized action may have
projects deemed too ris
greater long-term impact.
for the consensus-driven
That's the establishment
federation system. The
of a foundation, as yet
danger is that, given their
unnamed, designed primari-
independence, they have
ly to forge and maintain a
no public accountability or
relationship between the
commitment to support
UJC and a small but
vital but less "sexy" pro-
extremely influential group
Gary R osenblatt
grams that form the back-
of major philanthropists,
Speci al to the
bone of communal needs.
known as the mega-donors.
Jewis h News
The deep concern
The success or failure of
among Jewish federation
the new national Jewish fed-
officials has been that these individu-
eration system may depend on the
als, and their foundations, increasingly
foundation's ability to keep these
will
distance themselves from the cen-
highly successful, and independent,
tral
system.
After all, most of the
givers, and others like them, inside
mega-donors are highly independent
the communal tent. If it succeeds,
businessmen used to doing things
the foundation could well become
their way and less than enchanted
more important than the UJC, a case
with
federations' style of consensus,
of the tail wagging the dog, a power-
which
they view as overly cautious,
ful agent of change linking the feder-
bureaucratic
and time-consuming.
ation system to large sums of money
Some of these mega-donors have
and creative projects.
egos to match their wealth, and the
Its failure, though, would signal a
question becomes: Why should these
further decentralization of Jewish
people give large sums of money to a
philanthropy and the weakening, if
centralized charity when they can, and
not the end, of the social-service sys-
do, target their wealth toward pro-
tem as we've known it for the last
grams and causes of their own particu-
century.
lar interest, with no outside hindrance?
Who are these mega-donors? The
That's the answer that David
Gary Rosenblatt is editor and
Altshuler, who will become president
of the new foundation in January, will
publisher of the New York Jewish
have to provide. Altshuler, the bright
Week. He a former editor of the
and talented director of the Museum
Jewish News. He can be reached via
of Jewish Heritage - A Living
e mail at gary@jewishweek.org

Channel for
mega philanthropists
may overshadow
federations
and the UJC.

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