meeting is a day of political advocacy training in
Washington, D.C., Charendoff said. A date hasn't
been set. •
Despite an eagerness to help, "the people who are
having a good year are more the exception than the
rule," he said. "There is a stomach index — even if
people are not being personally affected by the econ-
omy, talk and news reports of a down spiral often
make people nervous.
"The difference is between spending the bare min-
imum and being robust. In good years, when you
have money invested and its earning 10, 15 or 20
percent,_ then you are feeling good and the founda-
tion is giving away more," Charendoff said.
Grants Reduced
The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported earlier this
month that charities are dipping into reserve funds
to make up for lost grants and donations. Assets of
nine of the 10 largest foundations — none of them
Jewish — have fallen by a cumulative $8.3 billion as
of June 30, the journal reported.
In April, the Chronicle reported results from a
2002 giving survey of 152 private foundations. The
seven Jewish foundations that provided information
projected grants to remain the same or to rise.
With the exception of the Harry and Jeannette
Weinberg Foundation in Baltimore, however, six
reported that the value of their grants in 2001
declined, as much as 19 percent in the case of the San
Francisco-based Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund.
The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies
plans to cut grant making by 12 percent, or $3 mil-
lion, in the coming year, said its president, Jeff
Solomon. He said he doesn't know yet which of the
Bronfman's 200 or so grantees will be affected by the
cuts, saying only that "change leaders" won't be.
"I don't project major contractions among
grantees," he said. "Founda-tions are a tiny percent-
age of overall dollars. But those organizations with
healthy development plans, which have a mix of rev-
enue sources of individuals and fees and government
funding and foundations, shouldn't take huge hits."
Past stock market dips — in the late 1980s and
early 1990s — gave donors the jitters, too. But
gauging their effect on foundations is impossible
because there were so many fewer during those
years, Charendoff said. Just a decade, ago there were
Yosef Abramowitz, head of Jewish Family & Life
in Newton, Mass., which relies on grants from foun-
dations such as the Goldman Fund to publish
online and print journals, said he doesn't regret
printing a controversial debate in the May issue of
SMna on the subject of stopping suicide bombings,
but it may have alienated-some potential donors.
The article, in the online journal
wwvv.shma.com , featured the point and counter-
point of Nathan Lewin and Arthur Green. Lewin
wrote the execution of.the families of suicide
bombers might be among the only options Israel has
left to stop the Palestinian violence against Jews.
"We heard from many readers and
some donors that we legitimized some
positions that were extreme. While no
one has withdrawn a gift to Sala, I
suspect it'll be harder for us to raise
money from some of our donors
because of it," Abramowitz said.
Karen Green of the Washington,
D.C.-based Council on
Foundations, said it's remarkable
that members, despite investment
losses, are maintaining their commit-
ments to their favorite charities: Two
Feeling The Pinch
years
ago, only 1 percent of the 700
The squeeze could be most dramatic
family
foundations the council repre-
on programs that generate controver-
sents
said
declining assets were their
sy.
primary concern. In a similar survey
Richard Zellin, regional director of
Stephen Ho jfman, president last year, the percentage zoomed to
the Chicago office of the New Israel
of the United Jewish
40 percent.
Fund (NIF); said that foundations and
s
Communitie
In the world of Jewish fund-raising,
individual donors aren't withdrawing
there
are always constants. Israel hap-
support from the fund, despite what
pens
to
be
at
the
center
of the philanthropic orbit,
some would consider its too-liberal agenda. All NIF-
but
givers
aren't
turning
their backs on their pet
raised money goes to Israel, including to Israeli Arab
causes.
human service and literacy projects, and civil-rights
"When there's a crisis, the Jewish community
organizations, both Jewish and non-Jewish.
responds quickly, affirmatively and significantly,"
"People raise more questions now and are more
said Tobin of the Partnership for Excellence in
concerned about where the money is going, but I
Jewish
Education. "Those campaigns have diverted
haven't heard people say they're walking away com-
resources,
but nobody's sitting around saying, 'Woe
pletely, at least not among, our core supporters,"
is
us.'
They're
saying, 'We pray the situation in Israel
Zellin said.
gets
better
quickly.
There's an emergency in the fam-
A few years back, when pluralism battles in Israel
ily and this is what we have to do."'
attracted the attention of American Jews, the NIF
enjoyed a surge of donations. Among that group of
— Jason Green, managing editor of the
givers, donations might be down, but so far, the organ-
Atlanta
Jewish Times, sister publication of the
ization is on pace with fund-raising this year, Zellin
Detroit
Jewish
News, contributed to this story.
said. The NIF raises about $25 million annually.
2,500 foundations compared to 7,000 today, and
they looked much different.
In 1990-91, individual giving was up. Hoffman
said the Gulf War prompted the same sense of
urgency among American Jews who watched their
television sets as Israel was attacked with Scud mis-
siles from Iraq.
"To some extent, we're seeing that again," he said.
"Some federations stumbled after the Gulf War, but
by and large, we maintained ourselves."
Citing a figure by Gary Tobin of Brandeis
University in Waltham, Mass., Solomon said Jewish
foundations hold about $25 billion in assets, 5 per-
cent of which they are required by law
to spend each year. More than.half of
the $1.25 billion they must disburse
annually goes to secular causes, leav-
ing about $400 million for Jewish
organizations.
That is roughly equal to what the
150 federations spend on local Jewish
causes out of the $860 million they
raise each year.
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