Posts Tagged israel
Jewish groups call for changes at York University
Report about jewish donors’ thought reg. antisemitism in the University of York, ON
reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO
By Giuseppe Valiante, National Post
York University teachers should be prohibited from expressing personal political views unrelated to the course they are teaching, according to a
report from a commission of Toronto-area Jewish groups on improving campus life for Jewish students.
The commission, composed of the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto, Hillel of Greater Toronto, Hasbara at York and the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy, compiled hundreds of submissions from students, faculty and Jewish community members after recent events at York “have left many members of our community shocked and shaken,” the report cited.
The final report cites episodes of “intimidation, harassment, ridicule and virulent anti-Israel sentiment” on the York campus over the past year.
Howard English, the UJA of Greater Toronto’s vice-president for communications, said the incidents have prompted Jewish donors to York to express concern to the administration. He added there is a history of anti-Israel expression at York.
“We’re talking about off-hand comments, or scurrilous comments … unwarranted or unjustified political personal opinion that is not based on fact or is unrelated to the course that an instructor is teaching,” said Mr. English.
“We had one case of a [teaching assistant] who told a student who was wearing a Israel Defence Forces T-shirt to never come into his class again with that T-shirt on,” said Mr. English.
The report asks York to establish a confidential hotline for students to report “abuse of the podium” incidents. It also recommends that York implement several other measures, including providing school security forces with “enhanced training in order to deal more effectively with disruptive events and individuals” and to “rigorously define the academic standards expected of all university-sponsored conferences.”
The report also recommends the university should no longer allow Vari Hall, a central meeting place for students, to be booked for political pusposes, for the universitiy to “increase the severity of sanctions for those who repeatedly violate the Code of Conduct,” and “empower York Security to issue reprimands … that would remain on a student’s academic transcript for a period of not less than two years.”
This list of recommendations was delivered to the York University Task Force on Student Life, Learning and Community, which was created in March by university president Mamdouh Shoukri to improve the atmosphere on campus.
Patrick Monahan, the dean of Osgoode Hall Law School and chair of the task force, was not available for comment yesterday. And the York University Faculty Association did not return calls as of press time.
It’s been a tough 50th anniversary for York University. Three of its unions went on strike for months last fall, delaying classes and final exams, the university’s endowment is down by 18% and recent reports cite that 7% fewer Ontario high-school students accepted a full-time, first year spot at York than last year.
Mr. English said York might feel a financial strain if Jewish students continue to feel intimidated.
“Well, we know that many Jewish donors to the university are very concerned … many Jewish donors have spoken in the most honest terms, in the most candid terms with [Mr. Shoukri] and other administration officials,” he said.
Mr. English said that he is not aware of a “mass withdrawl” of donations at this point, but said “the longer an atmosphere exists at York which is considered by many Jewish students to be intimidating or hostile, the greater the risk of donors withdrawing funds.”
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/06/16/report-calls-for-york-profs-to-keep-political-opinions-to-themselves.aspx
Jewish organization loses charitable status
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has stripped a Jewish organization of its charitable status after finding its primary purpose was to serve as part of a tax-avoidance scheme.
In a letter to the Choson Kallah Fund of Toronto, Terry de March, director general of the CRA’s charities directorate, stated that the organization’s charitable status will be revoked, preventing it from issuing official donation receipts. Choson Kallah is no longer exempt from paying tax, unless it qualifies as a non-profit organization, and it may be taxed on its remaining assets, CRA stated.
“It remains our view that the charity has willingly lent its name and tax-receipting privileges to the tax shelter in exchange for monetary compensation. In our view, the charity has participated in a program designed to abuse the charitable gifts incentive provisions of the Income Tax Act,” stated a CRA document outlining the reasons behind the revocation.
“Between 2004 and 2005, the charity issued receipts in excess of $177 million, or 90 per cent of the charity’s total income, for donations of pharmaceuticals earmarked for international programs… In 2006 alone… the charity issued receipts totalling over $131 million,” far above the charity’s previous average of between $4 million to $6 million per year, the CRA said.
In receiving the pharmaceuticals and issuing tax receipts “the charity was merely operating as the receipting agent in this arrangement – issuing receipts for property it did not see, need or want and passing this property to a third-party organization,”the CRA said.
In exchange, Choson Kallah received a little more than one per cent of the value receipted, from which it paid a fee to an administrator, the letter stated. The charity did not attempt to independently verify the values of the donations for which it issued receipts, the agency said.
The CRA noted the charity netted only .05 per cent of the value of the donation receipts after expenses, and it failed to maintain the documentation necessary to prove recipients of allocated funds met the definition of charity required by law. Some recipients were not suffering poverty, but received money for wedding assistance, fertility treatments and to pay private debts.
Rabbi Eli Gross, president of Choson Kallah Fund, said the decision will be appealed.
“Right now, I don’t think I will be able to continue our good works,” Rabbi Gross is quoted as telling the Toronto Star. “I don’t know the mechanics of the tax fund, the legality of it or how it works.”
He told the Star that Choson Kallah has been operating for more than 20 years. It started as a small operation that helped people get married, but grew to provide $4 million in poverty relief, mostly to Israel.
Choson Kallah did not return calls from The CJN.
The CRA stated it is “reviewing all tax shelter-related donation arrangements (for example, schemes that typically promise donors tax receipts worth more than the actual amount of the donation)” and it “plans to audit every participating charity, promoter and investor.”
In the past few months, the International Charity Association Network and the Banyan Tree Foundation were stripped of their charitable status. Last week, the CRA stated in a news release it had “revoked the status of the Canadian Amateur Football Association as a registered Canadian amateur athletic association,” with the power to issue tax receipts for gifts or donations.
reviewed by Moishe ALexnader, CFC CEO
Collective Action Can Make Every Philanthropic Dollar Effective
Let’s embrace the diversity of our interests and find ways to weave these various strands into a strong and rich tapestry.
In their editorial entitled “Charity begins with priorities” (April 14), the editors of The Jerusalem Post suggest that the current economic climate requires the “rich” in our community to set aside their “philanthropic dalliances” in favor of funding communal needs determined by “collective decision-making.” That certainly is one way to address the problem the Post describes as “too many organizations… and too much competition for resources” in American Jewish life.
Of course, what may appear to be a “dalliance” to one philanthropist may be a strategic focus of another. Rather than bemoan the breadth and depth of Jewish interests, Jewish expression and Jewish spirituality, those of us who care deeply about the future of the Jewish community should embrace the diversity of our interests and find ways to weave these various strands into a strong and rich tapestry. What is required to make that happen is collective action, not collective decision-making.
In Israel, as in the US and Canada, the newest organizations appearing on the scene, often with significant funding from previously untapped sources, represent a renewed spirit, energy and interest in Jewish life, all of which deserve to be nurtured rather than abandoned.
The key to success during the current economic climate is neither to spurn new ideas nor to continue to allow everyone to make Shabbat for themselves. Rather, we must allow those new ideas to take root in existing organizations while simultaneously encouraging those organizations to work together to eliminate unnecessary duplication and redundancies in the Jewish communal world. The time has come for us to take collective action to make sure that every philanthropic dollar is spent as efficiently and effectively as possible. Cooperation and collaboration are no longer sufficient by themselves; to borrow from Lee Iacocca, every responsible Jewish organization must lead, follow or get out of the way, either by closing their doors entirely or by finding ways to integrate their programs into stronger, more viable entities.
Pursuing such an approach will require all of us - foundations and service providers alike - to make painful choices and decisions. And while no one likes to admit or accept that a project or program to which they have committed time and/or money is failing to meet the mark, the current situation demands that we think anew about all of our activities and seize this opportunity to restructure our organizations and initiatives so they have the greatest chance to succeed in the future. As the world learned from Jack Welch, the legendary CEO and chairman of General Electric, selling or closing businesses in which you are less than No. 1 or No. 2 in the marketplace is a proven way to move from weakness to strength.
Fortunately, both private and public conversations about consolidation are beginning to take place in boardrooms throughout our community. For instance, Rabbi David Ellenson, president of the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, recently sent an open letter to faculty, students, alumni and friends of the HUC explaining the need to seriously consider consolidating its three stateside campuses (Cincinnati, Los Angeles and New York) into a new, more streamlined configuration, while still supporting its Jerusalem campus. Exploration of integrating the type of teacher training programs pioneered at CAJE (Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education) into JESNA (Jewish Education Service of North America) is ongoing, as are discussions between two of the leading organizations for Jewish teens: BBYO and PANIM.
Other, more private deliberations are also proceeding. But probably not enough.
For our community to realize the full benefit of greater collaboration and consolidation, bold action and visionary leadership will be required. And not only among our service providers; our philanthropists must also take a hard look at themselves. While the decision of Warren Buffet to leave his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the most extreme example of funder collaboration, many other opportunities and vehicles for philanthropic partnerships exist and are deserving of serious consideration. Not only could the growth of funding collaboratives generate greater leverage and increase efficiencies, it would substantially reduce the reliance many organizations place on a single donor and, in turn, help them avoid the fate of groups adversely impacted by the Madoff-related collapse of high-profile and generous foundations such as Chais and Picower.
A shining example of how collective action can help our community is the impressive work of the Foundation for Jewish Camp. Under the able leadership of Jerry Silverman, the FJC is assisting individual camps while advocating for camping as a whole. Camps are improving and their numbers are growing because of the expertise the FJC is bringing to camping as a field. By establishing itself as a “center of excellence,” the FJC has positioned itself to be a critical resource for individual camps.
In partnership with several other foundations, we recently helped to launch a new American organization, Repair the World, in the hope that it will serve similar functions for program providers in the realm of Jewish service. And, in Israel, we hope the Haruv Institute will play a comparable role for organizations engaged in the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect.
Our community has long talked about greater cooperation and collaboration. Now, the time to act has arrived. Consolidation and collective action represent two approaches with the greatest potential to encourage Jewish life to flourish.
Sandy Cardin is president of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and Schusterman Foundation-Israel.
reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO
http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/collective-action-can-make-every-philanthropic-dollar-effective/