SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER

In its mission statement, the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC)
http://www.wiesenthal.com/ says that it is an “international
Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the
world one step at a time. The Center's multifaceted mission
generates changes through the Snider Social Action Institute
and education by confronting anti-semitism, hate and terrorism,
promoting human rights and dignity, standing with Israel,
defending the safety of Jews worldwide, and teaching the
lessons of the Holocaust for future generations.”

The SWC has an educational division located at two centers,
one in Los Angeles called the Museum of Tolerance and one in
New York called the Tolerance Center. The Museum of Tolerance
was founded in 1993 and challenges visitors to confront bigotry
and racism, and to understand the Holocaust in both historic and
contemporary contexts. It had nearly 350,000 visitors this past
year including 130,000 youth. As part of it's Tools for Tolerance
program, 7,000 members of Law Enforcement have participated
in cutting-edge training for frontline providers. To date, the
Museum has trained over 100,000 professionals, including
educators and, in partnership with the State of California,
individuals in law enforcement. Additionally, the program
accommodates firefighters, social workers, health care
professionals, attorneys, probation officers, and others.

The SWC has an education program that targets primary and
secondary school students. Teaching Steps to Tolerance – the
Museum’s national program is designed for 5th and 6th grade
educators and library media specialists to integrate the
teaching of tolerance into their school’s curriculum. Tools for
Tolerance for Teens – reaches thousands of middle and high
school students while Steps to Tolerance engages over 6,000
fifth and sixth graders each year.

The SWC also has a film division called Moriah Films. The
film division was created to produce theatrical documentaries
to educate both national and international audiences. It focuses
on the 3,500-year old Jewish experience as well as contemporary
human rights and ethics issues. Moriah Films has produced nine films
to date, two of which have received the Academy Award for best
feature documentary, The Long Way Home (1997) and Genocide (1981).

In 2006, the SWC initiated a division to study digital media entitled
Digital Terrorism and Hate 2006. The annual interactive report
produced by the Center, Digital Terrorism, focuses on over 6,000
websites and details how the internet has become a virtual university
for terrorism and has emerged as the nerve center for training,
recruitment, and terrorist activities in the Middle East. This
report is distributed to government agencies, community activists,
educators, and members of the media.



Charity Navigator Rating of the Simon Wiesenthal Center:
Overall rating: One Star (on a rating scale of 0 to 4 stars)

In 2006, 76% of expenses were spent on program services, 10%
on administrative expenses, and 13% of fundraising expenses.
This breakdown of expenses resulted in a Two Star
Organizational Efficiency rating.
In 2006, SWC had primary revenue growth of minus 7% and
primary expenses growth of minus 4%. This resulted in a
One Star Organizational Capacity rating. (This rating
measures the organization’s ability to sustain itself over time.)

Its net assets are just over $63 million.
The compensation for its president, Rabbi Marvin Hier,
was $249,215.
The compensation for its membership director, Marlene Hier,
was $203,291.

Next week’s blog: Comparative ratings of Israeli Hospitals

AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE

In its mission statement, the American Jewish World
Service (AJWS) http://www.ajws.org/ describes itself as an
“international development organization motivated by
Judaism’s imperative to pursue justice. AJWS is dedicated
to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people
of the developing world regardless of race, religion or
nationality. Through grants to grassroots organizations,
volunteer service, advocacy and education, AJWS fosters civil
society, sustainable development and human rights for all
people, while promoting the values and responsibilities of
global citizenship within the Jewish community.”

What does AJWS do?
1) AJWS provides help in 36 countries to over 450 grassroots
projects, making a significant and sustainable difference in the lives
of tens of thousands of people. A featured project on the AJWS
website is an adolescent girls empowerment project in Ethiopia
called the Hundee Oromo Grassroots Development Initiative.
This project is providing scholarships to 80 adolescent girls to
enable them to attend secondary school.
2) Provides volunteer opportunities for Jewish young adults
between the ages of 16 and 24. This summer college groups will
be volunteering in: Nicaragua, Ghana, and India and high school
groups will be going toHonduras and Uganda.
3) It participates in political advocacy programs that have global
impact. For example its advocacy resulted in the Sudan Accountability
and Divestment Act that President Bush signed into law on
December 31. This act is aimed at putting economic pressure on the
Sudanese Government to stop the genocide in Darfur.

Charity Navigator Rating of AJWS:
AJWS is one of only two non-profit organizations to receive seven
consecutive four-star ratings from Charity Navigator.
In 2006, 85% of expenses were spent on program services, 7% on
administrative expenses, and 8% on fundraising expenses. This
breakdown of expenses resulted in a four-star organizational
efficiency rating.
In 2006, AJWS had primary revenue growth of 47% and primary
expenses growth of 48%. This resulted in a four-star organizational
capacity rating. Its net assets are almost $15 million. The
compensation for its president, Ruth Messenger, was $191,000.

Charity Navigator Rating of a non-Jewish nonprofit:
Amnesty International USA
In 2006, Amnesty International received a two-star rating
from Charity Navigator. This consisted of a one-star organization
efficiency rating and a three-star organizational capacity rating.

Next week's blog: Simon Wiesenthal Center

DONOR ADVISED FUNDS

Grandparents and parents have found a new vehicle for teaching
their children and grandchildren about philanthropy. This vehicle
is the Donor Advised Fund. Donor Advised Funds are funds that
allow people to make charitable giving effective and simple.
Hypothetically, the grandparents of Jacob Weiss could give their
grandson a gift of $5000 for his bar-mitzvah. They could set up a
donor advised fund entitled “The Jacob Weiss Charitable Gift Fund”
with the $5,000 gift. The grandparents could then review different
Jewish charities and together with Jacob help Jacob give grants of
$2,500 to American Jewish World Service and $2,500 to the Jewish
National Fund. Both charities will then send Jacob personal letters
thanking him for his grant. Other guests to Jacob’s bar-mitzvah
could also make donations of any size to Jacob’s charitable gift fund.

Donor Advised Funds are funds owned and maintained by public
charities that receive contributions from a single donor or from a
group of donors. Donor advised funds are offered primarily by
charities like the Jewish federations, financial companies like
Fidelity Investments, community foundations, and universities.

Donors can donate cash, stock, bonds or other assets to the funds.
The donation is irrevocable and the donor can claim an immediate
federal income tax deduction. The donor can then recommend how
much, when and to which charities money in the accounts should
be distributed. The donor advised fund then makes a grant in the
donors name to the charity chosen by the donor. Thus, donor
advised funds allow individuals to act like a foundation without
the hassles of being a foundation and without having Bill Gates
type wealth. There are no initial set up fees, no ongoing legal fees,
no tax preparation fees, no contribution limits that apply to private
foundations, and no complicated corporate compliance hassles.

The largest donor advised fund in the country is the Fidelity
Charitable Gift Fund. It has assets of over $3.5 billion.and in
fiscal year 2006, it donated approximately $1 billion to charities.
Fidelity charges an administrative fee of 0.6% of an account’s
total assets. Fidelity has a minimum contribution of $5,000.

There are 10 Jewish federations that have established donor
advised funds. They are the Combined Jewish Philanthropies
of Greater Boston, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, The
Jewish Communal Fund (of New York), The Jewish Community
Federation of Cleveland, the Jewish Community Federation of
San Francisco, the Jewish Community Foundation (of California),
the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, the Jewish Federation/
Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, the Associated
Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, the United
Jewish Communities of MetroWest, the United Jewish
Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.

The Jewish Communal Fund (of New York) has a minimum
contribution of $5,000. However, the minimum contribution
for children is $1,800. The website for the Jewish Communal
Fund is http://www.jewishcommunalfund.org/. Its telephone
number is 212 752-8277.

At your next family bar or bat-mitzvah, instead of giving a gift
consider establishing a donor advised fund for the bar or
bat-mitzvah. It will be the gift with a legacy that the child will
long remember.

Next Week’s Blog: the American Jewish World Service