Forward.com

Not-for-Profits Brace for Trouble

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:24:00 EST

Every morning for the past month, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi has arisen at 5 to check the Asian markets. Every day, she scrutinizes the fluctuations in the financial world and reads up on the latest business news, trying to gauge which way stocks are heading and what the fallout will be.

Moishe House: Building in Beijing

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:23:00 EST

My roommates and I built the only rooftop sukkah in Beijing, 16 floors above the traffic on Second Ring Road, overlooking Sinopec headquarters and the small Olympic park next door. It was a true Chinese sukkah — made in part with PVC pipes and metal wire from a local construction market — and we were nervous that our neighbors would assume we were building some kind of permanent structure and report us to the Public Security Bureau.

Coming of Age in Cambodia

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:23:00 EST

This past July, a few high school students and I sat around an unusable fireplace in an air-conditioned library at Yale. The teenagers wore flip-flops and short shorts and sunburns; they peppered their speech with “like,” as well as their newly acquired SAT vocabulary. At my behest, they were discussing the ethicist Peter Singer.

A Good Education: Foundation Celebrates 18 Years

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:22:00 EST

With 18 years and counting of support for innovative initiatives in Jewish education, the Covenant Foundation marked its chai anniversary last month with a three-day celebration in New York City. The festivities included a gala evening, dispersal of awards and — true to Covenant Foundation form — opportunities for serious discussion among some of North America’s most creative Jewish educators. Attending were 40 of the organization’s 54 surviving Covenant Award winners and more than a dozen emerging leaders in Jewish education.

Let’s Talk About Sex

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:21:00 EST

Because she’s 17, Laura Alonge hears a lot of sex jokes. She and her friends have all seen “Knocked Up” and “Superbad” and the million other horny-stoner-kids films that have recently captured the hearts and minds of high schoolers across the country. It drives her crazy, though, that her peers don’t know truth from fiction. “They hear in a Seth Rogan movie, ‘the law of gravity, what goes up must come down,’ and they think you can’t get pregnant if you’re on top,” she said. Even at her public high school, in what she describes as her “very liberal, not very religious” town of Lynbrook, N.Y., on Long Island, “sex ed was too short and too late. The kids weren’t really walking away with what they needed.” So Alonge, in her quest to make sure she and her peers received scientifically accurate, age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education in their schools, teamed up with an unlikely partner: a faith-based organization.

Office Space — A Communal Setting

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:21:00 EST

Back in September, JBooks.com, the Web site I edit, teamed up with JVibe, the magazine for Jewish teens, to throw an intergenerational event called Get Lit 2008. Preparing for this literary soirée (which featured writers Tova Mirvis, Jonathan Wilson, Adam Wilson and Jon Papernick) was a lot of work, but publicizing it was remarkably easy. Why? A happy accident, really: our publications live in a kind of non-profit kibbutz here in Newton Upper Falls, Mass., and many of our friends and neighbors helped get the word out.

Women’s Foundation Gets Creative

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:19:00 EST

When the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York was planning a celebration for its 10 year anniversary in 2006, the group decided to commemorate the milestone by giving out its largest grant in history: a sum of $300,000, to be paid over three years. It was a significantly larger amount than the foundation had ever given in the past.

Shelter From the Storm

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:19:00 EST

Lisa Nord and Jay Podberesky were hard at work on a recent Sunday, cutting sheetrock and trimming window frames in a bare space in Brooklyn that will one day be a home for a family in need.

Online Shoppers Raise Money

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:18:00 EST

Whether it’s for purely altruistic purposes or for a big, fat tax break, many of us have been known to give to charity — especially around the High Holy Days. Most of us choose a handful of pet causes, sign our names to a few checks and forget about them until next year’s Yom Kippur approaches. Not Yosef Birnboim. The 30-year-old gives tzedakah nearly every time he turns on his computer.

City Team Ramps Up

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:17:00 EST

Fighting poverty and improving public education are no easy tasks, but for young activists living in such a huge city as New York, finding kindred spirits to march with at the next rally can be a challenge in its own right. A group of politically progressive Jewish 20-somethings is trying to make it a little easier.

The Changing Nature of Jewish Philanthropy

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:07:00 EST

In the early 1990s, the iconic Oldsmobile unveiled an advertising campaign trumpeting, “It’s not your father’s Oldsmobile.” The ad slogan was part of General Motors’ attempt to lure buyers back to a car make that had lost its way and become increasingly anachronistic. Would-be purchasers had turned away, associating the Olds with an earlier time and place — a vastly different generational view. The advertising tagline has since morphed into a pop culture catch-all for describing virtually anything new-fangled and changed, but it did nothing to make consumers favorably reconsider Oldsmobiles, which GM closed down early in this decade.

Foundations Weigh Options in Tough Economic Times

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:06:00 EST

In the continuing coverage of Wall Street woes, add Jewish foundations to the mix.

Young Patients Find a Home Away From Home

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:05:00 EST

In early September, Leora and Chagai Greenspan, a couple from Nahariya in northern Israel, brought their 2 1/2-year-old child to San Francisco for medical treatment. The child had a brain tumor, and the surgeon at San Francisco Medical Center was the only one they could find who was willing to perform the delicate surgery.

Technologically Impaired?

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:59:00 EST

Honorary Member of the Tribe. Good for the Jewish people. Rabbi of technology. Three phrases I’ve heard more than once to describe myself.

Giving Back: A Family Tradition

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:56:00 EST

Oscar Feldenkreis, president and chief operating officer of Perry Ellis International, is on a mission that extends far beyond continuing to increase company profits. That is almost a fait accompli for this talented entrepreneur with a strong vision, a creative edge and a passion for his work. Since joining his father, George Feldenkreis, founder of this leading company in men’s apparel, Oscar has taken the company to new heights, expanding product categories, acquiring trademarks, growing the customer base and, in 1993, taking the company public, soaring profits to an unprecedented level.

Staying Afloat

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:55:00 EST

With food and oil prices skyrocketing, the stock and housing markets in tatters, and the threat of a recession looming on the horizon, now is not the easiest time to ask donors to open their checkbooks. Across the country, these economic ills are being felt not only by individuals and families, but also by a whole range of Jewish institutions, from synagogues to food banks to social service not-for-profits that depend upon the generosity of donors to stay afloat. As a result, not-for-profits are looking for ways to get creative so that they can make it through the hard times and carry out their missions.

Continuing Their Mission, Jewish Hospitals Reinvest in Philanthropy

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:53:00 EST

In eight American cities, there are grant-making foundations created from the sale of Jewish hospitals, with combined assets in excess of $1 billion. For American Jewry, these foundations are the most important legacy of the Jewish hospital movement, one of American history’s most ambitious undertakings in Jewish philanthropy.

Nonprofit Urges Humane Investments

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:52:00 EST

When it comes to changing the world, sometimes how you invest is as important as how much you invest.

Viral Philanthropy Starts To Spread

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:53:00 EST

Hoping to raise money for a three-day bike ride over Labor Day to benefit the Jewish environmental organization Hazon, Ariela Pelaia turned to her blog.

Agencies Lobby To Make Tax Incentive Permanent

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:52:00 EST

With one of the most significant tax incentives for charitable giving set to expire by the end of the year, philanthropies and foundations are pushing lawmakers to make the tax relief permanent, allowing senior citizens to continue to transfer to charitable causes, tax free, funds from their individual retirement accounts.