March 2, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
The alleged fraud perpetrated by the money manager Bernard Madoff devastated many Jewish nonprofit organizations. But according to at least one observer, the damage was largely self-inflicted.
“The real Madoff scandal isn’t the losses; it’s that our community was sitting on vast pools of accumulated wealth, much of it used to little effect,” writes Noam Neusner, a former speech writer for President George W. Bush. “Madoff had his secrets to keep, but so, in fact, did many foundations and endowments. They had money to spend, and they didn’t spend it. Now it’s gone.”
In an opinion article in The Forward, a Jewish newspaper based in New York, Mr. Neusner says that given the problems facing Judaism, Jewish foundations and charities should have dipped into their endowments more frequently to make grants or expand charitable programs.
“If Jewish donors were truly ambitious, they would demand philanthropic extinction. They would give money to organizations only if endowment funds were also put to work. They would launch foundations with a built-in ticking clock: Perform, or else,” he writes.
What do you think? Should Jewish nonprofit groups have spent more of their endowments on philanthropic purposes? Click on the comment button to share your views.
