Madoff impact seen on Jewish charities

In today's Globe, I have a story looking at the impact on Jewish philanthropy of the Madoff mess. An excerpt:

Jewish philanthropy has an enormous impact on the American nonprofit scene - a study by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University found last year that 91 percent of Jews give to charity, making Jews far more charitable than most Christians - and the vast majority of Jewish giving goes to non-Jewish organizations, such as hospitals, museums, and universities.

"They are among the most, if not the most, generous people in our community," said Paul S. Grogan, president of The Boston Foundation. "And every new revelation suggests that this is going to be far more serious than anyone thought. One gets the impression that a very large percentage of the successful philanthropic Jewish families in this community had some connection to Madoff."

Many of the bold-faced names of the Jewish community, particularly in New York, Florida, and Massachusetts, have been caught up in the Madoff scandal. Locally, Carl and Ruth Shapiro, who have given about $60 million to Brandeis over the last decade and are funding two buildings under construction there, lost 40 to 45 percent of their foundation, which was worth $345 million at last report. A foundation established by Elie Wiesel, the BU professor and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, had invested almost all of its assets, $15.2 million, with Madoff. The Lappin Foundation, in Salem, closed after announcing that its assets had been invested with Madoff, and the Maimonides School, in Brookline, sent a letter to parents warning that a bequest that had been supporting its operating budget was invested with Madoff.

Nationally, in addition to the losses by Hadassah and Yeshiva, there are scores of affected Jewish philanthropies. The Picower Foundation of Florida, which in 2007 declared assets of $955 million that included multiple Jewish institutions and causes among its beneficiaries, on Friday said it had invested with Madoff and would be forced to close. Last week, the Chais Family Foundation, founded in California but located in Jerusalem, which claimed $178 million in assets and gave primarily to Jewish causes in Israel and the United States, also closed. The American Technion Society, which supports a science university in Israel, lost $72 million with Madoff, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. And there are many more.

There are a couple of really good Madoff resources on the web if you want more information:

The Globe has a Boston.com page on which we're posting all of our Madoff coverage.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has a great blog, Fundermentalist, that is aggregating Madoff stories and breaking quite a bit of news as well.

And check out the eJewish Philanthropy blog, which, as it sounds, is a blog about Jewish philanthropy, and which has also become an essential resource on the Madoff scandal.

(Photo, by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters, shows a sign marking the Montauk home of Bernard L. Madoff.)