Where can one find out who finances a specific organization?

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  • #598613
    chalilavchas
    Member

    Ive become aware of a despicable anti-Jewish organization and would like to determine exactly who finances them.

    Can anyone advise on this?

    #798076
    bezalel
    Participant

    Sorry, it’s not public record.

    #798077
    chalilavchas
    Member

    So theres absolutely no way to determine who is financing their hateful activity behind the scenes?

    #798078
    minyan gal
    Member

    If this is a virulent anti-semitic group, the ADL may know. If it is a group trying to convert Jews to Xtianity or “pseudo-Judaism”, Jews for Judaism may know. However, in both cases, I doubt if the Jewish groups that I mentioned would release the information about who does the funding because it could hurt their future plans of dealing with these hate groups.

    #798079
    nishtdayngesheft
    Participant

    If it is registered as a tax exempt organization, you can get information off it’s form 990. Depending how it classified you will get varying degrees of information. Certainly the board of directors will be disclosed and if it is a PF, contributors are also public information. You can either ask them for a copy and they are legally required to let you see it and provide a copy for a reasonable fee. Otherwise you can get it from guidestar.org or the foundation center website which has a 990 finder.

    If they are registered in NY, you can also get that information and more from the AG web site.

    #798080
    chalilavchas
    Member

    nishtdayngesheft, thanks Ill try your leads.

    What most disturbing is that they pretend to be helping young Jews get educations and are probably getting funding from Federation type organizations.

    Behind the scenes, theyre virulently anti-religion and are coaxing members to leave Judaism and paint religion and religious people as backward and hindering personal growth and accomplishemt in life. Its unbelievable! They help with one hand and throw mud and destroy with another.

    #798081
    bezalel
    Participant

    Just to follow up, there is no public record as to where an organization gets it’s funding from. If you suspect that they get it from a specific source, you can investigate that source to see whether thay gave funds to that organization.

    Your best bet is to get their 990 and do a web search on the names you find, it won’t nessasarily tell you who funds them but You’ll get an idea who they’re associated with.

    #798082
    Obaminator
    Member

    As Bezalel said, no private non-governmental organizations — even tax-exempt organizations — are obligated to report to anyone who funds them or how much funds they raised. The *only* exception are certain organizations engaged in political fundraising to benefit a candidate for political office.

    #798083

    If this organization has anything to do with feet, then yes, the Federation is the main sponsor. I’ll tell more once I am sure that I am on the right track – however, the Federation is the main culprit at this point and the other info doesn’t mean much.

    #798085
    chalilavchas
    Member

    600 Kilo Bear, yup very smelly feet!

    Im outraged because I suspect that some billionaire donors who proudly support organizations such as Chabad who further Jewish education and Jewish pride, also donate to organizations like Federation who then helps organizations like “feet” who hatefully mock and destroy Judaism, especially orthodox practices (e.g. Shabbos, Kashrus) and paint them as backward and irrelevant these days. Feet get away with it, because they behave hatefully in a very covert manner. You cant join a meeting of “feet” without becoming a member, which involves a thorough investigation of your lifestyle and motives. For those who have gotten the info, one way or another, their rhetoric is beyond shocking. The more they can suck the Judaism out of the members, the more accomplished they feel. Their goal is to create a social environment to support and encourage going OFF THE DERECH and alienation from the frum family.

    Their true motives should be revealed to all donors!

    #798086
    zahavasdad
    Participant

    The federation finances this organization , and unless you are giving money to them you have no right to tell them how to spend their money.

    If more religious jews would give to them then they would give to those organizations that cater to more religious jews

    #798088

    The donors to the Federation barely know where their money is going because it is spread so thin. Few really have any ideology; they just want their name somewhere and the Federation is still the best place to be a macher based only on money.

    The Federation will be irrelevant anyway in 30 years, but that is even worse because the reason it will be irrelevant is that its secular donors’ children are marrying out and have no interest at all in anything Jewish.

    That organization is a sad story. The founder’s father became a BT and her grandmother was very resentful. The grandmother, who is now deceased, had money and gave it to the granddaughter for this feet thing both to spite her son and to dodge various taxes (probably legally). The founder herself went off because she spent time with secular relatives in EY and decided she wanted an easy, carefree life. Had she not had her grandmother’s money, she’d have just quietly gone off herself.

    The founder is no longer in the picture and is studying law; now it is in the hands of non-Jewish counselors. When the original founder ran it, she tried to retain respect and/or she wasn’t very successful in brainwashing people – her own brother went back to Yiddishkeit after some time away. The non-Jews who do the day-to-day work are just paid employees who indeed consider it a success when they talk someone out of Yiddishkeit as opposed to just helping someone get a GED and giving them a place to hang out.

    The answer is more options within our world. However, the Federation is supposed to support Jewish survival – and plenty of frum Jews do give to it if only for professional and business reasons. My very Chassidishe friend’s father-in-law, a Chassidishe yid from “der alter heim” who is a big wholesale jewelry dealer, was very active in the Federation when he was younger because his retail customers were members. Again, wait a generation and it will either disappear or become a funding source for day schools etc only. My guess is the former – the state of Israel hardly needs donations, Soviet Jews are free, and secular American Jews are vanishing. There goes the need for the Federation.

    #798089
    chalilavchas
    Member

    600, I hear, but in the meantime much damage is being done.

    Sad that the same organization that I think helps fund worthwhile organizations like Chabad and probably camps like Sternberg and Magen Avraham, which are undoubtedly pro-frumkeit, at the same time funds “feet” which destroys frumkeit. “Feet”‘s helping with the education part is not a bad thing, in and of itself, but why do they have to mock frumkeit? There are many ultra- religious individuals who have attained very high levels of success in many professional fields. Religiosity and higher education arent mutually exclusive. “Feet” claims that to achieve success in this world and be a productive member of society, you have to rid yourself of religosity. “Feet” takes lonely individuals and walks them through elimination of religiosity, as the secret to happiness, freedom and success and serves as family to these individuals. To “feet”, practice of religiosity is harmful, period. With their “openminedness” they dont tolerate or allow a voice to anyone with any other views or approaches.

    #798090
    yungerman1
    Participant

    Chalila- Why dont you reveal the name of this organization if you are trying to spread the word? Or is that against YWN policy?

    #798091
    zahavasdad
    Participant

    If you give enough to the federation you can make the board, that is where the real power is (As it is in any organization)

    Say someone gave $10 Million dollars, You bet they have a say in where the money goes

    #798093
    chalilavchas
    Member

    Id gladly divulge it, but anyone with knowledge of recently (last 5 years or so) Off the Derech individuals, and where those individuals go for emotional support, is well aware of this despicable organization. The name is related to “Feet”. It is easily found by googling as an organization “dedicated to providing services to those seeking to enter or explore the world beyond the insular….”. They fail to mention their horrendous negativity towards anything contrary to their beliefs and their encouragement of separation of members from families. And all this in secret locations, behind closed doors, restricted to members they wholly trust.

    #798094
    minyan gal
    Member

    As far as I know, the Federation where I live, investigates each organization that they fund very thoroughly. I will say that we have an extremely small frum population and I don’t know of any that are involved in the Federation’s board or as CJA volunteers, nor do I know if any local frum organizations are Federation beneficiaries.

    #798095
    ronrsr
    Member

    There is a list of major donors and sponsoring organizations right on their website. It doesn’t appear to be a big secret.

    #798096

    The size of this organization versus the Federation budget and their list of other donors (al ele ani boichiyo) leads me to believe they purposely request too small an amount for the Federation to have to make more than a routine, administrative-level decision.

    Nevertheless, if they left the picture, the rest of the assimilationists would still fund it. The answer is to steal their thunder and provide real alternatives for those who are questioning or who don’t fit into the community mold.

    #798097
    chalilavchas
    Member

    One of the movers and shakers there, an ex-Chasid in his early thirties, presently a poker dealer in the Atlantic City casinos and little else career-wise, helps the lonely souls approaching the organization find apartments away from their family, and encourages and advises on how to deal with their frum family, to squeeze as much as they can out of their family and then stray as much as they can. He’s not listed as a staff member there, but is a person of great importance there and is very gung-ho about destroying frumkeit in any way shape or form. Formerly Chassidic, he has become the lowest of the low and is doing everything in his power to build up the organization and popularize it to as many Chassidic brothers and sisters as he can, to draw them away from their roots and be like him (a “free of rules and regulations” anti-Judaism hate monger). He barely has money for food and yet puts all his energy into that goal. Once he develops interest in a member, theyre almost posessed by him and the organization.

    I cant believe that not a single Jewish organization or individual is involved in combating this organization. I’d know about it if there would be. Ive made contacts and inquired. People of importance, who deal with OTD young adults, have thrown up their hands in surrender and seem to be clueless on what to do.

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