The American Jewish Congress, a national advocacy group that has argued for church-state separation on prayer in public schools, has laid off most employees and suspended operations.
The 92-year-old organization lost $21 million of its $24 million endowment to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, which devastated a range of Jewish groups, including Yeshiva University. As with other nonprofits, the economic downturn has also hobbled fundraising efforts, officials said.
It’s an ill wind …
No charity should put 21/24 percent of its endowment assets with one money manager no matter what his/her record, his/her connections, or his/her religion. I would love to see this organization’s written investment policies. Its board of directors may very well be guilty of breach of fiduciary responsibility, IMHO.
Daniel (#2),
You make an excellent point, but I’m sure you meant no charity should put 21/24ths or 7/8ths of its endowment assests in any one place. Yes, it was foolish and reckless to invest about 87% of its endowment in a single source, but it’s not necessarily illegal.
But let’s keep the main thing the main thing here. The real crook is Bernie Madoff, who made off with multimillions as a con man, and left countless innocent people and organizations ripped off and devastated.
Very, very sad.
David Handy+
It is very sad. Similar to the Enron debacle. After Enron, people wised up about being totally invested in their company’s 401K and started to think about diversification.
Next time you get hold of your churh’s investment statement, check to make sure you don’t have 80-90% of your investments with one outfit, even if that outfit has diversified them. Better to spread things out a little.
#3: I disagree about what’s the main thing. Hope that someone is honest is not an investment strategy.