|
|
February 28, 2003
An American friendship
Weinberg Foundation donates $100 million a year.
KYLE BERGER REPORTER
The Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC) sits near
the corner of Oak and 41st Avenue. But more specifically, it rests
on the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Campus.
Kiddy-corner to the JCC is the Louis Brier Home and Hospital, with
its soon-to-be-opened Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Residence. And,
if the final stretch of a fund-raising campaign reaches its goal
this spring, the Weinberg Campus will soon host the new Vancouver
Talmud Torah high school, all thanks to generous donations by the
late couple's foundation.
Philanthropy isn't a new concept to the Jewish community of Greater
Vancouver. With names like the Diamond Foundation, the Wosk family
and Joseph and Rosalie Segal in our midst, residents of the Lower
Mainland have been lucky enough to become quite familiar with significant
local philanthropy.
However, what stands out as particularly unique with regards to
the Weinberg Foundation, is the little piece of information, usually
printed in brackets, that has almost become part of its name: "of
Baltimore." That's because the Weinberg Foundation is based
in Baltimore, Md., where Harry and Jeanette lived. However, though
the miles between are great, the Weinberg Foundation has chosen
to make organizations in the Jewish community of Greater Vancouver
the recipients of approximately $8 million over the past few years,
leaving more and more people asking the question, What is the Weinberg
Foundation and why do they care so much about our community?
Founded in 1959, the mandate of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg
Foundation was to give some of the millions that Harry Weinberg
had earned in real estate to those who needed it more.
"He had determined, in his words, that it wasn't really his
money," explained foundation president Bernard Segal, from
the head office in Baltimore. "It was the poor people's money
and he was only holding it for them."
Weinberg contributed millions of dollars a year into the foundation's
endowment. However, after his death in 1990, almost all of his assets
were left to the foundation, leading to what is now an endowment
worth more than $2 billion.
Every year, explained Segal, approximately five per cent, or close
to $100 million, is donated to needy organizations worldwide that
fall into fairly broad categories.
"The foundation's documents provide that not less than 25 per
cent of all distributions will be to organizations that primarily
benefit Jewish people," Segal explained. "Not less than
25 per cent will go to organizations that predominantly benefit
other than Jewish people. And the other 50 percent is at the discretion
of a board of five trustees."
So, of all the Jewish and non-Jewish organizations in the world
that could probably use the help of the Weinberg Foundation, why
have they chosen to be so generous to Vancouver?
According to JCC executive director Gerry Zipursky, it's all about
relationships.
"They felt good about us and felt good about what we were doing,"
he said of his meetings with the foundation's trustees. "Of
anyone I've talked to in the JCC world, I don't know of any city
that's [been offered] as much as Vancouver."
The relationship started after Zipursky first heard of the Weinberg
Foundation while at a meeting of the Canadian Council of JCCs in
Ottawa five years ago. He immediately began working on getting a
U.S. tax number for the JCC and contacted the foundation, hoping
they could help with the Burn the Mortgage and Build for the Future
Campaign.
"We developed a nice friendship with the Weinberg family,"
he said. "They gave me a nice phone call to say that they were
awarding us $3 million Canadian."
Zipursky said they hosted Nathan Weinberg (Harry's brother) and
his wife, Lillian, two years ago in Vancouver. Then, last spring,
Zipursky and Arnold Silber spent Shabbat with the Weinbergs, where
they asked for help in order to build the new high school on the
Weinberg Campus. The foundation granted approximately another $3
million for that project.
Soon after, the Louis Brier Home and Hospital contacted the foundation
and were also offered a significant amount of money to build their
much-needed new residence.
What is unique about the Weinberg Foundation's gifts is that they
are almost always in the form of matching grants, which challenge
communities to raise a significant amount of money themselves.
"They're definitely looking for communities that demonstrate
that they take responsibility to raise the dollars instead of just
saying, 'thanks very much' and not taking a role," Zipursky
said.
Nick Braithwaite, CEO of the Louis Brier Home and Hospital, said
that the matching grant system is the best way to make a large donation
go an even longer way.
"I think the fact that they are willing to donate is admirable
and heart-felt to begin with," he said. "I think it's
only right that the community itself be empowered through that sort
of mechanism to raise funds."
Some other organizations and facilities to which the Harry and Jeanette
Weinberg Foundation has made significant contributions include a
wing for cancer research at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore,
a feeding program for elderly Jews living in the former Soviet Union,
the United Way, the Red Cross and more than 100 day-care centres
for the aged throughout Israel.
The foundation is still involved in many large real estate and development
projects today, particularly in Hawaii, where Harry Weinberg once
operated the Honolulu Rapid Transit System. All of the earned money
goes to the foundation's endowment fund.
^TOP
|
|
