AJCongress Suspends Activities
Read Jerome A. Chanes’ column about AJCongress’ impact here.
The American Jewish Congress has suspended its activities after running out of funds.
The suspension of the venerable Jewish-American advocacy organization’s activities, confirmed to JTA on Sunday by acting co-executive director Marc Stern, comes after months of rumors that the organization was on the verge of collapse after losing most of its endowment in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme.
As of Sunday afternoon there was no mention of the suspension on the AJCongress website.
The Jerusalem Post had reported in April that the AJCongress lost as much as 90 percent of its approximately $24 million endowment in the Madoff scam.
Richard Gordon, the AJCongress president, told the Post that the group has money in the bank but cannot access it now due to the constraints of its constitution.
The 92-year-old organization is rumored to be in merger talks with the American Jewish Committee.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
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