American Jewish World Service: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Nonprofit organization}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = American Jewish World Service

| abbreviation = AJWS

| tax_id = 22-2584370<ref name= 990-2017>"[https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/cor/222584370_201804_990_2019030516147652.pdf Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax]". ''American Jewish World Service''. [[Internal Revenue Service]]. April 30, 2018.</ref>

| headquarters = [[New York, New York]], U.S.

| purpose = To fight poverty and pursue justice in the developing world.<ref name= 990-2017/>

| employees = 128<ref name= 990-2017/>

| employees_year = 2017

| volunteers = 30<ref name= 990-2017/>

| volunteers_year = 2017

| revenue = $64,741,672<ref name= 990-2017/>

| revenue_year = 2018

| expenses = $52,454,406<ref name= 990-2017/>

| expenses_year = 2018

| status = [[Nonprofit organization]]

| type = [[501(c)(3)]]<ref name= irseos/>

| coordinates = {{coords|40.750656|-73.985623|display=inline, title}}

| logo = ajws-org-logo.svg | logo_size = 150px

| leader_name = Robert Bank<ref>"[https://ajws.org/who-we-are/our-team/executive-team/robert-bank/ Robert Bank]". ''American Jewish World Service''. Retrieved January 24, 2020.</ref>

| leader_title = [[President (corporation)|President]], [[Chief Executive Officer]]

| founding_location = [[Boston, Massachusetts]], U.S.

| founded = {{start date and age|1985|05|01}}

| founders = Larry Phillips,<br/> Larry Simon

| website = {{URL|http://ajws.org/}}

}}

'''American Jewish World Service''' ('''AJWS''') is a [[501(c)(3)]] [[nonprofit]] international development and [[human rights]] organization that supports community-based organizations in 19 countries in the developing world and works to educate the [[American Jewish]] community about global justice.<ref name= irseos>"[https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/displayAll.do?dispatchMethod=displayAllInfo&Id=674836&ein=222584370&country=US&deductibility=all&dispatchMethod=searchAll&isDescending=false&city=&ein1=&postDateFrom=&exemptTypeCode=al&submitName=Search&sortColumn=orgName&totalResults=1&names=American+Jewish+World+Service&resultsPerPage=25&indexOfFirstRow=0&postDateTo=&state=All+States American Jewish World Service Inc]". ''Tax Exempt Organization Search''. [[Internal Revenue Service]]. Retrieved January 25, 2020.</ref><ref>"[https://appext20.dos.ny.gov/corp_public/CORPSEARCH.ENTITY_INFORMATION?p_token=C5E8F8172C53A4BF735A54F0E55ADEE5F1B75A10007B776C2B5414D86DC05FEA09A1DE07C61042B52F01FABA9691C224&p_nameid=8838B65DDA14C028&p_corpid=98511557B93E26C0&p_captcha=10428&p_captcha_check=C5E8F8172C53A4BF735A54F0E55ADEE5F1B75A10007B776C2B5414D86DC05FEA76B28E8A57D8253A982D4030364D143C&p_entity_name=%41%6D%65%72%69%63%61%6E%20%4A%65%77%69%73%68%20%57%6F%72%6C%64%20%53%65%72%76%69%63%65&p_name_type=%41&p_search_type=%42%45%47%49%4E%53&p_srch_results_page=0 American Jewish World Service, Inc.]" ''Entity Information''. New York State Department of State, Division of Corporations. Retrieved January 24, 2020.</ref> It is the first and only Jewish organization dedicated solely to ending poverty and promoting human rights in the developing world. Its headquarters are in [[New York City]].<ref name="our story">{{Cite web|url=https://ajws.org/who-we-are/our-story/|title=Our Story |website=American Jewish World Service |language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-19|last3=212.792.2930|last4=Ajws@ajws.org}}</ref> AJWS has received a Four Star rating from [[Charity Navigator]] since 2002.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3269|title=Rating for American Jewish World Service |website=Charity Navigator |language=en|access-date=2019-06-19}}</ref>

AJWS has a two-pronged strategy: It provides over $38 million annually to more than 450 social justice organizations in 19 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and they advocate for laws and policies in the United States that will improve the lives of people around the world.

AJWS's international grantmaking and U.S. [[advocacy]] focus on five central issues: [[civil and political rights]], land, water and [[climate justice]], [[Sexual and reproductive health and rights|sexual health and rights]], ending [[child marriage]], and [[disaster relief]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ajws.org/what-we-do/|title=What We Do |website=American Jewish World Service |language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-19}}</ref>

AJWS's current advocacy priorities include retaining the centrality of human rights within U.S. foreign policy through funding, diplomacy and policy. This includes supporting the HER Act,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/671/text|title=Text - H.R.671 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): HER Act|last=Nita|first=Lowey|date=2017-01-24|website=www.congress.gov|language=en|access-date=2018-07-16}}</ref> which would legislatively repeal the [[Mexico City policy|Mexico City Policy]], the Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2060/text|title=Text - S.2060 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act of 2018|last=John|first=McCain|date=2018-02-12|website=www.congress.gov|language=en|access-date=2018-07-16}}</ref> which would sanction human rights violators in Burma, and working to stop, delay and mitigate new policies that undermine human rights abroad. Internationally, AJWS works to increase the quality and quantity of funds supporting grassroots groups so that said funds are flexible, longstanding and feminist in their approaches.

AJWS was established in [[Boston, Massachusetts]], on May 1, 1985, when Larry Phillips and Larry Simon, together with a group of [[rabbi]]s, Jewish communal leaders, activists, business people, scholars and others, came together to create the first American Jewish organization dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger, and disease among people across the globe.<ref name="our story" />

In her book, ''[[If I Am Not For Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews]]'', [[Ruth Wisse]] argues that AJWS is one of a group of [[left-of-center]] Jewish organizations and publications founded in the 1980s without explaining why a new, specifically Jewish organization was needed to address causes already being addressed by well-established, American charities to which many Jewish were already contributors. Wisse argues that the actual motivation was a need felt by highly educated Jews to counter rising antisemitism on the left by performative acts of "public avowals of kindliness and liberalism. "<ref name="Wisse">{{cite book |last1=Wisse |first1=Ruth |title=If I Am Not For Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews|page= 28 ff |date=1992 |publisher=Free Press|title-link=If I Am Not For Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews }}</ref>

The organization's first key achievement was its response to a [[Armero tragedy|volcano disaster in Armaro, Colombia]], in 1986. In 1990, after moving headquarters to New York City, AJWS launched five new international development projects in [[Mexico]], [[Honduras]], and [[Haiti]], which provided training programs in [[sustainable agriculture]].<ref name="our story" /> In 1991, then AJWS President Andrew Griffel was elected to the Executive Committee of InterAction, a consortium of over a hundred international humanitarian organizations.

Shortly after the [[September 11th attacks]], AJWS responded by receiving donations and making grants to groups that provide support to families of low-income workers. In 2004, AJWS responded to the Indian Ocean tsunami, and co-founded the [[Save Darfur Coalition]]. In 2006, AJWS helped organize a rally in Washington, D.C., against genocide,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ajws.org/who_we_are/history.html |title=History |access-date= February 20, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408205514/http://ajws.org/who_we_are/history.html |archive-date=April 8, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and has since conducted a series of other rallies throughout the country.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/world/article/at_save_darfur_rally_never_again_again_20060505/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221224148/http://www.jewishjournal.com/world/article/at_save_darfur_rally_never_again_again_20060505/|title=At Save Darfur Rally: 'Never Again, Again'|date=May 4, 2006|author=Rachel Silverman|archive-date=February 21, 2011|website=Jewish Journal|url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2010, AJWS responded to the [[2010 Haiti earthquake|earthquake in Haiti]], raising nearly $6 million for Haitian-led recovery efforts, and in 2011 launched Reverse Hunger: Ending the Global Food Crisis, a campaign to reform U.S. food aid policy. In 2013, AJWS launched the “We Believe” campaign, a national advocacy campaign that called on the U.S. government to promote human rights in the developing world by ending [[violence against women]] and girls, stopping hate crimes against [[LGBT]] people, and ending child marriage. In recent years, AJWS has responded to the East Africa hunger crisis and the [[2017 Rohingya persecution in Myanmar|Rohingya refugee crisis]] by providing immediate humanitarian aid and long-term, sustainable support to affected populations.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://ajws.org/east-africa-crisis/|title=The Crisis in East Africa |work=American Jewish World Service |access-date=2018-07-16|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://ajws.org/rohingya-crisis/|title=The Rohingya Crisis|work=American Jewish World Service|access-date=2018-07-16|language=en-US|archive-date=2018-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716194928/https://ajws.org/rohingya-crisis/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

AJWS's current [[president (corporation)|president]] and [[chief executive officer]] is Robert Bank.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/studio/multimedia/20180424-american-jewish-world-service-robert-bank|title=Promoting Human Rights in the Developing World, with American Jewish World Service's Robert Bank |website=Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs |language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-19}}</ref> Bank has spent his career championing human rights as an attorney, activist and leader. He joined AJWS as [[executive vice president]] in 2009, and he had previously served in New York's municipal government and in the leadership of GMHC—one of the world's leading organizations combating HIV/AIDS. Robert has been honored with GMHC's Lifetime Achievement Award and the Partners in Justice Award from AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://ajws.org/who-we-are/our-team/executive-team/robert-bank/|title=Robert Bank |work=American Jewish World Service |access-date=July 9, 2018 |language=en-US}}</ref> Bank became president and chief executive officer in July 2016, succeeding Ruth Messinger, who presided over the organization for 18 years.

[[Ruth Messinger]] was formerly [[Manhattan Borough President]] and the Democratic nominee for [[Mayor of New York City]] in 1997. In late 2005, The Forward named Messinger in its annual "Forward 50" list of the most influential American Jews.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://forward.com/series/forward-50/2011/ruth-messinger/|title=Ruth Messinger|website=The Forward|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-19}}</ref> Messinger returned to the Forward 50 in 2009, also the year she was invited to the White House to discuss the [[crisis in Darfur]] with [[President Barack Obama]]. Currently, she sits on the [[United States State Department]]'s Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group and co-chairs the Sub-Working Group on Social Justice.

==References==

{{Reflist}}

* {{Official website|http://ajws.org/}}

* [http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3269 Charity Navigator listing]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Charities based in New York City]]

[[Category:1985 establishments in Massachusetts]]