The 2008 Slate 60 which lists the 60 largest American charitable contributionsof the year is out.
There are a number of Jewish donors on the list including Sheldon Adelson, Michael Bloomberg, to name a few.
The two things that immediately caught my eye were these:
1. Only one donation out of the top 60 donations of 2008 went to a Jewish cause and there were many, many more Jewish donors who gave to non-Jewish causes. Sheldon and Miriam Adelson gave close to $40 million dollars to the Brithright foundation, a program that brings post high school students from the U.S. to Israel.
2. The top donation on the list was by Leona Helmsley, who was Jewish, and drum roll please…. she gave an astonishing $5.2 Billion dollars to …. her foundation that will support the care and welfare of …. DOGS!!!!
Ruff Ruff, it’s good to be a dog these days!
You can read the full post on Slate.com here.
Yoav