Friends, yesterday afternoon I published a Post that stated that JFNA was at fault for, as I reported it, not having answers for questions being posed to federations by two Haaretz reporters who seemed, to me, to be pursuing a legitimate line of inquiry as to how our allocated funds were being spent in Israel. I have taken that Post down. A number of federation leaders called me, some quite irate, to let me know in no uncertain terms that these reporters, with no evident knowledge of what federations do, or how they do it, were casting a wide net in their attempt to "catch" our communities by raising questions as to the most minute and immaterial matters on the annual 990s and that, contrary to my assertions, JFNA has been there to help.
I should have focused on the inanity of the demands for answers by reporters who appear to have done no further research than to read the 990s with a yellow highlighter -- without knowing a thing about our Conflict of Interest policies, about recusal, about the care that most federations give to how their funds are being spent. To these reporters it appears they believe that "you're guilty, now prove you're innocent." And that is wrong.
My sincere apologies.
Rwexler
Can you please post your email on the blog so that those of us that don't know you personally can share issues we discover in our local community with you directly?
ReplyDeleter.wexler@comcast.net
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure that your apologies are in order. Reporter's questions are always legitimate and answers should be made available without hysteria and panic.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that nobody in our continental organization has the ability to deal with these kinds of questions is definitely something that leadership needs to offer apologies for.
Indeed, we have plenty to be sorry about, including the sorry state in which we find ourselves these days.