Charity Describes its Achievements but Ignores Numeric Measures
This is number 2 in a series of five illustrations of the good and the bad in program service descriptions appearing in Internal Revenue Service Forms 990.
The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
The Internal Revenue Service instructions clearly require a description of “program service accomplishments through specific measurements such as clients served, days of care provided, number of sessions or events held, or publications issued.” Yivo’s entry provides no data regarding the size of its library, number of in-person or online visitors, number of publications or size of audience for publications. (See Descriptions of Charity Programs: What the IRS Wants for more on IRS requirements for descriptions of charity programs.)
First program. LIBRARY & ARCHIVES (COLLECTIONS OF JUDAICA) – THE YIVO LIBRARY HOLDS NUMEROUS BOOKS AND PERIODICALS IN TWELVE LANGUAGES. THIS INCLUDES THE UNIQUE VILNA COLLECTION WITH RABBINICAL WORKS FROM AS EARLY AS THE 16TH CENTURY. THE LIBRARY HOLDINGS ARE PARTICULARLY STRONG IN DOCUMENTATION OF JEWISH HISTORY, CULTURE, AND RELIGION IN EASTERN EUROPE; THE HOLOCAUST PERIOD; THE EXPERIENCE OF IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES; ANTI-SEMITISM; AND THE CONTINUING INFLUENCE OF ASHKENAZIC JEWISH CULTURE TODAY.
Second program. EDUCATION & RESEARCH (MAX WEINREICH CENTER) – YIVO’S MAX WEINREICH CENTER FOR ADVANCED JEWISH STUDIES, ESTABLISHED IN 1968, IS DEDICATED TO EDUCATION AND TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF RESEARCH IN THE AREA OF JEWISH LIFE AND CULTURE. NAMED AFTER RENOWNED SCHOLAR AND YIVO FOUNDER MAX WEINREICH, THE CENTER WORKS TO MAKE YIVO’S UNIQUE RESOURCES AND ITS SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE AVAILABLE TO UNIVERSITIES AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING, TO ENCOURAGE STUDY AND PROMOTE RESEARCH CONCERNING THE LIFE AND CULTURE OF EAST EUROPEAN JEWRY AND RELATED TOPICS, TO MARSHAL THE INTELLECTUAL RESOURCES IN THE FIELD OF SCHOLARSHIP, AND TO ASSIST YOUNG SCHOLARS IN QUALIFYING FOR WORK IN THIS FIELD.
Third program. DIGITAL INITIATIVES – INCLUDES THE FUNCTIONS NECESSARY TO DEVELOP WORK PROCESSES TO ENSURE THE FUNCTIONALITY, FLEXIBILITY, AND SUSTAINABILITY OF ALL YIVO WEB AND SOCIAL MEDIA. PROJECTS INCLUDE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE ONLINE YIVO ENCYCLOPEDIA AND ONLINE GUIDE TO THE YIVO ARCHIVES AS WELL AS A COMPREHENSIVE REDESIGN OF THE YIVO.ORG WEBSITE.
Other programs. PUBLICATIONS AND PUBLIC PROGRAMS – SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN 1925, IN PARALLEL WITH ITS RESEARCH, ARCHIVAL, AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC WORK, THE YIVO INSTITUTE HAS CARRIED OUT AN ACTIVE PROGRAM OF SCHOLARLY PUBLICATION. IN YIVO’S BOOKS, JOURNALS, CATALOGS, NEWSLETTERS, AND BROCHURES, EVERY ASPECT OF THE FIELD OF YIDDISH AND EAST EUROPEAN JEWISH HISTORY AND CULTURE, AS WELL AS MANY OTHER FIELDS OF MODERN JEWISH SCHOLARSHIP, HAS BEEN REPRESENTED: LINGUISTICS, CULTURE AND ECONOMIC HISTORY, FOLKLORE AND ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIAL STUDIES, THEATER HISTORY AND MUSIC, LITERARY HISTORY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Other pages in this section: Chai Lifeline follows IRS instructions in describing its program accomplishments, American Friends of the Israel Museum grants the Israeli Museum tens of millions annually, but describes its accomplishments in the same 16 words each year, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger describes its large number of programs in a single unreadable paragraph of over a thousand words, Yad Ezra V’Shulamit describes programs of its Israeli beneficiary without ever mentioning its own programs.
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