Two Big Foundations Team Up to Assist Madoff Victims

Original Source

Two big foundations have teamed up to assist civil-rights groups and legal-aid organizations that have lost donors due to the alleged financial scheme of Bernard Madoff.

The Atlantic Philanthropies and Open Society Institute have pledged to match as much as $300,000 in donations to the Brennen Center for Justice, Human Rights Watch, the Advancement Project, and theCenter for Constitutional Rights. The foundations’ offer was good until yesterday.

MoveOn.Org, the liberal activist group, is organizing the fund-raising effort. It sent an e-mail message to its 5 million members yesterday asking them to contribute.

“If these groups can’t replace the funding that came from investment accounts that Madoff stole, they may be forced to start cutting important projects or, in some cases, even lay off staff,” it says.

In a related topic, the founder of another effort to raise funds for charities that are indirect victims of Mr. Madoff discussed his goals on the Philanthropy 2173 blog.