I've been watching the news of Bernie Madoff's apparent Ponzi scheme with a certain fascination -- it's easier to understand than CDOs -- but also a certain distance. I don't know anyone who hangs out at the Palm Beach Country Club. And most of the charities affected did not involve causes of much interest to me.That changed yesterday when I got the note that the JEHT Foundation was closing, effective immediately. Not all foundations are alike, and there was something very special about JEHT (the name is an acronym for Justice, Equality, Human dignity, and Tolerance). It was one of a few philanthropies that really saw its mission as political, in the best sense of the word: trying to change the circumstances and assumptions of the world, and not just reduce hardship around the edges. At its creation in 2000, it was one of only two large foundations (The Open Society Institute, where I worked, was the other) that was seriously involved in criminal justice, trying to reduce incarceration and improve life prospects for people coming out of prison. As a funder of political reform, they were one of the very few that did not just support the familiar campaign finance reform advocates, but were willing to encourage a serious rethinking of the assumptions and methods of that effort. While the JEHT staff was small, by foundation standards, relative to the tens millions of dollars in grants, it was one of the most respected and capable staffs in philanthropy, and was mostly committed to helping organizations achieve their goals, rather than serve the foundation's. But as a result of their daring and initiative, a lot of organizations were quite dependent on JEHT, because there was little other support in these fields. These are not safe grants to soft charities. You can see the list of their criminal justice grants here. There will be huge consequences to this loss. Foundations as a rule don't like to follow the lead of others. They like to feel they are following their own path. But here's a case where the best thing a large or small foundation focused on social change could do is look at some of the organizations that were expecting funding from JEHT for this year or next, and find a way to continue it. (Full disclosure: I'm told that in the past JEHT provided some support to the Prospect. But that's before my time.) -- Mark Schmitt
