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=> From Zinda: CURRENT ASSYRIAN ENDOWMENTS

From Zinda: CURRENT ASSYRIAN ENDOWMENTS
Posted by Jeff (Guest) jeff@attoz.com - Saturday, November 1 2003, 0:35:25 (EST)
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THE LIGHTHOUSE
taken from
http://www.zindamagazine.com/html/archives/2000/zn111300.htm#TheLighthouse



CURRENT ASSYRIAN ENDOWMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES

Ever since Assyrians began arriving in this country during the 19th
century, they have expressed their concern for co-ethnics in two
ways: first by promoting the preservation of their culture and heritage
in the diaspora, and second by helping the communities remaining
in the homeland. In many cases they have established charitable
institutions, such as the Assyrian Orphanage and School (New Jersey),
probably the first solidly funded charitable institution among
Assyrians. The AOS celebrated its 100 anniversary in the year 2000. In
other cases they have established scholarship funds which distribute
moneys. In more recent cases, they have placed endowments with
existing institutions that then use the income of the fund to promote
Assyrian causes - usually educational.

In order to determine the direction for growth in this area, it is
useful to assess the extent of existing endowments, both institutional
and
independent, which in some way contribute to the preservation of
Assyrian language, culture, and heritage. An added benefit of such an
assessment is to to identify existing resources so they will be a help
to a larger group of our community.

The word "Fund" has been broadly used by community groups: the Assyrian
Georgian Relief Fund or the Fund for Modern Assyrian
Studies. In such usage, it is not clear whether there is a principle
amount of money that remains in perpetuity and from which income
only is used, or whether the moneys rotate in and out as the need
arises. Here I want to focus only on those funds which have been
designated as endowments - the principle remains in perpetuity and is
not tapped for current use. As you can guess, such endowments
require such a level of stability in the administering institution as to
inspire confidence in the donor of the principle that in fact the
principle will be both wisely invested, and the income only spent. The
donor often, though not always, also gives the endowment a
meaningful name, sometimes a family name, that will endure in
perpetuity. Examples in the United States abound of such endowments:
the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Gates Foundation
are among the thousands that exist. These endowments are of
such large dimension that they have funds to administer themselves. A
funding institution like the National Endowment for the Arts or
the National Endowment for the Humanities are not endowed but depend on
money allocated to them for annual expenditure by
Congress. In the parlance of fund raisers, the latter group depend on
"soft money" whereas the former have "hard" or relatively reliable
money.

Getting back to Assyrian efforts to create reliable funding, the first
such attempt, the Assyrian Orphanage and School, served by such
activists as Naoum Faik, used its meager resources to buy a small
apartment building in New Jersey and sent rental income to Lebanon
and Syria to support orphanages and schools. This may not have been its
only source of money, but at least it had the basic income from
the building. In the aftermath of WWI the need for orphanages and
community run schools was especially critical.

Two of the other early funds that operated as endowments, and do to this
day, also come from the western Assyrian community: The
George Mardinly Educational Fund (New Jersey - mainly moneys donated by
George Mardinly) and for many years administered by the
late Rose Dartley and The United Assyrian Organization of Massachusetts
Educational Fund (Massachusetts). The latter was funded
chiefly by émigrés from Harput who worked in the industries of
Worcester, Lowell and Boston. Both of these funds focus on
scholarships given to residents of their respective states.

The Timatheus Mushel Soleiman and Family Memorial Assyrian Fund may be
the first endowment established after World War II. It
may also be the first one dedicated for the benefit of Assyrians but
administered by a non-Assyrian institution. These are the terms of the
endowment: "following the lifetime of the donor, income will be paid to
the Assyrian Presbyterian Church, Yonkers, N. Y. And to
COEMAR to advance religious education in the mother tongue, Assyrian, of
worthy young people in Iran, with preference given to
orphans and particularly those dwelling in the Rezaiyeh area." The
endowment was established with the United Presbyterian Foundation,
Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1983. The donor, who lost his entire family
during the Assyrian genocide, and himself an educated
product of Urumiah College (graduated in 1918), is one of the great
Assyrian philanthropists whose generosity spreads from the Assyrian
cemetery in Teheran to the Assyrian community in Turlock. In addition to
this large fund, he also set up smaller ones, in the name of his
wife and another one in his own name. All the endowments are
administered by the same institution.

The uses of the income from this fund are extremely restrictive: the
income is used to support Assyrian Presbyterian churches, especially
in Urumiah, and to provide fellowships for the training of Assyrians who
enter the ministry. Since its inception in 1983, the principle of
the fund has increased as has also the expendable income. Yet because of
the language of the terms, its benefits are not as broadly
applied for the benefit of the Assyrian community as might have
happened. One can certainly hope that the church in Urumiah will
sustain itself over a long time and if it does, it surely owes much to
the support from this Soleiman Fund. On the other hand, one would
wish that the administering institution would find ways of using the
funds for broader educational purposes within the Assyrian
community.

Newer endowments, beginning in 1979, appear with the recognition of the
realities of our American diaspora: the need to preserve and
propagate our Assyrian identity. In order of establishment these
endowments are as follows:

The David B. Perley Memorial Assyrian Fund - 1979, Harvard University

This is a book fund established by the family and friends of David B.
Perley, an active and devoted member of the Assyrian-American
community. The purpose of the fund is to promote the development of
research materials on the history, culture, literature, and language
of the Assyrians since the 17th century of our era. Specifically, the
fund will be used first to subsidize the publication of works devoted
primarily to the Assyrians and second for the acquisition of archival
materials, collections and other rare historical materials dedicated to
the collection of materials related to the Assyrians since the 17th
century and publication.

Support from this endowment has transformed Harvard University's
collection of resources for the study of modern Assyrians into one
of the best in the world. In addition to the rich archives of the ABCFM
(American Board for Christian Foreign Missions) and a strong
Syriac manuscript collection, Harvard now holds the best collection of
Assyrian periodicals from around the world, especially early ones.
The collection is enriched by ephemera such as photographs and special
occasion booklets that helped to make the 1999 exhibit "The
Assyrian Experience: Sources for the Study of the 19th and 20th
centuries from the holdings of Harvard University libraries," an
educational and heart-warming occasion for many Assyrians. Aside from
collections, the Perley Fund also subsidizes publications such as
Studies in Neo-Aramaic (Wolfhart Heinrichs, ed. 1990), the catalogue and
selected bibliography accompanying the above exhibit (Naby,
Hopper, 1999), and Assyrian-Chaldean Christians in Eastern Turkey and
Iran -Their Last Homeland Re-charted ( Sanders 2000).

The Assyrian Foundation of America Book Fund - 1998, The University of
California at Berkeley

The entire amount for this fund came from the organization that gives
its name to this fund. The focus of the fund is dedicated to the
collection of materials related to the Assyrians by a public university.

The Mishael and Lillie Naby Assyrian Lecture Fund - 1999, Harvard
University

The proceeds from this Fund shall be used for the purpose of bringing
one or more lecturers annually to Harvard University to make
public presentations regarding the culture and history of the Assyrians
during the medieval and modern periods. A secondary use of the
Fund income is designated for the presentation of a prize to a member of
the Harvard community for an outstanding research paper
about medieval and modern Assyrians. dedicated to facilitating lectures
about Assyrians since the Christian period and to promoting
research within the Harvard community through a periodic prize.

The fund was established by the daughter and son of the named persons.
With added support from the local Assyrian community, the
income from this fund supports public lectures at Harvard University
which benefit the University and Assyrian communities.

The Naoum Faik Assyrian Book Fund - 2000, Columbia University

This is a library endowment fund intended for the use of Columbia
University in building and maintenance of a collection of materials
related to Assyrian history and culture during the Christian era. While
it is expected that the University will collect materials in all
necessary languages, particular attention is directed to Assyrian
language materials, including manuscripts.

The James Family Assyrian Lecture Fund - 1999, Northwestern University

The final terms of this substantial fund established by the late Helen
Nimrod James Schwarten, remain to be determined. Generally
however, it is dedicated to facilitating lectures about Assyrians.

*****

As more and more Assyrians gain a comfortable level of material comfort,
some begin to consider charitable distribution. The late Adam
Benjamin distributed much of his estate in this manner to Assyrian
organizations without requiring that the funds form endowments -
essentially he donated soft money but to directed purposes. Other
Assyrian families such as the Miner family from Ada, of Oracle fame,
has chosen to direct its giving to educational institutions without
consideration to specifying use for Assyrian causes. Their recent
contribution of over $4.5 million to Roosevelt University represents the
way other Assyrians are sharing their bounty. Let us hope that
the increasing prosperity many of us enjoy will open our wallets to soft
money giving for worthy causes, but also toward endowments
that allow us to help ourselves know ourselves and become well-known.
What a terrific way to ensure the family name survives.

Dr. Eden Naby
Harvard University



---------------------
-- Jeff

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