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"It is … our duty as scientists to promote education, rational thinking and tolerance. We should also encourage our educated youth to become technological entrepreneurs. Those countries that nurture this knowhow will survive future financial and social crises. Let us advance science to create a better world for all."
Professor Dan Shechtman, winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2011, and member of World ORT’s Academic Advisory Council in Israel.

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"I think education is the fundamental component to South Africa being able to become a successful nation. Education should not be based on race, class, gender or ethnicity and ORT has ensured that people from all walks of life are afforded an equal chance for a better tomorrow.”
Johnny Clegg, musician and anthropologist.

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"Throughout the world, ORT schools provide a modern educational environment in which young people learn to appreciate time-honoured general values as well as get connected to Jewish values. The cutting edge technological orientation brought in by ORT positions Jewish schools at a much higher level, thus providing them with an ability to attract the generation who may otherwise remain unaffiliated."
Natan Sharansky

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"I have had occasion before to remark on the fact that ORT's activity does not base itself upon 'charity' but upon self help. Both for the work of rebuilding human lives and the great task of building a new nation in Israel, the acquisition of skills assumes an enormous importance. I want to assure you of my greatest admiration for the cause in which you are so nobly engaged."
Albert Einstein

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"Your vocational training activities … represent a constructive activity on a people-to-people level which deserves approbation … You are engaged in a work of great humanitarian significance. Yours is the type of meaningful program which transmits skills and technical knowledge as an aid to the modernization of communities and to the improvement of living standards. It is thus in consonance with the main currents of our times."
President John F. Kennedy

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"…ORT has provided an education for life to Jews and others in vulnerable communities throughout the world. In so doing, it has exemplified one of Judaism's greatest values. We are the people who predicated our very existence as a people on education, on 'teaching... diligently to our children.' … The civilizations of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome have long since disappeared. Judaism still lives and flourishes and survives. ORT is testimony to that truth.”
Lord Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth

World ORT News

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12 Sep 2011 00:00 Age: 164 days
Category: Special Update

World ORT awarded top rating by Charity Navigator

Charity Navigator, a leading independent NGO watchdog, has given World ORT its top four-star rating.   After months of carefully scrutinizing World ORT’s independently audited accounts for the years 2007 to 2010, Charity Navigator awarded the organization the highest possible ranking in all three categories: efficiency, capacity and overall.   The four-star rating means that World ORT is exceptional, exceeding industry standards and outperforming most charities in its field, according to Charity Navigator’s website.   “This result is really a testament to the support and devotion of our lay leadership and to the efficiency and dedication of our professional staff. I believe we can all feel very proud of this accomplishment,” said World ORT Director General and CEO Robert Singer.

The report shows that money invested in ORT gets to where it’s needed.

Charity Navigator, which has been described as the “gold standard” for donors seeking information about the fiscal responsibility and financial health of non-profits, is America’s largest, most used evaluator of charitable organisations. Its unbiased, objective ratings for more than 5,000 of the country’s best-known charities indicates how responsibly they function day-to-day and how well positioned they are to sustain their programmes over time.

The organization found that World ORT raises one dollar for every three cents spent on fundraising and that its fundraising and administrative expenses together amount to only six per cent of total costs – meaning that 94 per cent of its spending is on programmes. The full report can be seen here: http://www.charitynavigator.org/stage/special/world-ort2.htm

“This is a superb result which vindicates the hard work we have put in over the years on our efficiency and capacity building,” said World ORT’s Chief Financial Officer, Steve West. “The first stop for donors who want to know that their money is going where it’s meant to is Charity Navigator; this is a powerful validation of our trustworthiness.”

Normally, Charity Navigator only reviews organizations granted tax-exempt status under section 501(c) (3) of the USA’s Internal Revenue Code and that file a Form 990.

“Even though World ORT is not an American entity, Charity Navigator agreed to evaluate the organisation as it would any other using our accounts which are audited by Ernst and Young. We feel it’s worthwhile to undergo this kind of scrutiny in the spirit of transparency and accountability to which we aspire,” Mr Singer said.

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