The Russell Berrie Foundation is a New Jersey-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting “the continuity and enrichment of Jewish communal life,” fostering “the spirit of religious understanding and pluralism,” and to raising “awareness of terrorism.” According to the foundation’s 2012 IRS Form 990, it gave $105,000 to IPTF (Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation), in at least two separate contributions, and $100,000 to the Middle East Media and Research Institute. Interestingly, the two donations to IPTF are the only items where an acronym is used rather than the full name of the grantee.
In 2011, the Center For American Progress listed the Russell Berrie Foundation among the seven largest donors to inner core organizations of the Islamophobia network. Between 2001 and 2009, the Russell Berrie Foundation donated $100K to Steven Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism, and more than $270K to Daniel Pipes’ Middle East Forum.
That being said, the Russell Berrie Foundation also makes a number of donations to mainstream Jewish charities such as Israel Documentaries for Education, Rutgers Hillel, and the American Society for Technion.
