So the economy is the worst it has been since your grandparents hit puberty, and the effects of the economic downturn have gone right to the doors of Jewish organizations on your campus. Due to cut contributions, downright deceit and ebbing endowments, the services and programs on which Jewish college students have come to depend increasingly lack the funds that allowed them to thrive.

Among the affected programs is Taglit-Birthright Israel, the organization that sends young Jews on free ten-day trips to Israel. Unlike many older Jewish organizations, which support themselves with small donations from thousands of people, Birthright is funded by the Israeli government, Jewish federations across the U.S. and a small group of “mega-donors” who make regular gifts in the seven- and eight-figure range.

One such donor is casino multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who has given approximately $70 million to the program over the past several years. But, like many philanthropists, Adelson has suffered in the current economy, reportedly losing more than $10 billion in the stock market. Accordingly, Adelson’s gift to the program for 2009 is smaller and structured as a challenge grant. Adelson has pledged to give two dollars for every new dollar Birthright raises this year, up to $20 million.

Birthright has launched a major fundraising campaign in response to Adelson’s challenge, but raising an additional $10 million is a tall order these days. Gideon Mark, the program’s CEO, told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that he expected contributions in 2009 to be 38 percent less than in 2008. While some of the drop is due to unusually high donations in 2008 in honor of Israel’s 60th birthday, the economic situation certainly plays a role as well.

Still, Birthright’s leaders remain cautiously optimistic about the future.

“We have every intention of meeting our goals, so that no one will be left behind,” says Robert Aronson, the Birthright Israel Foundation President.

Unlike Birthright, which has no endowment, Hillel campus centers around the world have taken a hit from financier Bernard Madoff’s notorious Ponzi scheme. Although Hillel’s headquarters only lost $20,000 of its own money in investments with Madoff, several private foundations that supported Hillel programs abruptly closed in Madoff’s wake. Among these suddenly defunct organizations were the Picower Foundation, which was to fund a Hillel professional development program and the Chais Foundation, which supported Hillels at universities in Israel, the former Soviet Union and the U.S.

As a result of these losses, Hillel’s international headquarters in Washington, D.C., had to cut back. The headquarters chose to lay off a handful of employees rather than cut programs in order to show students “where our priorities are,” says Hillel spokesman Jeff Rubin.

Individual Hillels across the country have also adjusted in response to the economic downturn. San Francisco Hillel, which serves 13 campuses in the Bay Area, recently began charging $1.80 for Shabbat dinners that were previously free of charge.

“It’s as much for awareness than anything else. Students need to know that Hillel’s having some problems,” says Executive Director Alon Shalev. “We’re charging a minimal amount - the price of a cup of coffee - so attendance hasn’t been affected.”

The San Francisco Hillel is planning for more budget cuts to deal with its first budget deficit in recent memory.

- Text by Ben Goldberg