Saturday, May 21, 2011

kabbalah centre to close US branch of children's charity

kabbalah centre to close US branch of children's charityfrom latimes: Success for Kids, in which Madonna was a board member and donor, will close at school year's end due to cost of translating lessons into nondenominational curriculum. Foreign branches will continue.

The Kabbalah Centre, a Westside spiritual organization that is the focus of a tax evasion investigation, is shutting down the U.S. operations of a global children's charity that has raised millions from celebrity followers and more recently drawn the scrutiny of IRS investigators.

SFK or Success for Kids, a 10-year-old nonprofit based at the center, will close its programs in American public schools at the end of the academic year, the charity's president, Michal Berg, announced in a letter Wednesday to supporters. Berg wrote that the decision was prompted by larger than expected overhead costs associated with translating the religious organization's lessons into a nondenominational curriculum.