This Sunday, March 22nd, the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning and The Jewish Week will co-sponsor a community forum entitled Torah for Troubled Times: Jewish Values and the Financial Crisis. The event will take place beginning at 3:00 pm at 10 East 66th Street in Manhattan. An opening panel will address urgent issues of the financial crisis, from a Jewish values perspective. Panelists are Shifra Bonznick (Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community), Professor Michael Chernick (Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion), Alan "Ace" Greenberg (Former Chair, Bear Stearns) and Scott Shay (Chair, Signature Bank). The discussion will be moderated by The Jewish Week's Sandee Brawarsky. According to Skirball Center Director, Rabbi Leon A. Morris, “People are looking … Continue Reading
How to Survive in a Challenging Economy
Our economy is in bad shape and will only get worse. So what can we fundraisers do to minimize the impact of this difficult period on our organizations, and at the same time maximize our income? For starters, let’s agree that panicking and crawling into a hole is not a reasonable option. Nor is pretending that economic troubles will create multiple opportunities for venturesome fundraisers, who need only invest more in raising money. Instead, I believe, a cautious middle course is the only rational way to respond to the crisis. And that middle course boils down to nine concrete steps: Reassess the Whole Ball of Wax: Fundraising, Marketing, and Communications. Strengthen Your Case for Giving. Stick with What Works. Cut Costs with a Scalpel, Not an Ax. Fish Where the Big Fish … Continue Reading
The URJ Restructures
The Union for Reform Judaism recently updated member congregations on their plans for a new organizational structure that will be voted on by the Board of Trustees at a special meeting next week. The proposed structure will result in significant changes not only to URJ staff but to the organizations' membership: The 14 regional offices will be replaced with Congregational Support Centers in New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles. Existing program departments in the New York office will be replaced by teams of specialists cutting across specific areas of expertise. The number of staff in the New York central administrative offices will be reduced and the reporting structure “flattened.” As part of the proposed restructuring approximately 20 percent of the staff positions will … Continue Reading
A Time of Need
James Besser writing in The New York Jewish Week: Hard Times Meet JCPA: Jewish Group Braces for Deeper Recession Reports from the field will be grim when delegates to this year’s Jewish Council for Public Affairs plenum gather in Washington on Sunday - the first major Jewish meeting since the economic furies hit full force and the first since the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The economic emergency that is changing Jewish communal realities across the country has also transformed the JCPA plenum, an annual event that sometimes seems more like a Jewish debating society but which this year will be shadowed by an economic crisis and a collective craving for on-the-ground responses. Rabbi Steve Gutow, the JCPA president and CEO, acknowledged the desire for practical, immediate … Continue Reading
Raising Money in Hard Times
The Chronicle of Philanthropy offers these 10 Fund-Raising Approaches for Thriving in the Recession (paid subscription required): Don't treat giving as a financial transaction Many arts organizations, public-broadcasting stations, sports booster clubs, and other nonprofit groups offer special perks to donors, such as season tickets or DVD sets. Others send invoice-like reminders to people who have made multi-year pledges to ambitious campaigns. Especially in a bad economy, experts warn, any approach that seems more like a... Keep close ties to donors Don't see every contact with a donor as an opportunity to ask for money. Show donors what was accomplished with their money and how much it means to a charity. … Continue Reading
UJC Responds to the Economic Crisis
As providers of vital services to Jews in North America, Israel and around the world, the UJC and the Federation system are partnering to strengthen the Jewish community amid the ongoing global economic crisis. One of the ways they are assisting member Federations is through their 2009 Investment Institute, Successful Endowment Investing in a Time of Global Uncertainty, that opens today. Top investment professionals and academic experts will address topics essential to navigating investment programs through the current global market turbulence. "During turbulent financial times such as these, the ability to network, share information, understand the pitfalls of the past and quantify risks moving forward is no longer an option," said Louis Wolfson III, founder and co-chair of the UJC Investment … Continue Reading
Foundations Commit Over $100 Million to Address the Economic Crisis
A growing number of grantmakers have made exceptional commitments to address the causes and impact of the current economic downturn, a new Foundation Center research advisory shows. "A First Look at the Foundation and Corporate Response to the Economic Crisis" examines giving by close to 50 institutional donors that have already announced over $100 million in grants and program-related investments for efforts ranging from reducing the number of foreclosures to shoring up food banks and services for the homeless to providing financial counseling. The Center has been collecting the most recent data available on U.S. foundation support for the crisis and updating this information regularly on an interactive map and a … Continue Reading
Money Matters – People Matter
In a down economy, you need to focus on keeping your organization both financially viable and strong internally. from GuideStar: Weathering the Storm: Ensuring Your Organization’s Continued Success through Tough Economic Times The current global economic crisis is having a significant impact on the nonprofit sector. While mission-driven organizations have seen an increase in demand for their services and predict that the demand will continue to increase, they are also extremely concerned about the philanthropic environment and worry about how they will be able to support an increase in services with an expected decrease in charitable contributions. How can organizations deal with the strain presented by the current economic situation? Of course, they need to ensure that the … Continue Reading
Be Smart. Be Strategic. Be Resolute. Be Brave.
Some final thoughts from Hildy Simmon's presentation on what nonprofits need to do (hopefully before you are asked): Demonstrate how your board is stepping up - remember governance really matters (and this was before news of the alleged Madoff Ponzi scam broke). Show where reductions can be made without harming the underlying integrity of your program. Take out the umbrella - today may well be the rainy day you should have been planning for. Everyone should check their ego at the door. Most important, reinforce your base - create the stickiness. … Continue Reading
The Lean Years – Strategies for Survival
Before our focus tuned to the Madoff crisis or the current war, we were already knee-deep in a recession that was effecting our donors, grantees and the broader community. To help gain insight, Natan and The Samuel Bronfman Foundation hosted a discussion last month, The Lean Years, to offer different perspectives on the current crisis and how it might affect small entrepreneurial non-profits. Both organizations are deeply invested in creating a vibrant Jewish future and as such sponsored the dialogue to help examine the breadth and depth of the continuing situation we are all experiencing. We've been a bit pre-occupied and have not had the opportunity to share thoughts with you - but everything said that night is still timely. This is the first of several posts where we will bring you some … Continue Reading
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