from The Cleveland Jewish News:

Recession translates to lower JCF allocations

The Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland unanimously approved allocations for the 2009/2010 fiscal year at its June 29 board of trustees meeting. For the first time in more than a decade, it is a smaller, tighter budget than the year previous, owing to the troubled economy and resulting fundraising struggles.

Federation’s 2009 Campaign for Jewish Needs raised $28,772,420, a decrease of $3,956,104 over the previous year. This represents a 12% loss in campaign earnings, the first decrease in many years.

Because of the difficult campaign, Federation had to decrease its total annual allocations to local partner agencies by 7.7%. Overseas allocations for Jewish agencies and projects in Israel and around the world will see a funding decrease of 13.3%.

from JewishinStLouis.org:

Jewish Federation 2009-10 Allocations to Jewish Agencies Drop 8%

Jewish Federation’s Board of Directors has approved a plan to distribute $9.8 million in 2009-2010, which translates to nearly 8% less than 2008.

The Federation allocations breakdown for 2009-2010:
•        Local: $5.121M – down 7.7% from ‘08
•        Overseas: $3.871M – down 7.7%
•        National: $591,000 – down 15.2%

from The London Jewish Chronicle:

Hayek bid to replant JNF in our hearts

When Samuel Hayek became chairman of JNF UK, British Jewry’s third biggest fundraising charity, nearly 18 months ago, few people knew what to make of the Israeli-born businessman.

from Jewcy:

What Flavor of New Jew Are You?

Judaism, for me, is more like a spider web. A spider web starts by having a few pillars to hold it together. From these platforms, the spider is able to weave its web to the center. The purpose: to catch what the spider needs in order to survive. If one of the pillars that the web is connected to simply cannot hold the web, then the creative little spider finds a new anchor. If someone breaks the web from the inside, then the spider repairs it, differently than it was originally created. Still, the web stays intact. And every spider web is different, just like everyone’s Judaism.