The blog-o-sphere has been carrying reports for several weeks now about the impending budget revision and upcoming staff cuts at the UJC. Apparently it became ’sort of official’ yesterday.

We’ll stay away from playing the “he said / she said” that will surely continue surrounding this financial crisis and staff upheaval. However, we find one new budget item of the UJC particularly interesting…

according to UJC Chair Joe Kanfer, “the UJC will add a $750,000 e-philanthropy initiative to the budget.”

Maybe, in part, it has to do with this opening, Senior Manager, Ephilanthropy, that the UJC has been trying to fill since before the GA. Among other position responsibilities: to develop, launch and help federations implement strong e-philanthropy initiatives that include data mining, defining target audiences, growing lists and scheduling.

Perhaps they’re on to something……….

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From the Jerusalem Post…

“Here is something of a reality check about American Jewish finances. They are not what they used to be. True, we have it easier here than in most places. But across the US, the relentless news is about economic woes, the collapse of the mortgage market and home foreclosures. When traditional news broadcasts offer “consumer segments” about saving on your household grocery bill, something is sad and scary in the US.

Shortly before the recent Wall Street and real estate woes sent jitters through philanthropic organizations in the New York area, some local Jewish federations quietly let it be known that they were short on funds and needs were great. For many who are routinely approached by federations, it sounded like the boy who cried wolf.

SHOULD AMERICAN Jews support the Jewish Agency? It is hard to make that case these days in the metro New York area. The main aliya agency seems to be Nefesh b’Nefesh. The free trips on Birthright Israel for college-age kids are due to the largesse of the mega-donors. And here in the New York area, the idea of Jewish education is less about the Sochnut’s offerings than the bank-breaking tuition at any day school.”

Read the complete article here.

updated May 5th: I do not remember the last time a non-political article from the Israeli papers has been picked up so far and wide. And on a Sunday, no less.

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We have all seen stories of how media exposure has helped facilitate change. Certainly the downfall of New York’s last governor was accelerated by a New York Times article.

But what about the blog-o-sphere. And particularly in our Jewish world, what place do blogs play and what place (in an ideal world) should they play.

The blog world has been instrumental in bringing into the open the apparent on-going strife at the UJC. Whether it is from anonymous bloggers at Disunited Jewish Communities or a long established communal leader and critic like Richard Wexler blogging with particular insight at UJ Thee and Me, blogs have made a visible impact. The former even bearing mention in a recent LA Journal story, As Jewish communities unite, disconnects persist, on the UJC’s problems: “The lives of UJC top executives have been made even more unpleasant lately by an unidentified blogger who seems to have a direct pipeline into UJC’s inner workings.”

What role did the blogs play in bringing this story to the attention of the Jewish Journal? Rumor has it The Jewish Week is planning a story on the same subject.

What is fact, the established media has been just as obsessed as the UJC in trying to identify the source.

We have several posts in the works from established bloggers whose audience is the Jewish demographic. Hopefully this will provoke meaningful discussion on the role blogs play.

In the meantime check out the LA Jewish Journal article; you can find it here.

An excerpt: “According to a number of Jewish leaders, many of whom played key roles in the merger discussions, their expectations for UJC have remained largely unfulfilled, to put it diplomatically.

Part of the fault, the critics say, is structural, and some are missteps, such as the elimination of the popular UJA brand name. But most of the criticism focuses on the performance of the UJC leadership, which is faulted for operating in a vacuum, avoiding vigorous discussions before implementing decisions, lack of passion and energy, and terrible staff relations, marked by the departure of five key senior staffers during the past year.”

eJewish philanthropy has extended an invitation to Howard Rieger, UJC’s CEO, for a guest post response to the Journal article. Howard has not responded (updated April 18th).

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We all know by now that last week the prestigious Israel Prize (for Lifetime Achievement) has been awarded to the Jewish Agency in honor of 80 years of service.

The UJC has sent their congrats as has Keren Hayesod. And of course Haaretz has weighed in with their perspective…

“I don’t know if anyone ever tried to work out the average age of Israel Prize recipients, but the profile is fairly standard. A man or woman in their seventies or eighties, hailed for decades of service in academia or some other worthy pursuit and for his or hers past contribution to Israeli society. Sad but true, this is usually a pre-obituary, almost-last honor, to a deserving individual long past the prime of life. The occasional practice of rewarding an organization with one of the prizes, is fairly ridiculous.

Founded in 1929, the Jewish Agency is also on the brink of octogenarianism, with a proud past in which it played a crucial role and gave decades of loyal service to the nation. But now it seems in the autumn of its life, and many of its stalwarts are openly predicting that the grim reaper may just be around the corner.”

You can read the complete article here.

Kind of reminds me of the occasional discussions that ensue following Time Magazine’s announcement of Person of the Year.

Meanwhile, I notice one primary funder missing from the list of congrats.

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According to an article in today’s Haaretz,

“The Jewish Agency is planning to close one of its most historically important branches,
the Immigration and Absorption Department, as part of a radical restructuring plan, Agency sources said Wednesday.

The plan, which Agency officials consider to be a major change in the identity of the organization that predates the creation of Israel and has existed in its current form since 1948, will introduce reforms aimed at addressing a series of financial and political blows that have plagued the organization in recent years.”

“The Agency has been taking punches from every direction in recent years; politically, organizationally and [in terms of] its image,” a senior Agency official said. Donations made by individuals in the U.S. Jewish community, which account for two-thirds of the Agency’s annual budget, have been in steady decline in recent years.“

Read more here

updated 21 March: JAFI is apparently none to happy about this “leak” in yesterday’s paper; this article from today’s Jerusalem Post.

A related article by the astute Haviv Rettig, extremely relevant on so many levels, Analysis: Playing With Fire, here.

Stay tuned; we’re certainly in fluid and interesting times on this subject.

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The shekel-dollar exchange rate continues its downward trend, falling to NIS 3.36/$.
(as of 4:30 pm IST, Wednesday)

At the recent JAFI Board of Governor’s Meeting we heard about the significant effect the falling dollar was having on this year’s budget.

On CNN yesterday, an in-depth report on American citizens working in Europe paid with dollar salaries and how the falling value effects their everyday purchases at the market.

Now, today in Haaretz, an article on how this historic low is challenging the local NGO community.

“Hundreds of local social charities and nonprofit groups that depend on funding from abroad fear that the continuing decline of the dollar exchange rate, combined with the growing U.S. economic crisis, will force them to dismiss employees and curtail the services they provide in the fields of education, welfare and health. The dollar’s fall has cost some of these organization’s a 20 percent decline in income.

“There hasn’t been a crisis like this since the expansion of civil society in recent years,” says Prof. Benjamin Gidron, the director of the Israeli Center for Third Sector Research at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva.”

continue reading here

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Some doom-sayers worry about the intermarriage rate; others the shrinking birthrate in the Jewish community; or the lack of reasonably priced communal affiliation.

Guess for these people the glass is always half empty.

For those of us on the other side, those of us who see the beginnings of a new golden age of Jewish communal innovation, those of us out in the trenches (so to speak) with the new, young innovators, the students in the various professional programs, and the just all around ‘younger’ interested and non-affiliated, not only is the glass not half empty, it’s close to overflowing!

The most recent example, this past week’s Jewlicious Festival 4.0. Writing on the Jewlicious blog, “ck” tells us:

“Looking back on this past weekend, I can’t help but be a little awed. I know that sounds a bit dramatic, especially since we are talking about what can be viewed as a glorified Shabaton, but the latest Jewlicious Festival was seriously nothing less than a transformative experience…

But this year, when I stopped running around and just tried to absorb what was going on, the images that really stood out were those of the various Jewish communal leaders from all over the place who were in attendance and seemed a bit… what, stunned?

Stunned?? Yeah. Stunned. Jewlicious united people from across the Jewish spectrum…”

Now, also this past week, thousands of miles away in Jerusalem, I was at JAFI’s Board of Governors Meeting. I realize looks are deceiving, but there sure was a lot of grey hair among the UJC set. More to the point, where was the younger crowd? They certainly did not have a seat at the Board table. Or for that matter in the Observer’s / Guest area either.

Our professionals need to get out of their office suites and see what’s happening.

Jewlicious is but one among many examples. I spoke with several B.O.G. attendees who complained, yes complained, about the ‘younger generation’. Though when asked what they are doing for them, about the ONLY answer I heard is “our Federation subsidizes their Birthright trip”. Now this is well and good. And I, for one, know the money is well spent; I also strongly believe we are beginning to see the pay-off for this investment and it will only grow.

But the ‘old rules’ no longer apply. Whether it’s a traditional Synagogue membership or the entrenched leadership style in far to many places that shuts out this younger demographic, large parts of our community are ignoring this new group. It’s already a problem and will continue to fester.

Is your coffee getting cold? There is still time to reheat, but time’s running out. This generation is already creating their own agenda.

Pretty soon, you will want a seat at their table.

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In light of the security situation in Sderot and the Gaza perimeter, the Jewish Agency is giving $1.7 in scholarships to the Sapir College in Sderot. The scholarships of $1000 each will be given to 1,700 students studying at the college. The funds were raised by the UJC.

This significant assistance for the college will help Sapir continue to function and grow. The scholarships will be available in the coming weeks to students currently enrolled.

Hundreds of students receiving scholarships are also involved with volunteer work in the local community, particularly assisting children and young people.

According to JAFI Chairperson Zeev Bielski

“the best answer to the murderous attacks on the college is to support the college by providing an incentive for students to continue studying there. The Jewish Agency and the donors abroad will continue to invest in the area in order to fortify the resolve of the residents, ease their conditions and encourage growth and development.”

Be sure to also check out the UJC’s blog, Voices from Sderot.

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One of the biggest conversations in the Jewish world today is the interaction between the Diaspora and Israel. Or, if you are sitting on this side of the ocean, between Israel and the Diaspora.

Therefore, with JAFI Board Members beginning to congregate in Jerusalem for their upcoming meetings, it was no surprise that a closed-door session at the Prime Minister’s Office late Wednesday, was leaked to the press last night in time to be THE headline splashed across the Israeli press this morning (this one from JPost)…

Olmert’s task force aims to revolutionize Israeli-Diaspora ties;

“U.S. Jewry is in crisis, and we can help”

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has established an unprecedented high-level government task force charged with fundamentally altering the Israel-Diaspora relationship.

The new task force heralds a revolutionary change, officials in the Prime Minister’s Office said, in that it will seek ways in which Israel can begin to invest in the Diaspora, rather than remaining merely the recipient of Diaspora aid.

“This prime minister knows Diaspora Jewry well,” said a Prime Minister’s Office official familiar with the meeting, which was kept secret until now. “Olmert understands that Israel has a problem in its relationship with the Diaspora: it’s mainly one-way, and Israel campaigns as the poor, weak party. But now US Jewry is in a crisis of identity, of intermarriage. We see it and we feel it, if nowhere else, in the cash flow.”

According to the official, Olmert believes…

“Israel doesn’t really need the [Diaspora] money. Israel can defend itself on its own, can fortify itself without help, can build community centers on its own.“

Asked why no Diaspora Jews were present in the meeting, one official said, “This was on purpose. We’re still figuring out what Israel wants. We can’t begin a dialogue until we know what we want ourselves… But everyone agreed there is a need for a new direction, which is no small thing with organizations like the WJC and WZO. Once we have a concrete plan, we plan on opening a dialogue with Diaspora Jewry. This is all meant to be done together.”

for the complete JPost article, click here and a JPost editorial on the subject, here

So, with the JAFI Board preparing to officially convene on Sunday morning, besides discussing budget shortfalls and a cash crunch, Diaspora leaders can ponder Olmert’s most recent move. All this I’m certain behind closed doors and not in the ‘public’ forums.

Shabbat Shalom form Jerusalem.

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It’s sleeting (here) in Jerusalem; the Winograd Committee is set to deliver their final report later this afternoon and I would like to share some thoughts on a session I attended last week at the Herzliya Conference.

The session was billed as, ‘Rethinking Jewish Philanthropy – Interrelations between Israel and the Diaspora’. A more apt title would have been, ‘An Infomercial from JAFI and the N.Y. Federation’.

I really should not complain. For the first time ever the subject of Jewish Philanthropy has reached the table at the Herzliya Conference. And however brief (only 45 minutes) and the only session I attended that did not allow follow-up questions, or comments, at least there was a presence.

For four long days Israel’s security was addressed; as was the upcoming Winograd Report and a nuclear Iran. What John Bolton had to say and Ehud Barak didn’t made the front page of every Israeli paper. The participants came from multiple continents and most sides of the Israeli political and academic worlds. The worldwide Jewish press was in attendance. But unlike 2003 when then Prime Minister Sharon announced his ‘Disengagement Plan’, there was no new news.

Still, the very fact that the topic of Jewish Philanthropy was on the agenda for such a high level gathering marks a notable achievement; one that I hope continues in the future.

However, given the opportunity to discuss the challenges and opportunities the session title suggested, what did we get? Did anyone rise to the challenge?
I, for one, think not; and was definitely disappointed.

From Zeev Bielsky, we received a pep talk on JAFI. Now don’t get me wrong; I like Zeevik and enjoy listening to him. More important, he has built upon what Sallai Meridor started and has made JAFI both more responsive and transparent. This is good and long overdue. He does recognize the connection between Israel and the Diaspora is undergoing dramatic change. And he definitely recognizes that here in Israel, Israelis are taking responsibility for what is happening. How much of this is the cause, and how much the effect of the changes taking place between our communities is open to question, but this is not what is important. What counts is how JAFI leverages this knowledge.

And with the largest single visible change in years having recently played out (the new strategic partnership between JAFI and The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews) why was nary a word said on this current topic? Avoidance will not make the naysayers go away.

Then we come to John Ruskay. Over the years I have been to the G.A. and quite a few B.O.G. meetings of the Jewish Agency. This is where one expects to hear an infomercial; in Herzliya, we needed more. John’s presentation was so PR oriented that even Gary Rosenblatt, sitting at a diagonal to me, couldn’t think of one word of John’s to include in his column on the conference. And this, from the Editor of a major publication, in the Federation’s own ‘backyard’ and a city that calls itself home to so many Jewish organizations.

In fairness, I will say that in the last 90 seconds or so of his 14 minute presentation, almost as an afterthought, John did bring up three points worthy of mention to consider:

• “Birthright” (Taglit) and “Masaa”
• Curriculum, formal and informal, to enrich a shared collective Jewish identity
• Should we develop a “Jewish service corps” including Israeli and Diaspora participants to strengthen the Jewish world

The third speaker, Avi Noar, a successful Israeli entrepreneur and philanthropist, was the only speaker to not stray from the session’s objective. By equating the philanthropy of his family foundation with social investment, he may be taking a page from the corporate world, but he is certainly bringing a new perspective to the forefront in our world of Jewish philanthropy and responsibility.

According to Avi, “…There is no justification for investment that does not have a measurable and provable return…”. Straight from an undergraduate textbook, but a guiding principal missing in so many of our organizations.

Perhaps the most engaging comment of Avi’s was his question, “should Israelis invest in world Jewry?”
If this was not laying the groundwork for ‘rethinking’, at least here in Israel, nothing was.

So, where do we travel from here? As I indicated earlier, the fact this session made an appearance is a very good thing. Perhaps the Conference organizers will give it a stronger voice next year. Perhaps the independent Van Leer Institute, or some other academic institution, will pick up the ball and run with it (that being a serious academic conference on Jewish philanthropy). It is overdue and needed.

During the session immediately preceding this, titled, ‘Trends in the Connection of the Diaspora’s Young Generation to Israel’, Professor Lenoard Saxe of Brandeis, in speaking about the challenges and opportunities for our Jewish community with Birthright Alumni, said “Institutions Must Adapt or Be Replaced”. All of the speakers at the Rethinking Jewish Philanthropy session were in the room;

I hope they were paying attention.

photo source: The Jerusalem Post
note: I tried for a Conference follow-up with both John Ruskay and Zeev Bielsky. John is M.I.A., he did not respond to requests. As for Zeev, JAFI’s press officer responded, “will do my best”. I’m still waiting.

copyright 2008; you may include any individual eJewish Philanthropy post in your blogs, on-line publications, personal web sites, and non-profit web pages, as long as you include a link back to eJewish Philanthropy.

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