The National Federation/Agency Alliance Takes a Hit

Giving USA, the preeminent chronicler of American philanthropy reported last week that overall giving to Jewish federations has declined 37.6% in inflation adjusted dollars between 1991 and 2015. Additionally, the report singled out 2 very different communities – Detroit and New York – for large year over year campaign increases. While the decline is not new news, the fact that Giving USA’s research highlighted it is.

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JFNA’s senior leadership can now add to its long list of failures the possible deconstruct of the Alliance:

From: Kline, Stephan
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2016 11:26 AM
Subject: Alliance Funding Announcement

The National Federation/Agency Alliance (Alliance) is a coalition of 30 federations that provide core (undesignated) financial support to the national agencies listed below. Many of these national agencies have been long-time historic partners of the Jewish Federations and engage in extremely important work on behalf of the federation system and the national Jewish community.

For a number of years, UJA-Federation of New York has been the largest sustaining member of the Alliance and currently allocates almost $1.6 million or 38% of the overall funding pool. Yesterday, UJA-Federation informed us that it will discontinue its support to the Alliance, effective June 30, 2017, given the long-standing challenges in broadening financial support across the Federation system for the Alliance funding process.

We recognize that New York’s departure from the Alliance will have significant implications for the Alliance process. Over the next few months the Alliance will be working with you to explore next steps.

Shabbat shalom,
Marcie Orley, Chair, National Federation/Agency Alliance
Stephan Kline, Coordinator, National Federation/Agency Alliance

The Alliance national agencies:

• American Jewish World Service
• Association of Jewish Families and Children’s Agencies
• BBYO
• HIAS
• Hillel International
• JCC Association
• Jewish Council for Public Affairs
• National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry
• Seventy Faces Media (formerly JTA)