UJA-Exploring New Paths
FRIEDMAN, HERBERT A.
UJA-Exploring New Paths HERBERT A. FRIEDMAN The United Jewish Appeal (UJA), now a half century old, is surely one of the greatest fund-raising organizations, of all time—a tribute to the...
...recognition of Israel as the heartland of the Jewish people and the homeland for the majority (which will become a statistical reality before the end of the century...
...graduates...
...It has never been thoroughly planned or executed because it has seemed problematic and not worth the effort...
...develop new ways lor donors to mahe earmarked guts...
...It must pursue education vigorously, embracing all age groups, in imaginative formats— particularly as each new generation is subjected to the centrifugal force of assimilation...
...The prizes should reflect the values of life-saving and nation-building implicit in the fund-raising effort, such as trips to Israel or to the Israeli embassy in Washington...
...It will require the establishment of direct ties between local communities, scientific institutions and business in Israel and the Diaspora rather than the current circuitous and tortuous organizational structure of relations.* The UJA should...
...Israeli access to the European Community free trade market...
...Expand CLAL-type, less intensive programs, for larger groups...
...As to the argument that the Jewish Agency is the link between the Diaspora and Israel, I find that Diaspora Jews relate to the people and to Israel, not to the Jewish Agency...
...broaden its fund-raising to include direct investments in the Israeli economy...
...The Israel Education Fund has raised more than $145 million additional, earmarked for more than 700 buildings bearing the donors' designated names...
...Create a conducive environment through extensive advertising...
...The rhetoric is about Israel, not about the Jewish Agency or the World Zionist Organization...
...deuelop a malor educational system...
...housing...
...country in which it works...
...Such a conference center would likely be self-sustaining...
...Both projects were fruitful, despite strict rules to protect the regular campaign.** Fears gradually disappeared that * Gad Yaacobi, Wanted—A New Course (B'nai Brak: Steimatzky, 1991...
...Donors are even more displeased, however, that their funds are being handled by an organization whose reputation suffers from continuous attack...
...Neither reason is still valid, if either ever was...
...Send college students to study in Israel for their junior year...
...The so-called "capitalistic" Likud party is just as laggard as the Labor party in failing to undertake reforms...
...The Agency's share in the glorious airlift entities it to well-earned praise, but the reality is that in recent years the organization has lost the confidence of many Jews and that has had, I believe, an effect on fund-raising...
...If this major organization is to respond to the challenges of the future, it must constantly change, be ever alert and find innovative ways to meet its historic responsibility...
...More power to the Agency for its brilliant share in Operation Solomon...
...My opinion is that this is precisely UJA's business...
...This would be a natural extension of the UJA's capability and would result in the sea change in Israel's economy that many experts, beginning with Milton Friedman, have urged for years...
...These basic beliefs include the responsibility of all Jews for one another...
...CLAL (Center for Learning and Leadership), whose president is Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg, offers educational programs ranging from individual tutorials and weekend retreats for federation boards to ongoing study groups under the guidance of CLAL's permanent faculty...
...New ideas should be developed to reinvigorate the concept of earmarked giving...
...Setting up the six foundations (more or less) would go far to alleviate skepticism of small and large contributors alike about whether their money is being well spent...
...it is only one of many that could be devised: • Select a target area in a large city where thousands of Jewish families are concentrated—perhaps Brookline in the Boston area or Shaker Heights in the Cleveland area...
...I have thought about the following plan...
...Then mobilize them to solicit on selected Sundays...
...Here are a few ideas: • Send high school students to study in Israel for their tenth grade year...
...Organizations of great strength and duration, embracing historic causes, owe it to themselves constantly to refurbish, consciously to resist comfortable ruts, always to find new paths and to make changes that are not merely administrative tinkering but that represent seminal alterations...
...Having served as UJA's chief executive officer for 20 years, from 1955 to 1975,1 have some suggestions...
...We must first raise people who will then raise money...
...CLAL also holds periodic conferences on subjects of major concern and offers position papers on critical subjects to help leadership form its opinions...
...The media message should have this tone: "Think of these students as though they were your own sons and daughters—idealistic, courageous—asking you to do your duty...
...The notable gap in this record of women's achievements lies at the apex of the national UJA structure...
...electric, water and telephone utilities...
...Only a small percentage of American Jews contribute to the UJA...
...No major conference center-exists in Israel today...
...Strengthen B'nai B'rith Hillel and other Jewish student organizations on college campuses by major investments of money for personnel and programs...
...Perhaps a test should be made to learn whether a mass campaign could gain large numbers of new contributors...
...first year absorption, including Hebrew instruction and vocational retraining...
...The trick is to secure the addresses, mobilize the students and open the doors...
...The UJA can develop an effective educational system if it has the will...
...Two days in residence at the center would give the visitor an overview of Israel's pioneering history, its geography, an understanding of its political system, background concerning the neighboring Arab states and an introduction to the problems of immigrant absorption, the economy, electoral reform and religious pluralism...
...This cannot be explained by lack of ability or inadequate commitment...
...UJA operations in Israel can be conducted exactly like JDC operations in Morocco or Romania...
...Larger communities reach a smaller percentage of their residents than smaller communities...
...Whether a mass fund-raising campaign could be successful is a vexing question...
...Not simply a few temperamental or egotistical heavy hitters object to the remoteness that characterizes the anonymous communal treasury...
...Identify the Jewish families in the target area...
...test tne feasibility of a mass campaign to find new contributors...
...Still more could be—and should be—done...
...Persons entering this profession on an executive level must be thoroughly grounded not only in the specific fund-raising skills needed but in Judaism itself to spread our basic beliefs and values to an ever-widening constituency...
...Among them, the largest contributors are incredibly generous...
...These include 155 day-care centers, 127 high schools, 92 community, youth or cultural centers and 29 libraries...
...Among American Jewish leaders, the attitude toward the Jewish Agency is marked by respect for its many accomplishments and resentment against the size of its bureaucracy, its sometimes inefficiency and its difficulties in coordinating with equivalent Israeli government ministries...
...Education can implant basic beliefs throughout the Jewish community so that a positive response occurs when the need for funds is presented...
...improue its missions to Israel by establishing an international conference center there...
...The JDC's American board decides how much to spend on projects in each American Jews relate to the people and country of Israel, not to the Jewish Agency.Education is the only solution...
...As few as possible employees and a small governing council of laypersons—both Israelis and Americans—would staff each foundation...
...A lay, volunteer chairperson and a professional, salaried vice-chairperson would direct each one...
...Those who do contribute are loyal and dedicated...
...Develop a nationwide program for teaching modern Hebrew in high schools, colleges and for adults...
...Women have also risen to the top as chairpersons of campaigns and as presidents of local federations in the largest Jewish communities, including New York and Los Angeles...
...Its work is not done...
...banks and scores of similar properties...
...Funneling thousands more American Jews through the mission process should be a prime objective...
...Indeed, more voices inside Israel than in the Diaspora question the existence of the Jewish Agency...
...The maddening search for qualified executive personnel must be alleviated by a substantial increase in both the quality and quantity of people available...
...The former is legitimate...
...education in all areas not mandated by government legislation, from prekindergarten to university...
...The UJA can bring hundreds of teachers from Israel or recruit them from Israelis living in the U.S...
...In many cases, the director contracts out specific tasks to local purveyors or to other organizations or hires a local facility to perform a specific service (run a kindergarten or provide a soup kitchen, for example...
...The decision to undertake these fundamental changes must be made by the Israeli government and the Israeli people...
...UJA could establish a Travel Enabling Fund with the help of a few major donors who recognize the tremendous value of the mission experience...
...It might offer credit to pay for air fares...
...The UJA must spread these values to an ever-widening number of people...
...UJA business leaders might also assist in the privatization program that has been discussed in Israeli government circles for the past three years...
...Not one woman has been invited, in more than a half century, to serve as national chairperson, president or chief executive officer...
...Such contracting is more efficient, entails smaller overhead, reduces administrative headaches and gets faster results than doing everything in-house...
...Today, the UJA disburses funds allocated to Israel through the Jewish Agency, the Sachnut in Hebrew, an arm of the World Zionist Organization (WZO...
...In addition, the UJA should establish an accredited, degree-granting institute or college to train its staff and to supply fund-raising personnel to local communities...
...Major donors should also have an opportunity for personalized giving...
...A precedent exists within the UJA family for this procedure—namely, the direct operations of the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC...
...The recent appointment of its new executive director—Rabbi Brian Lurie—provides an occasion to ask where UJA should be going...
...Saturate the public with newspaper, radio and television spots announcing the dates the student solicitors will be coming and explaining how they have volunteered and how they should be received...
...Expand Wexner-type intensive seminars for carefully selected lay leaders through community initiaEducation is the only solution, we must first rive...
...In the spectacular 36-hour evacuation of 14,000 Jews from Ethiopia, the Agency's role in planning, months earlier, and in the actual reception, as the planes landed, one after the other, was meticulously executed...
...Similarly, for Project Renewal, contributions were to be over and above the donor's regular contribution...
...The emotions of pride, loyalty, excitement, even love are directed to the flag, the army, the president, the Western Wall—all the symbols of sovereignty and power...
...The UJA should...
...All discussions of the vexing question of how to broaden the base by obtaining more contributors conclude that education is the only solution...
...The proof lies in the relatively large amounts realized through personalized giving...
...Two reasons are usually offered to defend the continued existence of the Jewish Agency: tax-deductible contributions for legitimate social welfare work among populations abroad cannot be given direcdy to foreign governments...
...youth care...
...Women have figured prominently in UJA and local federation work from the beginning, when the first raise people who will then raise moneu national chairperson of the women's division was Adele Rosen-wald Levy...
...railroads...
...The UJA must find new ways to help more people go on missions...
...The UJA should build a conference center in Israel where all missions could start...
...The faculty comes from major universities and all the seminaries...
...American Jewish leadership knows about the Jewish Agency, but most people present at a meeting or rally or parade for Israel never heard of it...
...After a few years it would spread nationwide...
...For more than a half century now this steady campaigning has performed the twin miracles of uniting American Jewry while serving the noblest causes of rescue throughout world Jewry and rebuilding the Third Commonwealth of Israel...
...It ignites admiration and respect for and empathy with Israel and its people, generating the recognition that an American's duty is—at a minimum—to be liberal with money...
...The Wexner Heritage Foundation, funded solely by Leslie Wexner, bears all expenses...
...chemical and heavy-metal industries...
...Thousands of jobs are available for trained fund-raisers—in national organizations, local federations, individual agencies, synagogues and community centers as well as in Israel-related universities, museums, hospitals and so forth...
...The remarkable results of the campaign each year, especially in those years when an emergency, such as Operation Exodus or Operation Solomon, exists, are due in large measure to this tiny cadre...
...The uja should...
...The idea works...
...and a commitment to the continuity of the Jewish people...
...The mission to Israel is the single experience that most effectively involves people—of all types...
...UJA should analyze the results carefully to determine whether this test was worthwhile...
...With respect to tax-deductibility, the key IRS words are "control" and "conduit...
...The United Jewish Appeal was born and started its first campaign on January 1, 1939...
...The director contacts purveyors of services direcdy...
...Award prizes liberally to those who secure the most addresses, who recruit the most students, who obtain the most new contributions and who work on the myriad other details...
...When anyone asks me how to raise money, my answer has always been that we must first raise people who will then raise money...
...Urge the public to stay home on the selected Sundays to open their doors to those who identify themselves properly...
...Respond to their request—and be proud of what they are doing to serve the future of the Jewish people...
...Recruit an army of solicitors from the ranks of college students to visit hundreds, if not thousands, of homes...
...But a determined approach in this direction, galvanized by a concentrated UJA campaign among top industrial and business leaders in America, Jewish and non-Jewish, could result in bringing many major investors and purchasers of assets to Israel...
...UJA-Exploring New Paths HERBERT A. FRIEDMAN The United Jewish Appeal (UJA), now a half century old, is surely one of the greatest fund-raising organizations, of all time—a tribute to the dedication, drive and generosity of the American Jewish community in aid of their fellow Jews...
...Some donors are wary of putting their contributions into a large, anonymous pot (regardless of what they are told about the Maimonidean preference for anonymity between donor and recipient...
...Check the federation computer lists to target only those families that are not contributors...
...Significant foreign investment will not take place despite these obvious advantages without a radical change from Israel's centrally controlled economy to a genuine free market...
...Greet them with enthusiasm, gratitude and appreciation...
...Through speakers, films, small workshops and light reading, the visitor would be better prepared to absorb the upcoming days of travel...
...Billions of dollars could be available to the Israeli government by selling to the private sector—both domestic and foreign— either to companies or to the public through the stock market—all or part of government-owned assets: land...
...Perhaps it could accept frequent flier points in lieu of payment and then sell the points back to the originating airlines...
...An American organization that raises money for overseas charities must direct and control its use and not serve merely as a conduit handing that money over to another organization...
...This is the right time for American firms to establish manufacturing and research facilities in Israel for three very specific reasons: the availability of an ever-increasing pool of highly educated, technically skilled workers among the new Russian immigrants and Israeli university **For the Israel Education Fund, donors could not contribute until increasing their annual regular gifts...
...Similarly, Project Renewal has raised more than $200 million additional, earmarked for specific, underdeveloped Israeli neighborhoods...
...A salaried JDC employee resident in that country serves as the country director and has a small staff...
...Inspire and train these students and give them photo identification cards...
...The UJA should establish a separate department through which business leaders could push for reform by mobilizing prospective manufacturers to invest large sums in the Israeli economy once they believe Israel's economy would operate under free-market conditions...
...The UJA must bring more women into the executive committee, other key committees and into the positions of general campaign chairperson and president of the board...
...These local, two-year programs for very carefully selected small groups of 32—42-year-old, active Jewish leaders offer approximately 40 seminars as well as weekend retreats and week-long summer institutes on Jewish history, Bible, literature, thought, religion and modern Israel...
...Each foundation's New York board, consisting of key leaders and professionals from the national UJA and local communities, would determine its budget, eliminating the other intermediary apparatus (such as the United Israel Appeal and its representative offices in Israel) that has grown like Topsy over the years...
...The UJA should disburse its funds direcdy in Israel, instead of through an intermediary agent, by establishing several operating foundations (others could be added as needed), including: • immigrant transportation, including baggage...
...The UJA can help the Israeli Ministry of Tourism subsidize partial hotel costs...
...Graduates of such an institute or college would be quickly commandeered throughout the Diaspora as well as in Israel itself...
...The UJA should...
...And women have organized a National Women's Young Leadership Cabinet independent of the Men's Young Leadership Cabinet, which had been formed years earlier...
...The UJA would be performing a valuable service for world Jewry...
...The minimum gift was set at $100,000...
...promote women into top leadership...
...and • cultural and scientific projects...
...The latter is not...
...The government could be awash in cash to finance properly the Russian immigrant absorption of the next few years...
...Prepare assembly points to which the students return at the end of the day's work to report their results...
...If all the intermediary apparatus and the Jewish Agency were eliminated and the UJA directly spent what it raised, that would be the best form of control...
...They, too, would quickly recognize the benefits from an orientation period at the start of a visit...
...The UJA should...
...acceptance of the obligation, the mitzvah, of tzedakah (charity), even if the amount must be small...
...We should learn the lessons of two previous UJA ventures in which earmarked giving was sanctioned: the Israel Education Fund, started in 1964, and Project Renewal, started in 1979...
...Bringing such serious investors to the attention of the Israeli government might be the catalyst needed to effectuate the change...
...earmarked giving would erode regular giving...
...and a growing Israeli domestic market, as the population grows to almost seven million within the next 25 years...
...A year-long effort might be necessary to enlist students from colleges adjacent to the target area...
...As Gad Yaacobi recently wrote: The time has come for a new definition of the Israel-Diaspora relationship, based less on a oneway provision of support and charity and more on the direct participation of Diaspora Jews and Jewish communities in business, civic and cultural life in Israel...
...The average number of Jewish families that give varies nationally from one-fourth to one-third...
...and Diaspora Jews need a "link" organization to represent them...
...The UJA must make every effort to encourage that change...
...Hundreds of buses were on the spot, hotels were booked and myriad details were properly organized...
...This is the homeland, whose ministers and ambassadors, generals and poets, academics and new Russians come to the Diaspora to speak at meetings where the Israeli flag flies...
...If the decision is affirmative, then the mass campaign approach could be expanded to more cities and gradually improved...
...The UJA could rent its facilities to other organizations sponsoring trips to-Israel...
...the airline...
...Creative brainstorming would produce many more suggestions...
...Some may say that this is not the UJA's business...
...The UJA should...
...With all the goodwill in the world and earnest efforts of chairpersons and department heads over the decades, still the Agency is characterized as a cumbersome apparatus that performed brilliandy in pre-state days but should now be put into honorable retirement...
...Women's divisions over the decades have raised more than $2 billion...
...This is not to say it is without its current successes...
...The suggestions I have offered will, I hope, help light the way to a glorious future...
...dissociate itself from the Jewish Agency and spend its money in Israel directly...
...The UJA should...
...There is a huge pool of Jewish college students in America (almost a half million by some estimates) and an even larger pool of prospective donors...
...In endless discussions on how to improve fund-raising, the preference of some contributors to know exactly where their overseas money is going continually resurfaces...
Vol. 16 • December 1991 • No. 6
