The Central federation’s Supermarket Sweep in March brought out a crowd of young volunteers including, from front, Noah Schwartz, Elijah Rockman, and Noah Singer, son of the federation’s financial resource development chair Julie Singer.
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Financial resource development chair Julie Singer says the Central community sustained levels of generosity even when personal income dropped.
September 2, 2009
The Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey is winding down its annual campaign and preparing for its next one with surprisingly good news: Despite a very tough year, its leaders hope to exceed their 2008-09 fund-raising goal of $4.48 million.
That target was lowered from the year before. In view of the better-than-expected outcome this year, for the 2009-10 campaign, which starts on Oct. 1, they plan to raise the goal back up to $5 million.
“It’s not as bad as we feared, and really nowhere near as bad as it’s been elsewhere,” said Julie Singer, the federation’s financial resource development chair — or what used to be known as annual campaign chair.
United Jewish Communities, the umbrella organization for the North American Jewish federation system, announced in July that the total funds raised by the system for the current year declined 13 percent from the year before.
Singer attributed Central’s relative success to the commitment of the community’s core of regular donors, who sustained their level of giving — some even in the face of declining personal income. She said donors have rallied to the cause, with an awareness that the need for help is more urgent than it has been in decades. She likened it to the outpouring of support that comes when Israel is in crisis.
Singer mentioned a source of pride: By eliminating some staff positions and drawing on reserve funds, the federation was able to avoid cutbacks in its allocations to partner agencies, which include Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey, two Jewish community centers, Jewish day schools in Elizabeth and Essex County, Rutgers Hillel, and a chaplaincy program.
Stanley Stone, Central federation’s executive vice president, said that as painful as it was to cut staff positions and programming, those moves enabled the federation to “to continue to have an impact, to make a difference in people’s lives.”
He said that, in turn, has sustained donors’ confidence in the federation’s centralized fund-raising. “They have seen that we have the infrastructure to meet the regular challenges and the ‘fire department’ to handle these tougher circumstances. It has been a real vote of confidence,” he said.
‘Staying on top’
To set priorities for the year ahead, which promises to be just as challenging as this one, Singer formed an ad hoc financial resource development committee. It is composed of about 30 people, including members of the federation’s executive committee and leaders of various aspects of the campaign.
After intensive discussions were held in late July, they defined three priorities for the coming year. Topping the list — as might be expected — is finding new donors and bringing back lapsed ones. But they are also returning to a goal not focused on in recent years — developing new leadership. And as part of a larger policy of increasing outreach, federation leaders want to increase social action programs in the Central federation-affiliated communities in Somerset County.
The new campaign target of $5 million should be achievable, Singer said, if the federation succeeds in attracting 700 new givers, and wins back 500 who had given in the past but not in recent years.
“It’s been a team effort, but I really think we would have been much, much worse off if our professionals weren’t so good,” said Singer, interviewed at her new home in Livingston. “They really stayed on top of what was happening. Without these people, who are working on these issues day in and day out, it couldn’t have been done”
Amy Cooper, the federation’s associate executive vice president and director of financial resource development, was also present for the discussion. She pointed out that the 2008-09 campaign was launched with the Pacesetter event last year on the very day that the stock market took a cataclysmic plunge, but those big givers made the commitment that night to give just as much as they had in the past.
“We’ve kept going the whole year, sending out direct mailings, and calling people,” she said. That outreach to donors has become much more carefully directed, thanks to technical help from UJC.
In terms of cutting costs, Singer and Cooper both cited the benefits yielded by new coordination with other federations. Having cut the post of director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Central federation has partnered with other communities on advocacy work — for example, on upcoming actions to raise awareness about Iran’s nuclear build-up, including a panel discussion on Sept. 9 at Drew University, and a rally in Manhattan on Sept. 24.
“We started looking for ways to collaborate even before the recession set in,” Cooper said.
The federation is also partnering with United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ on a shared leadership development retreat on Thursday, Sept. 10.
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