The Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix is beginning a transition into a new method of distributing campaign funds.
Major changes include implementing a Community Think Tank (CTT) and community councils and moving toward distributing funds beyond the federation's 11 local constituent agencies.
The aim "is to transform the federation into an organization that facilitates planning strategically with and on behalf of the entire Jewish community on a short-, medium- and long-term basis," said Adam Schwartz, federation president and CEO, who met with Jewish News last week to talk about the changes.
This transformation began more than two years ago, with the installation of a new board. In March 2008, the board appointed a Role of Federation Task Force to commit to re-creating the federation to lead the Phoenix Jewish community through an "intensified focus on community planning" and "financial resource development in support of communal need," according to federation documents about the task force.
A new process
The former allocations process involved a committee of about 20 people sitting in four to five multi-hour meetings each spring to decide how campaign funds would be distributed among the federation's local constituent agencies, according to Schwartz. Representatives from the agencies would give 30-minute presentations on financial needs, and committee members would make on-site visits to the agencies.
It was a good process, communally, Schwartz said, as the committee reflected a cross-section of the community and at times included agency board members, with any conflicts of interest disclosed up front. However, the funding was based on historical needs, and the allocations were made after campaign money was raised.
The new method involves determining current needs throughout the entire process, Schwartz explained, with ongoing discussions throughout the year.
In this transition year, which involves distributing funds raised in the 2009 Campaign for Jewish Needs, the dozen or so members of the CTT, chaired by Bob Silver, will recommend an allocation plan for the 2009 campaign, which raised $4.2 million. The board will vote on the recommendations at the end of April.
In future years, however, the CTT will work with community councils to evaluate needs and decide on how to fund them. The councils will be made up of representatives from a mix of demographics from throughout the Jewish and general communities, Schwartz said. They will include traditional partners, such as Jewish agencies; nontraditional partners, such as synagogues; and organizations that provide services to the broader community, to learn from agencies outside of the Jewish community and avoid duplication of services.
To date, one council has been established: the Community Council on Israel and Overseas, which will handle distributing funds internationally.
Two additional councils are now being formed: the Community Council on Education and Outreach (which includes formal education like day schools and religious schools, and will eventually include new areas of focus, such as Jewish camping and organizations like the Arizona Jewish Theatre Company and the Arizona Jewish Historical Society, according to Schwartz); and the Community Council on Social Services and Vulnerable Populations, which includes agencies like Jewish Family & Children's Service and Kivel Campus of Care and other services for the elderly. National organizations will be included on a topical basis.
Distribution of funds
For the past few years, local campaign allocations have been distributed primarily among the federation's 12 constituent agencies. Last year, the number decreased to 11 when The King David School and Jess Schwartz College Prep merged to become the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community Day School.
Other agencies include the Barness Family Jewish Community Center, the Council for Jews With Special Needs, Hillel at ASU, JFCS, Kivel, the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center and other Jewish day schools.
The federation's overseas partners are The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and will be addressed by the Community Council on Israel and Overseas.
In recent campaigns, the federation has allowed donors to direct dollars to other Jewish nonprofit organizations after making their donation to the general campaign (which helped provide funds for the federation's constituent agencies).
In the future, however, beginning with the 2010 campaign, the federation plans to discontinue the practice of only funding federation agencies and instead distribute funds to local Jewish agencies or organizations based on community needs. The community councils - with approval from the CTT and the federation board - will identify and prioritize these needs.
"In challenging economic times such as we're experiencing, not only here locally but on a national level, it is time to develop some new models and ... to see if we can be more strategic with how the dollars are given and used," said Jill Kessler, head of school at Pardes Jewish Day School, one of the federation's constituent agencies. "I'm very open to seeing how this would work."
Frank Jacobson, JFCS vice president of marketing and development, called a recent meeting between federation leadership and JFCS leadership to discuss the new process "encouraging" and "inspiring" and that JFCS participants left the meeting with "a renewed sense of community spirit."
"We recognize the economic challenges that the federation and the community face," he said. "I really admire what the federation is trying to do."
The federation hopes to launch a series of town-hall meetings this spring at locations throughout the Valley, to hear from community members about what's needed from the federation.
"As hard as it may be for some of us, we want to hear the good and the bad," Schwartz said.
"We intend on trying to deal with enhancing things people like and trying to respond and overcome the things that people don't like on behalf of our community."
Schwartz emphasizes that the changes will take time, as existing needs currently funded by the federation will continue. "We can't all of a sudden say that we're going to move away from funding those things and move on to what's new. ...
"This is a long-term change that we are going to push to implement as quickly as it is reasonable without undermining critical needs for the community that are being addressed," he said.
"Our commitment is to (implementing this process) and doing it right and to doing it in a sustainable fashion that allows us to serve a different role in enhancing Jewish life throughout the entire Greater Phoenix Jewish community."
