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April 18, 2003/Nisan 16 5763, Vol. 55, No. 34
If you don't ask...
FLORENCE ECKSTEIN
Publisher
While 123 of the wealthiest American Jews gave $5.3 billion to charity between 1995 and 2000 in mega-gifts of $10 million and more, how much of it went to Jewish organizations?
"Virtually nothing," says Gary Tobin, referring to the mere $318 million for Jewish causes. Tobin, president of the San Francisco-based Institute for Jewish Community and Research and author of a new report on the giving patterns of major Jewish philanthropists, revealed the findings at a recent gathering of the Jewish Funders Network, a group of family foundations and philanthropic ventures.
Tobin speculates there may be "something wrong with the facilitators" at the institutions responsible for connecting Jewish givers to Jewish causes.
"Are we asking?" wonders study co-author Jeffrey Solomon. Well, are we? Consider the 2002 Greater Phoenix Jewish Community Study, which found that although 85 percent of 44,000 Valley Jewish households contribute to charity, only 25 percent give to the local Jewish federation.
As to why local Jews don't contribute to the federation, a projected 5,100 said, "no one asked."
These findings come as little surprise in our community, where the synagogue affiliation rate is only 29 percent and Jewish community center membership is 9 percent.
Planning consultant Jacob Ukeles, lead author of Phoenix's 2002 study, argues the challenge is far-reaching. "There is only one essential mission for this new century," he wrote in a 2001 article in "The Forward": "to build a national Jewish community."
In the "Forward" article, Ukeles makes a case for a refocused national Jewish agenda, and his words ring true for our Southwestern Jewish community. If we've come a long way from the frontier, we have a long way to go to meet the challenges of geographic and denominational diversity, compounded by rapid population growth. Even as many of our organizations are committed to innovation, others are stuck, reaching to today's challenges with yesterday's solutions.
Promisingly, the framework of a 21st-century Jewish community is firmly in place here, with the Ina Levine Jewish Community campus and its agencies, two Jewish community centers, three dozen congregations, numerous schools and scores of organizations.
The 2002 local study helps point the way to put flesh on our community bones. We will succeed if and when we focus on a clearly defined community agenda, establish a "solid business plan," as Jewish Funders Network Executive Vice President, Mark Charendoff phrases it, and present the plan to contributors at all income levels.
Getting there will require volunteers and professional program providers and fund-raisers committed to the future of American Jewish life - people who understand the adage, "If you don't ask, you don't get."
And if our federation wants to secure its place as the flagship local community entity, it will reach out to engage us all.
Get it?
Contact the writer at flo_eckstein@jewishaz.com.
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