Voices at the table

Editorial

Agencies of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix have received a welcome lump sum of cash. Last June, seven of the 11 constituent agencies learned that the federation would withhold 10 percent of their allocations, potentially to be redistributed to other agencies after a review of the allocations process.

Now the federation has returned that 10 percent.

Many of the agencies felt blindsided by the news that the federation would withhold allocations that they had already budgeted for programs and services for the 2003-2004 calendar year. With the return of the money is an assurance that agencies will not have to eliminate additional programs and services.

Equally fruitful have been discussions addressing federation allocations. For the first time, agencies have representatives on the formal working group that gives feedback to the Commission on Jewish Continuity and Community, the organization that annually determines agency allocations. This is a significant step to improve relations between the federation and its constituent agencies - to give the agencies a voice expressing communal needs.

An equally significant step is for us, the members of the Jewish community, to take a greater financial stake in the agencies that comprise our community's organizational infrastructure. The annual campaign helps to support each agency's operations. But based upon data from the 2002 Greater Phoenix Jewish Community Study, only 25 percent of us contributed to the federation in 2001; of the 85 percent of us who made a charitable donation, only 51 percent gave to a Jewish organization of any kind; and for those of us who arrived in the Valley in the past 10 years, only 16 percent gave to the federation.

According to the study, reasons for these low numbers vary. Many responders said that no one from the federation asked them to give. Some said they did not know enough about the federation. Others said they never thought about contributing.

Ensuring the success of federation agencies requires a collaborative effort. The federation can do a better job educating the public about who they are and about the agencies they help fund. We can do a better job with emotionally and financially investing in our community and not waiting for our phones to ring.

In the dawn of this new year, we can begin planning our charitable giving. In 2002, we gave $200,000 less to the federation than in 2001. In 2004, let's start at the beginning, with our commitments to the agencies that make our community work.

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