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March 5, 1999/17 Adar 5759, Vol. 51, No. 23
Federation backs merger of UJA, CJF
TAMI BICKLEY
Staff Writer
The Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix last week voted unanimously in favor of the pending merger between the United Jewish Appeal and the Council of Jewish Federations.
The two organizations have been considering a merger for the past three years, according to Neil Hiller, president of the Phoenix federation.
When it was discovered that there was "duplicate national staff and duplicate national offices for largely the same purpose," the groups felt a merger would save in expenses, while allocating more money toward charitable work as opposed to administrative work, Hiller said.
Recently, UJA and CJF produced a formal document announcing their desire to merge; however, the groups must attain the votes of CJF member organizations for the merger to be approved. The UJA has already approved the merger, but a two-thirds majority vote from among the 187 federations that belong to CJF also is necessary for the merger to go forward.
"We have an opportunity for this to be effective and efficient," Hiller said. "The new organization will be recognized as a voice of the Jewish community."
One aspect of the merger on which the federation board also was asked to vote deals with loans made to people who immigrated from the former Soviet Union to Israel in 1992. At the time, several Israeli banks had agreed to loan up to $200 million to the immigrants to help them pay for houses, cars and other goods on the condition that they have collateral or provide a loan guarantee. Since the immigrants did not have the collateral, the CJF agreed to provide loan guarantees.
Currently, the outstanding amount on the loan is $100 million, with a default rate of 2 percent. Since the loans are being repaid steadily, the CJF, which has an $85 million reserve fund specifically to pay off the loans if necessary, has not yet been called on to pay the banks. If CJF merges with UJA, federation board members voted to allow the new entity to transfer the responsibility for the guarantee to United Israel Appeal.
"That ($85 million) that was set aside would have just been given to UIA anyway to do resettlement work in Israel. So it will just become part of their assets and the work they do (if the loans get paid off)," Hiller noted.
On another issue, the local board voted to assign ownership of the future Jewish Community Center campus at 40th Street and Shea Boulevard in Phoenix to the Jewish Community Foundation.
Officials plan to form a limited liability corporation (LLC), with the foundation as the sole owner.
There will be a board of directors appointed by the president of federation.
Board members also voted to appoint an operating management committee to the campus, made up of seven to 11 members, that will oversee housekeeping issues such as repairs and day-to-day cleaning.
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