By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews
It took some last minute scrambling and a lot of holding of breath, but the Federation’s campaign has closed ahead of last year’s results. The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle’s annual community campaign ended April 30, and the final tally, according to the Federation’s Executive Vice President Barry Goren, stands at $5.977 million in unrestricted giving, about 2.5 percent ahead of last year’s campaign.
Unrestricted dollars are not designated by the donor for specific purposes, and may be used by beneficiary agencies for basic operating costs.
“Did we sweat it? We definitely sweat it,” said Goren, who noted that even up to the campaign’s last few weeks, he was unsure if they would reach the 2002 campaign total. That campaign ended lower than the previous year’s.
While exceeding last year’s campaign total, the Federation did not reach its original goal of $6.5 million. Federation board president Rob Spitzer said that “the goal was close to what the community really needs to meet some of the important demands for services.” But, he added, “the community needs more.”
Several factors, including competition for dollars between both Jewish and non-Jewish agencies; the steadily shrinking pool of donors — many of those responsible for larger gifts are reaching retirement age; and, of course, the poor economy have made fundraising very challenging in recent years. Still, Spitzer was upbeat about the Federation’s modest increase.
“In light of the economic conditions that are facing Seattle, and the difficulties that many institutions are facing, I’m happy with the result,” he said.
Fear of a larger-than-expected shortfall led to internal cost-cutting actions, including the elimination of two Federation staff positions. Chuck Broches, director of the Community Relations Department, and campaign fundraiser David Sabban were given their notice of termination in April. Broches will remain in his position until the end of the fiscal year, on June 30.
“We felt that in a year where we were faced with all these situations, we had to take a hard look at our own internal costs here at the [Federation],” Goren said.
Spitzer noted the economic crisis affecting the region and Israel. “We work hard to maximize the number of dollars that go to the people in need rather than have those moneys stay within the Federation building.”
According to Goren, “the fact that we were able to squeeze this modest increase” saved other positions that might have been cut.
Nonprofits around the country have been having trouble with fundraising efforts, and some have had to close their doors. Some of the Federation’s donors have been unable to fulfill their pledges. While smaller gifts don’t have a strong effect on the bottom line, Goren said he is much more concerned about drops in the $25,000–$30,000 range.
However, Goren noted that of the approximately 4,000 donations to the community campaign, nearly half either maintained or raised their gift from their unrestricted 2002 levels. He also mentioned that pledges can still be made on this year’s campaign through June 30.
With the totals announced and the last of the pledges trickling in, the Federation’s Planning and Allocations Committee must now decide where the money will go.
David Ellenhorn, who leads the committee, said it’s still too early to know if or where allocations will be cut. He echoed Goren’s assertation that “there are needs locally and there are needs worldwide, and we have to meet both of those needs.”
Locally, two social services agencies have expressed a greater need than in previous years. “The agencies that we support,” said Goren, “particularly the JFS and the Seattle Association [for the Jewish Disabled] are experiencing unprecedented demand for service. At the same time they’re experiencing a downturn in their” ability to provide those services.
In addition, Goren said, “some of the support they’ve been able to access from public funding is not going to be there.”
The SAJD is having its own problems as well.
“The SAJD’s endowment income is down significantly,” Ellenhorn said, and “they have significant demands for their services.” While it’s a small agency, SAJD helps members of the Jewish community who would otherwise be among the most vulnerable, Goren said. Both SAJD and JFS have asked for significant funding increases.
In addition to financial crises locally, the Federation also has a commitment to international aid, particularly in Israel, the former Soviet Union, and most recently Argentina.
With the economic upheaval in Argentina over the past two years, “you have a lot of [the Jewish population] who have become instantly poor,” said Goren. “We’ve been asked for a lot of extra money to respond to that situation.”
Nobody denies that this has been a tough year for the Federation. As the agency works to reshape itself to become more efficient and sophisticated in its fundraising efforts, it has a lot of work ahead. With hard times and a greater need for basic social services, “we’ve got to focus on our mission to be as wise stewards of the community’s money as possible.” Spitzer said