Community Campaign 2004 closes with $7,963,730 achievement

At its June 29 Board meeting, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation approved $10.6 million in local, continental and overseas allocations for the fiscal year 2004-2005, which began July 1. The $10.6 million represents a five percent increase over available funding last year, the highest percentage increase in five years.

The primary source of these funds remains the Annual Community Campaign, which in 2004 achieved $7,963,730, almost $230,000 more than was raised in 2003. The campaign funds, which were energized by the $100,000 Lubar Family Challenge Grant, are combined with a portion of the income from the unrestricted funds of the Jewish Community Foundation, the federation’s endowment development program. Both of these funding streams are buttressed by new fiscal policies designed to ensure long-term financial stability and growth.

Following are some questions and answers regarding this year’s allocations.

Q. Is the funding process the same every year?

A. Every year, the federation’s board of directors approves all allocations and budgets. This year, four allocations panels (instead of five), comprising varied community members, reviewed community priorities and recommended to the federation’s Agency Relations Committee how funds should be allocated to local programs and services. Marci Taxman and Abigail J. Nash are the committee co-chairs.

Panel members’ decisions this year were informed by the results of a priority-setting survey sent last winter to close to 700 active members of the community. Responses placed education programs for children as the top priority, followed by identification with Israel, reduction in the spread of anti-Semitism, programs for teens and college students, and recruitment and training of Jewish educators.

Overseas allocations are based on recommendations from the federation’s Israel and Overseas Committee, which was chaired by Jerry Benjamin.

“This year, the Agency Relations Committee streamlined its process so that constituent agencies presented their program budgets to four panels according to the type of services provided: supportive, formal education, informal education/preschool, and community outreach. This new structure helped everyone: the agencies, who were able to present to fewer panels than in the past, and the panel members, who had more information and therefore could look at each agency not only from the perspective of the particular program under review, but also from the perspective of the agency as a whole and of the slate of services provided by all agencies in the community.

“Part of our emphasis in streamlining the allocations process is the value we place on our volunteers’ time. We have achieved an efficient process that is extremely rewarding, but that also provides a true partnership with our agencies as well as a comprehensive view of what’s happening in the community. We hope that this will provide an incentive for other members of the community to volunteer to become panel members.”

Marci Taxman, Agency Relations Committee Co-Chair

Q. What’s important to know about this year’s local allocations?

A. Local allocations this year totaled $4,532,390 compared to $4,304,000 last year. As a result, the board approved the Agency Relations Committee’s recommendation of a five percent increase to the following constituent agencies or programs:

• B’nai B’rith Youth Organization
• Coalition for Jewish Learning
• Children’s Lubavitch Living and Learning Center
• Hillel Foundation University of Wisconsin (Madison)
• Hillel Foundation – Milwaukee
• Israel Center
• Jewish Chaplaincy Program
• Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations
• Milwaukee Jewish Home and Care Center
• Wisconsin Jewish Conference

Allocations to the Milwaukee Jewish Historical Society and the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle also rose by five percent, and the allocations for Aurora Sinai Medical Center, the Interfaith Conference and Project Equality will remain the same. Allocations to the Milwaukee Jewish Day School and Yeshiva Elementary School were substantially higher based on the community survey’s emphasis on Jewish education. Hillel Academy’s allocation remained the same as last year based on the recommendation of the federation’s Joint Ad Hoc Hillel Academy Committee.

“The allocations process is actually the final step in a year-long communal effort that begins with our Annual Community Campaign. The two are intensely interdependent: Our ability to fund our constituent agencies at a higher level, as we did this year, depends on a strong campaign; and a strong campaign depends on the goodwill and support of our agencies and those involved in them.

“That’s why we critically need volunteers to be involved in, and bring their talents to, both the allocations process and our campaign. Being involved in these interdependent endeavors increases volunteers’ sensitivity to how we can best meet all the needs in our community from the very start of the process — the kick off of the campaign — to the end, when we allocate the dollars we raise.”

Judy Segall Guten, MJF President

Q. What happened to the funds that were allocated previously to Jewish Family Services Child Development Center, which was merged this year with the Early Childhood Program at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center? Weren’t changes also made in the area of senior adult programs in our community?

A. The program portion of the money that was previously allocated to JFS’ center ($21,829) was reallocated to JFS’ Exceptional Needs Program. The occupancy costs of JFS’ center ($32,500) were transferred to the JCC to be used for the merged childcare program. All other program allocations to JFS and the JCC increased by five percent.

Similarly, the prior year’s $60,000 allocation for the JCC Senior Center, which had been housed at the Jewish Home and Care Center, was allocated as follows: $40,000 to the JCC’s new adult program “Off Center,” currently being offered at Congregation Beth Israel and the JCC; and $20,000 to the JHCC’s Lakeside Senior Enrichment Program, which includes the only kosher meal site in Milwaukee County, and programming activity for local participants. The JHCC was also allocated the additional cost of providing kosher meals above the money provided by Milwaukee County, a cost the federation has paid in the past.

Q. What other allocations are made, and is there something new about them this year?

A. Allocations are made to more than 20 national agencies, such as the Jewish Community Centers Association and the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization. There were some small increases in these areas reflecting the increase in allocable funds.

Allocations are also made for overseas needs. The core overseas allocation is forwarded by United Jewish Communities, MJF’s umbrella organization, to the federation’s two overseas partners: the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel. These allocations also increased by five percent, totaling $2,212,900.

The remaining elective portion — 10 percent of the overseas allocation whose use is decided locally — also increased by five percent to $245,900 and will be used to fund part of the local Shlichut (Israel) programs and specific projects in Milwaukee’s Partnership 2000 region of Sovev Kinneret.

What’s new this year is that funds were allocated to the “birthright israel” free, peer-based, Israel travel program, which UJC has extended for another five years and which has been funded each year by individual contributors donating a total of $27,000. This year, the allocations process provided an additional $13,000, half of which will be returned through a challenge grant from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.

Finally, the increase in allocable funds made it possible to provide $6,500 for P2K programs held in Milwaukee; in past years, this money came from grants from the Jewish Community Foundation.

“In the past year, our partnership with Israel and Jewish communities in need around the world has deepened. The increase in our 2004 Community Campaign means that we will feed more who are hungry, and improve the quality of life for the elderly, new olim (immigrants) and children who have been victims of terror in Israel.

“Each and every donor to our campaign should be proud of the part they played in making the world Jewish community a more gentle place to live for the Jews who need us most.”

Jerry Benjamin, Israel and Overseas Committee Chair

Q. Are there any independent measures of the federation as a philanthropic organization?

A. According to Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation received the highest overall rating possible, which includes organizational efficiency.

A full listing of sources and distribution of funds for the 2004-2005 fiscal year will be available in the federation’s annual report, which will be published next month.

Vivian M. Rothschild is strategic communications director of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.