An ambitious goal for 2007

by Norm Oshrin
Special to NJ Jewish News

THE JEWISH FEDERATION of Greater Monmouth County has set a fund-raising goal for the next year or two of $3.5 million — up almost a million from this past year’s $2.5 million, according to Howard Gases, federation executive director.

To get there, the frank reality of fund-raising should be tempered with a more personal approach, said one of the three cochairs for the annual fund-raising campaign launched by the federation at its June 13 annual meeting. “We have to make a greater effort to know the people who contribute,” suggested Andrew Melnick, who lives in Locust. “It has to be more than talking on the phone. We have to get to know them better over the full year, building a relationship, trying to get a sense of their feelings relative to the Jewish community [and giving them] a better sense of what the federation does for the Jewish community here, in the world, in Israel.”

In short, said Melnick, “we have to develop a full-year program, rather than just Super Sunday and other events. One on one, more person-to-person, building relations” over lunch and dinner, for example.

Melnick, retired after managing a global department for a brokerage firm on Wall Street, hopes to apply his expertise in his newest challenge.

“Seeing how things get organized, thinking problems through, being analytical about how to go about attacking problems,” he explained. “On Wall Street, it was pretty direct and bottom line. I think the Jewish federation has done a lot of good things, but our appeal seems to be to tears, not to success.

“We have to talk about positives,” he said, especially in the federation’s outreach to the young. “We have to appeal in a different way. I measure results based on success rather than tears.”

In her second year as a campaign chair for the Monmouth federation, Stephanie Ackerman of Marlboro views the present and future health of the Jewish community as her top priority.

“Because we have such a diverse community, it is important to get the message out to let people know the needs,” said Ackerman, a former Jewish Federation of Ocean County board member and a former executive director of that federation. “I think we are so fortunate to live the lives we live, [but] it is critical we don’t take for granted what we have here.”

In the campaign, explained Ackerman — who also teachers computer skills at Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Monmouth County in Marlboro — “we take one building block at a time, evaluate our growth, and take the next step. We ask the community not to think about being asked for money but to remember where the money goes and the faces of the recipients.

“Monmouth County is a very affluent community with many, many Jews. Western Monmouth is growing in leaps and bounds,” she said. “But many don’t know who we are. We must make them understand there are others not as fortunate as we.”

It is a theme she conveyed in a brief address at the annual meeting — and one embraced by both Melnick and cochair Joe Hollander.

“From understanding comes funds,” said Hollander, speaking from his Holmdel home. “We have to get back to basics, touch individuals, and have a year-round process of talking to and cultivating donors.

“Our belief is if we touch them more than once, talk to them about what’s going on, it will translate into funds. As much as we want to increase the share at higher levels, part of it is to reach all Jews and touch as many as we can in Monmouth,” said Hollander.

Melnick said he hopes to reach out to newer residents of western Monmouth County. “It is important to make sure they get drawn into the federation,” he said. “We must reach out more and build that part of it.”

Hollander — who works with global technology for a large marketing-advertising firm —said he also intends to adapt business principles to the fund-raising process.

Overall, he said, “this is part of why we do this as a Jewish people in general. It’s about tzedaka, it’s about responsibility to the Jews in the community and around the world.

“As needs grow, there’s a need for people to step up to the plate,” Melnick said. “A lot of us have been very fortunate — but many still contribute what they did five years ago. I think it’s about time they think about how the federation has expanded, increased its costs, how Israel is less able to support a lot of its needs because of other demands.”

Executive director Gases acknowledged that reality.

“The annual campaign is the bread and butter of the federation,” he said. “We cannot do anything without it and can’t meet the ever-increasing needs of the community without a larger campaign.”