Linda and Murray Laulicht, left, visit a classroom in Ofakim in October 2007. Their funding through UJC MetroWest will support nutrition programs at the Laulicht Center being built at the MetroWest Partnership 2000 community in the Negev.
Photo courtesy Linda and Murray Laulicht
July 3, 2008
For much of their history, Jewish federations around the country marked the end of their annual fund-raising campaigns with simple arithmetic: how much money the campaign raised for local and overseas needs, and how much would be allocated.
But with the goal of bringing in new sources of funding in tough economic times, and identifying new philanthropists in an era of change, federations like United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ are looking at a new model, one they call “Collaborative Fund-raising.”
No one at UJC MetroWest downplays the importance of its annual UJA campaign. Yet its professional and lay leaders are also touting a “system” of fund-raising that emphasizes supplementary gifts, planned giving, and endowments.
“Of course, the UJA annual campaign remains very important for the basic support it gives our local and overseas partner agencies and allows us to creatively leverage these supplementary gifts,” said Gary Aidekman, the newly elected president of UJC MetroWest.
However, said Aidekman, “As we move into the 21st century, it is imperative that UJC move toward this innovative model of philanthropy.”
The new approach, he said, “will not only bring in new sources of funding to the community, but will also bring new philanthropists into the MetroWest community in support of important program services that address Jewish needs and continue to build the MetroWest Jewish community.”
Announcing the results as the first year under the new model draws to a close, MetroWest officials said it had amassed $80 million in revenues in 2007-08, of which approximately $23.9 million is expected to come from the annual unrestricted UJA Campaign. Last year the annual campaign also raised $23.9 million.
The bulk of that $80 million figure is derived from the Jewish Community Foundation, UJC’s planned-giving arm.
“We should be up over $20 million from the prior year” in overall income, said Arthur Sandman, the associate executive vice president for program services at UJC MetroWest. “It is very exciting for us.”
Sandman acknowledged that local beneficiary agencies will receive, on average, two percent decreases in their annual allocations.
The 2008-09 operating budget “should be at around 98 percent of last year’s level,” said Sandman. This year, $8.1 million will go directly to Israel as compared to $8.4 million from the previous year. “It’s a tough economy, and it’s having an impact on some of our donors.”
But Sandman and other UJC MetroWest officials are quick to emphasize the new initiatives the organization has launched in response to a changing philanthropic climate.
“The nature of philanthropy is changing, and we are changing along with it to help our donors realize their philanthropic dreams,” said Aidekman.
“Our efforts have already resulted in a large influx of new funds for our three Jewish day schools, for Jewish camping scholarships, for a free Jewish literature program providing books and CDs to young families and children up to age five, and for the creation of the Laulicht Center for Children at Risk in Ofakim, Israel.”
New initiatives
Aidekman was referring to four new and existing programs. Last year UJC MetroWest launched a $50 million community-wide campaign for the three area day schools that would allow each to draw on a community fund and a matching pool coordinated by the Jewish Community Foundation of MetroWest, UJC MetroWest’s planned giving and endowment arm.
“In collaboration with foundation funding, we expect $1.5 million will be pumped into our day schools next year for computer labs, science progr
Last year, UJC MetroWest launched a $50 million communitywide campaign for the three area day schools; here students at Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union take part in a recycling effort.
ams, and languages, as well as funds to address the affordability of the day schools,” Sandman said.
This coming year, UJC MetroWest plans to provide $50,000 for nutrition programs in the Israeli city of Ofakim, a working-class city that is part of the MetroWest Partnership 2000 program. The money will be used in conjunction with the Laulicht Center, a building funded by a major gift from Linda and Murray Laulicht of West Orange to provide the disadvantaged children of Ofakim with nutrition and social services.
Another collaborative effort with outside funding sources is the PJ Library, which provides Jewish books and music to families with young children. The program is supported by the Boston-based Harold Grinspoon Foundation, with matching funds from UJC.
The UJC’s Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning also provided $50,000 in scholarships for Jewish summer camps.
“Because of the challenges of not being able to give away all the money in unrestricted operating support that we would like to, we have as a community consciously set aside dollars for programs that are going to have an exciting and visible impact on this community next year,” Sandman said.
As for the impact on beneficiary agencies, Sandman noted that many federated agencies, like the Jewish Family Service and the Jewish Vocational Service of MetroWest, also receive state and federal funds as well as grants from private foundations.
“I know that agencies are under stress,” said Sandman. And yet, he added, there is “a paradigm shift taking place in Jewish communities across the country, in which the community impact is no longer delivered just through unrestricted annual allocations.”
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