PARTY ON!!

I have recalled for you, chevre, that during my UJA Chairmanship I took to heart the criticism leveled at the United Jewish Appeal from the great CJF Planning Director, Norbert Fruehauf, that UJA had become nothing more than "excellent party planners." UJA's Development professionals took the criticism to heart as well. We looked critically at ourselves; we reentered the arena of federation FRD -- training, lay leader solicitations, reinvigorated constituencies, innovative programming, strategic planning -- and we tried to respond to the federations and UJA's lay leadership. We attempted to renew ourselves pre-merger. One of my close friends, a terrific federation pro who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent, related to me that one of the participants in TribeFest questioned "..when did we get into the party business?" Or words to that effect. In 2011. Well, we're in it and from the pat, pat, pat of backpats, we're proud to be in it. Here's my take. JFNA doesn't know what to do with itself. It budgets $30.3 million per year and collects a substantial part of its Dues. It must believe that its funds are fungible because though it recites 58 programs in its current Budget, funding actually goes where ever its leaders direct. (The Budget is apparently but a set of multiple "suggestions" of where your funds will be spent.) Financial Resource Development used to be, long in the past now, the major Budget block for JFNA; now it's merely a memory; assisting federations with FRD used to be a major function, now that is but a memory...Now, beyond the substance of JFNA-Israel, or disaster response what is there of real substance? And how does JFNA define its purpose? (For example, for TribeFest it's "social action and volunteerism" [luckily without citation]), for its Annual Reports something far different). But, as JFNA's leaders can't, how would you define what JFNA is -- not what it should (or could) be? To many of us, first, JFNA must be a serious organization confronting serious issues in a serious way. Second, its priorities must be those of the federations -- it's great (OK, maybe not great) that JFNA "partnered" with 40 organizations, many with a focus on Jewish young men and women, many not, to the end that TribeFest would attract 1,000 people or more, and to what end? A Global Planning Table is being constructed ostensibly to increase the resources of our true "partners" but to what real end as JFNA has demonstrated no commitment to increasing those resources or advocating for them -- so, to what end? And, so it goes, in every area but Washington, one can ask the same question: to what end? Where has the question been asked of the federations, what are your priorities for us? (A good question for Jerry to have asked on his 78 federation visits. Maybe he did. To what end?) Then JFNA must act on the answers it receives. Not on the answers it thinks it hears -- on the actual answers it receives. If it is capable of doing so. My fear is that this JFNA is in the party planning business -- and we aren't real sure they are even good at that, just defensive. Rwexler