"I DON'T KNOW WHY THEY SAY THE TITANIC IS SINKING; MY HALF IS 100 FEET IN THE AIR"

This Post's title was either stated by CEO Jerry or was sent to me by a well-known aficionado of tweets. In either case, it struck me as the opinion of the same person who uttered those immortal words to live by: "see no evil, hear no evil..and you can lead JFNA." At JFNA down is up and black is white...and woe is us. But, then again, JFNA continues to be about itself, and the Co-Chairs, who are approaching the halfway mark of their terms have either been disinterested or unable to right this sinking ship...or, worse, they may believe, as does their CEO, that, things are just fine. 

Examples abound:

• Start with The Network. Coopted by JFNA leaders with promises from Kathy Manning of greater engagement and increased integration into JFNA, The Network Board was then divested of all powers and its exec terminated with a resultant alienation of the best of a most generous leadership of our 300 non-federated small communities around America. How is The Network doing? Well, under Network Chairs like Dick Spiegel and Joel Alperson, The Network raised as I recall $10,000,000 in the early years of JFNA (JFNA, we've learned, now claims those numbers -- its own numbers -- were "inflated."). Immediately prior to the Manning "defenstration" of The Network it raised in excess of $7.5 million for the aggregate Annual Campaign; one year later I have been told by those within JFNA that it raised almost $2,000,000 less...that would be a reduction of over 25%. Who could believe that this could happen? How's that for JFNA FRD? (We'll write more about this soon.)
• The JFNA and Campaign. To her credit, Development Chair Linda Adler Hurwitz has organized a "Development Cabinet" that includes "over 40 Communities." And she and her new lead professional have sent out a list of "recommendations to maximize fund raising." Of course, if you read the two pages and implement every single recommendation, your community's FRD won't, in fact, be "maximized." Most of these recommendations are, what I would characterize as "toilet training fund raising" and the rest are old wine in old bottles. But, hey, you have to start somewhere.
• Then there is the Dues Budget. Many of you will recall that JFNA committed itself to raise $1.5 million to reach its total 2014 Budget goal. How's that coming; has JFNA sold itself to Foundations and promised them programming that might not otherwise be on its agenda to try and reach that goal? Is that the JFNA version of "fund raising" and is it acceptable practice -- that funding Foundations (doing wonderful work, of course) are setting the system's priorities and the GA Agenda? Sort of an institutional "pay to play?" And Dues? How many federations have told JFNA that they can or will no longer pay the Dues imposed upon them? How many have expressed a sense of taxation without representation that they will no longer tolerate?
• And what about The Alliance? After another Strategic Plan and new lay leadership, one might have expected more than a reduced allocations pool, federations withdrawing from membership and at least two, for the moment, allocated national agencies out of business as at year-end 2013. JFNA has taken its usual position: "What's The Alliance?" Instead of National Agencies having their agendas validated and Alliance member federations being the National Agencies' advocates, these valued Agencies have to devote more time and resources to their own FRD efforts that should be devoted to their core purposes (or, in the case of JCPA, to its CEO publicly advocating for support for Kerry's "peace" proposals) . And, JFNA -- "What's the Alliance?" And, this week, Joe Kanfer, who as JFNA Chair presided over the decline of The Alliance, joined his daughter in a thoughtful ejewishphilanthropy piece discussing the "need" for umbrella Agencies. Hmmm, where was that discussion during Joe Kanfer's seemingly never-ending terms at JFNA?
• Silence. Where is JFNA's voice on any issue? The peace process, the constant drumbeat of anti-Israel slanting in its news stories and op-ed pages by The New York Times, restitution for Holocaust Survivors and their direct heirs most in need, the implications of the dire circumstances in the Ukraine on the Jewish community there -- on any vital issue all we hear is...nothing. Certainly there are issues of such complexity that a member organization cannot frame a public position, but there are also those on which there is a common view with broad support; but, still, JFNA has no voice. While in Israel this week, Chair Siegal (in a Memo that accompanied a letter [what else?] to the Prime Minister signed, in a most bizarre and ignorant way, by Siegal, Silverman and Becky Caspi [?] but not by the JFNA Co-Chair, Dede Feinberg) discussed a progressive Knesset Bill "to change the conversion process" in Israel but fretted the potential negative consequences.
• Who Will the Apologist Be Now? Joe Berkofsky, longtime JFNA "explainer-in-chief" has left the organization after a decade of having to explain the often inexplicable. He joins PuderPR as CEO. Good luck, Joe.

JFNA could matter; it could make a difference; it could stand for something; it could raise money -- but that would require leadership for starters.

Rwexler

P.S. The following is an example of JFNA's courageous voice:http://feedly.com/e/mblM0zu2 -- you really have to read it ro believe it.