Thursday, May 28, 2015

THE BAD, BAD, BAD GAMES THEY PLAY (WITH "OPM")

JFNA has been guilty of negligence over the years; it has enabled programs of no value; it has abandoned its overseas partners at critical times if not constantly -- but not until this year has it so transparently applied funds from other sources to fund itself without regard for fiduciary duty or, even, honesty. While in an earlier Post I applauded the extent of the debate and the transparency that preceded the diversion of donors' funds from Terror Relief as they intended, the decision was just a violation of fiduciary duty executed in plain sight.

Let's look at the facts:


  • JFNA has an annual Dues Budget of over $30 million, much of which is wasted on staff over-compensation; its real Budget exceeds $40 million.  Nonetheless its CEO has complained over time that this Budget (the line-by-line allocations from which have been consistently ignored to apply funds wherever the professional staff has deemed necessary while the Treasurer and Budget & Finance Committee merely blinks) is inadequate to meet JFNA's needs, whatever those may be;
  • The CEO has promised to fund raise to increase the amounts JFNA deems necessary to fund itself "adequately" but, not surprisingly, no one is buying in;
  • So, the chachams have come up with a "solution" -- "we'll just create programs and take the money to fund them from where they were supposed to be applied." Here are two egregious examples:
    • Funding The Education Unit. JFNA leaders leaned heavily on the leaders of the National Agencies Alliance to transfer funds intended for the federation-created family of National Agencies to enable JFNA to create this Unit within JFNA. Remember, this was done after a secret (no other way to describe it) consultant's study at a cost to the National Agencies (because it was from their funding that the consultant's fees were paid) of $308,000, resulted in an "Alliance decision" to fund this new Unit to the tune of $410,000 per year. To JFNA this is fund raising; to me this is theft. $2,000,000 for JFNA to play education with -- that's to JFNA with no successful operational experience and no evidence that it can run anything. Was there a proven need for this Unit; not to anyone's knowledge. Was there any proven ability of JFNA to operate an Education Unit; not to anyone's knowledge. So let's grab $2+ million of Agencies' money (money which the vetted national agencies desperately need) and let JFNA play with it. For JFNA it's other people's money anyway; and JFNA leadership just nods its collective head.
    • Funding the Negev Work Group/Negev Funding Coalition. The Jewish National Fund, the Ben Gurion University of the Negev and other credible organizations have or are committed to invest 100's of millions of dollars in the Negev -- funds that the charitable organizations have raised themselves and in cooperation with the Government of Israel. JFNA has been, in its mind, in Negev development activities since 2006 when it established a Negev Work Group which, supposedly, "...evaluates the most effective ways in which the...Federations...can contribute to the development and enhancement of the Negev." Then it established the companion Negev Funding Coalition in 2011 (comprised of 8 federations) apparently to fund the needs determined by the Work Group -- a typical Rube Goldbergian set-up that has produced negligible funding for less than ambitious projects. Then, with $4.1 million -- money raised for and committed to Terror Relief by donors during Operation Protective Edge -- not yet allocated, someone at JFNA (no doubt one or more of the minions at JFNA-Israel) said, "hey, where's ours? Let's convert this money from Terror Relief, its intended, committed purpose, to the Negev Work Group." As one Commentator noted: "I guess it was hard to make a decision so staff suggested they give $2.5 Million to themselves and the JFNA committee went along with them - donors gave to an emergency fund and ended up contributing to an ongoing project and continued empire-building..." In other words, let's use funds, not for their intended purposes, but for something else even though (1) the Terror Relief Funds raised during Operation Protective Edge were far less than any reasonable goal (had JFNA had one); and (2) Israel's population is threatened with the potential for a much more damaging war in the near-term future. In a self-congratulatory (and with totally confusing math*) JFNA puff piece -- The Sirens Have Stopped. The Needs Remain -- JFNA can only account for $31.5 million of $55 million that "[W]e raised" in Operation Protective Edge. Therein that $2.5 million appears to be hidden within a silo titled "Fortify Regional Networks of Support" while the Israeli press reported that a Hamas rocket attack on May 26 sent traumatized Victims of Terror -- children -- to the hospital. 
  • JFNA, under this leadership, even with a budget that claims that 50% is spent on Fund Raising, has demonstrated, among other things, that it does not know how to raise money let alone how to train others to fund raise. So, what the hell, let's see what sources we can find to pull big money for unintended purposes. We ought to be ashamed...but we're not, are we?
Rwexler

* This "fact sheet" actually recites the following: "We raised $55 million and sent it directly to where it was needed the most. More than half of the funds were allocated by the Jewish Federations of North America and the rest by individual Federations." Do these leaders even know where "half the funds" went?


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

But JFNA I&O needs to keep expanding if it is to compete with existing agencies in Israel (maybe some day even replace them?) so what's wrong with allocating program funds out of the emergency campaign to itself?
If you can't raise it honestly for what you want to use it for why not raise it for a compelling emergency cause and then use it for whatever serves your own purposes and designs?
After all, the lay committee trusts us and will do whatever we suggest more or less - no? If they are willing to let us get away with this why shouldn't we give it our best shot?
And now that we have shown that we can get away with it, why not use this "funding model" over and over again to achieve "success"?
And so it goes and will continue to go until someone figures out how evil and wrong this is and is willing to stand up and put a stop to it!

RWEX said...

Spot on, my friend. And lay leaders one would have hoped and expected would stand up and shout "the Emperor/Empress has no clothes" just sit back, heads in the sand.

Anonymous said...

Where is the mailbox for flood relief in Texas?

Anonymous said...

Where is the mailbox for flood relief in Texas?

Anonymous said...

Mailbox for Texas was right there in Fedworld. Now how could that be missed?

Anonymous said...

That is the Houston Federation's Fund; not jana's. No doubt JFNA is upset with Houston leadership for preempting JFNA's reflexive creation of Mailboxes for every emergency.

Anonymous said...

For those of you who are on the JFNA Board, there is a Board meeting this coming weekend in NYC.......is anyone going to bring this up?

Anonymous said...

In some states such abuse by a not for profit organization would be investigated by the state attorney general and if true could result in either fines, loss of not-for-profit status, or possibly jail time for professionals and lay leaders or even all of the aforementioned penalties. Does anyone remember the expose of the UW in the 1990's followed by the rapid cancellation of future funding thru the parent group of the UW?

Anonymous said...

I've been a follower of this blog. Enough already. If indeed most of you commentators are Federation leaders, go to the Monday meeting...walk to the mike and express yourselves. Othersise either you aren't the leaders you say you are or worse you are part of the problems you bemoan!

RWEX said...

To the last Anon,

Thanks for reading the Blog. Please feel free at any time to "change the channel" and stop reading it.

Anonymous said...

The commentators are evidently not the federation leaders. Hopefully the federation leaders and the JFNA leaders are reading these entries and the comments and will realize that the long winter is over and that they need to wake up and indeed say "ENOUGH ALREADY" !!!!

Anonymous said...

Is anybody holding their breath in anticipation of something positive happening at the upcoming JFNA meetings in New York? Best to be pessimistic about that and to leave room for a possible pleasant surprise?

Anonymous said...

What possible pleasant surprise can come? Anyone that expects anything other than business as normal at the upcoming meetings is delusional.