The article, published earlier today and benignly headlined Amidst Financial Struggles, St. Paul Federation Looks to Move Forward, must be read in full at https://tcjewfolk.com/amidst-financial-struggles-st-paul-federation-looks-to-move-forward/ discloses so much. For example:
Until a successor Federation CEO to his predecessor who served for the 17 years prior, saw an incredible account payable on the books as he took office, it is clear that no one in St. Paul Federation leadership questioned this rising tsunami of communal debt and, equally clear, no one at JFNA made any inquiry -- after all, Dues were being paid if not fully, at least in part. Further, although denied by JFNA professionals, St. Paul's professionals were telling the. CEO not to share the information of the massive amount due from St. Paul to JAFI/JDV/WorldORT with their lay leadership."According to documents reviewed by TC Jewfolk, there were several differences between the annual reports’ “planned allocation,” the “actual commitment” to JFNA, and the “final payment” to JFNA:
- In 2012-13, the annual report stated $664,538 would be allocated overseas. $572,958 was committed to JFNA; $110,316 was paid.
- In 2014-15, the annual report stated $668,172 would be allocated overseas. JFNA reported a commitment of $578,625. Payments of $308,304 were made.
- In 2015-16, St. Paul stated $709,934 would be allocated overseas. They committed to JFNA to pay $593,434 and paid $118,000.
In four campaign cycles, St. Paul’s commitment to JFNA was paid in full: 2010-11, 2011-12, 2013-14, and 2016-17. In two of those cycles, 2010-11 and 2016-17, the commitments and full payments to JFNA were lower than what was recorded in annual reports and on the St. Paul Federation website. In 2010-11, $532,209 was indicated in the annual report as an allocation for overseas and $44,761 was committed and paid to JFNA; in 2016-17, the annual report and website stated $731,500 would be allocated overseas, and $55,856 was committed and paid. In summary, the St. Paul Jewish Federation made payments toward their JFNA commitments over the time period in question totaling approximately $3.4 million and came up short by approximately $2.7 million."
In the article a subsection is devoted to the Role of JFNA:
Just last month, Silverman and Marc Gurvis made their first and only visit to St. Paul."According to the minutes of the December 2017 St. Paul Federation board meeting, Jacobs (the successor CEO who discovered the coverup) said that based on the JFNA’s advice, Federation, “ha[s] not informed the general community about the Federation’s budget and allocation issues.” JFNA disputes that characterization of their advice. In an email, Rebecca Dinar, the associate vice president for strategic communications at JFNA, said: “JFNA advised the Federation to determine the facts and a course of action as a first step in preparing to engage stakeholders.”Said Linsk (the St. Paul President-elect): “When Rob helped bring this to our attention, the decision was made to meet with a lot of our major donors, organizations we work closely with, and communicate it in a direct way and fix it. We got some advice from JFNA about messaging and we didn’t want to do damage and make things worse by scaring people. The idea was first to try to work with JFNA to fix it.”Linsk said this situation has JFNA changing how they communicate issues to their member organizations.“JFNA is making plans to be more careful that they don’t communicate about issues like this just through the exec,” Linsk said. “Why all those years did they not say anything to the board president?”
This is clearly the time for the most intense introspection within the St. Paul Federation and at JFNA. Cosmetic changes are insufficient. When Federation "leaders" can merely dismiss what has happened in St. Paul with a "hey, no one got hurt; our local agencies always got paid, and the overseas beneficiaries shouldn't have relied on our annual representations" something is seriously wrong within our system. And, when JFNA senior professionals circle the wagons and go into their ritual of denials, something further is terribly wrong at 25 Broadway.
And, the question surely must be asked: what other communities have engaged in the same pattern of conduct as St. Paul and what have been the consequences. We know that none of JAFI/JDC/WorldORT knew of this malfeasance.
Yes, chèvre, the fault is not in our stars, it is in ourselves...and there is enough fault to go around.
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"They also explained that JFNA’s partner agencies only budget based on dollars actually received, not what is promised to them, and therefore the overseas agencies did not actually come up short."
Is this true?
This a complete and total failure by the board to govern. The fiduciary responsibility is perhaps the most important, as it directly relates to the ethics and integrity of the entity.
Why did the new CEO (Rob Jacobs) get fired when he basically served as the "whistleblower" and brought this to his leadership's attention? He created a "transparency page" on their website. He was part of the leadership discussions to share what had happened.
Secondly, in the full article, amazing to read how one of the key lay leaders talked about Eli Skora, the long-time executive that all this happened under, was basically "a good guy, did not want to hurt anyone, etc." This mess is on him and his leadership.
As for JFNA's role, who knows what was said. But when I read that Rebecca Dinar was involved I know the "spin machine" is out. She was the JFNA professional working with federations on the HaAretz article, which in the end turned out to be a big nothing. During that time, it sure felt as though she encouraged many federations to either not respond or to be wary of telling the truth.
And now you read the community will move forward for a period of time with no CEO. I wonder how successful St. Paul will be and how soon until it is merged with Minneapolis (which may not be a bad idea, but why would they want to absorb their debt)?
Why would Minneapolis wish to merge at this point?
JFNA jumped the shark with this latest episode. The organization has no credibility while its Consultant demands that federations show absolute trust in the entity that has not earned it.
While I am pleased the St. Paul Federation is finding its footing and a new path forward, I am left deeply saddened by all of this.
Perhaps even greater than the deceit itself, is the undermining of the processes by which the Jewish non-profit ecosystem works. Donors who had additional capacity were robbed of the opportunity to lean in and help fill the gap; and the leadership who was deceived – were robbed of the opportunity to rise to the occasion and do the hard work of reconciling their mission to their resources – of making what are hugely difficult decisions, but making them together, as part of the community.
That’s what Jewish community leaders sign up to do – to wrestle with tough issues and circumstances – to be of service. As there was no charge of embezzlement, I struggle to understand the motivation.
While I am pleased the St. Paul Federation is finding its footing and a new path forward, I am left deeply saddened by all of this.
Perhaps even greater than the deceit itself, is the undermining of the processes by which the Jewish non-profit ecosystem works. Donors who had additional capacity were robbed of the opportunity to lean in and help fill the gap; and the leadership who was deceived – were robbed of the opportunity to rise to the occasion and do the hard work of reconciling their mission to their resources – of making what are hugely difficult decisions, but making them together, as part of the community.
That’s what Jewish community leaders sign up to do – to wrestle with tough issues and circumstances – to be of service. As there was no charge of embezzlement, I struggle to understand the motivation.
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