WHERE, WHY AND HOW TO FOCUS

One of the best and brightest minds among a generation of communal professional leaders wrote to me with his analysis of what he sees happening to our institutions. One of his observations truly struck a chord:

"My big issues with JFNA, JAFI, JDC and many, many organizations is that our communities and our society are struggling against the monumental changes occurring -- in Jewish life, in the community of Jewish donors -- the list is endless."

 He concluded simply: "If our communal institutions don't change, they won't be around too much longer." Yes, our organizations have failed to address change raising the serious question of whether they are capable of doing so. 

We have witnessed the loss in the aggregate over the last decade alone of close to 2/3rds of the donors to our communities while some organizations -- the Jewish National Fund - USA and the Israeli American Council, to name two with which I am familiar -- have seen dramatic donor number increases over the same decade. JAFI, JDC and so many, too many, of our communities are struggling to meet their annual fund raising goals as never before. These terrible numbers then translate into worse numbers for the beneficiaries of our collective responsibilities. We find ourselves in a deadly spiral downward.

Before there can be answers, my friends, we have to know the questions...and. too often, we don't. We find ourselves awash in complacency, with a sense that G-d will provide...somehow. Some of our institutions have abandoned their central planning responsibilities to serve only as something called "conveners" -- taking a spiff off the top of funds raised for their own purposes -- are they still federations? Or are they something less, far less? 

I sense a crisis of leadership -- one the top professionals and chief volunteer officers must confront together. For the lay leaders, it cannot be just "I'll hold it all together best In can and, then, leave it to my successor" and for the CEO it can't be a call for another strategic plan and then a request for patience. 

Certainly those who currently lead our institutions have the responsibility to determine their purposes, their goals. And, equally certain is the reality that purposes and goals have to be realistic, easily explicable, relevant and focused. Too often today we hear leadership speak in obscure generalities when articulating goals -- "Jewish unity," "the next generation," "rebuilding the Israel-Diaspora relationship" -- you've heard them all and more. Unfocused cliche-driven talking points that may appeal only to the leaders who then try to build a "campaign" around them.

It's so easy to see exactly why organizations which we care (or cared) about have lost and are losing market share. They have lost focus; they can't articulate their own purpose(s). They are in deep trouble. Deep. deep trouble. Unable to articulate their own purposes or formulate their own goals, they turn to planning consultants to do so: and, often, those consultants have no experience with the organizational culture of those they are "studying." 

The results speak for themselves...and the results are not good. 

Rwexler