IS ANYONE RUNNING THIS CIRCUS??

We have reflected on these pages the continuing saga of mismanagement at JFNA from the top down -- almost an absence...a void...of management in almost every area of JFNA's work -- non-management, if you will, that would not be permitted in most of the federations, regardless of City-size, with which I am familiar. Now, a keen observer of the federation field has written me about this total mismanagement embodied in the recently completed, what once was the proud Campaign Chairs and Directors (CC/CD) Mission now rebranded to add "Campaigners"* -- in other words, "come one, come all." 

Here, in part, is what he/she wrote me:

"How many JFNA professionals does it take to lead/staff a mission of the campaign chairs and directors? According to the list of participants there are 113 total participants from 32 communities. This list includes 11 JFNA professionals plus Vicki Agron. That’s a ratio of about 1 to 10. We used to run community missions with a ratio of no more than 1 to 20 .  that was rare. 

If you break it down by actual communities I suppose each professional could staff three communities. Maybe in that case they will be overworked.

I assume that the reason there are so few federations represented has something to do with the cost and it is evident that the high cost is directly connected to the large number of non-paying JFNA professionals."

Like so many other areas of JFNA operations, the CC/CD (and Anyone Else) is JFNA in microcosm; it raises the seemingly constant question of JFNA: where the hell are the adults? 

In the early years of JFNA, before the hiring of the current CEO, JFNA, without debate anywhere, practically scrapped the CC/CD Mission, which, within UJA and JFNA, as well, was one of the critical investments the continental organization made. JFNA, and UJA before it, had offered a full subsidy to federation Campaign Directors (general and Women's) who delivered their Campaign Chairs to the Mission. At UJA we assured that lay leaders other than the National Campaign Chair (who still played a major role on the Mission) were the Mission Co-Chairs; UJA also assured that JAFI and Joint staff participated in the Mission to articulate those organizations' programs and goals; and, during my National Chair days and under others' leadership, the Young Leadership Cabinet Chairs participated as leaders and solicitors. Today, the Mission offered an $1800 (+) subsidy -- apparently to anyone who applied -- because, it appears, this has become a numbers game. 

And, how do I come to that conclusion:

• The 2016 CC/CD (and anyone else) Mission participants ranged from a few Federation lay and Campaign Chairs, to an even fewer number of CEOs to couples (probably wished to experience Paris together) to young leadership professionals to federation Board members to a couple of endowment professionals;
• Three communities sent 6 lay and professional participants each;
• There were 31 communities represented -- 20.5% of the 151 federations; and
• There appeared to be no criteria for participation in the futile quest for numbers. Back in the day, perhaps in a simpler time, the participants were limited to Annual and Women's Campaign Chairs and Annual and Women's Campaign CEOs; today it seemed to be, by any and every measure, come one and come all.

So, the numbers game, taking into account the small percentage of federations represented,  and even with this "we'll take anyone and everyone approach" failed...certainly JFNA will inflate the meaning of the numbers and the impacts of the Mission  (a 25% campaign increase would be great, if true) -- it always does -- but the facts are the facts. Certainly, like any Mission, this CC/CD (any thought given to changing the name to reflect the realities -- you know, a rebrand? Oh, wait, it was now the CC/CD and Campaigners Mission) had to be a success. didn't it?


BUT, that's not all. 

Just as many communities in the days when GA programming dazzled us (I know, it's hard to remember those days) divided up their attendees to make certain every program and venue were covered, then convened the attendees so that all would understand the scope and depth of the programming, one would have expected the multiple participants on the CC/CD (and, want to come, we've got room)(from any one community to be assigned to different buses for site visits for the same reasons. Not this JFNA...uh uh. Nope. On this Mission, all of the participants from, e.g., Kansas City, were  assigned to one mini-bus to make a site visit together -- maybe a JAFI site, maybe a Joint site visit, maybe a World ORT  site...but, probably not. So no community experienced all of the sites. Just another lost opportunity.

You'd think that there would be a playbook for Missions at 25 Broadway. Hell, they could use the one I wrote in...drum roll, please...1978!! But, no. They write a new text on every Mission. (Yeah, there even used to be a lay-led Missions Committee, but that was back in the halcyon days of yore, when lay leaders -- that's a plural, with an "s" -- were engaged side-by-side with the professionals). Today, too much of a bother, I guess.) Where was the decision made to add anyone and everyone -- I know the "why" -- not enough communities were sending their Campaign Chairs and Directors.

I know, you think that I believe that everything was better back then. Hmmmmm....

Rwexler

* I have ben advised that I may have conflated the CC/CD and Campaigners Missions. I have, if in fact they remain separate. But my conflation, if it is that, pales in comparison to that of JFNA itself.