"In the anatomy of a hostile takeover and occupation, there are textbook elements -- you decapitate the leadership, you compartmentalize the power centers, you engender fear and suspicion."In the continuity of JFNA over the close to two decades post-merger, we have every evidence of a hostile takeover gone bad -- not a "takeover" by the old CJF or UJA, but a hostile takeover by those new to and incapable of leading the organization that merged, evolved and failed time and time again.
The indicia of failures need not be repeated in this Post -- I'm as sick of writing about the failures as most of you who regularly read the Blog are tired of reading about them. Instead I wanted to focus today on what JFNA has decided to do about it.
- JFNA leadership decided to create two task forces -- one of which we've been told will evaluate the work of JFNA - Israel ( a totally unnecessary evaluation, as we have had decade-long failure, bloat and worse to merely publish) and the other to take a fresh look at the United Israel Appeal (I would assume that the creation of this Task Force is another attempt by a leadership so distant from UIA's work, Revenue Rulings, and project ownership, et al., to try to figure out how to collapse this subsidiary company.) Those looking into the work of UIA should understand that it is the one JFNA overseas function actually doing its assigned tasks with excellence thanks entirely to the work of its professionals in Israel.
- Curiously, Sandler appointed the ever-eager Harold Gernsbacher to Chair both Task Forces -- "curious" because (1) these are not Harold's areas of expertise or experience or knowledge and (2) the Task Forces' work may be in conflict each with the other; and (3) Gernsbacher is the purported chair of the Secure Community Network, an important position.
- And who will be staffing these Task Forces? Mark Gurvis? Or another senior professional whose JFNA work has been divorced from the organization's connection to Israel, let alone one whose actions may have been antithetical to the organization's expressed support for its beneficiaries and work in Israel?
Then there is the assignment of the Bridgespan consulting firm. If that $450,000 Consultancy excludes the "value proposition" of JFNA-Israel within its charge, then Bridgespan's ultimate work product will have ignored a significant part of JFNA's budget and a significant chapter in its story of failure. If Bridgespan will, as it must in my opinion, include JFNA-Israel within its study parameters, then what is the purpose of the Gernsbacher-led Task Forces?
I'd like to think that somebody at JFNA has been thinking about these things; experience teaches me that no one has.
Sad.
Rwexler
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7 comments:
The fact that JFNA hired a consulting firm at a fee of $450,000 to tell it what it should be doing is almost as preposterous as was the decision to hire Silverman. Who at JFNA is givingthe consultants any guidance whatsoever -- Silverman himself, Gurvis, Sandler? Who? This will be the ultimate blind leading the blind.
Harold's is actually a relatively simple task with obvious conclusions.
UIA's operations in Israel are indeed compact and professional, providing a real and essential service to almost all of our federations, a service that they would each have to perform on their own if it didn't exist and function as it does.
The opposite is the case as far as the bloated Israel Office is concerned. The mission of Israel and Overseas should be advocacy for the I&O agenda to federation professionals and lay leaders who are located all over the USA, not in Jerusalem. Instead of I&O being an integral part of the JFNA New York Office and its work opposite federations, this function was moved to Israel and has been allowwd to inflate itself to absurd proportions over the years, unsupervised and unmanaged, attempting to run its own programs under a JFNA banner and "monitoring" Knesset and government activity on the ground in Jerusalem (both unneccesary functions that compete with others who do a better job), all for the purpose of JFNA public relations and marketing.
This misguided and wasteful operation should be closed down immediately and the traditional I&O function should be returned to the New York Office with a small fraction of its current staffing.
This is obviously what should be written in the reoort. Less obvious is whether this task force will have the guts to write it and, more important, whether we will have the guts to see to it that it is implemented.
JFNA is now in "made as instructed" territory. If Gernsbacher is Chairing both Task Forces (unreal), who is giving him his marching orders? Who is putting the materials together that these Task Forces will supposedly read? How will the Consultant learn the language of federations? How do you get the right answers if you don;t know what questions to ask? These so-called "processes" are the last straw.
Face it, this patient cannotbe revived. Even those federations which continue to oay full Dues, like yours, could not care less about JFNA's continued existence. The self-perpetuating leadership puts Gernsbacher as Chair of two Task Forces, Sandler installed himself as Chair of the Search Committee for Silverman's successor, Butler and Brown keep on switching Department Committee Chairs while accomplishing nothing, Caspi continues in place. It's farce writ large. And, as you've written never is heard a discouraging word.
Harold's is actually a relatively simple task with obvious conclusions.
UIA's operations in Israel are indeed compact and professional, providing a real and essential service to almost all of our federations, a service that they would each have to perform on their own if it didn't exist and function as it does.
The opposite is the case as far as the bloated Israel Office is concerned. The mission of Israel and Overseas should be advocacy for the I&O agenda to federation professionals and lay leaders who are located all over the USA, not in Jerusalem. Instead of I&O being an integral part of the JFNA New York Office and their work opposite federations, this function was moved to Israel and has been allowwd to inflate itself to absurd proportions, unsupervised and unmanaged, attempting to run its own programs under a JFNA banner and "monitoring" Knesset and government activity on the ground in Jerusalem (both unneccesary functions that compete with others who do a better job), all for the purpose of JFNA public relations and marketing. This misguided and wasteful operation should be closed down immediately and the traditional I&O function should be returned to the New York Office with a small fraction of its current staffing.
This is obviously what should be written in the reoort. Less obvious is whether this task force will have the guts to write it and, more important, whether we, as JFNA leadership, will have the guts to see to it that it is implemented.
Harold's is actually a relatively simple task with obvious conclusions.
UIA's operations in Israel are indeed compact and professional, providing a real and essential service to almost all of our federations, a service that they would each have to perform on their own if it didn't exist and function as it does.
The opposite is the case as far as the bloated Israel Office is concerned. The mission of Israel and Overseas should be advocacy for the I&O agenda to federation professionals and lay leaders who are located all over the USA, not in Jerusalem. Instead of I&O being an integral part of the JFNA New York Office and their work opposite federations, this function was moved to Israel and has been allowwd to inflate itself to absurd proportions, unsupervised and unmanaged, attempting to run its own programs under a JFNA banner and "monitoring" Knesset and government activity on the ground in Jerusalem (both unneccesary functions that compete with others who do a better job), all for the purpose of JFNA public relations and marketing. This misguided and wasteful operation should be closed down immediately and the traditional I&O function should be returned to the New York Office with a small fraction of its current staffing.
This is obviously what should be written in the reoort. Less obvious is whether this task force will have the guts to write it and, more important, whether we, as JFNA leadership, will have the guts to see to it that it is implemented.
Harold's is actually a relatively simple task with obvious conclusions.
UIA's operations in Israel are indeed compact and professional, providing a real and essential service to almost all of our federations, a service that they would each have to perform on their own if it didn't exist and function as it does.
The opposite is the case as far as the bloated Israel Office is concerned. The mission of Israel and Overseas should be advocacy for the I&O agenda to federation professionals and lay leaders who are located all over the USA, not in Jerusalem. Instead of I&O being an integral part of the JFNA New York Office and their work opposite federations, this function was moved to Israel and has been allowed to inflate itself to absurd proportions, unsupervised and unmanaged, attempting to run its own programs under a JFNA banner and "monitoring" Knesset and government activity on the ground in Jerusalem (both unnecessary functions that compete with others who do a better job), all for the purpose of JFNA public relations and marketing. This misguided and wasteful operation should be closed down immediately and the traditional I&O function should be returned to the New York Office with a small fraction of its current staffing.
This is obviously what should be written in the report. Less obvious is whether this task force will have the guts to write it and, more important, whether we, as JFNA leadership, will have the guts to see to it that it is implemented.
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