A CURIOUS HIRE

Well, the gang that couldn't shoot straight has seemingly misfired once again -- this time in its engagement of a new chief of marketing and communications. And this is not because of anything the new hire did or didn't do while in a bigger role on a bigger stage at AIPAC, her former employer, but because of her lack of any federation experience whatsoever.

Yes, I'm certain that Renee Rothstein is a quick study...but who is she to learn from at that barren desert that is JFNA when it comes to having a federation background or experience. If she relies on the CEO to explain federation qua federation to her, it will be no more than the blind leading the blind. If she was hired to continue down the path of her predecessor -- that is to promote JFNA and JFNA only at the federations' expense -- then, really, and with respect, who needs her at the assuredly high salary she will receive.

What is so apparent is that what is needed at JFNA is a federation-centric head of its marketing and communications effort (actually in every failed area of its work). That would mean finding the right person -- one who has had a significant federation background in his/her resume. Back in the day, at UJA, at the time we decided to engage in the first major national marketing and communications effort, we engaged the outstanding Bernie Moscovitz, whose exemplary and creative marketing leadership at the Montreal Federation was the perfect background to communicate, inter alia, the annual campaign to and for federations. Bernie was succeeded by the terrific Gail Hyman, whose marketing and communication skills were honed as the Senior V-P, Marketing and Communications with the New York UJA-Federation and led JFNA's efforts in its first six years.

What Bernie and Gail had, among other skills and abilities, was the knowledge to say to a CEO before the organization proceeded down the wrong path: "Maybe we should rethink this...how will this help the federations?" How, exactly, will this new and important hire do that exactly? Is this how the next major JFNA hires -- of a COO and a head of FRD -- will go down? Plucked from outside our system with no professional experience in it by a CEO whose own contract expires in months not years?

I sense that the senior professionals at JFNA are excited at the prospect of Renee Rothstein joining them. I hope they are rewarded for their optimism.

Rwexler

WHY IS THIS PERSON SMILING? BECAUSE SHE WAS PAID $321,672 BY JFNA IN FY 2011-2012 AS A CONSULTANT. WOULDN'T YOU BE SMILING TOO?

She's smiling wide because she makes a lot of money and it's just a consulting job -- consulting on ___________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________(fill you may fill in the blank).


Rwexler

WHY IS THIS MAN SMILING? TOTAL COMPENSATION FY 2011-2012: $397,000

IF PAUL KANE FALLS IN A FOREST.....

And, speaking of the need to "Do Your Job"....

Apparently all those rumors were true -- Paul Kane will be leaving his position as the JFNA -- SENIOR ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT/CEO (now you know what his job was supposed to be and, given what has emanated from the CEO, it wasn't much of a job nor was there much in the way of "advice") -- "FRD....no. that's not me" -- which means that our national organization has been without a senior professional leading its non-existent financial resource development effort for almost six years. Couple that reality with the fact that the lay leaders of what should be FRD have wholly failed in their responsibilities other than as cheerleaders and non-fund raising Mission leaders for the same length of time and what have we got: a national fund raising organization created to raise more dollars and more donors doing none of it.

Well, wait one minute you say: what about the Million Dollar Round Table (or whatever it's called} bringing together federation CEOs and $1 million donors -- exactly twice (the second -- and last -- being devoted in large measure to reminiscences of the UJA efforts to do the same [then called the "Mega Group"] but, at the demand of the "members" with no CEOs present). 

Or, what about the FRD help to the smaller federations that JFNA used to provide -- sorry, no more; solicitation training -- sorry, no more; suite solicitations and fly-ins -- sorry, no more; capacity giving at the Cabinet Retreats -- sorry...well, you get it. 

But, how can this be you ask? JFNA is now advertising for a "new position." The "Position Description" proffered from 25 Broadway is a revelation in and of itself. Examples:

• "...this individual will serve on the JFNA leadership team and will manage 6 direct reports (who have these 'direct reports' been reporting to these last 6+ years??) and a total of 37 professionals (who, what, where?)."
• "In partnership with the CEO and the National Campaign Chair, design the Financial Resource Development strategy for the organization , focusing on increasing fundraising results and achieving a total campaign of a billion dollars nationally in 3 years." 
• "Develop an organizational model and build a high performing 'A' level team that delivers results and leads the Federations into the future." 

There's more, of course, but these are enough. These ridiculous and over-reaching goals would be commendable had they been goals over the last 6+ years but, instead, reflect the kind of thinking that goes on inside the bubble that JFNA has become. 

Worse, they evidence the FRD void that has existed at JFNA for at least those last 6+ years; the lack of any understanding of the financial issues that federations regardless of City-size are dealing with in the re-engineering of their annual campaigns, their very purposes. And, worse, there is every indication in the job description of a talent void within JFNA when that Description ascribes one goal of the new professional as being responsible for "...build(ing) a high performing 'A' level team that delivers results." How demoralizing to the current staff -- a group of bright professionals capable of high performance if given the leadership so sorely lacking today and for years past.

And, then, take a look at some of the "Professional Qualifications:"

• 20+ years of progressively responsible and successful experience in fundraising and nonprofit or general management (huh? Is that like, e.g., selling pants?)
• Knowledge of JFNA mission and goals highly desirable (I would suggest, with all due respect, that that should be a qualification for current "senior management")

All in all, JFNA looks for Moshe Rabeinu once again -- we shall see what it ends up with this time. Maybe another SENIOR ADVISER TO THE CEO.

Rwexler

WHY IS THIS MAN SMILING? $611,000 IN BASE COMPENSATION/$34,000 IN RETIREMENT BENEFITS/$29,400 IN TAXABLE BENEFITS = $676,800 (FY 2011-2012)

Why is Jerry Silverman smiling? Wouldn't you?

 

 

"DO YOUR JOB"

The greatest Coach in the National Basketball Association, The Chicago Bulls Tom Thibideau, has a constant reminder to his team: "Do your job." I was reminded of this by one of those epic JFNA Leadership Briefings titled: JFNA National Campaign Chair Joins Jewish Leaders to Combat Human Trafficking.

"Wow," I thought -- not a headline about how the National Campaign Chair, having been in the position for longer than any predecessor at JFNA or at UJA -- what is the term now, some 10 years?? -- not that she solicited 25 federation donors last week, not how Susan Stern led a fund raising Mission (for those of you at JFNA, that's a Mission on which campaign funds are raised), not how 50 leaders from around the country were trained in the art of solicitation, not nothin', for that matter, about the Annual Campaign and JFNA's work in leading it...nothing at all. (I also thought: wasn't Susan succeeded by Linda Hurwitz a few months ago?)

Now I am as much against "sex trafficking" as the next person; I think that this is as venal a crime against humanity as there is; and, certainly, Jewish federation leaders should be at the forefront of any crime against humanity and against our own People. And I think it critical that JFNA publicize efforts to combat slavery in and all forms. But shouldn't our National Campaign Chair have a laser focus while National Campaign Chair on the "national campaign" for donor funds for federation purposes? Shouldn't JFNA as well?

Instead we have a further example of distraction, of purposelessness of "if you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." (Or, in the case of JFNA, "any road won't take you there.") Once again, leaders have been distracted from what is their ostensible, arguable in JFNA's case, singular purpose, by another "shiny object."

So, Susan, who, like her organization, our JFNA, has fiddled while the annual campaigns during her terms has moved from disastrous collapse in many instances to flat lining in others, I would urge you to remember Tom Thibideau's admonition and "DO YOUR JOB." Maybe Linda Hurwitz will.

Rwexler

JUMPING THE SHARK

JFNA "jumped the shark" at least 3+ years ago (or, perhaps, 6) in this observer's opinion. Now, it appears, the federation world has caught on to the disaster JFNA has become. An anonymous Federation leader wrote the Blog to offer his/her insights as follows:

"Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "OF LEADERS, PRETENDERS AND SYCOPHANTS": 

Global Planning Table. My community has heard the argument that if it does not continue/pass/come to fruition, JFNA will crumble, go out of business, or lose its self respect. Whatever, the changing excuse for the month is that month.

This process has already cost JDC, JAFI and JFNA millions of dollars of our charitable funds.

This ship has sunk. There is no saving it.

Michael, Diane, Stephen and Gerard: Please listen carefully - you are shepherding JFNA's own demise. 

Nobody chose you to do that. Please do something before it is too late. 

JFNA is spending more on GPT staff than it spends on campaign staff. 

Just announce that it was a great process, we learned a lot, thank you to all the participants, and the number one lesson that we learned is that we have to go out and raise more money for our overseas partners.

My community will be announcing a significant reduction in our JFNA dues only as a vote of no confidence in JFNA. We will not be alone.

The three top lay leaders are good and capable people. It is time for them to stand up to the CEO who is out of control.

It is nothing less than their personal legacy that is on the line together with our most important national communal resources.

Stop fiddling around while JFNA is burning"

And all of this before the Harlem Shake and JILF.

Based upon past experience, it is hard to know if any Federation, when push comes to shove, will follow through in its determination to send a message to JFNA's leaders as the Anonymous Commentator has stated -- but, if one does, so will many. And Siegal and Feinberg should know that if that becomes reality, they, our leaders, will reap what others have sown and they will spend the weeks and months ahead chasing federations for unpaid Dues rather than leading JFNA to being the best representative of all of us.

And, then, these JFNA leaders will join the Federation CEOs who have helped to to bury our system in this mess that it is in, performing the last rites for an organization that died at its own hand.

Rwexler

ARE YOU BUYING WHAT THESE "LEADERS" ARE SELLING?

Well, the Global Planning Table Committee met yesterday. Before the meeting, several folks sent me three papers on potential JFNA-saving so-called "Signature Initiatives" and the Agenda -- documents they received only moments before the meeting began. The federation leaders who sent these to me independent of each other accompanied their transmittals with phrases like: "you won't believe how bad these are;" "they write in some kind of crypto-language that only they understand:" and "for these we have paid millions already?" I heard not a single positive comment; though I'm pretty certain that, knowing that anything negative is never appreciated by this leadership, they shared their critical comments with me and not with JFNA.

Let me preface what follows with an observation: these are really bad; they should never have seen the light of day; they appear to have been written in haste, maybe in panic; and with no knowledge of our institutional history whatsoever. 

Let's take a look:

1. The "Task Force on  the Cycle of Poverty" and something called "Israel Family Zone." I would subtitle this thing the  "Reinventing the Wheel Zone." There are some smart folks on this Committee -- I would wager that many of them saw as I did that this "Initiative" is no more than the UJA's Project Renewal of the 1980's...that's right, the 1980's...restated as a "[S]calable (they just make up a whole new language don't they):

(scalable: adjective:capable of being scaled: the scalable slope of a mountain.") pilot program building a sustainable community-based approach to breaking the cycle of poverty throughout Israel." But inasmuch as these folks seem never to have heard of Project Renewal, they are going to "buil(d) on the model of the Harlem Children's Zone..." And, then -- funding -- "Federation funding for this project would be organized into an 'adopt a neighborhood' model..." GENIUS!! This is already branded as the IFZ.

2. Then, there is the output of the "Task Force on Working with the People of Israel to Strengthen the Fabric Of Israeli Society." (Probably already branded as the TFWPISTIS except, see below.) The system would "[W]ork on multiple levels (top-down, bottom-up, etc.) to enable real change" "(leveraging) the current Israeli government's resolve and commitment to religious diversity and democracy." (Uh, huh?) This thing is already branded as EXPRESS, full of sound, signifying nothing. Through this "Great Signature Initiative" (the caps are theirs not mine) we will "...ensure an inclusive and dynamic Jewish society in Israel" and we will have "...a watershed moment for the Federation system to make a significant contribution in partnership with Israelis." OY!!

3. Then there is the aptly named "Task Force on Immersive Experiences and Follow-Up Opportunities." Yep, that's the actual name of a focused Task Force. Here are two sentences that say it all about the not just this Task Force but about the entire Signature Initiative "Plan." Read 'em and weep for our system:

     ~ "Resume-building immersive experiences have wide appeal."

     ~ And then there is this most amazing sentence of all (perhaps of all time): "Too frequently, immersive experiences are not maximally impactful because they are not contextual." Too cure this apparently, this Initiative will offer "Participant-centric and authentic immersive experiences, contextualized with pre- and post-trip opportunities." Ah, yes, that should do it. (BTW: the Dictionary defines: "[ih-mur-siv] adjective noting or pertaining to digital technology or images that deeply involve one's senses and may create an altered mental state" but JFNA has its own vocabulary you know.

I presume that the precursor to these Initiatives was CEO Silverman's most recent Mission experience with the newgen where he had the immersive experience himself in St. Petersburg doing the JFNA version of the Harlem Shake.

FYI, the "brand" for this thing is JILF -- I'm not making this up. This is JFNA's "brand" for this thing. I recommend that you all Google JILF. And, then ask yourself the question -- what's with these people? 

JFNA could readily endorse an allocations process that would attract our donors -- market MASA, market fighting hunger in the FSU and anywhere a Jew is in need, market camping in the FSU, market the best of Jewish identity programs -- instead it's Project Renewal, EXPRESS and JILF. irrational, inexplicable and doomed to fail. And federation after federation are being told: "iIf you don't support these, JFNA is doomed." YOU...all of you, each of you...be the judge of what will doom JFNA.  

If you are buying this stuff that these "leaders" are trying to sell, I have a Bridge in Brooklyn to sell you -- oh, yes, I branded it already -- the BIB Project.

I think we have just seen JFNA hit rock bottom...but, probably not; it will no doubt get worse. And, where oh where are the Chairs of the Board and Executive and the CEOs of our best federations, all of whom know better?

Rwexler

A WONDERFUL HIRE!!

She had been a Refusenik and came to the United States in 1989. Although she had a graduate degree in metallurgical engineering from a Leningrad Institute, she decided to dedicate her life to the Jewish community: she first received a Council of Jewish Federations FEREP grant that enabled her to attend Brandeis" Hornstein Program in Jewish Communal Service becoming the first Jew from the FSU to do so. But, this was not enough to sing Dayenu.

I first learned Olga Yorish's story when, as a UJA leader, I visited the Memphis Jewish Federation for the United Jewish Appeal in 1993 where she directed Planning and Allocations. I told her then that I was going to watch her career, knowing that it would be spectacular. A few years later, while in Philadelphia to meet with leaders there, Olga and I crossed paths again -- her commitment to the Jewish community and People had not cooled, her dedication had only grown. After a stint as an FRD Director for a small Federation, in 2007 Olga was hired as the chief professional officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Bedford.

I kept my promise -- I have watched Olga grow in her roles in Jewish communal leadership. And, now, she has agreed to become the new Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando where she will be surely challenged as never before. My congratulations not only to Olga but to the leaders of The Orlando Federation who made this hiring decision. Olga has the drive, the experience and the personal history that predict great success if the same leadership that hired her commits to the community as never before.

Many of us have watched the JFGO for years, viewing it as a place of unrealized and incredible potential. In the past years, it has struggled with dormant campaigns and huge debts. But, there is clearly a revitalized leadership in Orlando and coupled with Olga's hiring, there is real hope. But this community represents an incredible challenge; if only we had a national federation organization capable of assisting.

We all should not just cheer Olga and Orlando on; we should help in every way that we can. Had we a national organization worthy of its role...

Rwexler

HA HA HA??

1. As those of you who read these Posts regularly know, I am Twitter illiterate -- I neither Tweet nor "belong" to Twitter. Unlike the Chief of Twits, uh, make that the Champion Tweeter, JFNA's own William Daroff, at a certain age (mine) life is too full to bother. But, many of you have forwarded on to me the inanities that fill JFNA's official "Tweet pages." For some folks at JFNA seem to have a lot of time on their hands. I could reprint two or three of these a day that appear to be what passes for "humor" among "professionals" at an organization that wants to be taken seriously. Instead, here are two that must have had them laughing in the halls at 25 Broadway:

              a. "What are you doing with your leftover matzo?"

            b. "Reason to go this years JFNAGA -- make a pilgrimage to the holy                                     birthplace of...Natalie Portman."

2. Then there was this....this...thing: rather than just announce what could be a great National Young Leadership Mission to celebrate Israel at 65, some twit headlined the email transmittal -- Give Israel The Best Birthday Present Ever...A Visit. Got it? Our travels to Israel are our "gifts to Israel." 

I think that I still have a finely-tuned sense of humor. The only humor I find in the daily twitterings of JFNA is in the fact that no one there has the good sense to stop them.

3. Then there is the not so funny -- damn sad, in fact. Jonathan Lichter, who, over 37 years of passionate service as General Counsel, assured that, first, the United Jewish Appeal and, then, JFNA, were protected, retired last month. For many years, Jonathan and I were the best of lay-professional partners as he worked assiduously and tirelessly to insure that our organizations' fiduciary responsibilities to not only themselves but to our partners and beneficiaries were assured. He exemplified the best of professionals. So, how was Jonathan treated upon his retirement? The CEO celebrated his successor -- the only...only...reference to Jonathan in two separate statements from Silverman, one internal, the other public -- was the following: "She succeeds Jonathan Lichter who retired last night after so ably serving our organization for 37 years," buried in the praise for this successor.

I will assume that the CEO just didn't know Jonathan and certainly did not know the extent of his contributions. And, that's not funny; it's a shame.

4. And, finally, what could be more telling about the lack of purpose or even the lack of seichel, the lack of judgment, at the top of JFNA than this effort at being "one of the boys" than this snippet sent to me in a Comment to this Blog:

JFNA CEO Jerry Silverman doing the Harlem Shake with NYL Cabinet on the NYL Cabinet Study Mission to St Petersburg and Stockholm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64Q107Ef7hw

I am certain that CEO Jerry believed it to be "funny." (And, one would have to ask -- why, other than building his mileage account, was the CEO on this "Study Mission" to begin with? Just to be with the "newgen?")

Sad. So sad. All of it.

 Rwexler