Jewish Federation Allocations Approved for Fiscal Year 2012

Thanks to donors like you, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati funds and supports a community-wide network of organizations that does two things:

1. Cares for people in need here at home, in Israel, and around the world.
2. Nurtures and sustain the Jewish community today and for future generations.

Each year, the Planning and Allocations Committee of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati makes a recommendation to the Board of the Federation utilizing a very thorough process that determines how community campaign contributions are allocated locally and to Israel and Overseas. The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati Board of Trustees approved the recommendations of the Planning and Allocations Committee for 2012 at its meeting on Tuesday, September 27, 2011. The allocations will take effect on January 1, 2012.

Where Does Your Money Go?

 
Since 2009, the economy’s effect on the Federation’s annual campaign has left the allocations committee with more and more challenging decisions to make. The committee approached the allocations process “knowing that the community expected strategic decisions with limited resources,” says Barbara Miller, Director of Planning and Allocations.

Planning and Allocations Leadership
Under the strong and capable leadership of Suzette Fisher’s third year as Vice-President of Planning and Allocations, Billy Bie and Susan Brenner, co-chairs of the Youth and Family Council; Kathie Kaplan and Dr. Sidney Cohen, co-chairs of the Senior Adult Council; and Sandy Kaltman and Tamar Smith, co-chairs of the Council of Jewish Life and Learning, led the Planning and Allocations process. Members of the Planning and Allocations umbrella committee and the three local councils were charged with making recommendations for distributing the available dollars from the Federation’s 2012 community campaign, which at $5.1 million remained about even with the 2011 campaign.  “Our Federation continued its tradition of outstanding service to the community again this year. With clear vision, strong leadership, and dedicated volunteers and staff, we overcame many obstacles to achieve our goal. That said we also recognized that community needs and program costs are rising therefore making this year’s campaign even more critical to our future success” says Bie, co-chair of Youth and Family.

About the Process
The allocations process has evolved over many years, but in its current state it has been greatly influenced by Suzette Fisher and her prior experiences with other non-profit organizations such as United Way and the YWCA. The process involves 77 dedicated volunteers responsible for thoroughly evaluating and assessing the agency programs and budgets that are funded through allocations. Approximately 44 individual site visits were made this year to 39 local agencies’ programs. These visits included several one-on-one meetings and interviews by individual council members with agency personnel, executives, board presidents and clients served. Site visit reports were prepared by each of the volunteers and program evaluations and assessments utilizing a standardized rating process instrument were presented at all the council meetings. Once agreement and consensus was achieved about funding a program, a final funding recommendation was made. Council members carefully evaluated each program by measuring the impact, quality and cost effectiveness of the program. Council members determined how efficiently the programs were operating by assessing how many people were being served and how much need or demand was required for the service. In some cases council members recognized where improvements or enhancements to a program could be made. However, in most cases, council members witnessed the top notch, dedicated work of the agency professionals who, on a daily basis, are providing meaningful services and programs to those in need.  “It was an honor and a privilege to be involved in this important endeavor. Analyzing and evaluating so many incredible community programs that will help determine the future of Cincinnati's Jewish community is a sacred task” says Smith, co-chair of CJLL.

Our Increased Needs
With no clear path to economic recovery, the Federation saw an increase in the number of community members facing hardship.  Requests for financial support services offered by our partner agency Jewish Family Service (JFS) grew to unprecedented levels. Last year, in 2011, for instance, the JFS Chaver Emergency Assistance Fund, which is supported largely by community campaign contributions, ran out of money in July of 2011 although the funding was expected to last through this coming December .Meanwhile, the local senior population which is growing exponentially created more demands on the Federation’s partner agencies addressing senior needs--the JCC and JFS—both offering such services as transportation, case management, adult socialization opportunities, hot congregate meals and meals on wheels to homebound seniors.

“Serving as co-chair of the Senior Adult Council was a mixture of satisfaction and frustration, says Cohen, co-chair of the Senior Adult Council. “ The wonderful enthusiasm of all the committee members and the interest and compassion that they displayed in conscientiously evaluating the various programs was an example of true philanthropic behavior. The detailed evaluations that each council member prepared demonstrated the important work and services of the various agencies. I can honestly say that I was extremely proud to be part of the ongoing effort to make our community a better place to live, not only as a bright and cultured environment for our young but as a wonderful caring shelter and protective environment for our elderly.

“On the other hand, when we had to face the actual allocation process and attempt to put a dollar value on each of these essential services, it became highly frustrating to be faced with a significant shortfall in dollars to be distributed. The idea that we would have to take funds away from some programs in order to make even sub-optimal allocations to other programs became a terrible moral dilemma,” says Cohen.

For 2012, the following programs directly impacting the quality of life of local children, families and vulnerable populations including seniors, the mentally and physically challenged and the poor, will receive increases; while most other programs will experience either a flat or decreased allocation. 

Local and national allocations total $2,291,296. Local programs receiving increases in 2012 are presented on the chart below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to see larger view of chart
 
Four of Federation’s six partner agencies (Jewish Vocational Service, Jewish Family Service, Cincinnati Hebrew Day School, and Mayerson JCC) received overall increases; while Rockwern Academy and UC Hillel remained flat.

As has been historically the case in our community, 35% of all the allocable dollars goes to Israel and Overseas programs or approximately $1,785,000. The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), the umbrella organization of the Jewish Federation system, funds programs in partnership with the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).  To learn more about our work in Israel and Overseas visit www.jfna.org and www.jafi.org.

Additional Jewish Federation Responses
While the community campaign struggled to reach last year's level, the Jewish Federation responded by working with individual donors who wished to make a personal impact in addition to supporting the annual campaign.  Through these efforts the Federation raised $1.6 million on behalf of critical community programs, more than triple the average raised in previous years. These supplemental contributions helped either to support local programs that otherwise would have received fewer dollars or to create new programs that would enhance the local community or the work of various agencies.

For a complete list of the local allocations, click here.

For more information about Planning and Allocations contact Barbara Miller, Director of Planning and Allocations, at the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati at 513-985-1528 or by email at bmiller@jfedcin.org

 

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