Page 7-THE NEWS-Aprll, 1986
State of the Federation Address
By Stan Greenspon
One of the privileges and
highlights of an outgoing
president is the opportunity to
reminisce and evaluate the
past years’ performances, suc
cesses and disappointments.
This is my State of the Federa
tion address, and I will focus
on areas of importance and
concern.
First, a little personal note.
Without question, I had some
apprehensions about taking
on the responsibilities of presi
dent. I was concerned about
the time and commitment I
would have to give in order to
be effective. My reluctance
was lessened when I recogniz
ed the strength of our Ex
ecutive Committee and the
strong professional experience
we have in Marvin Bienstock.
Those two factors allowed me
the flexibility and indepen
dence I had to have in order to
operate a presidency suitable
to my style. What followed
and what filled my two years
was truly unparalleled. What
happened was more than I
could have ever expected; real,
complete satisfaction in a job
that was filled with challenge,
excitement and plenty of re
wards. But rather than talk
about what the job did for me,
let’s recall together some of
the goals we planned a little
over two years ago. Let us
restate our accomplishments
and stress those areas of con-
cem which we have not at
tained.
One Million Dollar Campaign
The figure $1 million was an
arbitrary, far reaching figure
just a few years ago. Today,
we have reached that figure
due to the ever increasing
needs of our major recipients
and UJA. Reaching this un
precedented goal has not come
without much sacrifice. There
have been numerous meetings,
strategy sessions, appoint-
Stan Greenspon
ments, C£dls, letters and more
letters. It has been a dificult
task as those of you involved
in the campaign know so well.
For those of you who have not
been actively involved, you
should recognize again that
the campaign is the heart and
soul of the Federation and its
success or failure has an im
pact on practically every seg
ment of our Jewish communi
ty. I have always been con
vinced that this community
has the resources to meet any
reasonable goals as evidenced
by the tremendous success of
the Foundation Capital Cam
paign. At the same time we
need to face reality. We cannot
continue to count on the 56
major givers to raise 70 per
cent of the campaign total. We
must broaden our contacts in
order to have greater success
with those contributors who
are capable of giving more; we
still have an incredible number
of people who don’t give at all.
This job has to be done; we
must not fail. The challenge is
before each of us and we must
share in this responsibility. At
the same time, we should ap
plaud our financial accom
plishment for this year. .We
had a tremendously successful
campaign and I congratulate
us.
Federation’s Role and
Relationships with Other
Institutions
If you will recall, it was my
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Strong feeling, that due to the
Federation’s pivotal role in
community funding and be
cause of the community pro
ject, it was time to take a new,
fresh approach and strengthen
our relationship with some of
the major institutions, par
ticularly the JCC, the Hebrew
Academy and Foundation.
Many of us have taken major
responsibilities on some of
those boards and I would hope
that you will continue to
engage in essential roles in
those institutions. Some of our
Executive Committee mem
bers and board members serve
on important committees for
the Hebrew Academy, the
JCC, the Foundation and the
Blumenthal Home. As we con
tinue to work closely together
in bringing the project to reali
ty, I remind you and urge you
of the importance in maintain
ing a spirit of cooperation. At
this critical stage, we need
each other to ensure the suc
cess of this great project. It
has taken a lot of years, many
trials and tribulations, to form
this “coalition of institutions.”
Now is the time to enhance
these relationships and I look
to each institutional president
and their executive commit
tees to make certain that this
happens.
Restructure of Campaign
and Allocations
After much deliberation and
study, we decided to rearrange
our allocation process in order
to strengthen our campaign.
Hopefully, this will encourage
the major recipients to be
more involved in the bud
geting process and raise their
own consciousness concerning
the campaign. It is now ob
vious that everyone has to
give more of themselves to en
sure a successful campaign.
Cash Collections
Due to the tireless efforts
and strong follow-through of
Ruth Goldberg, we no longer
have a cash collection pro
blem. Her tremendous com
mitment has paid off. In 1980,
our cash collection percentage
was 85 percent, in 1986 it is 98
percent.
Outreach
Because of the efforts of
Ruth Goldberg and Marvin
Bienstock the outreach con
cept has flourished and
another important dimension
has been added to the com
munity. As a constantly grow
ing conununity, outreach is
the vehicle that allows £dl the
institutions to offer a constant
stream of opportunities for in
volvement. More than 70
families joined temples this
spring as a result of outreach.
Social Services
Through the professional ef
forts of our Director, Adrienne
Rosenberg, and the perseve
rance and dedication of Bobbi
Bernstein as chair, we have
developed a Social Service
agency second to none for a
community of our size. I know
this trend will continue under
the strong leadership of Joel
Goldman and his experienced
committee.
I am equally pleased with
the great strides we have
made with our Community
Relations Committee (CRC),
Missions, Jewish Education
and our newly formed Jewish
Community fund.
In particular, I want to com
ment on the achievements of
Women’s Division. The many
dedicated, hard working and
skillful volunteers have
elevated Women’s Division to
a proper place of prominence.
In addition to its success in
raising dollars, Women’s Divi
sion has been equally suc
cessful in reusing Jewish con
sciousness emd in developing a
powerful corp of leaders who
have already beg^un to move
out and benefit a number of in
stitutions and organizations
through their abilities.
The past two yezu’s have
been filled with great
challenges, excitement, fun
and support by dedicated peo
ple and good friends. I wiU
miss those exciting times, and
I thank you for this gift of op
portunity which has added
such an importsmt dimension
to my life.
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