New Israel Fund closes some doors to give more money

Despite its growing strength, come May the New Israel Fund will shut down four regional offices and make its San Francisco office the organization's West Coast hub.

NIF leadership decided to close its offices in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami to give $2 million more to its grantees in Israel during the next two years.

"The international board decided to do this from a position of strength," said Jim Scheinman, regional director of the NIF. Pointing out that last year the organization had its best year ever, he said, "this is not out of weakness or problems."

The NIF, which promotes equality, tolerance and democracy among all Israel's citizens, was founded in San Francisco in 1979. And with its progressive views, the Bay Area office has remained particularly strong for the Washington, D.C.-based organization, which donates to groups that promote civil rights, Arab-Jewish coexistence, religious pluralism and equality for women.

"If we were increasing our income by 10 to 15 percent each year, we could put that additional money on the ground [in Israel], but it's the economic and political climate we're in," said Norman Rosenberg, national director of NIF.

Considering the downturn in the economy, overall, NIF is faring better than expected, he said.

In the category of donors who give $1,000 or more annually, they gave 5 percent more in 2002 than in 2001, he said. But "we took a major hit" with income from foundations.

"There are probably a dozen foundations that have told us their priorities have shifted, or their asset bases have declined substantially, which means passing along those losses to its grantees," said Rosenberg. The organization's projected goals were to raise $3.4 million from foundations, and that fell $550,000 short.

"This is a time when an organization like ours needs to focus the most money on the ground in Israel," said Jeremy Ben-Ami, NIF's director of communications. "We think we can raise the same amount of money or more by having fewer staff and offices, and we think that's important to do now, given the situation and crisis we're in."

Ben-Ami said that with most of the Israeli government's resources going toward fighting the intifada, many of the internal issues the NIF focuses on are being overlooked.

For example, "The government of Israel is completely eliminating all support for democracy education. It's critical to teach children from the former Soviet Union," he said, and other non-democratic countries "about democracy, so it's really important for us to maximize whatever we can."

When asked whether the intifada is costing the NIF money, in terms of its donors not wanting to support Israel's Arab citizens at this time, Scheinman said the opposite is true.

"Our existing donor base understands that NIF is the foremost organization that strengthens Israel's democracy, and they are more supportive than ever."

Rosenberg agreed, calling NIF's donor base "incredibly loyal." He said the real challenge lies in attracting new donors who currently do not understand the challenges Israel faces internally.

"Our work ahead of us is to reach the majority of the Jewish community that still doesn't know what we do and why it's important," said Scheinman.

As regional director, he will be spearheading those efforts. With San Francisco as its West Coast hub, the New York office will be considered its East Coast hub and Washington will remain its national office.

While the local office will not be hiring anyone new, its current staff of five will have increased responsibilities. "We're increasing our outreach to donors outside the Bay Area," said Scheinman.

The local office is now focused on its annual "Guardian of Democracy" dinner on May 1. Scheinman said for the first time, "we're inviting major donors from the [entire] West Coast. It's a good excuse for them to come to San Francisco and meet 500 to 600 donors, and feel they're part of a larger community."

The local office will also put more effort into places like Davis, Sacramento, Carmel and Santa Cruz.

While those living in areas where an office is closing may feel the loss, as public education programs will stop, Bay Area residents should not.

"This will be seamless to our donors," said Scheinman. "No one would even know about it if you weren't writing about it, and we will continue to service our donors the way they're used to being serviced."