After five years with no Bay Area office, and just a lone emissary handling fund-raising, the Jewish National Fund is reopening an office in downtown San Francisco.
In the four years that he’s been here, JNF’s Israeli emissary Doron Nesher — working out of his Oakland home office — has raised nearly $1 million for a reservoir being built in the Negev. He’s also made inroads with the significant community of Israelis living in the Bay Area.
“He’s done extremely well, and we’ve been having a lot of events,” said Sherri Morr, who will be director of the Financial District office here, overseeing operations for what is known as the JNF’s Western zone, including Orange County, San Diego, Seattle, Phoenix and Denver.
“We’ve taken two groups to Israel from the Northern California area and done some major gift fund-raising with new people who are interested in the project JNF is doing to address the water shortage in Israel. Based on that, we feel it’s really important to have a presence by an office now.”
Morr, who has been with JNF for 6 1/2 years and has been working in Los Angeles, will join Nesher and an administrative assistant. The office will also benefit this summer from the services of an intern through the Kohn internship program run by Jewish Vocational Services.
It was financial reasons that shut the office here five years ago, along with other national organizations’ San Francisco offices, such as B’nai B’rith and American Jewish Congress. However, JNF’s board said it would consider reopening an office if it became economically feasible.
“We’ve remained as connected to our donors as we can,” said Morr. “We said at that time that we’d come back if things changed, and things have.”
The Bay Area has four members of JNF’s World Chairman’s Council, meaning each has reached $1 million in lifetime giving.
In his tenure here, Nesher — who will continue to work part time from his home — has made connections with and brought in a lot of money from Israelis living here.
“Certainly, when Doron was dispatched here, his priority was to reach out and relate to the large Israeli population, and he has done that quite successfully,” said Morr. “Not only in terms of dollars, but in building relationships. We want to interact on a regular basis with the large Israeli population.”
Although the office, located in the Mills building at 220 Montgomery St., will open this month, its official opening and mezuzah hanging will take place in July, with Russell Robinson, CEO of JNF, presiding.
In the meantime, Morr is gearing up for a new challenge here, raising the visibility of the organization that used to be only known for its tree-planting and little blue boxes.
“We really welcome and encourage as many individuals who want to get involved with us,” said Morr. “We want to connect to the organized Jewish community, and we hope to be a presence in the community for Israel education and Israel’s environmental issues, the water crisis and the expanding work in the Negev. We see ourselves as the key organization to be able to do that in San Francisco.”