It’s been an open secret for months that every agency supported by the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation could expect a sizable cut in their annual allocation for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
This week, the word came down from JCF headquarters on Steuart Street, and the news was not good.
The slow economy has taken a severe toll on the federation’s annual campaign. And since the federation is the umbrella fundraising organization for San Francisco, the Peninsula and Marin, it now has less money to distribute to agencies it supports. That means less aid to needy Jewish seniors. Less money to educate Jewish children. Fewer dollars for JCCs and projects in Israel. The list goes on.
To its credit, the federation is taking the first bullet. It announced this week the elimination of 33 positions. That translates into 18 people immediately laid off while the rest are posts that will remain unfilled.
We fear more layoffs throughout the Jewish community will follow, as agency after agency deals with reduced operating funds in the short term.
But we wonder whether the cutbacks at federation translate to a more difficult future for all of us who care about the workings of Bay Area Jewish life.
In this case, the old adage that you have to spend money to make money is being shoved aside. This federation has endured numerous job cuts in the last few years. It’s hard to believe that after so many cutbacks JCF has enough people to put into the field to raise funds. It also has to be much more difficult for them to plan for the future of our community with a smaller internal staff.
Federation CEO Jennifer Gorovitz addressed this in a letter e-mailed to donors earlier this week. The letter says, in part, “It is clear that what has worked for the past 100 years of the Federation’s history will not sustain us for the next 100 years.”
But she remains optimistic. Gorovitz wrote, “We see a collective opportunity to rethink how all of our community’s Jewish agencies work together to better deliver services and engage our community. Despite the challenges of a rapidly changing world, the potential is great for the Federation.”
We hope her optimism is infectious, especially as we anticipate the economy eventually bouncing back. We want to believe that this disastrous year will be followed by a year of renewed generosity.
If not, we will be turning the clock back on what this federation has spent 100 years building — one of the leading Jewish communities in the nation.
We can’t allow that to happen. It’s never too late make that donation — needed now more than ever.