The Jewish Community Relations Council has done what many people hit with a pay cut are doing these days — picking up another job.
With allocations from the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation cut by $35,000 last year and JCRC costs mounting due in part to increased Israel advocacy, the JCRC has ventured into new territory: fund-raising. And while no one joyously takes a pay cut, the JCRC is pleased at how well it has adapted to the fund-raising game.
“The response we’ve received is truly gratifying, considering this is our first time reaching out in this way, and we’re not in the best of economic times,” said JCRC’s executive director, Rabbi Doug Kahn.
Without hiring any outside help, the organization was able to raise roughly $100,000 in the six weeks leading up to the end of June. The JCRC has already received pledges of $25,000 toward a goal of $150,000 by June 30 of next year.
Since, as Kahn notes, the vast majority of his organization’s operating funds still come from the JCF, the JCRC has been very careful not to poach fund-raisers.
“We’ve asked people to give their gift to the federation and consider a supplementary gift to JCRC, just as they’d contribute to another Jewish agency that happens to also receive funding from the federation,” said Abby Porth, the JCRC’s assistant director.
Along with lay chairs Janet Weil and Michael Jacobs, Porth is spearheading the JCRC’s fund-raising drive.
So far, Porth has concentrated on a “very narrow circle of friends” and hopes she won’t be forced to appeal to the general community. Unsolicited donors will not be turned away, however, and interested parties can contact her at (415) 957-1551.
“Because the JCRC deliberately tries to address most issues with a minimum of controversy, in some ways it is not a high visibility organization. So we’ve been going to people who know the way JCRC works,” said Jacobs of the donor pool.
For those who aren’t so familiar with the JCRC, Jacobs explains, “We are particularly fortunate to live in the Bay Area, where inter-communal harmony is a high value. And the JCRC plays a critical role in maintaining that harmony and representing our community in the way we’d want it to be represented.”
And while fund-raising is a job he’d rather not have to do, Kahn said he is glad the JCRC is doing it well.
“There’s no question that, in an ideal world, we would be pleased if this additional responsibility did not have to be undertaken,” he said.
“At the same time, since it does, we’ve proceeded with a positive spirit. Yes, if we didn’t have to do it tomorrow, I’d be delighted…To be honest with you, because the response has been so heartwarming, it has allowed us to move quickly and not to consume a major amount of time in this effort.”