2024 Buffalo Jewish Federation Budget Discussion Draft

BUDGET 2024 Discussion Draft NOVEMB ER 29, 2023

INTRODUCTION The proposed Federation budget reflects two significant changes: 1) The fiscal year has been changed from November 1 - October 31 to January 1 - December 31, and 2) rather than align with the Community Impact Areas as was done the previous 4 years, it is built and presented based on the organization’s Strategic Priorities for 2024 as discussed previously by the board. As a result, there is no side by side comparison with Fiscal 2023 but when we are able, the narrative underscores significant changes in FY 24 from the previous year.

When combined, we are able to show the impact of our Campaign for Jewish Buffalo underscoring how these funds are used toward achieving our mission to inspire, collaborate, lead and enrich our Jewish community in Buffalo, in Israel and around the world.

The budget is presented as a recommendation of the Finance Committee to the Board of Governors for approval on November 29, 2023.

The pages that follow provide details on total revenue available to Federation to allocate, an overview of expenses and revenue and a breakdown of expense following the format of the Strategic Priorities worksheet.

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TOTAL FEDERATION REVENUE We begin the budgeting process each year by looking at our cash position and the total revenue available for operations and grants. The sources of revenue are net campaign funds, investment funds, grants, fees and restricted funds for overseas grants.

Despite our community decreasing in size, we have done an excellent job maintaining the Campaign for Jewish Buffalo. However, as our community continues to age and we are not able to replace the loss of major donors at equal levels, we are anticipating $100,000 less of funds in 2024 coming from campaign dollars. One of our goals for this year is for Federation to rely less on campaign funds internally so that we can keep agency funding level. Click HERE for more campaign donor detail.

The total revenue we estimate for FY 24 is $3,390,200. The following provides a detailed breakdown:

Campaign Fund Revenue Available Funds for Grants

$2,000,000

Other Restricted Campaign Funds Funds for JFNA Dues Benderson Funds (to be determined by family) Total Restricted Campaign Funds Sub Total Campaign

$88,433 $350,000 $438,433 $2,438,433

Other Federation Revenue Investment Funds Distribution

$783,000

Additional Revenue (Grants, Fees, Other Fundraising)

$565,200

Restricted Funds for Overseas Grants

$102,000

Sub Total Other

$1,450,200

TOTAL FEDERATION REVENUE

$3,888,633

Restricted Campaign Funds

($438,433)

Campaign Write Offs

($60,000)

TOTAL AVAILABLE FEDERATION REVENUE

Of the total revenue, the Benderson Funds (that have to be secured each year), are not available to us to allocate and JFNA dues are a fixed expense. In addition, we assume roughly a 3% write off for pledges (budgeted at $60,000).

As a result, the funds available to us to spend are just under $3.4M, and cover our operating budget ($2,522,276), community partner grants ($672,250) overseas grants ($195,500), as detailed later in the presentation.

Cash Position Lastly, we are beginning the new fiscal year on January 1 in a positive cash position which allows us to distribute grants in a timely manner as well as to support our operations.

$3,390,200 Page 3

Strategic Priorities for 2024 Below is are the Strategic Priorities for 2024 as discussed by the board in previous months. We have created this budget narrative to align with this layout. The chart below is interactive enabling you to click on an area of interest to go directly to that page.

NEW & REFRESHED PROJECTS

SUSTAINING PROGRAMS

Young Adult Engagement

Cemetery Restoration

Israel Engagement

Belonging

Combatting Hate & antisemitism

Middlescence

Immersive Experiences

HERO

JCRC

Partner Grants

LiNK Jewish Buffalo

Secure Jewish Buffalo

DEVELOPMENT

OPERATIONS

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Philanthropy Strategy [Planning & Execution]

Communication Strategy

Finance Strategy

Impact & Growth

People Plan

KEY ASSUMPTIONS & CONSIDERATIONS • Change in fiscal year provides an opportunity to alter our budget structure.

• Campaign resources will begin to decrease and fundraising strategy must pivot.

• Less campaign resources dedicated to Federation programs in order to maintain agency support.

• Growth in security efforts particularly with synagogues.

• Investment in sustaining programs will be strong with emphasis on immersive travel.

• Staff size will decrease but investment and support of team will increase.

EXPENSES

$426,360

Expenses for Federation are aligned with the strategic priories.

In the sustaining program areas, cost includes both staffing and programming. When applicable, a portion of Debbie Pivarsi (CFO), Rob Goldberg (CEO), Miriam Abramovich (COO) and Stacey Block (Director of Operations) are included as overhead costs in each associated program area and noted in the narrative.

Secure Jewish Buffalo

$110,000

Here is a summary of expenses beginning with operations, the bottom line on the priorities chart.

LiNK

$419,886

HERO

$135,497

JCRC

$221,590

Israel Advocacy

$57,265

Immersive Experience

$52,000

OPERATIONS Communication Strategy

$321,685

Finance - Impact & Growth

$757,993

HBLA

$20,000

DEVELOPMENT SUSTAINING PROGRAMS

TOTAL

$2,522,276 Page 5

OPERATIONS We have doubled-down on our operational systems by realigning staff resources and investing in a data collection and management systems. In January of this year, we promoted Miriam Abramovich to Chief Operating Officer and began to build out our operations team led by Stacey Block; this team serves as the backbone of the agency and supports the work of each program area.

Operations includes all staff benefits (see People Plan for details), professional fees (such as audit), Zoom phone/meetings (an expense budgeted at $32,400), postage, rent and storage. The operations budget also reflects all of our operational costs of our sustaining programs, such as meetings and staff costs for travel, supplies and professional development together rather than separate them out as has been done previously.

Communications: We seek to expand our communications efforts and have convened a Communications Strategy Task Force chaired by Jennifer Patrick and led by Jill Komm. Members include: Ezra Rich, Darci Cramer and Todd Geise. The task force met in » early October and discussed how best to ensure consistent messaging of the Federation and how communication output is also a vehicle to help support/grow overall giving. Next steps include meeting with program leaders of each area to help align the Federation brand/messaging with their work and creating a Communication Workplan for 2024 that will provide guidelines and layout a yearly planning cycle. Close to 90% of communications costs are staff-related with a new part-time position included.

Additional funds are allocated for sponsorships (of agency and synagogue events), printing, and website. There is revenue generated by communications services provided to Foundation for Jewish Philanthropy ($35,000, an increase of $10,000 from FY ’23) and Jewish Family Services.

Am Yisrael Chai!

The Award Winning

BUFFALO, ISRAEL & THE JEWISH WORLD | BUFFALOJEWISHFEDERATION.ORG

NOVEMBER 2023 | CHESHVAN-KISLEV 5784

( PG 4 )

DON’T MISS: HRC is now HERO (6)

Page 6

INSIDE:

Challah Prince (7)

LOOK:

Meet Regina ( 11 )

Impact and Growth: Among our operations priorities is an upgrade to Salesforce. We have completed phase one of that effort through a contract with Beyond the Horizon for a cost to date of $70,000. Our anticipated cost for Phase Two during 2024 is $10,000. Note that this is not a budgetary expense but rather a capital investment as approved by the Board.

The outcomes that we seek through this investment is that all current donor and engagement data exists side by side in Salesforce and all new engagement and donor data will be added in real time, and in sync with other platforms. We will also be able to produce robust dashboard and data reporting.

All federation professionals will be trained to use Salesforce as a tool for tracking constituent information and engagement across all program areas. Salesforce will now provide a secure, collaborative, used, and accessible living source of data which allows the Buffalo Jewish Federation to both see itself clearly and inform how mission is achieved.

Information Technology: Working together with our current IT provider, MVP, we are aiming to streamline support services and consolidation of equipment in 2024 as we create a plan to move to a fully cloud based infrastructure. We recently added an electronic Help Desk on all computers for ease of reporting technology issues. Stacey Block is now the lead contact for MVP and will be working closely with them to move us to a fully virtual environment. Our budgetary cost for IT support is $33,600.

HBLA: We continue to share the support of the Hebrew Benevolent Free Loan Association with Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies and it is included in Operations. The cost of the support, $20,000, is provided through a Campaign Grant.

+ Giving. Growing. Together.

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PEOPLE PLAN We are in the second year of implementing our Strategic People Plan, which includes ongoing realignment with our strategic priorities, succession planning, and pairing of Federation functions and professionals. This 2023 phase of this plan was highlighted by shifting roles especially for Miriam Abramovich who was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in January. As stated earlier, the Operating budget accounts for a portion of Debbie Pivarsi, Rob Goldberg, Miriam Abramovich, and Stacey Block in each associated program area.

Three other significant people changes include: Randi Morkisz has moved from full-time to part-time, Chana Kotzin has left her position as Director of the Jewish Buffalo History Center, and Ellen Goldstein will be leaving at the end of December as Editor of the Jewish Journal.

Total FTE’s have been reduced from 19 to 17.5 for FY 24.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW STAFF

FY 23

FY 24

19

17.5

Total Compensation

$1,464,430

$1,410,137

Health Benefits Costs

$119,000

$121,000

Retirement/401k Costs

$28,000

$48,000

Total FTEs

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While compensation represents 55% of the overall operating expenses, the overall cost of salaries will decrease by $50,000 in the new fiscal year. Health insurance and retirement benefits have been adjusted in part based on the discussion during the spring Board of Governors and subsequent Executive Committee meetings when leadership reinforced our goal to provide a generous and competitive benefit package to the professional team. And, as discussed previously with the Board, a new personnel manual developed in partnership with ESC will be implemented in 2024. The new manual ensures that Federation is fully in compliance with all NY State Labor Laws and ensures transparency, clarity and equity in refreshed PTO and expense reimbursement policies. Additional highlights include: • Employees eligible for health insurance can choose from two plans. The premium plan includes a 15% employee contribution and the secondary plan remains at the present level of 10%. Even assuming an overall increase in cost by 14.3%, the budgetary cost is relatively the same as 2023.

• We are offering a new 401K plan to replace the current Simple IRA plan. All employees working 20+ hours are eligible after completing one year of service. We are matching up to 4% contributed by employees resulting in an increase to the budget of an estimated $20,000 for 16 staff members.

• Employees will benefit from the addition of two new paid holidays, MLK Day and Juneteenth.

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DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY We have replaced the former Campaign Cabinet with a new Development Leadership Council led by Vice President Marc Brown. The Council pairs volunteer leaders with professionals from throughout Federation to focus on several key areas including New Donors, Corporate Giving and Supplemental Campaigns. See below for a diagram of the new Council.

Chair of Development Marc Brown (Vice President of Federation) Chair Women’s Philanthropy

Chair Major Donors

Chair Life & Legacy

Chair New Donors

Chair Corporate Giving

Chair Supplemental Giving

Amelida Ortiz Weinmann

Rise Kulick

Howard Rosenhoch

TBD

Frank Altman

Deborah Goldman

Professional Miriam Abramovich

Professional Randi Morkisz

Professional Randi Morkisz

Professional Lauren Bloomberg

Professional Jill Komm

Professional Rob Goldberg

Grant Funding

Professional Mike Steklof

Donor Rentention and Growth - Professional Stacey Block ANNUAL CAMPAIGN DONORS GIVING UNDER $5000 | PHONATHONS | MAILED SOLICITATION | DATA AND IMPACT

Erin Casper - Management of Development Leadership Council

Stewards

Stewards

Stewards

Stewards

Stewards

ANNUAL CAMPAIGN

ANNUAL CAMPAIGN DONORS GIVING $5,000 +

ENDOWMENTS

ANNUAL CAMPAIGN (UNDER 5 YEARS)

CORPORATE GIVING

LION OF JUDAH POMEGRANATE SOCIETY NATIONAL WOMEN’S PHILANTHROPY LION/POM EVENTS

TOTAL GIVING $10,000 + MAJOR DONOR EVENT

LIFE & LEGACY PROGRAM

NEW DONOR EFFORTS

Stewards

Grant Writers

HRC CAMPAIGN

NYS

CEMETERY CORP

LiNK

CORPORATE SPONSORS

LINK CAMPAIGN

I&O

CORPORATE FOUNDATIONS

SECURE JEWISH BUFFALO

NEW GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

JCRC CAMPAIGN

SHINE A LIGHT FOUNDATION

NWP LION CONFERENCE

HGF

DIGNITY GROWS

SECURITY

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We have also realigned our staffing for development as Randi Morkisz is now working half-time and focused solely on major gifts and Life and Legacy. We have not replaced Randi but have repositioned Miriam to focus more of her attention on development and have enlisted other staff like Lauren Bloomberg and Erin Casper to support our development efforts. With the realignment, the staffing cost is approximately $50,000

less than in 2023.

We continue to grabble with the number of donors decreasing while seeking to maintain a successful Campaign for Jewish Buffalo. As noted in the introduction, as we move into 2024 we anticipate a loss of approximately $100,00 due to death or donors moving out of the community. Below is a chart that compares each of the last campaign years and below that a second chart that catalogues the average of gifts (including and not including major donors): Campaign Year

# of Donors

Donor $

# of Corp

Corporate $

# of Funds

Fund $

Total Giving

Total # of Gifts

2021

1282

$2,059,036.57

8

$121,791.00

22

$86,160.43

$2,266,988.00

1312

2022

1137

$2,013,139.00

8

$120,786.00

24

$186,320.00

$2,320,245.00

1169

2023

1012

$1,793,970.00

4

$82,300.00

8

$24,060.00

$1,900,330.00*

1024

* There is an expectation that we will end the year between $2M-2.3M.

Campaign Year

Average Gift (all divisions)

Average gift without Major/Leadership Donors

Average gift for Major/Leadership Donors

2021

$1,727.89

$516.79

$10,302.56

2022

$1,984.81

$512.63

$10,822.36

2023

$1,855.79

$459.43

$9,291.29 Page 11

SUSTAINING PROGRAMS LiNK Jewish Buffalo, led by Dr. Mike Steklof, continues to provide an array of programming for hundreds of individuals through PJ Library, Belonging, the Buffalo Teen Initiative and Middle School Engagement, Young Adult Engagement, and Adult Engagement, including new programs for those 55+. The total cost of LiNK is just under $420,000 and is offset by $68,000 of designated income. The cost is $85,000 less than last year, in part due to shifting roles for Miriam Abramovich, who spent over 50% of her time in 2023 overseeing LiNK, and moving some of the professional development and staffing costs to operations.

Immersive travel continues to be a core strategy of engagement. However, given the war in Israel with Hamas, we assume that most travel to Israel will be curtailed for 2024, including plans for Israel NOW, a unique trip for 8th graders that we were planning for February.

However, we have budgeted expense of $52,000, with offsetting income of $30,000, that includes costs associated with Exploring our Roots trip to Poland and Austria, the inaugural KOLOT program in memory of Leslie Shuman Kramer z”l, and Momentum (that has been postponed but hopefully will take place in the late summer).

The Holocaust Education and Resource Organization (formally HRC), led by Lauren Bloomberg, will continue to address antisemitism and teach the lessons of the Holocaust through an array of programs, including: The Annual Teachers Conference, Yom HaShoah Commemoration (held this year at Roswell Park), and The Arts and Writing Contest. HERO has also initiated an effort to remember three Righteous Among the Nations who called WNY home through an outdoor mural at Roswell Park that will be unveiled in the Spring. Costs for the mural are covered through grants, individual gifts from family members of those remembered, funds from Roswell and dollars secured by Senator Tim Kennedy. The budget also includes an investment in 2G and 3G training and support of the Descendants Group and Speakers Bureau.

The cost of HERO is $135, 497, slightly less than last year due to staffing realignment, and is offset through $70,000 of designated income.

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SUSTAINING PROGRAMS We continue to address security needs through the leadership of Susan DeMari, Director of Community Security. The cost for Secure Jewish Buffalo is $110,000 and covers staffing and travel expense, grants to fortify physical assets, and funds dedicated to underwrite the rising cost of armed security at synagogues and other institutions. Income for Security derives from contributions and a matching grant of $55,000 from JFNA through their “LiveSecure” program.

Our Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) focuses on creating a civil and caring community through building bridges throughout WNY. Costs for JCRC include a staff team led by Mara Koven-Gelman and remain similar to 2023. Program costs include a Legislative Breakfast in February, a visit from leaders of Roots, an Israeli grassroots movement that brings Israelis and Palestinians together, the East Side Garden Walk and other efforts. The cost of JCRC is $221,590, $55,000 less than last year due to the cost of the 2023 Civic Leaders Trip to Israel, and is offset through $80,000 of designated income.

PARTNER G RA N TS

Campaign resources are primarily used to make grants to both support Federation-led programs as well as to local community agencies and overseas partners.

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LOCAL PARTNER GRANTS & CONGREGATIONAL SUPPORT The following are Partner Grants to agencies, organizations and programs outside of Federation.

The chart below captures all of the funds provided in 2023 and the proposed grants to 9 entities including the Community Religious School, the Community Educator position at UB. PROPOSED 2024

2023 GRANTS

PURPOSE

Cemetery Corp

$36,000

$36,000

Maintenance of Cemeteries

Chabad of Buffalo

$32,500

$32,500

Jewish Engagement & Learning

Hillel of Buffalo

$90,000

$90,000

Jewish Engagement/Israel Advocacy

JCC

$200,000

$210,000

Cultural Arts and JRT

JFS

$123,750

$123,750

Support Services for Jewish Buffalo

Park School/Kadimah Scholars

$75,000

$80,000

Jewish Education

Ohr Temimim

$75,000

$65,100

Jewish Education

Community Educator

$30,000

$32,000

Jewish Education

Community Religious School

$10,000

$10,000

Jewish Education/Outreach

TOTAL

$672,250

$679,350

AGENCY

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The chart below provides congregational support in 2023 and proposed support in 2024 (security is estimated). In 2023, each of the congregations were provided funds to offset the cost of armed security personal for Shabbat and holiday services. In addition, Shir Shalom, Temple Beth Tzedek and Kehilat Ohr Tzion (6 months) were allocated funds to support their rabbis work with Federation. For 2024, we will be providing a new grant to Temple Beth Zion, that is in the process of searching for a new Assistant Rabbi (or Cantor), and will be renewing the grant for Kehillat Ohr Tzion, that is searching for a rabbi to replace Ori Bergman who is leaving this summer. Both positions are effective July 1

CONGREGATION

PROPOSED/ ESTIMATED 2024

2023 GRANTS

PURPOSE

Temple Beth Zion

$15,000

$4,317

Security Officers/Rabbinic Support

Temple Beth Tzedek

$25,000

$26,405

Security Officers/Rabbinic Support

Congregation Shir Shalom

$13,000

$12,540

Security Officers/Rabbinic Support

KOT

$11,000

$10,320

Security Officers/Rabbinic Support

Knesset Center

$2,000

$1,690

Security Officers

TOTAL

$66,000

$55,272

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OVERSEAS PARTNER GRANTS We are required as a member of Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) to allocate a minimum of approximately $200,000 to overseas support (a calculation of roughly 10% of our discretionary campaign funds). Overseas Partner Core Grants remained unchanged for our three historic partners – Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and World ORT. Also note that the JAFI grant includes a core unrestricted allocation and funds set aside to support our Partnership2Gether program in the Western Galilee, an effort that is led by JAFI. We are also recommending continuing with a second year for additional grants totaling $22,500 to support 5 programs: Abayudaya Jewish Community of Uganda ($5,000 to be matched by $2,500 from the Temple Beth Tzedek Men’s Club), ALMA: Pre-Military Academy for Female Leadership ($3,500), Hand in Hand ($3,500), Krembo Wings ($3,500), ORT: YOUniversity After-School Enrichment for Ukrainian Refugees in Mateh Asher ($5,000), and iRep: Israel Religious Expression Platform ($5,000).

The following graph and chart provide an overview of the recommendation: Other Grants 12% ORT 8%

JAFI – CORE 42% JDC 25%

Page 16

JAFI P2G 13%

JAFI – CORE

$83,000

JAFI P2G – Western Galilee

$25,000

JDC – CORE

$50,000

ORT – CORE

$15,000

Other Grants

$22,500

TOTAL

$195,500

CAMPAIGN PARTNER GRANTS As indicated above, campaign dollars have been set aside to also make grants to programs and services that Federation administers such as the Jewish Journal, LiNK Jewish Buffalo, HERO, the JCRC and the Hebrew Benevolent Loan Association (HBLA). The overall cost for the grants is $1,177,000, a decrease of nearly

$250,000 from 2023, in part due to the suspension of grants for the Jewish Buffalo History Center and Planning, and our ability to maintain costs.

The following are the recommended campaign grants to Federation side by side with grants in 2023, each of which reflects changes in cost as well as secured or anticipated designated income. The one significant increase from 2023 if for JCRC that benefit the previous two years from a a grant ($25,000 each year) from West-Herr Automotive.

PROGRAM AREA

PROPOSED YR 24

GRANTS YR 23

Jewish Buffalo Communications (Jewish Journal / My Jewish Buffalo)

$120,000

$120,000

LiNK Jewish Buffalo

$352,000

$442,000

Holocaust Education and Resource Organization (HERO)

$66,000

$90,000

0

$40,000

Israel Programming

$60,000

$76,000

Hebrew Benevolent Free Loan Assoc. (HBLA)

$20,000

$20,000

Talent and Leadership

$42,000

$65,000

0

$46,000

Jewish Community Relations (JCRC)

$142,000

$100,000

Development

$375,000

$422,000

TOTAL

$1,177,000

$1,421,000

Jewish Buffalo History Center

Planning

Page 17

OPERATING REVENUE SUMMARY Income Area

Proposed 2024

Budget 2023

Unrestricted Funds

$168,000

$168,000

Day/Joseph Fund

$615,000

$580,000

Campaign Partner Grants

$1,177,000

$1,421,000

Security Designated

$110,000

$50,000

Corporate Sponsors

$100,000

$50,000

LiNK

$68,000

$94,300

HERO

$70,000

$62,500

JCRC

$80,000

$125,000

Central Services

$62,200

$55,000

Additional Revenue/Other

$75,000

$40,000

$2,525,200

$2,645,800

TOTAL

• Day/Joseph Fund: Increase of $35K. We have budgeted 4% and are still within our spend limit of 7%.

• Campaign Partner Grants: Decrease from $1,421K to $1,177K as we are relying less on campaign dollars in order to ensure that agencies remain whole.

LiNK Down – due in part to shifting Miriam’s responsibilities from link to development and operations Pause on staffing the Jewish Buffalo History Center Elimination of planning department and shifting Mandy’s responsibilities to Operations Page 18

Talent and Leadership to match professional development expense Increase in JCRC funding to account for lack of West Herr gift (until 2025) and no Civic Leaders Immersion Trip Security income – Doubling our security income through “Live Secure” matching JFNA grant