JFGP Insider Report June 2024

Insider Report

Grantee Spotlight

jkidpride is a program of the Jewish Learning Venture (JLV), which is supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. Run by JLV’s jkidphilly program, jkidpride creates safe spaces for Jewish children and their parents to interact with queer culture and express their identities without fear of being persecuted.

The initiative hosts informal gatherings, educational programming and holiday celebrations, where LGBTQ+ Jews have the space to build relationships with one another. Programs run the gamut from simple playground meetups to family paint afternoons with guest artists, LGBTQ+ Tween Game Nights, and their annual Lag B’Omer Drag Queen Storytime and S’mores.

In FY23, the Jewish Federation granted $758,201 to JLV’s various programs focused on inclusion. A portion of this funding supported jkidpride’s operations and its ability to hire Robin Matthews as the director, who has led the initiative since its inception.

Through supporting initiatives like jkidphilly, the Jewish Federation works to solidify creating diverse and welcoming Jewish spaces.

The funding from the Jewish Federation dedicated specifically to reach underserved populations has been vital. Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to grow our community so significantly and offer as many programming opportunities.”

jkidpride Director Robin Matthews

Department Updates

Strategy and Impact

• The Jewish Federation’s grants processes are coming to a close with the Jewish Community Fund recommendations going before the Board of Trustees this June. These processes will also include those for the Women of Vision (WOV) Endowment Fund, Weinberg Fund, and Jewish Federation Real Estate (JFRE) grant processes, totaling about $10 million in community investments, as determined through the Jewish Federation’s lay committees.

• Director of Local Grants and Partnerships Brian Gralnick led a comprehensive briefing with our region’s camp directors discussing camper mental health and well-being, Israel engagement, and the Jewish Federation grants process. Security Director Scott Kerns and Deputy Security Director Cortney Voorhees joined the call and provided crucial security recommendations and resources for our camp administrators.

• The Venture Israel Fellowship, in partnership with the Jewish Learning Venture, recently hosted Israeli poet Adi Keissar in a series of talks throughout the Greater Philadelphia area. Over 275 people attended.

FRD/Affinity/Endowment

• Endowments launched the new Professional Advisors Network for tax, estate and wealth planners on May 14 at the offices of Dechert LLP. The event featured a special briefing by Michael Balaban and included an Israeli wine tasting in honor of Israel Independence Day. There were 45 professional advisors in attendance.

• NextGen Pathway fellows have completed their sessions and are now in the mentorship portion of the fellowship. Each has been matched with a mentor to work one-on-one with over the course of the next year.

• Women of Vision members are voting to award grants to organizations transforming the lives of self-identifying Jewish women and girls in Greater Philadelphia. The new grant cycle (Sept. 2024-Aug. 2026), will fund up to four grants, awarding each recipient with a maximum amount of $36,000/year for two years.

• Women of Vision celebrated their 30th anniversary at their signature Spring Event on May 21 at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History. More than 240 people were in attendance at this event, which featured bestselling author and activist Jennifer Weiner and sportscaster Jamie Apody.

Community Leadership Development / Engagement

• The community engagement specialists are meeting with their leadership teams to set calendars for the upcoming year. This includes budgeting and planning for flagship programs and discussions regarding smaller grant funded events. In addition, the Kehillot will create a meeting calendar for the upcoming year.

• Over the summer, the Community Development Department will build relationships with key stakeholders in each Kehillah. The department plans to partner with jkidphilly to meet parents of families with young children to connect them further with the work of the Jewish Federation. Each member of the team will also have one-on-one meetings with educators, clergy, organizational/ congregational leaders and lay leaders.

• The Leadership Development Advisory Group will be co-chaired by Jon Stevens and Lauren Danneman and will work on the implementation of the plans created by the Leadership Development Task Force. In FY25, this will include the mentorship piece of the NextGen Pathway Fellowship, the launch of the Board of Ambassadors, working with Women’s Philanthropy on their orientation program and one-off workshops for lay leaders both inside and outside of the Jewish Federation.

• The Governance Task Force, chaired by Julie Perilstein Mozes, will meet through June to complete updating bylaws. This work will provide a plan for leadership succession and establish governance practices for board members with a structure to the nominations process.

Marketing/Events/PR

• In March and April, the Jewish Federation secured 99 pieces of media in outlets like: Forward, DVJ, Fox29, NBC, MarketWatch, Axios, JNS, and local features in the Philadelphia Inquirer, NBC10, and 6ABC. These pieces were exposed to an estimated audience of 588 million and received over 5.9 million estimated views.

• The team has devised a marketing rollout for the Jewish Community Foundation, which will be launched in FY25 Q1.

• The Marketing team is currently working on a multi-pronged end of campaign year marketing strategy to reach donors across multiple platforms, starting in early August.

Latest articles include topics such as:

• Displaced but not Alone: Jewish Federation Addresses Ukrainian Refugees’ Collective Trauma Through Continued Support of KleinLife

• Supporting Students’ Mental Health: the Jewish Federation Secures Therapist for Temple Hillel as it Continues to Protect Campuses in the Face of Rising Antisemitism

• Six Decades of Saying Never Again: Philadelphia Honors 60th Annual Holocaust Remembrance

JCRC and Government Affairs

• The JCRC attended a three-day mission to Washington D.C. from May 21-23 along with partners at Culture Changing Christians. Together, the group lobbied on Capitol Hill for issues of shared importance to both the Jewish and Black communities, such as anti-hate legislation and violence reduction. The mission also included a visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

• JCRC Director Jason Holtzman and Majid Alsayegh, Board Chair of the Dialogue Institute at Temple University, taught four classes/ workshops at North Penn High School on antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias. The feedback received from students, teachers, faculty and school board members from other districts was overwhelmingly positive and shows that the presentations were impactful.

• The JCRC’s efforts to combat antisemitism in the Philadelphia School District were highlighted in a recent 6ABC article, including an interview with JCRC Director Jason Holtzman. The JCRC, along with multiple partners, filed a complaint with the Federal Department of Education against the district for repeatedly failing to act against instances of anti-Zionism and antisemitism across multiple schools.

Finance/IT/Operations/Real Estate/Donor Services and Data Services

• Operating results continue to run favorable to the approved budget and the midyear forecast. There is anticipation of ending the year with a slight budget surplus comparing favorably to a budgeted deficit.

• Pledge collections relating to campaign years 2022 and 2023 are close to being wrapped up. This includes accelerating collections of open pledges and writing off uncollectible pledge balances.

• New Deputy Security Director Cortney Voorhees (contracted via SCN) started at the Jewish Federation on May 20. She will be stationed in the community, rotating among selected Jewish organizations, once her orientation and training are completed.

• The team continues to normalize and streamline operational reporting (gifts, allocations, grants, etc.) by developing an objective mechanism through which report requests will flow. Output will be accurate, consistent and repeatable.

Finance Snapshot

Operating Results FYTD ............................................................................... April 2024

Campared to Operating Forecast

Operating Surplus ............................................................................................

$360,000

Staffing Levels ................................................................................................... 87

Surplus (Deficit) from staffing levels

$20,000

Surplus (Deficit) from Bond Interest Expense ....................................... $12,000

Surplus (Deficit) from All Other Areas ......................................................

JCF Pledge Accounts Receivable as of May 27, 2024

FY 2021 Campaign

$328,000

$300

FY 2022 Campaign ........................................................................................... $1,854

FY 2023 Campaign ........................................................................................... $185,457

FY 2024 Campaign........................................................................................... $2,172,009

Total ...................................................................................................... $2,359,622

Operating Cash Balance ................................................................................. $5,500,000

Provisional and subject to final audit adjustments

Summary by Fiscal Year Campaign (BBEC Gift Year Specified by Donor)

Source: Financial Accounting System

Restricted Net of Emergency and One Time

FY2023 9/1/22 5/22/23

FY2024 9/1/23 5/21/24

Emergency Campaigns & One-Time Gifts $(1,585,856) $(67,400) $(8,893,335)

FY2024 vs FY2023 2024 B(W)

4/25/24 BBEC Pace by Designation Pace = 5% over FY2023

FY2022 9/1/21 5/22/22 Total

Delta between Financial Accounting System (FAS) and CRM is timing difference between pledges recorded in the CRM and pledges verified, documented, and recorded in the FAS.