JDC: No deal on allocations split
Judging from the positive feelings at the GA, local federations are happy with Jerry Silverman, the new CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America. But it looks like the peace and euphoria lasted all of 48 hours, as the long-running tensions between the federation system's two overseas organizations have resurfaced.
For the past 18 months, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel have been trying to hammer out an agreement on how to split the $160 million - $200 million per year that the federations allocate to both organizations’ core budgets. After doing away with a complicated allocations process known as ONAD, the two sides had basically agreed to go back to a split that gave 75 percent of the money to the Jewish Agency and 25 percent to JDC.
But the deal wasn't closed, and negotiations have dragged on for more than a year and a half. Two prior times during the talks -- which have been brokered by Kathy Manning, who took over as the chairwoman of the Jewish Federations of North America this week -- the two sides seemed closed to an agreement. Each time, however, JDC backed out at the last minute for different reasons.
This time, JDC seems to be saying point blank that it needs more money and that its mission of feeding the poor and elderly in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe needs to take precedence right now over that of the Jewish Agency.
According to sources, the two sides had reached an agreement to extend the 75-25 split several weeks ago, but Thursday, JDC’s chairman, Irv Smokler, sent out an e-mail to his board saying that there is no deal: “The current split of 75 percent for JAFI and 25 percent for JDC came into being in 1952 when Israel was ready to accept large numbers of immigrants and JDC had declining welfare roles in Europe as a result of the closing of the DP camps. The world has changed significantly and the funding formula must reflect this new reality,” he wrote.
We'll keep you posted.
Here is the rest of Smokler’s letterRead More >>>
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Ari “Hero” Teman: The news, the video
The JTA news report:
NEW YORK (JTA) -- After weeks of deliberation and the tally of more than 600,000 online votes, the Jewish Federations of North America has named its first Jewish Community Hero -- Ari Teman, the founder of JCorps.
A panel of judges from outside the federation system chose Teman, 27, for the $25,000 Jewish Community Heroes prize after whittling down a list of more than 400 nominees.
The Jewish Federations announced the choice Tuesday at the closing plenary session of its General Assembly conference in Washingon. The contest was part of the federation system's new multimillion-dollar marketing and rebranding strategy to broaden its base of support.
Teman's organization sets up young Jews with volunteer opportunities in nine cities over three continents -- all while working on virtually no budget.
Teman, a standup comedian by day, runs JCorps as a volunteer on a budget that is probably less than the award he will take home. Yet the organization has enlisted some 10,000 volunteers for local community service projects in the United States, Canada and Israel.
"This will enable us to take in a lot more volunteers rapidly without having to worry, 'Do we have to slow it down because we can't afford to bring more people in?' ” Teman told JTA.
Teman said he started the organization in 2007 on something of a late-night whim about how he could meet more Jewish people.
The money will help the program expand and perhaps allow Teman to hire his first professional staff member.
"The first year we started with $300,” he said. “We like to say that if we had no money we could still keep running, which is great, because it means the money we put in is for growth."
The exclusive video interview:
The press conference:
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