'93 Campaign Allocations Reveal New Priorities RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER I n a meeting Tuesday night, the Jewish Federation's board of governors handed down the final decisions on allo- cations from the 1993 Allied Jewish Campaign. The decisions, leaders say, reflect new priorities for Detroit's Jewish com- munity: programs target- ing young people, rather than those assisting popu- lations at risk. That means more Campaign money will go to educational and enrich- ment programs than to programs supporting the Jewish poor, unemployed, sick and elderly. "Allocating money is a painful process. Nobody wants to harm populations at risk," said Norman Katz, one of the allocation com- mittee leaders. "But the community as a whole has said it is going to empha- size Jewish continuity. If we don't work to solve problems like intermar- riage, we won't have Jews around in 30 years." Locally, agencies in the category of "Jewish educa- tion" received the largest overall increase, up $103,000 from last year. An increase of $87,000 went to culture and group services. In accordance with this year's priorities, Federation allocated the community services divi- sion, which includes agen- cies like Jewish Vocational Service and Hebrew Free Loan, the smallest increase, only $49,000. Jewish Federation Apartments (JFA) also is part of the community ser- vices division. JFA, which provides approximately 620 elderly with assisted living quarters, received a $4,470 cut in its allocation for its subsidized meal pro- gram. Alan Goodman, executive director of Jewish Family Service, says the $7,500 increase his agency received does not keep pace with the rate of inflation. Neither does it compensate for the $42,604 cut in United Way funding, he said. With upcoming union negotiations and a denied request for Federation funding of JFS's West Bloomfield branch, Mr. Goodman is concerned about his agency's welfare next year. "Everything is hitting us at the same time," he said. "The combination puts us in a difficult position for 1994. What it will lead to is an inevitable cutting back "We think everybody was treated extremely fairly." Peter Alter of services and a reduction of personnel." Like Mr. Goodman, JFA executive director Marcia Goldsmith is resigned to this year's allocation. Both say they understand that the community must, at times, reassess priorities. To mitigate the effects of low allocations, the agen- cies have sought other sources of funding, in the form of private endow- ments or federal grants. "These are very, very tough times and the Campaign dollars won't go far," said Larry Ziffer, Federation's director of planning and agency rela- tions. "We end up with a fixed number of dollars to allocate and an unlimited number of demands. In the allocation process, nothing happens by formula. There's no easy way to make these decisions." The allocation decisions are not made in a "dark, smoke-filled room," where big-givers exercise their Campaign muscle - though this seems to be the misconception of many peo- ple, Mr. Ziffer said. In fact, Tuesday's decision by the Federation's board of gov- ernors comes after 12 months of deliberations by agency staff and laypeople. "Allocations are merely the culmination of a year- long planning process," Mr. Ziffer said. Agencies that receive money from the Campaign are grouped into three major divisions: Jewish education, culture and group services, and com- munity services. Each is represented by a chairman, associate chairman and committee of laypeople. Throughout the year, these people determine the needs of their respective agencies. Each spring, all agencies make formal pre- sentations to their divi- sions and present budgets requesting a certain amount of money from the Campaign pot. In early June, after the Campaign closes, Federation's board of gov- ernors meets to decide how much Campaign money will go to local needs, and how much will be directed to Israel and overseas causes. The Campaign brought in nearly $26.9 million this year - up almost $1 mil- lion from 1992. Of the Campaign's $23,763,250 in funds available for alloca- tion, 60 percent ($14,119,950) will go to Israel and overseas causes. About 40 percent of the total will go to domestic agencies. Included in that amount is $569,850 for national agencies, like National Tay Sachs and the Jewish Labor Committee. The $3.1 million differ- ence between the total Campaign revenue and amount of funds available for allocation reflects the cost of fund raising, money put aside for next year and a reserve for uncollectable pledges. Earlier this summer, the division chairmen met to decide how revenue will be split between their divi- sions. Through lengthy negotiations, the division chairmen - Mr. Katz, Mr. Rosenthal and Irwin Alterman - divvied up $7,592,262 between their' three divisions2This was more than $500,000 more than divisions were given last year. The division chairmen subsequently went back to their respective committees with their part of the Campaign pie, which corn- Campaign Allocations JEWISH EDUCATION 93-94 Agency for Jewish Education Akiva Hebrew Day School Hillel Day School Transportation Service Yeshiva Beth Yehudah Yeshiva Gedola Supplementary School Scholarship Fund 850,000 200,000 299,000 18,600 300,000 35,000 92-93 899,000 197,000 273,000 8,600 270,000 27,000 75,000 COMMUNITY SERVICES 55,000 1,236,415 27,428 864,376 1,050 59,150 690,543 278,700 54,680 1,228,915 31,898 831,376 1,050 50,000 687,043 278,700 35,000 460,000 88,600 98,500 170,450 1,242,450 507,000 25,000 450,000 73,600 90,500 156,450 1,227,450 492,000 514,433 514,433 625,000 191,755 150,000 564.063 176,040 150,000 $13,928,160 10,000 62,790 50,000 13,722,622 10,000 89,700 46,075 68,500 48,000 68,500 70,000 50,000 70,000 2,700 2,700 2,716 49,850 1,600 46,500 2,018 2,000 900 2,000 2,716 1,600 52,000 24,000 6,000 53,755 26,000 6,000 6,840 6,840 3,000 900 3,400 3,000 900 3,400 900 2,660 224,050 Hebrew Free Loan Association Jewish Family Service Jewish Federation Apartments Jewish Home for Aged Jewish House of Shelter Jewish Information Service Jewish Vocational Service Resettlement Service CULTURE AND GROUP SERVICES B'nai B'rith Youth Organization Fresh Air Society Hillel Foundation - Metro Detroit Hillel Foundation - MSU Hillel Foundation - U of M Jewish Community Center Jewish Community Council OTHER Capital Needs (various agencies) Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit National Dues (CJF, LCBC, etc.) Sinai Hospital OVERSEAS United Jewish Appeal America-Israel Cultural Foundation Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) Jewish Telegraphic Agency NATIONAL AGENCIES American Jewish Committee American Jewish Congress Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith Association of Jewish Family and Children's Agencies Baltimore Institute for Jewish Communal Service B'nai B'rith National Youth Services (Hillel) Brandeis University Hornstein Program in Jewish Communal Service Center for Jewish Studies Hebrew Union College School of Jewish Communal Service Jewish Community Centers Association of North America (formerly JWB) Jewish Labor Committee Jewish War Veterans National Association of Jewish Vocational Services National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL) National Tay-Sachs Association North American Jewish Students Appeal Project Interchange Synagogue Council of America Joint Budgeting Council 2,660 224,050 (Jewish Education Service of North America, National Conference on Soviet Jewry, National Foundation for Jewish Culture, National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council) *The Joint Budgeting Council comingles the funds it receives from Detroit and ten other communities. CO 0) Cr) mittee members then divided up between agen- cies in their division. The last step in the allocation process was obtaining approval from Federation's board of governors. This happened, without complications, on Tuesday, Mr. Ziffer said. "I think the allocation process proceeded extreme- ly well," said Peter Alter, allocations committee chairman. "I think (the outcome) reflects a consen- sus of what the priorities in the community are. We think everybody. was treat- ed extremely faiily." ti CD 13