Anal\
Arm i A
eration describes his motiva-
tion in just that way.
"We needed to have a shif-
ting of funds to continuity,
while remaining a pre-
eminent funder of UJA,"
said Robert Aronson.
The move, he said, was
studied for a year and a half.
"This process was well
under way before the whole
Beilin- shmeilin thing," said
Mr. Aronson, referring to
Israeli Deputy Foreign Min-
ister Yossi Beilin's recent
controversial remarks that
Israel no longer needed
Diaspora "charity."
Shortly before the decision
was announced, the Detroit
Jewish News editorialized in
favor of such a shift of
priorities.
"We just felt there were so
many programs in Detroit
that were being asked to
stretch their budgets that it
makes sense to keep our
The campaign is
top heavy with
older people who
are all abnout
Israel.
money here," said Phil
Jacobs, the paper's editor.
The squeeze on local pro-
grams reflects the con-
fluence of the American
recession, which has cut into
fund raising these past few
years, and the Israeli ab-
sorption of more than half a
million immigrants from the
former Soviet Union and E-
thiopia.
To help pay for the im-
migration, the UJA has run
a campaign — separate from
the regular federation cam-
paign — which will have
raised more than $1 billion
when it concludes this year.
With donors giving to that
campaign, they were unable
to increase their donations
to the general campaign,
which includes local agen-
cies.
But for the Jewish Agency,
the quasi-governmental so-
cial service agency that
receives the bulk of the UJA
money in Israel, the special
campaign meant more
money was received, despite
the shortfalls in the regular
campaigns.
While the Jewish Agency
received $1.1 billion from
federations during the four
year period of 1986-89, it
received $1.6 billion in the
subsequent four years, an
increase of 40 percent.
But advocates of sending
money to Israel worry that
reductions in UJA alloca-
tions do not simply reflect
the recent squeeze on local
agencies, and the recent ad-
ditional funding the Jewish
Agency has received because
of Operation Exodus.
They fear that Israel is
decreasingly the motivation
for giving, as the events of
the 1940s become history,
rather than memory, for the
younger generation rising
into Jewish leadership and
into the major-donor
category.
"The reality is that the
campaign is top heavy with
older people who are all
about Israel," said one
observer of the fund- raising
system.
A senior official at a fed-
eration that has not, so far,
reduced its overseas alloca-
tion acknowledged that
"The strength of the voices
on the side of local needs has
been growing in the past
several years.
"Our campaign workers
are telling us that our con-
tributors are becoming more
and more concerned about
local needs. I don't think
that (Israel as a priority) is
as strongly felt today as five
years ago. Concern is shif-
ting to local needs among
the rank and file," said the
official.
Some federations are try-
ing to balance the demands
of key major donors to main-
tain a 50-50 Israel-local split
through bookkeeping
changes.
In 1992, Central New
Jersey's United Jewish Fed-
eration of MetroWest, cut its
UJA allocations by $1.4
million, compared to the
year before. But this cut of
more than 10 percent came
while the percentage
allocated to Israel remained
constant.
The trick: The 50 percent
allocation to Israel was, for
the first time, net of cam-
paign expenses; previously,
expenses were paid from the
50 percent of the campaign
that remained in New
Jersey.
In 1992, Massachusetts'
Jewish Federation of the
North Shore undertook a
similar maneuver.
And recently, the
Milwaukee Jewish Federa-
tion decided on a similar
shift from gross to net
allocations.
"We think this is a much
more responsible and busi-
ness-like way of allocating
funds," said Richard Meyer,
the federation's executive
vice president.
Under the new formula,
UJA will receive 50 percent
of Milwaukee's net receipts.
Stollman Education Center
Loewenthal High School
Karbal Elementary School
Dorothy Potiker Nursery School
The pleasure of your company
is kindly requested at the
Thirtieth Anniversary Banquet
of
Akiva Hebrew Day School
Honoring
Dr. Allen Platt
1994 Alumnus of the Year
Flo and Larry Ziffer
Community Chesed Awards
and the
dedication of the
Dorothy Potiker Nursery School
dedicated by
Mr. and Mrs. Hughes Potiker and Family
Sunday, April 24, 1994 13 I yar 5754
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at 11 1 A Mile
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