A Crisis Passed

A year 4fter a Federation bailout,
Akiva is seeing a way out of its financial woes.

JULIE WIENER
StaffWriter

I is been a difficult year, but
Akiva Hebrew Day School
appears to be on the rebound.
Last January, the modern
Orthodox school was more than
$300,000 in the hole and had to
appeal to the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit for an emer-
gency $50,000 grant and a $50,000
loan.
Now, thanks to financial advice
from the Federation, cost-cutting mea-
sures_ and a flurry of new fund-raising
activities, Akiva is staying afloat.
"This year we're expecting to be on
an even basis. We're not sweating out
every payroll," said Akiva President
Stuart Teger. Although Teger would
not provide a
copy of Akiva's
budget, he said
revenues and
expenditures are
now "pretty much
in line with each
other."
Howard
Neistein, director
of planning and
agency relations
at the Federation,
said Akiva's crisis
last year was root-
ed in a sudden
drop in enroll-
ment that fol-
lowed a sudden surge in enrollment.
Over the course of two years,
enrollment dropped by about 50 stu-
dents, but in previous years it had
risen by that amount, causing the •
school to hire extra staff, said Teger.
Last year's loss of tuition revenues
was exacerbated, said Teger, by a poli-
cy in 1995-96 of borrowing, in which
the school used pre-paid tuition for,
the following year to pay that year's
were
expenses. The financial woes
not helped by an unsuccessful fund-
raising campaign in 1995-96.
"It all came together/in one bad
year," said Teger, adding that measures
taken this year have reversed the situa-
tion.
"Our leadership met with theirs in

developing a business plan mpving
them forward," kaid Federation's
Neistein. "BasicA,:,, they hatl to recon-
figure their staffing tothe lower
enrollment and need-
ed to look at revising
fund-raising organiz-

ing:

And fund raising
the school has done,
with a vengeance.
"The crisis galvanized
our parent body and
supporters," said
Rabbi Karmi Gross,
Akiva's principal.
According to Teger,
more than half of
Akiva's funds are
raised from people
who are not parents

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of Akiva students, and the number is
increasing. However, he was unable to
provide the total number of donors or
further details about them.
Unlike many other schools, Akiva
cannot rely on significant financial
support from alumni because it is a
relatively young institution and many
of its graduates have made aliyah to
Israel.
Consequently, the school needs a
broad base of support and novel
strategies to sustain itself.
Last year, Akiva imposed a "give or
get" policy, requiring parents either to
make financial contributions or volun-
teer their time in income-generating
activities. Parent labor has been enlist-

ed in building repair and mainte-
nance, and parents are staffing a week-
ly bingo game — launched in May —
in Madison Heights.
According to Dr. Phil
Goldmeier, one of the
parent coordinators of
bingo, the operation
has already generated
nearly $25,000.
Parents are expected to
help out every eight
weeks at the bingo
hall, which draws a
crowd from the sur-
rounding community.
In addition to bingo,
Akiva has held several
fund-raising events and
is attempting to broad-
en its base of support.
Parent Janis Roszler
assists with public rela-
Above:
tions and is coordinat-
Dr. Phil
ing a speakers program
Goldmeier
of Jewish community
works the
leaders — not just
bingo game.
from the Orthodox
community — to
Left:
Alex Voss and introduce new people
to Akiva.
Noam
Although Akiva is
Carmen han-
dle the boo t y. getting by for now, it
is hardly in a position
to rest on its laurels.
Long-term financial security is by no
means assured, and the school —
which is still searching for a director
of development — must contend with
high maintenance costs at its antiquat-
ed building on Southfield Road. And
whereas enrollment is rapidly growing 1
at Hillel Day School, Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah and Darchei Torah, Akiva's
enrollment, at 296, is no larger than it
was a decade ago.
But, Teger emphasized, Akiva's
struggles are also not that different
from day schools throughout the
country.
"The parent body cannot begin to
pay enough money to cover the expens-
es of the school. We'd have to almost
double tuition if we were going to rely
solely on tuition dollars," he said.
For Teger, the solution lies in
recruiting large gifts, enough to start a
sizable endowment.

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