Who's Up, Who's Down

Charity list shows Jewish community's fund raising generally is stable.

RACHEL POMERANCE

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

New York
snapshot of some of the largest
Jewish charities reveals that
Jewish fund-raising generally is
stable. But nuances in the numbers
reveal who's up, who's down and why.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy last
week released its annual list of the top
400 charities in America primarily for
fiscal years that ended in 2003. The 24
American Jewish charities that made the
"Philanthropy 400" list raised more than
$2 billion from private sources. That was
some $42 million less than the total
raised in fiscal year 2002 by the 28
Jewish charities on last year's list.
First among the Jewish charities was
the United Jewish Communities, the
umbrella group for North American
Jewish federations, with nearly $345
million in private donations. However,
since the UJC represents the federations
and the funds they raise, much of that
amount essentially was double counted.
Of its $345 million, $233 million was
collected by federations for the system's
overseas partners, which run relief and
welfare, Zionist education and immigra-
tion to Israel. The remaining $112 mil-
lion is for the federation system's coordi-
nated Israel Emergency Campaign,
which was launched in 2001 to aid
Israelis amid the Palestinian intifada.
While federations raised much of
those funds in fiscal year 2002, most
were not transferred to UJC until fiscal
year 2003. That explains why this year's
list shows a bump in fund raising for the
UJC but a dip for many of the federa-
tions, many of which already had listed
the money in fiscal year 2002.
The American Jewish community val-
ues the Chronicle's list because it provides
an opportunity to assess the health of
their charitable organizations in compar-
ison to each other, the non-Jewish com-
munity and years past.
But the list is not foolproof
For one, it doesn't consider endow-
ments or planned giving, many of which
are mainstays of Jewish organizations. It
also leaves out donations to synagogues,
Jewish community centers and day
schools, which boast massive capital
campaigns, said Gary Tobin, president
of the Institute of Jewish and

A

Community Research.
Since most of the Jewish philanthro-
pies that made the list are federations,
which have flat campaigns, Jewish phi-
lanthropy appears flat overall — but in
fact it is growing, Tobin said.
Mark Charendoff, president of the
Jewish Funders Network, believes Jewish
fund raising generally is stable — but
that's not good enough, he says. "The
needs are becoming more acute," he
said, "and if the Jewish community
wants to have a greater impact in fulfill-
ing our mission, then stability is not
going to allow us to do the job."
"Younger philanthropists view them-
selves as investors. This is not a genera-
tion that is looking to invest in static"
charities, he said. They're "looking to
take some risks, educated risks, but
risks" in charities "that are taking risks."
Topping the general list of 400, by a
landslide, was the Salvation Army. With
some $1.3 billion raised, the group was
half a million dollars ahead of the No. 2
charity, the American Cancer Society.
Federations and federation-related
agencies make up more than half the
Jewish charities listed. That underscores
the federations' pre-eminence in
American Jewish communal life despite
increasing competition — from both
Jewish and non-Jewish charities — for
donors' money.
At the same time, Jewish federations
primarily push a collective funding pool,
despite a general philanthropic trend to
give donors greater control over how
their dollars are used.
In analyzing the "Philanthropy 400,"
it becomes clear that a group's ranking
and the funds it raises may shift from
year to year due to general economic
conditions or even a single exceptional
donation. Often, it relates to the timing
of a special fund-raising drive, as was the
case for the federation system's Israel
Emergency Campaign.
Such a scenario boosted Hadassah:
The Women's Zionist Organization of
America in this year's listing. The group's
fund-raising jumped from some $75
million in 2002 to $94 million in 2003
due to a campaign to build a new emer-
gency medical center in Jerusalem, said
Jane Karlin, Hadassah's director of devel-
opment.
"This campaign, which had a $46
million goal, motivated our members

CHRONICLE OF PHILANTHROPY 400

Jewish Charities 2003 Ranking

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across the United States to give gener-
ously," she said, noting that the group
had raised $51 million for the project by
May 2004.
Some, like the Jewish National Fund,
lost their place on the list entirely. Last
year, the group's nearly $30 million put
it at 392nd place; while it topped $30
million in fiscal 2003, it didn't make the
current list.
The American Committee for the
Weizmann Institute of Science saw its
funds slip from nearly $65 million in
2002, when it received a few major
gifts, to more than $47 million last year.
Others made the list for the first time.
The New Israel Fund, which raised
nearly $37 million from private sources,
debuted at 354th place. That includes a
$20 million grant from the Ford
Foundation last fall, the group told JTA.
Donations to the federation system's
annual campaign — assembled from
federations across North America —
dipped only slightly in 2003, to $827.5
million from $831.9 million the year
before. The annual campaign has hov-
ered in the low- to mid-$800 million
range since 2000.
The UJC raises another $1.2 billion
each year through planned giving and
endowments. The list comes as federa-
tions report an increase in annual cam-
paign gifts for 2004.

Detroit's Ranking

The Detroit federation has run an Israel
emergency campaign for three years, but
support peaked in the first year, said
Mark Davidoff, executive director and

chief operating officer. The Jewish
Federation of Detroit, which last year
raised more than $76 million, ranking
third in fund-raising among Jewish fed-
erations, slid to seventh place among
federations, with $49 million raised.
Davidoff said the drop reflected the
end of another special campaign — its
Millennium
Campaign for
Detroit's
Jewish Future
endowment
drive —
which raised
$60 million
between 1998
and 2002.
Endowments
declined in
Davidoff
2003, follow-
ing the stock
market,
Davidoff said.
Two components mark the change
from year to year besides the end of the
Millennium Campaign — endowments
and the "second line" campaigns, he
said.
The endowment component is in
direct relation to the economy and the
stock market, he said. The second-line
campaign — the Israel Emergency
Campaign that raised $7 million in
2002, and the Grand Challenge Fund,
which raised $4.25 million in 2003, also
had an effect on the numbers.
"In three years, we raised $15 million

WHO'S UP on page 36

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