Metro

Good News, Bad News

Federation
Campaign
numbers are
on a record
pace, but
dismal
economy
drives more
people to
agencies for
help.

Right: Dialing for
dollars, Yeshiva Beth

Yehudah Executive

Director Rabbi
Eli Mayerfeld of

Southfield.

Far right: Representing

the Jewish Family

Service board at
Campaign Countdown,
Mark Landau of West

Bloomfield.

16

April 13 • 2006

Harry Kirsbaum
Staff Writer

A

fter its "Campaign Countdown"
fund-raising event, which raised
$275,000 from 600 donors March
27-29, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit's Annual Campaign has received
pledges of $32.9 million toward its $36.75
million overall goal and $4.2 million of a
$4.74 million goal for the A. Alfred Taubman
Challenge Fund.
At firsf glance, the numbers are stag-
gering. Federation is on pace to raise
a record amount of money, but the
fallout of the poor local economy'
is staggering as,well, said Robert .
Aronson, Federation CEO.
"As positive as the news is, since
I've been in this community in the
past 18 years, I have never seen as
grim an economic picture as I see
today," he said. "You see it in all
Federation agencies. You can't pick
up the newspaper without reading
about additional hardships.
"It's affecting our vulnerable popu-
lations, our elderly, and our people who
are either unemployed or underemployed,
and it is affecting our donor base. I'm very
concerned about it," he said. "I would say that

it's going to be as tough a year to make deci-
sions as I've seen in a long time, even with a
good Campaign result."
The Federation has projected a budget of
$38.9 million — an increase of $1.3 mil-

Net Revenue projection:
$1.3 million

Captial
Needs
Fund Grant
$150,000

Overseas
Allocations
$383,333

Operating
Fund Budget
Allocation
$383,334

Lcoal
Allocations
$383,3333

lion in net revenue for the year ending May
31, 2007, based on the combined sources
of revenue from Federation and its bank-
ing and endowment.arm, the United Jewish
Foundation.
Federation sanctioned the parameters of
the $1.3 million increase and divided them:
$383,333 to overseas allocations, $383,333 to
local needs, $383,334 to the operating fund
budget and $150,000 to the capital needs
fund.
Federation Planning Director Linda
Blumberg said the figures do not show an
across-the-board increase in the budget;
it's skewed to help local needs.
"Capital needs goes to the local
agencies," she said, adding that the
$150,000 is used for things like build-
ing improvements.

Agencies In Need
Mary Keane, Hebrew Free Loan
Association executive director, called
business "remarkably full?'
Once known as a place to get a loan
for a start-up busineSs or for. a recent
immigrant to get a used-car loan, HFLA
now is seeing a disturbing change.
"Now we are.looking at the upper-middle
class, never feeling that they could ever be in
this position," she said. "These people now