Metro

ON THE

COVER

We Want YOU!

'Class of a Million' seeks future
major donors under age 40.

Harry Kirsbaum

Staff Writer

Paul Silverman of Franklin arrives.

Washington, D.C.
ichard Winkelman
of West Bloomfield
had never been to the
United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum or even to Washington,
D.C., before. But he spent a mara-
thon day there July 12 on a class
field trip.
Winkelman is a member of
the "Class of a Million',' a new,
unofficial Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit initiative
conceived by his college buddy,
Detroit attorney Joshua.Opperer.
Opperer's "Class" idea was sev-
eral years in the making, but its
impetus was to increase major
Federation donations among
people under 40.
The goal is to secure 100 family
or individual good-faith pledges
of $10,000 or more from people
under 40 years old by 2009.
"How do we create expectations
for people in a way that's consis-
tent with today's sort of sensitiv-
ity?" he said, adding that old-style,
one-on-one fundraising methods
only work for some people.
"The whole idea was to start

R

nobody wanted to get rid of the
with lawyers, accountants, insur-
name — Class of a Million. That's
ance people, nobody who was an
heir or perceived as being an heir',' how we got this larger-than-life
goal.
he said.
We weren't creative enough to
"Around the time that Max
come up with a different name,
Fisher died, it sort of tied in; we
so full steam ahead:'
lost this million-dollar donor;
and, for whatever reason, I
New Major Givers
couldn't get rid of the idea of a
Federation president Peter Alter
Class of a Million."
deems the first-of-its-kind idea
So he sat down with a few
"terrific."
people and tried to talk himself
— and them
— out of the
idea.
"I thought
there was no
way we could
do this; it was
just too much
[money],"
said Opperer,
steering
committee
chair. "So is
there anything
we can do to
get 25 people to
give $10,000 or
David Jacobson of Birmingham and Bubba Urdan
more? The real
problem is that Bloomfield at the National Press Club.

"There was and is a lot of dis-
cussion about the fact that we are
a community with some senior
leadership getting older or dying,
and what can we do about it?" he
said."It's not that easy replacing a
million-dollar donor. Well, let's do
it one step at a time.
"From that was born the idea
to build up to 100 young people
to give money that possibly they
would not have otherwise given. I
think it's a ter-
rific concept."
In 1999, only
one Young Adult
Division donor
gave more
than $10,000
to the Annual
Campaign.
By 2004, that
number had
"swelled" to
five. As of last
week, the Class
of a Million had
72 members.
If you already
of West
give $10,000,
a seat in the

Class is reserved for you if you
increase your gift to $18,000 a
year, Opperer said.
"This class does not demand
involvement, which is different
from anything we do. If you want
to be involved, we will do whatev-
er we can. We'll provide you with
communal mentors, leadership
opportunities, education, what-
ever you want, but no pressure.
We want to offer, in a very non-
demanding way, an education into
the community because the better
people understand the commu-
nity, the more likely they are to
give more than the minimum, the
more likely they are to give at that
level forever',' he said.
The Class began offering a
virtual tour of the community
to the classmates, starting with a
meeting with someone from JFS,
and the next tour will probably
concern Jewish education — all
aimed at where the money goes,
said Opperer.
Opperer said the Class uses a
soft-sell approach to get more
active Federation involvement,

We Want YOU on page 26

Michelle Gross of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum speaks to the

Jill Menuck of Birmingham and Craig Erlich of Bloomfield Hills speak with Jeff

group in the donor room.

Colman of AIPAC at the Sixth and I Street Synagogue.

August 17 * 2006

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