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• borrowings against endowments
• critical capital improvements to upgrade
• legacy debt (shortfalls of prior fundrais-
ing campaigns)
• obligations to donors to fulfill programs
where the money has not been set aside
The balance sheet needs to be corrected
before the JCC can truly move forward in
reinventing itself, Siegel said.
“When you’re operating a bankrupt com-
pany, you don’t make the investments to
grow your business. You don’t have as much
marketing as you need. You don’t invest in
talent the same way.”
The Kahn Foundation, whose name is on
the building, hired an outside consultant,
O’Keefe and Associates, to do a viability
study of the JCC before it would commit to a
fundraising campaign to address the balance
sheet issues at the JCC.
It recently completed its analysis and pre-
sented the results to the Federation Executive
Committee. “The report was supportive of
the viability of the JCC — if it gets support
from the community. Our proposed initia-
tives are in line with its findings,” Siegel said.
Siegel said the Kahn Foundation will meet
shortly to discuss the report and decide what
they’re going to do. “We are awaiting a deci-
sion on whether it will provide a lead gift
toward a campaign to fix the balance sheet,”
he said.
“As long as the JCC is bankrupt, people
should have limited expectations of what we
can achieve because we can’t take the steps
necessary to run a proactive business. When
you’re trying to make payroll, you don’t make
the investments in people, physical plant
modifications or anything else you need to
do to compete.”

REGAINING COMMUNITY TRUST
When the financial problems at the JCC first
came to light, “the community lost confi-
dence that we were telling a straight story,
and the JCC bears responsibility for that,”
Siegel said.
Financial One, an expert in providing
accounting, financial and consulting services
to nonprofit organizations, was brought in at
the beginning of the crisis in 2013 to rebuild
the books and create a rigorous financial
accounting system that would prevent future
problems.
“The original idea was that the group
would stay for a certain period of time and
then leave. Financial One remains here, and
we don’t have plans to replace them,” Siegel
said. “Our CFO works for Financial One
and remains the gatekeeper for all financial
information.”
Last year, the community was shocked
and outraged when JCC Day Camp coun-
selor Matthew Kuppe was accused of posting
photos of nude boys on a Russian website
— including three 5-year-old campers he
oversaw. Kuppe pled guilty last month to dis-
tributing child pornography and is awaiting
sentencing.

16 September 1 • 2016

The Janice Charach Gallery

Siegel said they were heartsick when the
matter occurred and looked at the day camp’s
protocols after Kuppe was charged. “They
were good, industry-standards,” he said.
Three day camp adminstrators were ter-
minated for not acting on earlier concerns
about Kuppe. However, over the past year,
he added, the entire Federation system has
gone through abuse prevention training. “It
was intense, provocative and emotional,” he
said. “It certainly got our entire organization
focused on the risks associated with potential
abuse. We’ll continue to improve on that
education.”
Nevertheless, Siegel believes the incident
did impact the JCC Day Camps’ bottom
line. “Revenues for day camp are going to be
down,” he said. “The marketplace in general
is down, and our trend before last summer
was down. But this horrific incident is going
to hurt, no doubt.”
According to the JCC, no families of the
victims of Kuppe have sued.

FUTURE OF THE JCC
An entrepreneur by nature, Siegel said he is
anxious to get going on initiatives that “will
change the nature of the JCC and break new
ground. We’re taking a new look at what we
deliver and taking it beyond the boundaries
of the JCC,” he said.
“Of course, the JCC building still has
relevancy — but we can’t be limited to our
physical plant or we won’t be able to reach
our constituents as we need to,” he added.
Attorney Rick Zussman, 61, of Huntington
Woods is president of JCC’s 42-member
board, taking over at the same time Siegel
became CEO. Previously, he co-chaired the
successful Maccabi Games at the JCC in
2014.

“Brian has terrific
ideas,” he said. “My role
is to reinvigorate the
board, which has been
relatively stagnant. I want
our board members to
be actively involved in
both the governance and
Rick Zussman
programming of the JCC
so we can provide both
oversight and assistance
to Brian in achieving his goals. We will act
as champions for the JCC’s new mission.”
When it comes to serving its customers,
the core philosophy of the JCC is changing,
according to Bret Hopman, marketing and
communications director. “Our philosophy
is to move away from telling people that
they ‘should’ be JCC
members. Instead, we
want to show people why
they should ‘want’ to pick
our programs.
“We’re no longer oper-
ating under the notion of
‘you must be a member
to be connected to the
Bret Hopman
Center.’ If you’re in the
Jewish community, or
even in the larger com-
munity, we want our offerings to be avail-
able to you. You don’t have to be a member
to participate. With that said, we’re also
working to create an environment where
our members are appreciated and acknowl-
edged for their commitments. We will do
that via discounts on JCC programs and
exclusive events, among other concepts.”
If people want to join and work out at the
health club, that’s great, adds Siegel. “But
the JCC is not just a health club. We’re here

to serve the community of today — not of
1953. We want to be the fabric-building
engine of the community, not an island on
to ourselves.”
One of its initial new offerings — “The
Academies” — will launch this fall. It will
consist of youth-oriented and adult pro-
gramming across a variety of topics. Classes
will be one hour a week over seven weeks
and will take advantage of assets on the
JCC’s West Bloomfield campus.
For example, Hopman said, “The Berman
will no longer only feature programming of
a high professional level, but will showcase
students in the Academies who are taking
introduction to acting or introduction to
vocal music — perhaps with a talent com-
petition.
“We’re also starting something called
‘PAIJ Players,’ a new community theater
program for teens and adults. The inaugu-
ral performance is Hairspray, and there’s a
place for everyone, whether you’re an actor,
designer or technician.
“We’ll also do academies for fine arts
such as ceramics and glass, leveraging the
Janice Charach Gallery, for example,” he
said.
Although initial Academies classes will
launch at the JCC, future academies will be
sprinkled across the community.
This is only one of the initiatives being
planned, said Hopman, who hopes to
announce more programs within the next
few months. “We’re reimagining the word
‘Center,’” he said.
Added Siegel, “The JCC’s role in the
community needs to change. We have the
opportunity to do that, and we’re excited to
make it happen.”

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