IN 
THE
JEWS D
ON THE COVER

fund could not impact gifts to 
Federation’
s annual 2021 cam-
paign to ensure there would be 
no funding shortfalls for agen-
cies’
 ongoing needs.
Another leg on the stool is 
allocations. “Our allocations 
assist agencies and their mission 
to take care of the most vulner-
able and to provide for welfare, 
education or identity within our 
community,
” Lester said.
The third leg of that stool is 
something Lester calls “steward-
ship”: “helping members of the 
Jewish community to enhance 
their identity, enhance their 
participation, come into the 
tent, not feel as though the tent 
was reserved for the big-bucks 
donors only.
” 
One of his main goals as 
Federation president is to 
enhance the “return on philan-
thropy.
” 
“I want Federation and our 
agencies to be the primary insti-
tution by which people can have 
a positive impact on the Jewish 
world,
” he said.
Another short-term prior-
ity for Lester is building the 
bench of talent and leadership 
at Federation. “We’
ve got a lot 
of talent at Federation,
” he said. 
“I want them to, in some ways, 
create their replacements. Over 
the next five-plus years, people 

who hold important positions 
are going to retire. I don’
t want 
there to be a void.
”

FOUNDATION’S 
‘ROLLERCOASTER’
The United Jewish Foundation 
is the steward of the Detroit 
Jewish community’
s money 
and assets, totaling more than 
$450 million, including real 
estate assets and community 
endowment funds. It is also the 
steward of Federation’
s general 
fund, the rainy-day fund for the 
community. 
The Foundation is respon-
sible for investing that money 
safely and making sure the pro-
ceeds from those investments 
are sent to the proper agencies.
“We’
ve been on an invest-
ment rollercoaster,
” Bernard 
said. “In March, the market was 
hitting new highs, then by April 
and May, new lows. And now 
it’
s climbing back up again. So 
we’
ve had the challenge of mak-
ing sure we allocate our assets 
appropriately in different kinds 
of investment funds.
” 
Bernard said he follows the 
words of Winston Churchill, 
who said, “Never waste a good 
crisis.
”
“We’
re taking the COVID cri-
sis as an opportunity to relook 
at all our investment strategies 

and investment partners, to 
ensure our endowment funds 
are secure and going to the right 
places, and they are,
” he said. 
 “Now we’
re working with all 
the agencies and Federation to 
make sure all our real estate is 
still relevant, in good condition 
and still serving its purpose. It 
was a great opportunity for us 
to do a gut check.
” 
According to Bernard, the 
community’
s real estate has 
never been in better condition. 
“We’
ve done a lot of capital 
improvements,
” he said. 
Bernard has also spent time 
ensuring funds are secure. 
Earlier this year, hackers stole 
$7.5 million in funds from 
Washington, D.C.
’
s Jewish 
Federation. That incident 
weighs on his mind as he thinks 
about Foundation safeguards. 
“There has been an increase 
in cybertheft during COVID, 
and we were constantly updat-
ing our cybersecurity, our insur-
ances, our protocols,
” Bernard 
said. “We brought in an expert 
and were fortunate to learn we 
didn’
t require any changes.
” 

SHARED PRIORITIES
Lester and Bernard speak daily 
as co-chairs of the COVID task-
force. “It’
s second nature for us 
to include each other on each 
decision. We have come up with 
combined strategic goals for our 
presidencies,
” Bernard said.
 Both the Federation and 
the Foundation continue to 
work with various agencies on 
opportunities to collaborate or 
consolidate. “Everything’
s on 

the table,
” Bernard said.
“We’
ve made a list of linger-
ing issues in this community 
that need to be solved,
” Bernard 
added. “We’
re going to tackle 
problems that need to be tack-
led. We hope by the end of our 
combined presidency to check 
off many issues that involve 
hard decisions.
”
Another shared priority is 
“widening the tent,
” Lester said, 
“empowering our contemporar-
ies, as well as young people, to 
support Federation with their 
own type of energy and way of 
expressing their Judaism.
“There are countless exam-
ples of people who influence 
the direction of Federation and 
our Jewish community in won-
derful, positive ways through 
passion and volunteerism as 
much as through dollars,
” Lester 
added. “ I can tell you, unequiv-
ocally, that those people who 
roll up their sleeves and come to 
work with a love of the Jewish 
people and a love of the Jewish 
community and a passion for 
our Federation will find them-
selves in positions of influence 
and power and steering the ship 
as much as anybody.
”
Lester summed it up like this: 
“We want people to find joy in 
being Jewish and, in turn, live 
an enhanced Jewish life. 
“The way to do that is 
through meaningful participa-
tion in our agencies and those 
organizations underneath the 
Federation umbrella that do 
incredible work on behalf of the 
Jewish people and on behalf of 
all mankind.
” 

continued from page 15

16 | OCTOBER 22 • 2020 

