Disunited Jewish Communities

Where's Waldo?

2008-08-08T06:18:00.000-07:00

We know Howard is remarrying on September 7, to Chicagoan, Beverly Siegel. But do dating, prenuptial activities and wedding planning excuse Rieger from being in the office all of August and most of July (but for his brief appearance here to announce his "retirement"?) If you read Charity data on CEO compensation, you will find that our CEO is paid a G-d awful amount to be a wedding planner. Or maybe he is trying to draft a strategic plan in absentia.

If anyone has seen Howard Rieger, please call Pat McNamara at UJC and advise as to his whereabouts.

Buh Bye

2008-07-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

"nuff said. Amen. Selah.

boys/girls

...Back at the Water Cooler...

2008-07-21T06:39:00.000-07:00

Rumors abound -- that's all we get here.

Howard has called an all-hands meeting at 111 on the 23rd:

Is it to announce he is leaving immediately?

Is it to announce he will not seek a new contract?

Is it to announce his engagement?

Is it to announce that his trusted senior management team will be restricted to Orthodox or traditional Jews only (as already may be the case)?

None of the above? All of the above? Meeting canceled?

boys/girls

...and no one cares..

2008-07-03T05:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, another professional woman observed her last day here at UJC, fired rather than forced into retirement. We'll leave it to you, our readers, to come to your own conclusions as to whether something is terribly wrong with an organization that spends tens of thousands on consultant studies of women in the workplace yet terminates or forces out one woman after another over the past three years.

Someone, maybe the Chair of the Executive, ought to examine this management's woeful track record on retaining women on its staff. That's one task of an Executive Committee, isn't it?

Happy Fourth of July.

boys/girls

Questions...continued

2008-07-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

It seems likely that no one really cares about UJC anymore except the CEO but we have a few lingering questions:

What ever happened to the "Great Place to Work Survey"? Has anyone ever read it beyond the CEO? Has it been suppressed/ Do the Chairs believe that it's no one's business? The staff, of course, has never seen it; and, under this chief pro, never will. Is there really a Chair of the Executive or is she a myth?

Pros in the few federations that the CEO has visited have passed the word to some here to "get their resumes out" because Rieger has told them that when he goes in two years or less, it "..will be all over for UJC." What? He may be that full of himself (or full of something) and he may, therefore, even believe it, but why say it?

Has anyone taken a look at the success that those maligned senior professionals who were forced out of UJC under this administration are having in the free world out there? How could that be given how all of them continue to be bad-mouthed at the remaining Senior professional level here -- right up to the top of the food chain.

boys/girls

What's Up?

2008-06-24T05:25:00.000-07:00

Nothing is really happening here at 111. And, apparently, few care.

The highest levels of UJC professional leadership have been in Israel for ove a week. Rieger, Kanfer (and one of his daughters) and Toni Young all participated on Panels at a "major" conference convened by Sheatufim -- you have all heard of that one haven't you? The Israel Center for a Civil Society. It has important work to do -- this Conference brought among others Olmert and Tony Blair to speak. We here in NYC were intrigued that the UJC restricted itself to three speakers, of course only from within its own leaders, to talk about fund-raising and strategic partnerships...about which UJC is doing really nothing...but talking.

We are in suspended animation here. The professional leaders of UJC Rieger "left behind" (he went on the the Jewish Agency meetings) are totally afraid to move UJC's agenda forward, if they could find it, in Howard's absence. You make a mistake, you're gone. So they seem to get periodic incoherent e-mail directions day -in and day-out often internally contradictory.

Meanwhile, another Senior Professional is leaving, joining the parade, moving on and into the federation system. Can anyone imagine why the grass is greener anywhere, everywhere else?

AT THE WATER COOLER

2008-06-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

If you listen to the gossip here -- and, unfortunately, that's all this is -- there is real concern on the north side of UJC headquarters. Rumor has it that J. Kanfer will not seek another Term as Chair of the Board. We don't believe it, but the CEO is frantic. He may fear that getting the "wrong" successors to Joe and Kathy Manning might result in his firing. One problem is that two of the "candidates" to succeed the Chair are hiding behind the skirts/pants of their wife's/husband's gifts, and how would that look?

In all events the Chairs appointed a strong and independent lay person as Chair of the Nominating Committee. Now we will see if the law of unintended consequences will come into play -- having appointed Susie Stern of New York, will they let her and her Committee do their job? We have our doubts.

WHAT COMPASSION, WHAT HUMANITY

2008-05-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

Over the past four weeks, even preceding the Budget Committee meeting at which a $37,000,000 Budget (still seems like an obscene amount of money) was recommended for approval and weeks in advance of the UJC Board meeting at which such a Budget will be routinely approved, UJC started firing us. Secretaries, some here for over 20 years, and caring and loyal professionals, gone. In his View last Friday, the CEO, Mr. Rieger, wrote of the pain of such an experience for those remaining and the pain of the entire experience.

Someone ask M. Rieger just who, specifically, he fired. Any one at all? Who did he seek out to give this most painful message to? Maybe the anguish was just too great for him to emerge from the Riegerbunker but we heard he just left the messy task to his underlings. But, his View said how difficult it was for him. In the Jewish Week Purim kuntz about Mr. Rieger, the premise was that "Mr. Revert" as they called him, fired himself. What an idea!! Buh-bye.

Women

2008-05-12T06:01:00.000-07:00

On Friday, May 9, Howard Rieger sent all of us at UJC an e-mail message expressing his "mixed emotions" about a great professional's, Debbi Roshfeld's, decision to leave UJC for greener pastures. While Debbi may be leaving by her choice, we see a pattern as terrific women professionals have left in large numbers over the past two years that speaks volumes.

Look at the list of women -- all women -- professionals who have left should cause lay leaders the same concern it has us: the Senior V-P of Marketing and Communications, Senior V-P Development and Planned Giving, Assistant Director Planned Giving and Endowment, V-P Development (who also ran the GA), Associate Vice-President, Marketing and Communications, Senior Director, Governance, the Associate Director, Planned Giving & Endowment and, now, the Director, Overseas Programs/Missions and the Director, the UJC-Mandel Program for Leadership Excellence, Vice-President, Development in Atlanta. The list goes on and on along with a long list of secretaies many of who had dedicated their professional lives to UJC and thought they were part of a team. Women all. (And UJC would tell you, remember we hired Becky Caspi to head UJC Israel.) There is something wrong going on here -- does anyone care?

UJC, as we understand it, has strong women as Chair of its Executive, Chair of GOIO and Chair of its diminished JPI. Do they care?

Budgets

2008-05-08T06:44:00.000-07:00

On this special day on the Jewish calendar -- Israel's 60th birthday -- the embattled CEO delivered an e-mail to us here in the bunker that is 111 Eighth Avenue telling us that 37 of us will be without jobs as the courageous Budget & Finance Committee approved a budget cut to $37 million as the Largest City Executives had demanded. (Of course most of us had already read these results in the JTA.) In what passes for management here, every professional, every staff member, fears for his/her job -- where the axes will fall are unknown but suddenly the Chairman says we will be fired by May 27 so "...as not to string us along" -- and the results are being blamed on the Budget Committee.

Where is that "Great Place to Work" survey form? In fact, where is the Great Place to Work Report?

Chag Sameach.

Not A Rumor...continued

2008-04-30T06:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the CEO convened an all-staff meeting to redeliver the bad, bad news that a Budget reduced to $37 million will result in major staff cuts but UJC will "help" those who will lose their jobs. No mention of what salary and benefit cuts top management will be incurring in this process. Our bet is none; what's yours?

Questions

2008-04-22T06:43:00.000-07:00

Just two questions, not four:

Has the National Campaign Chair really decided not to accept a second year (after significant pressure to accept another term)? And, if so, why? And was he told not to go public with his decision? And, if so....

Has another UJC Senior woman professional tendered he resignation? And, if so, why? (Has any lay leader here any interest in "why" or in the bigger question, why does UJC appear to be so inhospitable to women professionals?)

Just asking if anyone cares about what is going on here.

Not A Rumor!!

2008-04-11T06:13:00.000-07:00

OK, we'll keep this brief.

The staff here received an e-mail last night directly from the President and CEO -- it's so rare that we hear from him it's a shanda. He directs us to keep on trucking even though our jobs are now at risk. And, why are they at risk? Because those mean old Large City Executives are demanding a big budget cut -- yeah, it's their fault. This is no Harry Truman writing us.

So, maybe the President and CEO will also consider cutting his compensation first. Yeah, sure.

The Latest Rumor at 111

2008-04-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

Continuing a pattern of inconsistency, the hallways here at 111 Eighth Avenue are abuzz.

Rumor (and we acknowledge that this is only a rumor) has it that the Big Poobah Chair of the UJC Board has given orders that what was Renaissance & Renewal then changed in the big Reorganization one year ago to the Jewish Peoplehood Initiative be wholly transferred to JESNA!! The Chair seems to think that that National Agency, which he Chaired prior to his demotion to our Chair, is better equipped to carry on this work and avoid duplication. Many here are wondering how, if this rumor is true, Boston's brilliant Barry Shrage, whose "baby" Renaissance & Renewal was, will react. Should be fun to watch.

Of course, any such transfer of responsibility would presumably save budget and, thereby dues, and we have also heard that the Large Cities have demanded a budget for dues purposes of no more than $37 million. How convenient.

Remember as this all unfolds that Renaissance & Renewal was one of the "pillars" on which UJC was initially constructed. Is it possible that the Chair can merely issue orders on a matter of such importance? Probably.

WOE ARE US!!

2008-04-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

We have some wonderful correspondents, as we have noted in earlier Posts, but, in the event any of you know one of our correspondents -- fromwhereisat -- please get that person admitted to the appropriate facility. In a little less than one month's time, this commentator has gone from incoherent to bonkers. Let us review:

On February 28: Dear Anonymous, As a former UJC "professional" myself, I must say I disagree with your characterization about the nature of "how UJC professionals have been forced out of their jobs after years of service>"

In fact, after reading your blog, I wonder if we both really worked for the same organization!

Do you really believe that UJC had a successful/innovative marketing department under the stewardship of Gail Hyman and Fran (sic) Sommers? Or (sic) that the campaign/FRD department under Mrs. Agron's leadership added value to the organization and system as a whole? (ed, We did, but that wasn't our point was it?)

If so, what data support (sic) your claim?

During my unpleasant tenure at UJC, I came to exactly the opposite conclusions and ...these and other departures were if anything, too little, too late.

Hmmm, let's see...

during "years of service," these senior professionals collected very generous salaries (which, let's not forget, are culled from donors' (sic) contributions) while national campaigns stagnated and the donor base actually SHRANK.

....In my experience, the vast majority of UJC's "professionals (especially those whose departures you lament on this blog) were uncreative, unmotivated, afraid of change, and ANYTHING but assets to the system as a whole.

And as far as Howard Rieger goes, my major criticism is that these changes were, as I said earlier, too little, too late.

....Although, knowing how the North American Jewish Federation system seems incapable of embracing visionary and dramatic change (ed, you just have to love this excerpt from a weekly View) as typified by your expressed views, I doubt that greater change would have been possible..."

OK, markedly incoherent, certainly personally nasty. Then, one week later:

With all due respect to this anonymous author, I don't believe for a second that "UJC boys/girls" is who he/she says they are..."

Fine, think what you will. Unfortunately, he/she went on 4 days later" ostensibly responding to another commentator on our Blog:

Yes, "Committed to Community," it seems to me this "anonymous" blogger (ed, that's us!!) has admitted to lying about his/her identity (ed, not yet we haven't).

It was completely obvious to me that this person is not a junior-level UJC staffer, but a disgruntled (fired) senior executive or volunteer.

I'm not sure whether pity or opprobrium is more deserved.

Surely, this blogger has a legitimate right to voice their opinion and dissent, but to do so in a misleading and dishonest manner is shameful. (ed, all this in response to a post on Lay-Professional Partnerships)

Then, fromwhereisat went silent. We thought maybe locked away in an appropriate institution. But, no.on March 21:

Here's (sic) a question for you:

since you've already admitted to lying about your identity, why don't you drop the charade?

It is painfully obvious that you are NOT a junior staffer at UJC, but rather a disgruntled, marginalized, national volunteer or one of the incompetent "esteemed professionals (haha)" that were let out to pasture much, much too late.

I check this blog from time to time out of some perverse interest in seeing a formerly "dignified" leader (RW?) dig themselves a deeper and deeper hole of obvious deception and self-inflicted shame.

Well, we can't wait for more. Not knowing who we are has clearly driven fromweherisat insane. We are sorry for that...but only that.

boys/girls

Purim Spiel

2008-03-26T06:03:00.001-07:00

For a good laugh and keen observation, read Purim '08: UJA Completes Strategic 'Sweep' at

http://thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c238_a5373/Special_Sections/Special_Holiday_Issue

Heard By the Water Fountain

2008-03-19T06:24:00.000-07:00

...and here is what people here are talking (actually whispering) about...

It's 2 and 1/2 years after Katrina. UJC did a great job collecting the money, deploying our professionals; a great job; an inspirational job. But when is our CEO going to stop writing and writing and writing about it?
The Masters of Their Domain here are gathering for a meeting with the Large City Presidents and Executives today. Is there a chance that that esteemed group will finally take control of that which they own? Or is that too much to ask?
We hear that there is the beginning of discussion of a successor CEO. Who might be in consideration?
The "master plan" for revamping UJC Dues seems to have been vetoed somewhere among the federations. Not surprisingly, we have learned that there is no Plan B. Is there ever? Oh, wait a minute, it's "let's take over UIA."

Look Out Below!!

2008-03-12T16:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome back. We have had to lie low for a while because the thought police have been checking "suspected bloggers" or suspected informants out-going e-mails. But, what the heck.

Everybody out of the pool. There's a fight going down in the deep end. The big boys/girls at UJC have decided to pick on the little ones at UIA for a while -- and have gone public with their takeover plans. Looks like having forced out some great pros (see our earlier Posts), now they're trying the same tricks with lay people.

We can't tell what the prize is yet but when we (or you) do, let's clue each other in.

Lay-Professional Partnerships

2008-03-03T05:40:00.000-08:00

The JCSA, Jewish Communal Service Association of North America, is hosting a teleconference this week. Great topic -- Best Practices in Long term Partnerships Between Professional and Volunteer Leadership -- and the Session will be moderated by UJC's Vice-President, Debbi Roshfeld. The Panelists will be Audra Berg from Chicago, an Assistant V.P. Leadership Development; New York UJA-Federation's Louise Greilsheimer, Senior V.P. Agency and External Relations (and a former lay leader there) and UJC's National Campaign Chair, David Fisher.

Now, we don't know David, but we hear he is a super guy. But which Lay-professional partnership is he going to speak about? His partnership at UJC with Vicki Agron? That's over. His partnership with Gail Reiss? Over. His partnership with Eric Levine? Just begun. Now, none of these "partnerships" ended because of anything David did, certainly. As the announcement of this conference stated: "Understand the complex dynamic in building a lay-professional relationship; taking it to the next level." Well, here at UJC, it's sure "complex" and no one should better understand that than David.

We all have a lot to learn.

What About Us?

2008-02-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

There are many open CEO positions at federations around the country...and there are no doubt more to come. Why is it that none of us at 111 Eighth Avenue are ever considered for any of them? We think we are pretty darn good professionals, we love the Jewish community with our but it seems that our leaders -- professional and lay alike -- either don't share our self-assessment or aren't out there pushing for us. Shouldn't they be?

Further, when the Mandel Program was established, was there something in the agreement that established the UJC and federation funding partnership that excluded professionals at UJC from participating in significant numbers in this program that was created, we were told, to take the best and brightest of professionals and train them for Federation executive leadership. We look at the participants in that program and readily recognize that more than 50% of the participants to date appear to have no interest in becoming a federation CEO. Yet, our leadership doesn't put us out there -- as you know we rarely are told what's really planned here -- for consideration.

In fact, some of us have discussed (with each other, of course) the idea of wearing name tags ("Hi, I'm ______") in the office because we're not sure that our CEO knows many of our names...and we're certain the Chairs don't.

Delusion

2008-02-15T08:35:00.000-08:00

We must care about our people, but equally important, we must demonstrate that we care. An organizational environment where communications are open and direct, where questions are asked and answered, and where the process for making managerial decisions is clear, will minimize confusion and allow people to focus on what is important. (Howard Rieger, Howard's View, February 16, 2008)

Quite clearly, this admonition to all of us comes right out of a management primer; it sure doesn't come out of UJC's practice. In point of fact, all of these directives run counter to how UJC is being run. Totally, absolutely, tragically. It is as if the author is writing about some other organization, not ours, unfortunately. Ask Gail Hyman,, ask Doron Krakow, ask Vicki Agron, Gail Reiss, ask some of our correspondents, and so many more. Unless, of course, this was 2008's first Purim spiel, but, somehow, we just don't think that's the case.

The Great Place to Work Institute, UJC's leaders suddenly acknowledge, surveyed UJC's staff to "....provide us with a methodology to improve our workplace environment." That's great, but since that survey was conducted many of our most senior, most caring and committed professionals have been forced out.

The Great Place to Work Model posits the absolute necessity for "Trust" both downward within a great organization and upward. The Institute describes certain "Dimensions" and then "How it plays out in the workplace."

"Credibility

~ Communications are open and accessible

~ Competence in coordinating human and material resources

~ Integrity in carrying out vision with consistency

Respect

~ Supporting professional development and showing appreciation

~ Collaboration with employees on relevant decisions

~ Caring for employees as individuals...

Fairness

~ Equity -- balanced treatment for all in terms of rewards

~ Impartiality -- absence of favoritism in hiring and promotions"

You get the picture. There is a gaping void between the ideal and the UJC reality. Ask Gail Hyman, ask Doron Krakow, ask Vicki Agron, ask Gail Reiss...and so many more.

We have read that the first step in treating alcoholism or other dependencies is admission by the dependent that he or she has the problem. In UJC's case, the first step has yet to be taken. All we can ask is "physician...heal thyself" unless, of course, this was a Purim spiel in which case, it was very funny.

Letters...

2008-02-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

The Blog has generated many sincere Comments. Many of you have welcomed us and our Posts and have responded with your own concerns, experiences and, where we may have shed heat, have shined a light. Others, who find the Blog distasteful, intrusive or destructive, have responded to it in kind, in effect, shooting the unknown messenger. To those who believe they can speak for the entirety of the "Next Generation," you make us fear for our future -- both within Jewish communal life and outside of it. To those of you who believe that "all is well" at UJC, we would certainly not deny you your opinion even as we question your grasp on the reality of our situation here or of UJC's relevance to your communties.

In response to a recent Blog, we received a Comment (and a later response) in which a correspondent first attacked us and, then, in a further fit of pique, attacked one who responded politely to him/her. That purported "representative" of the "Next Gen" (and, we seriously doubt that that writer is any younger than we) has an option available: stop reading this Blog. Why spoil your day reading anything that might enrage you to the kind of apoplexy exemplified by your Comments?

We have noticed that, in the main, those who support our Posts have published thoughtful, often provocative, Comments; and those who oppose the publication of this Blog can't contain their anger and rage...toward us. We don't believe we have expressed anger (except as to how UJC professionals have been forced out of their jobs after years of service -- facts to which those most angry with us dismiss by their silence), certainly not rage, only disappointment and frustration with the very matters and the means of their implementation some of our correspondents, sadly, applaud. ("Bringing concept papers to the Board for discussion before implementation" is viewed as "hard fought progress." Wow!!)

We have no monopoly on truth, we just haven't gulped down the UJC Kool-Aid to find ours.

What Are We To Be?

2008-02-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

We have come to grips with the fact that we are but mushrooms here at UJC. Leadership has made sure that all of us (that would include most of you) are, apparently, on a "need to know" basis. UJC "leadership" will decide what we "need to know," ya' know, and that ain't much!!

Through our grapevine, we have learned that at its 6 or 7 hour Board meeting in Newport Beach, the few Board members who were there (and there were very, very few laypersons) heard reports including those on two massive Supplemental Campaigns that this leadership plans. How did we learn this? As most of you did, we guess -- through press releases and Howard's View. So, we guess that this means these "plans," approved by no one outside of UJC's leaders, will be implemented as if they had unanimous federation support.

We had hoped that Federation programs reflecting the challenges our communities face in these hard times might have been the subject of discussion. Like, Detroit's generous assistance to Jewish homeowners victimized by the subprime loans they took out. But, we only read about that in the Jewish press. We thought we might learn more about Chicago's creative plans to offer a significant "new-born gift" to each family registering a baby for a Jewish pre-school. But, apparently, not enough of a "big idea" to merit discussion. And so on, and so on it goes.

Isn't this crazy? Whose organization is UJC? Is it the "property" of its leaders or of the federations? You decide. Or they will.

Just A Suggestion

2008-01-30T15:28:00.000-08:00

We had hoped to take a real break, but we are frustrated. We are so far down the Totem Pole, we don't believe we're even on it; or, to be more politically correct, we are so far down the UJC Table of Organization that we're not treated like we're even on it. Even so, shouldn't we and everyone else at 111 know what's going on? How often can we get the message that we "have to get with the team" but never told what the game is?

The word is that UJC's Board and meetings in California Sunday and Monday were excellent, but we don't have a clue as to what the topics were, how the discussions went. Except for office talk, we don't know what's on tap. Wouldn't it be great for that "teamwork," if our professional leaders -- it doesn't have to be Howard Rieger -- would gather us in the Conference Rooms and go over the Agenda, what was discussed, what our roles are going to be, etc. It strikes us that that's how to create a sense of "teamwork." But that's not the way it's gone here.

Don't everybody get angry. It's just a suggestion. Help make UJC a great place to work.

We're Back...briefly

2008-01-30T12:33:00.000-08:00

We have returned only to cite you to another Blog that has been brought to our attention:

http//ujtheeandme.blogspot.com/

It's "different"

Shavua Tov

2008-01-26T06:10:00.000-08:00

It's time to take a breath. With insightful Comments from so many of you and with the intervention of the Large City Executives (having nothing to do with this Blog) and with some concerned Federation Chairs set to examine together the current state of UJC (a decision reached before the advent of this Blog) and with the attention of so many, we will maintain the Disunited Jewish Communities Blog-site for your Comments and insights while we observe whether or not UJC leaders can really change. We will continue to be sustained by hope -- the "myth" as our colleague "Jon" described it shall remain our dream.

But, we will be watching and working within UJC with a focus on whether this leadership can itself change. When this Blog is publicly characterized by them as being "replete with errors" (trust that we may be bad Spell Checkers but we are excellent Fact Checkers) and not only the Posts dismissed but your Comments as well, with extensive time spent on tracking us down -- with these "facts" in hand, it's our cynicism about this leadership's ability to look at itself and change that is rewarded, not our hopes for introspection and change. And, if change at the top of UJC doesn't take place, and soon, we will fill this Post with our observations once again. Some of the topics we have teed up:

Abuse of Power 1 -- The Boca Bond Issue

Abuse of Power 2 -- Blowing Off a Mega-Donor/ The Internet Campaign that Wasn't

The Megalomania of the "Big Idea"

Where Have All the Leaders Gone...and Why

No Task Ever Finished

You who have taken the time to write us with your insights and support have given us hope that the dream of an organization that can inspire our communities to the highest achievement can be realized; and that we can recapture the passion that brought us into Jewish communal life in the first place. Please help us.

Now we're going to kick back, plug in our headsets and listen to some tracks of The Stooges, and work on our spelling.

Shavua tov and l'hitraot,

The Boys/Girls of UJC

The Good Old Bad Old Days

2008-01-25T10:41:00.000-08:00

Let's end a contentious week with a little nostalgia.

Several Comments this week with regard to the halcyon days of yore -- the years of the UJA -- a couple dissing UJA and UJA lay and professional leaders almost in rage and others questioning what was it really like, inspired us to examine what we see and ask ourselves that very question: "what was it like"? In Tateh's Comment earlier today she related a former Federation exec's memories:

"....he said that in the old days UJA provided speakers and outside
solicitors, gave a good brand name for the campaign (UJA), ran good
missions and a young leadership cabinet...and about once a year sent
someone to berate the allocations committee.....(whom) nobody listened
to..."

We understand that to be a pretty good summary if one also adds: created the Lion of Judah Endowment, the Campaign Chairs/Directors Mission; the Voyage of Discovery and every Special Campaign. We know much of this from history because so few of the old UJA leaders walk our halls any more -- Arlene Kaufman, Rani Garfinkle, Rich Wexler, Mark Wilf, Joel Alperson, Jane Sherman and maybe a few others whom we can count on the fingers of our two hands. Many have moved on to lead other organizations and chair their federations. And the professional staff has become denuded of those who once toiled at UJA.

We have heard that UJA was a "self-perpetuating oligarchy" but we have also heard that these were leaders who "cared," gave to their capacity and beyond and, in their demands on others to meet their own giving standards, created jealousies, some of which have so lasted to these days that we have received bizarre Posts from a few who can't get beyond those days that ended 8 years ago. We have been told that UJA Budget meetings lasted two days over which lay and professional leaders battled over priorities in a respectful (and sometimes not so respectful) give and take focused on how best to use donors' money in the best interests of the Jewish People. Today, we know, the UJC Budget meeting lasts maybe four hours including lunch with no "battles" tolerated..

One thing we know first-hand is that these leaders -- these men and women -- were nuts!! They would see each other in the halls at 111 (when more of them walked those halls) and suddenly they would be hugging and kissing, reminiscing in laughter. They actually loved each other -- a love that grew from sharing a common passion and a common cause...and some leaders outside UJA or on its fringes resented the love and passion that those crazy folks shared.

Sounds idyllic? Maybe because it ended eight years ago, and culturally at 111 Eighth Avenue we bear no relationship to those "UJA years," it's more mythic than real to us. Today we're owned by the federations who, but for a few, seem to have little interest in how their resources are being spent and no interest in the joyless space we occupy. If they cared, UJC could and would be so different.

Could that culture of passionate expression that was UJA be revived? We think so -- really restructure UJC; divide responsibilities between Campaign/ Community Building (Annual and Supplemental) and Allocations/Program/Washington/UJC Israel; restore the National Campaign Chair to her/his rightful role (as contemplated in the merger that created UJC) as a co-equal to the Chair of the Board (but responsible only for fund raising), elevate the Campaign Cabinet to Vice-Chairs status and raise the profile of the CEO/Campaign-Capacity Building sufficiently to attract once again the best and brightest to the position -- for starters.

And, find lay Chairs like a Marvin Lender, a Shoshana Cardin, a Charles Goodman, a Carole Solomon, a David Hermelin, z'l, to take us there with a chief professional partner who emulate Stanley Horowitz, Steve Nasatir, Bob Aronson, Steve Hoffman or John Ruskay. Then, see how we do!!!

Shabbat shalom

"Trainwreck"

2008-01-24T13:31:00.000-08:00

When UJC was created, to satisfy the interests of federations and the merging organizations, the new entity was subjected, if that is the right word, with a Board of 133 members. As we at 111 have come to learn, when authority is so minutely divided, particularly in an organization so disengaged from its owners over the past three years, a power void is created. Thus, the chief professional and chief volunteer officers easily accreted power to themselves. Every leader, professionally and lay, who has looked carefully at UJC's performance relative to its cost has had to reach the same conclusion -- governance reform is a critical threshold mechanism to create an environment where change can be implement and a nimble, responsive organization created in its stead.

Further, where "the only good ideas are ours," an organization where challenge to any idea of UJC's leaders is discouraged with language such as: "are you on my team or not" -- the language of the bully -- it is a place where only the owners can demand change. Recently we read, in a different context, of a work environment where professionals could respectfully challenge, offer opposing views and push back: "If you had an opinion about (a subject), (the CEO) made it clear it was your job, your duty, to argue, yell, scream, whatever."

We here know that papers describing two potential "special campaigns" that have been transmitted to the UJC Board for its discussion next Monday, have not been fully thought through, fail to contemplate the implications upon the federation Annual Campaigns (particularly in these fragile economic times), and have not been fully discussed with the UJC staff. Yet, the Board is meeting, so out the door these went -- filled with great ideas, fraught with gaps in logic, timing and the potential conflict with the AC. If anyone at UJC pushed back, urged these "plans" be held for more input, greater discussion, the suggestion would be "you're not a team player."

We need governance reform; we need it immediately.

"Your Comments"....continued

2008-01-24T05:42:00.000-08:00

We were reading your Comments with great interest and had concluded, sort of, that, perhaps, we could have the kind of give and take, the kind of dialogue, through this Post that we can't have within UJC because its top leaders won't/can't permit discussion or debate to take place. Then, along came a writer misnamed "Wise" to "rationalize" the humiliation, isolation and degradation of fine, dedicated professionals passionately committed to UJC as a "housecleaning" justified as a means to finally "rid" UJC of the invidious influence of United Jewish Appeal. It frightens us that there are those who actually believe, eight years post-merger, that these horrific "means" are justified by a fictitious "end." If you are a "leader" of UJC, "Wise," that, in and of itself, explains a great deal. We feel very sorry for you (and "umich65," you appear to be speaking in tongues).

We still hope that readers like "disappointed21," "oldjewpro," "tateh," "chai," "maya, "jon,""fotp" and others, even those who have attacked us about our perceived lack of "civility," to continue the dialogue that you have begun. (And, for a far more insightful Blog on the subject, visit http://organizedjewishworld-fotp.blogspot.com/)

More later.

Your Comments

2008-01-23T05:52:00.000-08:00

Your bloggers appreciate all of your Comments, even from those of you who believe that all we are doing is "....(airing our) dirty linen in public" or accusing us of "personal attack(s)." We note that none of our correspondents have questioned the facts that we have reported.

We want all of our readers to be assured that were there the opportunity for open and honest give and take within UJC, this Blog would not exist. When the most senior of professionals at UJC pushed back, look at the humiliation they suffered to the point of resignation; when lay leaders have pushed back, they have been relegated to the outside looking in. The doors at UJC are closed to any criticism. We have sat in silence for too long to be cowed by those who write that we are "uncivil" and need to "move on to another agency." When any organization, and certainly UJC, is essentially run by one professional and a single lay leader, any criticism will be perceived as "personal." When we find that UJC has once again become a place -- as were CJF and UJA, as we have come to learn -- where debate and discussion are welcomed, this Blog will cease to exist.

We will continue to welcome all of your Comments. If debate isn't permitted within UJC (ask those who were summoned to New York last March, ostensibly to "discuss" the "Organizational Strategy," only to be told they could ask questions but there would be no changes), then, perhaps, as Tateh, Jon and chai suggest by their Comments, debate can take place here.

Toward a New School in Ethiopia

2008-01-22T05:34:00.000-08:00

The Government of Israel, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel all opposed a further Jewish communal or governmental presence in Ethiopia as they geared up to complete the aliya of Ethiopians certied as Jewish to Israel by the end of 2008. Yet, ignoring the advice of the GOI, JDC and JAFI on the ground in Gondar, UJC has proceeded, with the anti-establishment NACOEJ (the North American Conference of Ethiopian Jewry) UJC, which had supported the Government's and its organizations earlier decision to end operations in that country of poverty and strife, determined it would raise funds among the federations to build a school -- a decision described by one of Rieger's senior professionals as "...an unassailably (sic) good thing to do." Let's fact check this.

All parties agreed, including UJC, that when the remaining 1,800 Ethiopians of Jewish origin would be brought to Israel, operations in Ethiopa would cease. Rieger, impacted by a beautiful Jewish liberal ethos, decided that a school for some of the 8,500 remaining Falash Mura who claim Jewish heritage but were not certified by the GOI, JAFI or JDC should have a school. That was the "process." Then, with annual federation allocations to JAFI and JDC core needs dropping like a stone, and no UJC advocacy for them in the communities, Rieger reached out to his junta of Large City Federation Executives to support his "school plan." This school was not a priority of the participating federations or in UJC's plan.

The MetroWest federation popped for $200.000 or more, Chicago and Cleveland for $50,000 each, and so on down the line. While more enlightened federations declined the "opportunity," the school moves ahead. So what if UJC is out of step with the Government of Israel, with its own experts on the ground, with the JDC and JAFI, it is funding a school because it could and without regard for the reality that all Ethiopian Jew will have been brought home to Israel by year's end.

Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing? Does it care? Is this any way for our national system to behave?

News Flash...News Flash...News Flash...News Flash

2008-01-21T10:11:00.000-08:00

Were this an Internet Message Alert from CNN.com or its ilk, the title would read: Junta Agrees to Prop Up Dictator. We have learned that late last week a group of Chief Executives from among the Large 19 Federations met with Howard Rieger and decided, much like a South American military junta, to continue to support Rieger without regard for the consequences to UJC short-term and long-term. Some do so out of a misplaced sense of friendship, others for fear that joining in efforts to remove the CEO would evidence "weakness" that could ultimately negatively impact on members of the junta in their own communities.

Without regard for the reality that UJC costs these federations into the millions annually in dues, with little, if any, return on their investment for their own federations, their donors or other federations whose dues are less, the junta determined that keeping Howard in place was the best plan "for the moment." These federation representatives further resolved to take a more direct role in UJC and, in particular, in the development and management of the UJC Budget -- an effort to forestall more federations from unilaterally determining to cut their dues.

It would be interesting to know what the reaction of the junta members would be if they knew the way in which the UJC CEO deprecates them with no restraint to his own lieutenants. More on that in an upcoming Post.

Thoughts

2008-01-21T06:26:00.000-08:00

Today, the day we celebrate the life of a great American leader, and one of our heroes for the way he lived his life, his personal courage and his willingness to "speak truth to power." UJC is closed. So some time for some random thoughts:

To our Readers, thanks for writing us with your encouragement...and your criticism. We don't know about you, but we found the following "Comment" to be amusing:

"I am not questioning whether your blog has some merit. However, I cannot completely fathom why you have chosen to continue under this grandiose guise of anonymity...Anonymous blogging is the medium of choice for angst-ridden teenagers, not adults hoping to be taken seriously."

This Comment was sent to us by "Super." What irony!! Given "Super's" Comment that must be her/his real name!!! Thanks flagontheplay for your support!!

In an article in this week's TIME profiling Bank of America's "President and CEO" offered this observation:

"I don't feel the need to be a dominant force through talking first of talking the most. That's not one of my needs. Listening can be a competitive advantage. Some people just can't do it."

Rob Mann, UJC's Training Chair always teaches us the importance of listening and hearing. To UJC's leaders, silence is just a void to be filled...by them. There is no voice they would rather hear than their own.

Even in summarizing the system's achievements (press release incorporated in Rieger's January 16, 2008 View), UJC can't resist its apparent need to overstate -- for example, "...some 4,000 Jews from around the world gathered in Nashville for UJC's annual General Assembly. We were there, maybe 2,000 at an event scripted by UJC leaders alone that at its peak merited third page coverage in the Forward. National successes have been so few that our leaders continue to relate back two years to UJC's truly heroic work during the Katrina aftermath. A "...full study set to launch in February, 2008" is announced as an achievement of 2007 and predicted to "...be a turning point for the federation system." Nowhere does UJC disclose that this "study" will cost the system $845,000 -- now, the approval of that expenditure was quite the achievement!!

A Different "View"

2008-01-18T06:49:00.000-08:00

This week UJC used its in house View to reflect with pride, as it should, in the accomplishments of the federation system in 2007; $2.4 billion in financial resource development from all sources is fantastic. Quotes from the UJC CEO and Chair of the Board even suggest that UJC had something to do with these successes beyond reporting them (and the success of the Washington Office has been vital) without one quote from within any federation where the income was created, where the hardest work is done and where the results of these efforts make the difference for those most needy of the Jewish People at home, in Israel or overseas. And, the creative, committed work of the Jewish Agency and JDC with our system's reducing dollars? Not worthy of mention -- let's dwell instead in the View on the great work UJC did in setting limits on them.

And, let's get the facts straight. No matter how UJC leaders game the numbers, 2007 marked the first year in over a decade in which the total giving to all federation Annual Campaigns is projected (real numbers are not yet available nor will they be for months) to have fallen below the prior year. This is the critical issue, the seminal fact, the painful reality. But we, at UJC, don't like to surface harsh realities -- after all. we in the bunker have been instructed only to paint pretty pictures and come up with something called the "big idea." Since Howard Rieger and, then, Joe Kanfer took their professional and lay leadership roles, the focus on the "big idea" (often then redefined as "purposeful and very strategic change") has been our charge. And anyone who pushes back against a "big idea" for whatever the reason is condemned as "not being a team player" or "against change" or is personally attacked then shunned.

And what is today's "big idea"? Trust us, it will be another scheme, like Operation Promise or the "Organizational Strategy" trumpeted down from the mountaintop without being fully thought through, immune from any criticism from the UJC professional staff or any lay leadership and and beyond change. As with the "big ideas" past, the roll out is being dictated by a meeting date -- not a GA but the January Board Retreat in Newport Beach. We have to have something "important" to discuss there don't we?

Understand, we're just speculating here, but it appears to us that this year's "big idea" will be a massive "Special Campaign for Children." (We don't know much about it; we just work here.) Originated with UJC Israel, through which not a dime has been raised from a donor, it will, by the end of January 2008, have been "discussed" with JAFI and JDC by professional leaders of UJC Israel and UJC's "Community Capacity Building" professionals; the UJC Development area has been excluded from these meetings. Talking a Supplemental Campaign (over, and ontop of the Annual Camapaign) of $80 to $100 million. The federations, at least until this week, uninformed.

Maybe those in UJC lay and professional leadership have forgotten that the mother's milk of the federation system is the Annual Campaign. Without its strength, the federations will not be the central Jewish communal address; federations will wither and die. Perhaps these same leaders are immune from an American economy that is in free fall with potentially devastating impacts on our communities' campaigns? So at a time that UJC should be totally engaged and totally focused with the federations in critical ways to bolster and support these annual expressions of incredible generosity, its leadership is busy in the laboratory coming up with a Special Supplemental Campaign that will compete, by its very nature, with the Annual Campaign, the glue, that holds our communities together and enables the creative works that ennoble them. (We also hear in the hallways and on the UJC grapevine, that Chairman Kanfer is busy working in his laboratory on another "big idea" Supplemental Campaign --"The Fund for the Jewish Future" focused on Jewish Education and Identity -- but we will leave that for another day if we can escape the bunker and learn more.)

You all have a great Shabbat.

Apologies

2008-01-17T06:19:00.000-08:00

Your bloggers need to apologize. We have caught the attention of The Forward which, among other things, noted that our Posts have been "...rife with typographical errors." We have to admit that it's tough finding the "Check Spelling" button when we are forced further and further into the darkness of the bunker. We'll try to do better.

The Reorganization...A Continuing Saga

2008-01-16T12:01:00.001-08:00

If you, our readers, are confused as to why morale here at UJC has never, ever been lower, given that we are at work for the Jewish People we love and are, they tell us, well paid, consider the current sorry state of the Rieger-Kanfer "Organizational Strategy." This was the March "Reorganization" that, all of us were told, would focus UJC on 6 critical "strategic goals. Well, not so much. Here's the pattern that has emerged:

Doron Krakow was left with a title and his compensation but...no job. He resigns
Eric Levine, a long-time Senior Executive in Development working under the direction of Vicki Agron and Gail Reiss, crunching numbers and drafting development plans, as he had for New York UJA-Federation, was transferred ahead of the Reorganization to run UJC's Renaissance and Renewal work, now is further elevated to professionally direct the Jewish Peoplehood thing
Development is transferred to a new framework -- "Community Capacity Building" -- and directed to report to Barry Swartz, a master of the UJC Bureaucracy working out of Atlanta (!) -- never a fund raiser. Agron would no longer report directly to Howard Rieger, the CEO, but through Swartz. Sequentially, Agron and Reiss leave UJC.

So, there you have it. All the pieces in place for the new strategy, right?

Uh, no. This Rieger - Kanfer plan so well thought out, written behind closed doors, imposed without the possibility of criticism, has already been redone, two months after the General Assembly where it was the "centerpiece." Follow this bouncing ball (if you can):

Levine, just months ago the darling of Jewish Peoplehood, is transferred to run Development (without anything but a "heads up" from Rieger-Kanfer to Campaign lay leadership). Not so fast though, Levine will not report through Swartz but directly to Rieger;
Susan Sherr-Seitz, a bright and articulate professional is then promoted "to manage" the Jewish Peoplehood "Group" but she will apparently report through Levine even though he has been transferred over to run Development. (Hope you are able to digest all this.)
Swartz, who for almost two months was directing community consulting, Capacity Building and the Washington Office (we think), has apparently been reassigned to be the professional to whom only Consulting and the Washington Office(we think) report;
William Daroff, who directs the Washington Office with fantastic success needs no supervision from within the bureaucratic cocoon of the Rieger staff Table of Organization (and maybe he reports not to Swartz but to Sam Astrof, the CFO Howard elevated to COO shortly after Rieger came on Board);

If you are lost in all of this, don't worry, surely the geniuses who lead UJC will change it all again ... and soon. But, we have to admit, we're not even certain we have our facts straight. No one meets with us to fill us in -- we are as in the dark as lay leadership.

Does anyone out there care. The state we are in has been permitted only because federation lay and professional leadership -- you all, the owners -- allow it.

There's No dues Like No Dues

2008-01-14T06:22:00.000-08:00

These can't be the best of times at Disunited Jewish Communities, but your bloggers agree it's the worst. Now, on top of losing critical Senior Managers one after the other; on top of promoting a dictated "Organizational Strategy" that can't possibly move the organization forward but is presented as the best thing since Saran Wrap, federations of all City-sizes are not just protesting their super sized dues, they have decided not to pay them in whole or in part.

Some examples, you ask:

South Palm Beach County. This southeast Florida Federation, headquartered in Boca Raton, sought hardship relief from UJC arising out of, among other things, uninsured costs of hurricane damage to multiple facilities. When UJC leadership determined that the community's wealth, successful annual campaigns and unwillingness to borrow to meet its "obligations" in a decision smacking of arrogance and noblesse oblige, UJC denied the community any relief. The community is currently paying its dues but had advised UJC that it will not be bound by any dues decision for 2008-2009.
Palm Beach County a major partner in UJC has advised the national organization that it will not pay any increased dues to UJC and demands a complete review of the UJC budget which has begun an upward "creep" dictated top-down. The home of top leadership of the JDC and Jewish Agency, it has been visited by Messrs. Rieger and Kanfer who lectured the federation on its responsibilities. South Palm Beach has been constantly threatened with membership termination.
Detroit. One of the strongest, most tight-knit of federations, Detroit advised UJC over 2 years ago that it would limit its dues payments going forward to $1 million per year unless the dues formula was changed from its current strict emphasis on annual campaign achievement, the organization reformed itself to engage with both the federations' needs and with its obligations to its overseas partners, among other thins. Getting annual promises from UJC that something would be done to meet Detroit's dues concerns, but no action, and after many, many meetings, promises and threats, in 2007 Detroit began transmitting its overseas payments directly to JAFI and JDC fearing that UJC would make up budget shortfalls out of allocations intended for The Jewish Agency and the Joint -- something UJC has promised not to do.

There are more, many more -- what you read here are, from what we are hearing inside the hallowed halls of 111 Eighth Avenue, the tip of a growing iceberg (even in this time of global warming). UJC's leadership's idea of "federation engagement" is to visit with federations when their dues are threatened. So, if you want a visit from Howard, Kathy, Joe or Michael Gelman (and who wouldn't), just let them know your federation will/can no longer pay its dues; they will down shortly thereafter promising "things will change," then proposing increasing the dues for, e.g., a vital $845,000 branding research project.

When they come to see you, say hello for us, the neglected boys/girls of UJC

The Great Place to Work Survey

2008-01-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

In a vivid demonstration of the "denial" with which UJC's Chief Professional Officer works or his ill-formed belief that he runs a very happy ship (after all which one of us wouldn't be happy working in an environment in which the boss is the consummate bully), UJC signed on to participate in the Great Place to Work Survey. This research tool is designed, according to its sponsor -- the Great Place to Work Institute -- "...to building a better society by helping companies transform their workplaces...that trust between managers and employees is the primary defining characteristic of the best workplaces." Noble and inspirational. Federations ranging in size and scope from New York to Colorado engaged in the research and published the results.

So, the UJC staff was called upon to complete the Survey in 2007, before Vicki Agron was forced out under humiliating and unprofessional circumstances, before Val Cutina quit, but after the Gail Hyman force-out, the Doron Krakow force-out, etc., etc. And, guess what -- the lay leadership of UJC was (1) unaware the research was being conducted and (2) when they became aware, denied access to the results.

Those of us inside the organization didn't need a Survey to know that morale has never been lower, that more resumes are in circulation "on the street" than ever before, and that UJC's top professional leadership wants no data that would conflict with their perception that everyone at UJC is happy, happy, happy. They're daft.

Anger Management

2008-01-06T11:17:00.000-08:00

The UJC CEO posts a weekly pre-Shabbat message -- Howard's View. Typically very personal, maybe a form of therapy, to those of us inside UJC, they are usually the occasion for an exchange of e-mail commentary about the pedestrian self-aggrandizing tone. Our e-mails regularly use words like "pitiful," "insipid" and "ich."

On the occasion of the first Shabbat of 2008 (January 4, 2008), the View focused on Howard's Rabbinic learning about the futility of anger, urging all of his readers to abandon anger in the New Year. Surely those inside and outside UJC who have experienced the "Rieger Treatment" know that those who offer a different opinion from Howard's on any matter are scorned, isolated, ignored, ostracized and treated as poison. So often Howard's decisions about professional and lay leadership advancement are made strictly based on loyalty and unquestioning support. The results of Howard's "anger" are as simplistic as one would expect of a CPO who proudly flunked out of college twice or was it three times -- the creation of a class of sycophants who advance and another class of "everybody else." Those who worked with him in Pittsburgh remember a "boss" who demanded total loyalty, stubbornly pursued policies that were often ill-founded, and based his personnel decisions on those who implemented his policies without ever questioning them. When professionals in Pittsburgh of at UJC pushed back, they were met with anger and with threats that they were "clearly not on the team" -- the threats of a bully boy."

Anger management anyone?

Messages from the Trenches

2008-01-02T12:36:00.000-08:00

Friends of the boys/girls who are "the Blog" have written us from "inside" with comments on the sorry state of our "Disunited Jewish Communities." We can't print all of the comments we have received to date, but some strike us as particularly on point and all reflect the sorry state of what should be the "shining light on the hill."

A couple of examples:

From a long-time professional -- "this leadership, lay and professional, has taken something magnificent and made it pedestrian."
A long time student of our national institution from both inside and outside wrote: "[T]he unraveling of 'professionalism,' the centralizing of control, the resistance to the new realities in Jewish life regarding new organizations speaking to the young, the elitism of so-called leadership, and many more realities conspire to feeding the flames of growing irrelevance of the system as a whole."
And, another: "In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."
Finally: "To Rieger and Kanfer the only valid ideas are there's and there's alone. All others are irrelevant, poison not to be touched."

Nice.

Big Gail, Vicki (and Doron and Ron and....)

2007-12-31T08:31:00.000-08:00

Since the first days of Howard Rieger's service as UJC's "President and CEO" (call him, that's how he is self-described on his VoiceMail), those most senior professionals who pushed back against policies or programs with which they disagreed faced humiliation and ostracism -- unprofessional treatment unbecoming a Jewish organization.

Gail Hyman was the first senior professional to resign after being treated in an unprofessional and demeaning manner by the "Rieger Administration." She would not be the last. "Big Gail" (who garnered the nickname not because she was, in fact, "big" only because she was "bigger" than her professional counterpart, "Little Gail" Reiss) was a consummate marketing professional. She was first hired away from the New York UJA-Federation where she had served as the CPO Marketing during the UJA "era" and she brought her talents at communications and marketing to, first, the national campaigns, and, then, in an attempt to "build (and defend) the United Jewish Communities brand" after the merger. She had built an annual Federation Marketing Conference into a critical date on the calendar of federation marketing executives, and, annually, assured an effective generic "Case for Giving" video in which federations partnered. Big Gail wasa great team player...and she had a loyal group of creative professionals working with her at UJC. Rieger, apparently ill-equipped to understand the value of national marketing and communications, ignored and isolated Gail. She was ordered to report through Rieger's chief bean counter; told there was a hiring freeze yet watched as other areas (including the CFO's) hired at will; told to "find a secretary to promote" when she needed new professional assistance; and found Rieger's son lurking about the Marketing and Communications field. Asking only to be treated as the senior professional she was, she was shunned. In 2005, she resigned. (Through year-end 2007, Big Gail had not been replaced. The once generic Campaign video [which allowed participating federations to insert their own leaders and message] had become, by 2007, a vehicle for Rieger's self-promotion. [He appeared in the 2008 campaign piece no less that 4 times -- this was evidence of the "cult of the non-peronality."])

The circumstances facing Vicki Agron were all the more humiliating and unprofessional. Agron, as a lay leader from Denver, was a past Chair of the National Young Women's Leadership Cabinet, had been hired by the Dean of Federation and UJA Executives, Stanley Horowitz, as a senior United Jewish Appeal pro, she had been the professional head of Campaign/Development since the UJA time, as well. She was a remarkably creative professional, having led the UJA through a masterful strategic planning effort, and collaborated in the creation of the Campaign Chairs/Campaign Directors annual Mission, the National and International Lion of Judah Conferences and the Jewish Leadership Forum. She directed the UJC National FRD Study and had the widest of followings among federation Campaign Executives. The largest federations' Executives with the most influence on Rieger saw no value in a major national campaign office and experienced little return on that investment -- the value to them being small, they failed to see or care about the value to others.

Soon after becoming CEO Rieger began his own "campaign" -- one of professional humilation and exclusion -- to force Agron's resignation. Rieger began meeting less and less, if at all, with his "SMT" -- his Senior Managers; instead, he created a smaller "team" and without consultation with Agron appointed the National Young Leadership chief professional, who herself reported to Agron, to it. He constantly berated Agron for "not being a team player" when she would push back or offer her own ideas in response to his. The Campaign/Development Budget became a "bank" from which Rieger and his leadership would withdraw funds to finance other programs and schemes. Agron was helpless; she was told that if she enlisted her lay leadership, she would be fired.

Then in late winter 2007, the situation worsened. Rieger and Kanfer, behind closed doors, concocted a "reorganization" for UJC. This "organizational strategy" became the raison d'etre for UJC's very existence -- although it proved to be but moving around the deck chairs on the Titanic. But, for Agron and the Development Department this reordering had dire consequences -- Development would no longer be an independent part of the national team, but would report through professionals with no background in Campaign or Development. Agron would be "reorganized" out of existence. While Rieger and Kanfer would argue time and again that the focus of the reorganization was "raising more dollars and donors," they had to be the only two UJC leaders who possibly could have thought so. Vicki dug in, determined to prove she was a team player. Rieger ignored her efforts. She resigned effective January 2008.

Shame on Them

2007-12-27T08:01:00.000-08:00

In early 2005, after years of research including 10's of interviews with participants involved in the merger that led to the creation of United Jewish Communities, Gerald Bubis and his partner, Steven Windmueller, published a critical and critically important work: Predictability to Chaos: How Jewish Leaders Reinvented their National Communal System. Even before its publication, Jewish federation and UJC professionals, this blogger has learned, worked extremely hard to suppress this important academic work in a manner that can only be described as shameful -- and only they could possibly understand why they did so.

Bubis is not unknown to our system -- he has been studying it and reporting on it for three decades, has served on the Boards of the Los Angeles Federation and the Jewish Agency for Israel, and on the faculty of Hebrew Union College -- Jewish Institute of Religion. His collaborative works have had great value to federations and communal organizations including The Director Had a Heart Attack and the President Resigned and Professional Trends in Jewish Communal Practice in America. So why the communal organizational censorship of From Predictability to Chaos? Only the censors know for sure. But, here is what your bloggers have learned.

Pre-publication, Bubis and Windmueller convened a day-long "dialogue" in New York City among professional and lay leaders of the merger, federation and UJC executives, academics, religious and Zionist movement leaders. There was vigorous discussion, including deprecation of the authors' work by Federation professionals, most notably Steve Hoffman, Steve Nasatir and Howard Rieger. Their message was that the book, which they seemed not to have fully read, was unnecessary -- that it was time to look forward, and that history was only relevant, it appeared, as they interpreted it to be. Shortly thereafter in an interview with The Cleveland News Hoffman, who had by then had turned the UJC reins over to Rieger, volunteered out of context that From Predictability to Chaos would best serve as a fish wrapper. These were the first dismissals of a valuable work.

Then, censorship began in earnest. Bubis sought the opportunity to market the book at the UJC General Assembly in Toronto in November 2005. UJC denied that opportunity outright. A review of the book was written by Moe Stein, a respected former federation executive, for the esteemed Journal of Jewish Communal Service. The Journal was pressured by persons unknown not to review the work but looking at the involvement of Federation professionals on the Journal's Advisory Board, little more needs be added. Journal management, your bloggers have learned from confidential sources, told Bubis that a "reviewer of Stein's review could not be found. Pressure was placed on the Association of Jewish Community Organization Professionals ("AJCOP") in a similar manner.

So a work written to help all of us understand UJC, its mission, vision and operation, has been blacklisted by the Jewish professionals who lead the federation sytem. For no reason other than they could. Shame on them. Shame, shame, shame....

A Bust!!

2007-12-04T09:54:00.000-08:00

Notwithstanding the hopes of the federation system and the merging organizations that created United Jewish Communities in 1999, any fair review of its "accomplishments" since its founding would have to conclude that UJC has been a costly bust. After spending over $280 million (or more given that in its early years millions were expended on severance payments "off the books" out of allocations due the JDC and JAFI) in aggregate budgets, what has our system to show for it? The Washington Office? Sure, but that was incredibly effective in the era pre-merger. Diasaster Relief? The same. The Israel Emergency Campaign? Great, but that was driven by the individual actions of 155 federations with UJC counting the money and monitoring its expenditure.

What UJC is today is nothing more than a stumbling bureaucracy that can't get out of its own way. Fund raising -- the lifeblood of federations -- has been reduced to an afterthought, marginalized notwithstanding that in every survey UJC itself has conducted over its lifespan, financial resource development assistance has been at the top of the owners', the federations', priorities for their national organization. How did we get to the point that UJC is allowed to spend in excess of $40 million per year of donors' dollars -- donors who, in the main, haven't a clue that there is a national entity out there literally throwing our money away? These will be the questions that this Blog will attempt to answer in the weeks and months ahead -- how did we get here and what are we doing about it? This is about the Emperor's New Clothes.