Friday, August 7
24 Av 5769
Shabbat Shalom -
Last night I went to see the movie Julie & Julia with a friend. It was a sweet movie that showcased the passion that both of these women had for cooking and for achieving their goals. I was struck by their determination to find meaning and relevancy in their personal lives and how that impacted the world around them so significantly. Once again I am reminded that what we do personally and professionally has a direct impact on everyone around us. We all simply do not live in a vacuum.
As an agency, Federation has a direct impact on the lives of those around us too. It is this impact that helps fuel my passion for our work. Our challenge is showcasing that impact in meaningful ways to help people understand how far we stretch the dollars that we raise. I find it interesting that in a time when people look for "one stop shopping" this message may not resonate when it comes to philanthropic giving. In a sense, people are sometimes more apt to spend their philanthropic dollars in a smaller boutique arena. The bang for our buck when giving to Federation is really substantial, but sharing this message seems to be one of our greatest challenges. Simply to say the words written above are not enough, we need to showcase our impact.
Federation's staff, through a series of meetings, has been discussing our vision and how we go about showcasing this as an organization. The meetings have been extremely productive as we have had the opportunity to brainstorm about how we demonstrate the enormity of the impact of the dollars raised. These conversations and planning for the future continues with our leadership and this is what fuels our work. I want to share with you some of the things we are working on to market our message to the community.
In the fall we will be launching an e-newsletter called Federation Connections that highlights how we connect people's philanthropic passions to where our dollars go. Thank you to one of our brilliant donors who provided the idea to use the wording connecting people, passion and prosperity.
We are updating our online giving e-philanthropy area of the Federation website as well. We have redesigned a much more user friendly way for people to give to Federation online. Our new make a gift, pay a pledge button is already on our homepage and we are working on launching the new e-philanthropy page very soon. We will keep you posted on that.
In preparing for the 2010 campaign we are looking at ways to engage new donors and broaden our base of support and raise awareness about the work of the Jewish community. We of course need to keep our current donors updated on what we are doing with the dollars raised by the community in meaningful ways.
Also on the horizon is invigorating our Young Leadership program so that we are exiting a younger generation. The next generation of young leaders are decidedly the philanthropic boutique shoppers and we have an obligation to the community not only to raise leaders for the future, but also to show them just how relevant we still are today as a Federation.
There are so many other items we could cover, but I am sure you would like to finish reading this before next Shabbat. Over the coming weeks I look forward to sharing more information with you about what is on the horizon. I will conclude by sharing that Federation continues to develop its roll as the community convener looking at ways we can help our agencies and organizations work together more effectively and efficiently. In order to do this we rely on trust and honesty between Federation, its constituency and the community's agencies and institutions. This is key to all of our success.
I will close with two quotes not from one of my usual Jewish sources, but from Julia Child, she said "If you're in a good profession, it's hard to get bored, because you're never
finished - there will always be work you haven't done." Indeed Federation is in a great communal profession in our community. And, we do always have work to do. She also said, "Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it." We are passionate about our work and deeply committed and most interested in it. Ultimately this will bring us success.
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Sincerely,
Meredith Dragon
Executive Director
Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts |
