Senior Center Planned in Naples
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 | Dr. Jacylnn Faffer
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We hope it will become a focal point for older adults in the community, with a full range of advocacy activities, services and programs. Continue reading here.
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Project SARAH Making Big Strides in South Jersey
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After a Project SARAH presentation at the Jewish Federation of Southern NJ's Women's Gala, a Samost Jewish Family & Children's Service of Southern New Jersey representative received a letter, which, in part, read: "Before you started speaking, I leaned over to my friend and asked why we even needed a domestic abuse program. I mentioned to her that this didn't really exist in our town; the families I know all seem so successful and together, and not what I thought abusive homes 'looked' like. After you spoke about how many people approach you - from my own town - and use your services - I was shocked right there in my seat. It's sad to think of them enduring the violence in private, and not being able to reach out or get support. I am so happy to have learned about a program like Project SARAH that helps them get the support and help they need." Continue reading here.
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JFCS East Bay Wins "Dynamic Board Award"
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JFS Washtenaw County Receives $25,000 Grant
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Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County received a $25,000 grant from the James A. & Faith Knight Foundation to support internal capacity through technology. JFS Washtenaw County has outgrown their current system and are so grateful to the Knight Foundation for making it possible to add efficiency and ease to daily activities.
Additionally, the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation has generously decided to award $16,000 in funding to JFS Washtenaw County's Older Adult Services program Partners in Care Concierge (PiCC). Partners in Care Concierge (formerly known as Patient Partners), was awarded the AJFCA Goodman Award in 2011. PiCC is a coordinated care/medical appointment accompaniment program in which trained JFS volunteers are paired with clients who require assistance in the removal of barriers to accessing health care. The grant will allow the program's expansion to incorporate, coordinate and expand other related JFS services to better meet client needs. For more information visit PiCC.
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Celebration of the Century
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Jewish Family Service of Houston celebrated their 100 year anniversary. Celebration of the Century was the most successful fundraising event in their history. An elegant evening with a performance by The Houston Symphony celebrated Houston's wonderful community and 100 years of compassionate care by JFS.
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to learn more about free calls and webinars. For more information login to For Our Members on the AJFCA website, followed by Webinars. Contact Megan at 410-843-7327 with questions.
Boost Your Nonprofit Storytelling Power
June 18th, 1pm ET
Brandraising
June 18th, 2pm EDT
REGISTER HERE
The Health Care Law - Health Insurance Marketplace 101
June 19th, 12:30pm EDT
REGISTER HERE
Improving Parenting Skills: New Tools in PerformWell
June 25th, 3pm EDT
REGISTER HERE
How Nonprofits Can Save Time & Money on Unemployment Costs
June 25th, 8am PST
June 26th, 11am PST
June 27th, 1pm PST
REGISTER HERE
Energize Our Families: Parent Program
June 26th, 1pm EDT
REGISTER HERE
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Stay updated on AJFCA offerings, agency news & current trends . . .
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D'Var TorahLee I. Sherman
President/CEO
At the recent AJFCA Annual Conference, we had the pleasure of honoring four member agency CEOs who will be retiring over the next few months. I am already aware of four more CEOs who will be retiring in the coming year. Transition is a normal part of any organization's life. The strength of our communal organizations, while built on the hard work and commitment of individuals, is rooted in the shared passions and experiences of the community. An aspect of that strength is the foresight to be prepared for transitions, and intentional succession planning is a critical component for ongoing success.
In this week's parashah, Hukkat, we learn that God knew very well the value of succession planning. We read of the deaths of Miriam and Aaron, both mourned deeply by the people and missed greatly for their leadership and personal contributions. We also read of God's directive that Moses will not be able to enter the Promised Land because of his actions in striking the rock twice to cause water to flow. The leaders of the exodus and the journey through the wilderness will not be the leaders for the next generation as it gains entry to the land.
We cannot always anticipate the cause of transition. It may be planned, as in the retirements we have seen recently, or it may be an unpredicted event. But whatever the cause, having a well-reasoned succession plan in place helps to ensure a smooth transition that moves your organization from strength to strength.
Shabbat Shalom.
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Meels on Wheels & Sequestration
On Thursday, June 6th the Meals On Wheels Association of America released new findings from a recent survey regarding the impact  s of the sequester on Meals on Wheels and Congregate programs across the country.
Please inform Shelley Rood, AJFCA Washington Director of any cuts to your programs due to sequestration. |
Farm Bill Passes in the Senate
The Senate adopted by unanimous consent an amendment from Sen. Franken (D-MN) that would allow home-bound seniors and persons with disabilities to use their SNAP benefits at retailers that offer home-delivery services. Learn more about the amendments. Read more about other provisions of the Farm Bill here. To protest cuts to SNAP, 30 Representatives are taking the Food Stamp Challenge.
Help MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger and our partners in the anti-hunger community send a strong message to Congress by mobilizing your networks to join the National Call-in Day organized for Tuesday, June 18th. This is a critical opportunity to demonstrate strong support for nutrition programs to ensure access to nutritious food for Americans struggling with hunger.  Calling Congress is easy. Here's how:
- Call the toll-free hotline set up by Feeding America at 866-527-1087
- Listen to the pre-recorded message and enter your zip code when prompted.
- Once you are connected to your Representative, state that you are a constituent and give your name and the town you are calling from. Be sure to give the name of the organization you are affiliated with.
- Let them know you are calling about the Farm Bill and deliver this important message:
As your constituent, I am asking you to vote against the House Farm Bill due to the harmful cuts to SNAP. Cuts to SNAP and SNAP-Ed would increase hunger and make it harder for families to access a nutritious diet. With so many families still struggling to put food on the table, it is important to protect and strengthen nutrition programs. I understand the need to reduce the deficit, but increasing hunger is not the way to do it.
Spread the word by sharing this call to action and the infographic script with your local networks and on social media.
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Navigating Health Care Policy
Sandy Teplitzky is a lawyer in Baltimore who represents health care providers every day. Last week, his Jewish activism took him to Washington, D.C., as co-chair of a summit organized by The Jewish Federations of North America that focused on the critical changes in the delivery of healthcare and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Continue reading here. |
Call for Proposals: MIPPA
The Administration for Community Living (ACL) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the availability of fundin  g for the next iteration of grants under the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA). MIPPA funding is available for SHIPs, AAAs, and ADRCs to conduct benefits outreach and consumer education on Medicare Savings Programs, the Part D Low Income Subsidy, and preventive services. Apply by June 20th. See how to apply.
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AGENCY PROGRAMMING/OPERATIONS
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Measuring Success: A Guide to Becoming an Evidence-Based Practice
The quality of evidence-based programs is often a determinant of an organization's funding and the growth of its client pool, reports the Vera Institute of Justice. Measuring Success: A Guide to Becoming an Evidence-Based Practice describes how to assess a program and is part of the MacArthur Foundation Models for Change initiative. Continue reading here. |
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Confessions of a "Remote Control" CEO
Working remotely once meant that you had less control. Decisions were being made without you, documents were often lost or misfiled, transactions stalled or just never happened. Being remote meant you had to leave someone else-someone who may not be the best choice-in charge of mission critical tasks. This is why many CEOs and CFOs who are still using a manual method to run their office are afraid to leave. They don't realize that the cloud has changed everything and that being a Remote Control CEO is actually a business advantage. Continue reading here. |
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Enterprise from Ashoka: a Leader in Social Entrepreneurship
Our Jewish community wants to do big things. But we sometimes keep our people small either through interpersonal failings or system failings such as bureaucracy, defining jobs too narrowly, or revering hierarchy. 
Last week Jennier Roberts, Director of ProteJ, participated in the Ashoka Future Forum. 400 people came together - social innovators, business entrepreneurs, philanthropists and media - to strengthen their ability to improve the world. They bettered their skills of storytelling and leadership and shared their big problems and big solutions. Continue reading here. |
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How Nonprofit EDs Lead Boards
Michael Davidson, consultant specializing in nonprofit board development recently led a workshop for Executive Directors- "The  Board: What Can I Do About it?" Answers to a pre-workshop survey made it clear that the participants had solid ideas about where they needed to go.
- The board has become too inward looking, they need to re-engage the broader community for opportunities for mission and fundraising
- Increase dialogue between board members outside of meetings
- Create formal processes for on-boarding new members, evaluating current members and providing training for the board chair
- Foster more leadership from the Board Chair
- Enhance the relationship between the Board Chair and the ED
- Put processes in place for Board committees to deliver on stated objectives.
- Greater engagement with the life of the organization. Spend time connecting with staff and programs
- Change board roles from operational issues to fundraising and vision
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COMMUICATIONS & DEVELOPMENT
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Nonprofit-Friendly Mobile Tools
NTEN asked the nonprofit technology community to share with them the tools they thought were nonprofit-friendly (meaning: low-cost, easy to manager, no advanced developer skills requires, etc.) Here is a brief round-up of what they heard. The latest issue of NTEN's quarterly digital journal, designed especially for nonprofit leaders, tackles the theme "It's a Mobile World." Click here to view the journal. |
Four Tactics for Amazing Nonprofit Stories
Stories are older than written language. Stories have started wars and built civilizations. They renew and sustain our faith traditions. They teach us what it means to be a good person. Continue reading here. |
Throw Statistics Out of Your Fundraising
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These are the words that matter to fundraisers.
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Letters!
Marc Pitman thinks nonprofit fundraisers have a love affair with rational phrases and statistics because they feel these make them seem smarter. Make their nonprofit seem like a smart investment. But as Tom Ahern said years ago in a post called You love stats. But do stats love you?: "[statistics] can be surprisingly weak persuaders when you are trying to move people to give." Continue reading here. |
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Getting Better With Age
The piece, Getting Better With Age speaks to how nonprofits as a community walk-the-talk of collaboration. It is really good press for the sector as well as the National Human Servi ces Assembly and their efforts to re-frame human services; this is an important early step toward "getting human services and human needs on the national radar screen" as a part of those efforts. |
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Case Foundation Executive Named to Direct Social Innovation Fund
A senior executive from the Case Foundation next month will become the new leader of the Social Innovation Fund, Obama administration officials announced.  Michael Smith, senior vice president for social innovation at the Case Foundation will be the third Social Innovation Fund director since the first, Paul Carttar, was hired in April 2010. Mr. Carttar left in September and now works at the Bridgespan Group's New York City office. Continue reading here. |
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Holocaust Museum, Turning 20 Years Old, Confronts 21st Century Challenges
Museum Moves Forward While Still Looking Back
When the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's 20th Anniversary National Tour comes to Chicago in June, Suzy Snyder, the museum's associate curator, hopes that survivors and their children in the Windy City will consider donating their Holocaust artifacts and documents. Continue reading here. |
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Senior Volunteering at a 10-Year High
According to new data released today by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), senior volunteering is at a 10-year high - one in three volunteers is a senior age 55 and older. These men and women tap a lifetime of experience to help those in greatest need. More than 20 million senior volunteers gave nearly 3 billion hours of service, at a value of $67 billion. Continue reading here. |
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Charitable Adult Rides & Services
CARS, a 2013 AJFCA Annual Conference sponsor, was created to provide logistical and managerial support to non profits in order to help them achieve maximum profitability from all fund raising efforts. CARS is dedicated to helping organizations create, implement, and manage vehicle donation programs all across the United States. Through their innovative technologies and programs CARS streamlines vehicle donation programs for non profits helping them to maximize profitability. 
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