If you are a member of the Jewish Community Center you are keenly aware that the agency has undergone a thorough reorganization from the top down over the past few years. That reorganization resulted in making the agency more fiscally responsible as well as more appealing to members and prospective members. JCC members will celebrate those successes at its annual meeting Sunday, May 22, when it installs Gary Weinberg for a two-year term as president.

“I think Bob (Grant, the outgoing president) has done an exceptional job of taking the Center, with the help of a superb staff, to turn it around financially and programmatically and really getting it going on the right track,” Weinberg said.

He said while every new board president always has new ideas and agendas, he doesn’t plan to make any significant major changes.

“My most important goal is to support Executive Director Jacob Schreiber and the staff. I’m going to have our board do that as well,” Weinberg said.

Grant believes he is leaving the JCC in good hands and that it is currently “in a period of wellness.” Weinberg notes that the JCC’s “phenomenal staff” has had a lot to do with that, having made significant sacrifices over the past several years to help reduce costs and enhance the programs that are effective.

“Financially we are in very good shape. The same can be said about our programming and our leadership,” Grant said.

In fact Weinberg said membership has increased each month over the past 40 months.

“I don’t think we’re back to historic highs, but we’re trending that way. We have more than 2,500 member units now,” said Weinberg. The all-time membership high was 2,700 member units.

Weinberg would like the new board to design a new strategic plan. The JCC’s last strategic plan was completed 17 years ago.

“But before we can begin the process, we have to have the board agree it wants to. One of the things I don’t want to do is tell our board what to do. I want to make sure it’s a collaborative effort,” Weinberg said.

Collaboration is a big word around the JCC right now. Weinberg said he believes one of the most important things the agency can do in the future is engage in more collaborative programming.

“We need to look to the community and see how to facilitate and enhance community conversations. We want to really work with other agencies and congregations and leverage the assets we have in the community,” Weinberg said.

Ken Sigman, the JCC’s incoming first vice president who will become president in 2013, added that collaboration is necessary because resources aren’t the same as they were years ago.

“I think the Center is in a very unique position in that it is an organization that serves the many in not just the Jewish community but the non-Jewish community,” Sigman said. “If we are collaborative and if our programs and our staff are exceptional in delivering services, we can be successful in making people feel that this is the place to be.”

Most recently, the JCC co-sponsored the annual Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) celebration with Kehilath Israel Synagogue and it is also co-sponsoring the 8th Day concert on Lab b’Omer (Sunday, May 22) with the Torah Learning Center. More programs in the areas of adult education, and possibly even camping, are on the horizon.

JCC Mezzuzzah Society gives donors advisory roles

The Jewish Community Center sees itself as a premier Jewish life enterprise, offering programs of excellence that enhance wellness, meaning and joy for the community. It has established the Mezzuzah Society to provide what it hopes will be the wisdom, stature and financial support required for the JCC to achieve this mission.

The Mezzuzah Society was conceived a little more than a year ago and already has 20 members. Members make a two-year investment in the agency and the donations go directly to the JCC’s operating budget. They help fund current programs, new initiatives and scholarships.

Donors to the Mezzuzah society give the same amount for two consecutive years. Categories are Guides: a minimum of $2,500; Builders: a minimum of $5,000; and Visionaries: a minimum of $10,000.

Jill Maidhof, the JCC’s associate executive director, said this is the first time the JCC has ever attempted an annual giving campaign. Gary Weinberg, who will be installed as president on Sunday, May 22, said until now Kansas City was one of only a few JCC’s in the country who did not conduct an annual giving campaign.

Weinberg said The Mezzuzah Society is important, not only because it’s beginning to develop a culture of annual giving at the JCC, but to also recognize the importance of the donors.

“We want to make sure our donors feel somewhat empowered, that they really have some insight into how successful we are. It also lets them learn what our issues are so that they can contribute their thoughts and help guide us because they care about the organization,” Weinberg said.

“It’s a vehicle to really be able to encourage that investment, talk to the people that are making that investment and then recognize them for doing it,” he continued.

The first meeting of the Mezzuzah Society was held this week. Maidhof said the meetings give these donors, who are considered to be consuls and advisors to the executive director and the president, the chance to hear first hand “the challenges and opportunities facing the Center.”

“Not only does this provide them with insider information, it also gives them an opportunity to provide some substantive input on those issues,” she said.

As Weinberg pointed out, oftentimes donors are asked for money but never given a chance to be engaged in the spending process.

“We want to engage those people and see what they think,” Weinberg said.

The Mezzuzah Society, said Ken Sigman, who will be installed this week as first vice president, helps provide funds so that the JCC can extend its services out to as many people as possible, even those who can’t afford them. This past fiscal year the JCC gave out more than $350,000 in scholarships.

“These funds help augment that. There are people due to the economic downturn that still haven’t recovered. This allows us to have a fund to make the Center appeal to those who can’t afford it right now but eventually we hope will be able to,” Sigman said.

It’s also important, Maidhof said, because funding from traditional sources continues to decrease while at the same time competition for those funds continues to increase.

“So we have to be self-reliant and replace those funds,” she said.

Maidhof said the JCC also needs to invest in itself to be able to make it better.

“It’s more and more critical that we have the right staff in the right places and that they are trained to really make people feel that this is a real special place,” Sigman added.