“… All Israel are responsible for one another.”
Talmud Bavli, Shevuot 39a
Eighty-five years ago, Kansas City was facing an economic depression, pressing needs of local Jewish organizations and growing demands for overseas aid. Following those words in the Talmud that we are all responsible for one another, in the spring of 1933 a group of dedicated individuals created the Jewish Welfare Federation of Greater Kansas City — now the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City — a collective entity to raise funds to meet those needs.
In the early days, funds raised helped rescue Jews before and during the Holocaust, resettle survivors, support the establishment of the State of Israel and help those escaping the oppression of the former Soviet Union. Today the Federation’s mission is still basically what it set out to do in 1933: Sustain and enhance Jewish life at home and around the world. Through its network of partners, Federation helps help feed, clothe, comfort and inspire people here in Kansas City and in more than 60 countries worldwide.
The fundraising arm
of the community
That first fundraising campaign in 1933 raised approximately $95,000. Last year, Federation posted its highest numbers in an annual community campaign at $5.4 million. Federation’s President and CEO Dr. Helene Lotman said if you figured in inflation rates, the organization was raising more funds today than in that first campaign. On top of that, fundraising continues to grow in Kansas City while efforts in other Jewish communities across the country are stagnant or declining.
“That’s very distinctive and very special about Kansas City and the people who live here,” Lotman said. “That’s not really the way things are going across the country.”
Indeed, the Federation is a key funder that helps serve Jewish families in need here in Kansas City, reports Don Goldman, executive director and CEO of Jewish Family Services.
“The Federation’s role is especially important during times of crisis such as the Great Recession (the late 2000s and early 2010s),” Goldman said. “During this period, demand for emergency assistance exceeded $500,000 per year, more than triple a typical year — but the Federation met the need with no hesitation. With their help, all Jewish families got the assistance they needed to care for their families.”
The success of Kansas City’s mid-size Federation is something the local community has been proud of for decades. Sol Koenigsberg, Federation’s executive director emeritus who served the agency from 1968 to 1989 as its fifth executive director, points out that Kansas City was one of the first communities of its size to raise $1 million. Koenigsberg played a large role in many of the Federation’s successes, and it’s a role he is proud of.
“Assisting in the building of Israel, rescue and resettlement of refugees, meeting challenges from people and organizations and helping a community to grow was exciting and fulfilling,” he noted is his book, “Challenges & Growth: The Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, 1968-1989,” published in 2012.
The community convener
Besides fundraising, Federation’s other main role is bringing the community together and engaging it with issues that are important not only on a local level but nationally and internationally as well, Lotman said. Recent support of PJ Library, which provides books for young Jewish children; Leadership Tomorrow internship program, which gives Jewish college students a chance to gain valuable leadership experience on the job; and the Right Start Preschool Incentive Program, through which qualifying families are eligible to receive grants upon enrolling their children in a local Jewish preschool, are just a few ways the Federation is currently engaging the community.
Another example of convening the community, and one of the things Koenigsberg is most proud of during his career, is the Federation’s role in creating the Jewish Community Campus, which opened in the fall of 1988 to cater to a community that had shifted to Johnson County. The project involved volunteers from all parts of Jewish life in Kansas City as well as each of the agencies that became Campus tenants.
Besides the Campus, Koenigsberg reported that the Federation also gave birth to the Jewish Community Foundation, now a major resource serving the community.
“Both of these entities developed into mature operations and are now autonomous,” Koenigsberg said. “The Federation’s role as planner, convener, consultant and adviser is a prime function of that community institution.”
Another person who shares a deep history with Federation is Special Campaign Projects Director Deborah Bretton Granoff. She is the daughter of Max Bretton, the agency’s first director, and said working with Federation was “in her genes.” Granoff was a volunteer for many years, even serving as president of Women’s Philanthropy, which was called Women’s Division at the time. When the organization needed a new director for that division, Granoff transitioned from a volunteer to a Federation staffer. She has been employed at Federation, first full time and now part time, for 29 years.
One of her earliest Federation memories is spending time with her mother while she volunteered.
“I used to go door to door with my mother to solicit for Federation,” Granoff said. “In those days, much of the annual campaign was conducted by going door to door.”
Delivering on the promise
Granoff is regularly inspired to continue her Federation work by an ad, now framed in her office, she found while researching the organization’s history.
“In 1933 it said Jews are facing extermination in Germany,” she noted. “An extraordinary emergency exists. Thousands must have bread. Thousands are homeless. They need our help. We fight anti-Semitism. They are our brothers. It’s a challenge we must meet. I think the Federation mission in many ways has remained the same, that the Federation represents all the Jews.”
Federation seeks to be a unifying force as it partners with local and international organizations and works to strengthen, help and educate Jews not only here but throughout the world, Granoff explained.
“We have always been there — and continue to be there — during catastrophic emergencies such as the Hurricane Harvey flood in Houston,” she said. “It did so much damage to the Jewish community there. They are still suffering. The times have changed and the challenges we face are different, but we continue to build and energize Jewish life here in Kansas City and throughout the world.”
Karen Pack also believes Federation continues to be relevant in its 85th year. Federation has always been a part of her life, as she has been a volunteer for 40 years and is a former president of the board. Her parents, Maria and Fred Devinki, were Holocaust survivors who moved to Kansas City in 1950. Jewish Federation provided support to immigrants, and in turn the Devinki family gave back to the community, their synagogue and organizations that supported Israel. One of those organization was Jewish Federation.
“Looking back over 40 years, what the Federation stands for and what the Federation actually executes is extraordinary,” Pack said.
She has worked with a variety of volunteers over the years, noting that each individual she has worked with gives generously of their time to make sure that every dollar received is meaningfully given to someone in need.
“They get no compensation other than knowing that as Jews the reward is making the world a better place. … The Federation system, whether in Kansas City or Bulgaria or Romania or Israel, is making sure that someone’s life somewhere is better,” Pack explained.
Today, Pack is more impressed with Federation’s work then she was when she first began volunteering.
“The mission is so deep and so sincere and so true that it doesn’t stop regardless of who’s running it and who’s volunteering,” she said. “I think what the Federation does every day is nothing short of a miracle. I’m so proud to be a part of it and I’m so proud to celebrate its 85th birthday.”
Pack also believes staff should be recognized for the hard work they have done over the years.
“The staff can never be rewarded enough for the time and the devotion they’ve given to this work,” she said. “They show up every day and make good things happen in our community and in more than 60 countries around the world.”
Federation in the future
Lotman, who is the Federation’s eighth exec, following A. Robert Gast and Todd Stettner, said the Federation was continually “redefining who we are.” For example, she’s not sure the fundraising model of today is what it will be down the road.
“We’re trying to diversify our revenue sources,” said Lotman, who came on board in mid-2016 but has worked with Federations for 16 years. “We hope to build on our legacy giving. We do well in terms of that, but we could do better.”
The Federation will continue to look at the different constituencies in the community and study how they can be better served, Lottman added.
“I see us as committed to continuing to be the convener of the community,” she said. “It’s our responsibility to listen to as many stakeholders as possible and then provide funding and programming to serve the community everywhere, every day. That’s really what Jewish Federation is about.”
Along those lines, Pack emphasized “the best bang for the buck is this wonderful KC Jewish Federation, and the volunteers that raise the money and make sure every dollar is well spent, not misspent.”
Pack also wants people to remember that Federation, and all its partner agencies, is not just there to help in a crisis, but for chronic problems as well.
“Life happens every day,” Pack said. “People need help every day, not just when there is a tsunami, or an earthquake or a war.”
Lotman feels privileged to lead the organization now and into the future.
“It continues to be strong and relevant,” she said. “It’s a great place to be and we do a great job of providing service, programming and funding to those that need it.”