Board of Directors meeting minutes, January 18, 1994

JEWISH FEDERATION OF LAS VEGAS BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING JANUARY 18, 1994 MEETING PRESENT ABSENT Dr. Allan Boruszak A1 Benedict Daryl Alterwitz Ron Cook Dr. Stanley Ames Dorothy Eisenberg Shelley Berkley Elaine Galatz Amy Boruszak Gene Greenberg Michael Cherry Melanie Greenberg Judy Frank Danny Greenspun Dan Goldfarb Eva Kallick Rick Hollander Gregory Kamer Edythe Katz Ron Kirsh Marty Loeb Dr. Stephen Kollins Sandy Ma11in Art Marshall Michael Novick Hal Ober Dr. Marv Perer Arne Rosencrantz Dr. Neville Pokroy Lenard Schwartzer Milton I. Schwartz Sharon Sigesmund Marta Sorkin Leslie Simon Douglas Unger Jerry Turk Dr. Harris Waters Gerald Welt STAFF GUESTS Ronni Epstein Barry Eisen Tony Figueredo Harold Hyman Bev Eisen Dr. Tamar Lubin Sharon Heiman Suzan Loeb I. WELCOME AND ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES Dr. Allan Boruszak welcomed everyone to the January Board Meeting. He asked for acceptance of the Minutes of the December 15, 1993 meeting. Dr. Marv Perer motioned to accept the Minutes of the December 15, 1993 Board of Directors Meeting. Mike Novick seconded and motion carried. II. ANNOUNCEMENTS Allan said there were several programs which will be taking place in the community that require the Federation Leadership's support. He said the first is the Goldberg Lecture Series, chaired by Dr. Stan Ames, at Temple Beth Sholom on Sunday evening, February 6th at 1 7 p.m. Allan said this year the speakers will be from the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, and Rabbi Steve Greenberg, who served as our scholar for the Board Retreat, will open the series. He said that on the evening of Sunday January 23rd, the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas in co-operation with the Board of Rabbis will sponsor an evening with Leopold Page. Mr. Page was a member of Shindler' s List and served as the chief consultant to Steven Speilberg in the production of the movie. He said this will also be held at Temple Beth Sholom January 23 at 7:00 p.m. and encouraged everyone to attend. Allan introduced Ted Flaum, from New Orleans and a professional in the Federation, who is interviewing for the position of Campaign Director. III. CAMPAIGN REPORT Allan said everyone should be aware our Major Gifts Reception on Saturday evening, February 5th with our Guest Speaker Dr. Jeane Kirkpatrick. He said the event was originally scheduled to take place at the home of Carole and Jerry Turk; however, due to some problems with the completion of construction, we had to move the Major Gifts event to Tournament Players Club. Allan said it is imperative we actively work towards covering our Campaign assignments at the Major Gifts level, and he would like to see as many members of the Board as possible make that gift and attend this function. Allan said in his personal campaigning the response has been genuinely good for this Campaign. Allan called on Marv Perer for the Campaign Report. Marv said he was pleased to announce the Federation Campaign is well underway, and presently we have pledges in the amount of $439,964. He said last year the same cards represented $285,219 which was approximately a 54% increase over last year. Marv said this represents 148 gifts which mean there are many cards left in the Campaign which need to be covered. He said he was pleased to report the most active division, outside of Dr. Allan Boruszak who is a division unto himself, is the Maimonides Division chaired by Dr. Neville Pokroy and Dr. Harris Waters. He said the other divisions have not yet produced significant results and hopefully in the next few weeks they will be actively soliciting their cards. Marv said this was a critical year for the community, and we must make every effort to get people to increase their gifts. He said not only must there be increased giving but also we must increase our donor base significantly which means our success is largely dependent on new gifts, and that is why at the last Board meeting members were asked for new names as possible prospects for the Campaign. 2 Marv said everyone should have received their cards in the mail after the December Board meeting. He hoped everyone is working diligently to complete their assignments. Marv said there are many more cards to cover and every Board member needs to take an active role in this campaign. He said individuals are needed to work on our New Gifts Outreach effort, and those who wish to work with that Committee should talk to Rick Hollander. Allan said last Saturday night at the Klezmer Conservatory Band program at UNLV there were just under 1,000 in attendance and the Federation gathered 3 0 new names so there is great potential for new gifts in Las Vegas. Allan said at the Leopold Page Event, since we are sponsoring it, we will have a table to present material from the Federation but it will not be a solicitation event. Allan thanked Marv for having the Campaign at almost one-half million dollars and only two and one-half weeks into the solicitation and he encouraged the Board to complete their assignments. Allan said there is no Super Sunday Chairman for March 20, 1994 and wanted to know if someone from the Board would volunteer for the Event or could offer names to contact. IV. WOMEN'S DIVISION REPORT Allan called on Sandy Mallin and Amy Bourszak to give the Women's Division Report. Amy said Women's Division received an $18,000 gift. The General Division is now $439,964 of which $162,362 is from 70 women's gifts, and represents a card-for-card increase of 50% from those cards in to date. She said the concentration at present is on Lion and Pomegranate level gifts prior to upcoming events. Amy said the balance of cards have been assigned to Women's Division Board and are expected to be completed by the end of January. Amy said four coffees will be held over the next month in Woman's Division Board Members' homes. Amy said invitations were being sent by zip code to zero and new prospects in an attempt to interest these new women. She said the coffees will be non-solicitation in nature, but the women will be encouraged to participate at least on the dollar-a-day level. Amy said if anyone had new names to please give them to her so they can be included in the coffees. Sandy said the Lion of Judah Event is being chaired by Linda Cohen. She said it will be held on Wednesday, February 16th at the new MGM in a suite on the 29th floor. She said Deborah Lipstadt, scholar and author will be the guest speaker. Sandy said the Pomegranate 3 Luncheon is being chaired by Bonnie Berkowitz and Susan Langsner. She said it will be in the Monte Carlo Room at the Sheraton Desert Inn on Thursday, February 24th. She said the noted movie critic and author, Michael Medved will be the guest speaker. Sandy said Heidi Sarnow, Karen Borgelt and Wendy Plaster are chairing the $365 minimum Main Event Luncheon. She said it would be held on Tuesday, April 5th with former President Carter's Assistant Midge Coistanza as guest speaker. Allan thanked Sandy and Amy for their Reports. V. FINANCIAL REPORT Allan said since our audit has been completed and the office staff has worked diligently to present accurate reports he wanted to call upon Dan Goldfarb, Finance Committee Chairman, to present the financial report. Dan responded to the Management letter and the memo attached to the Agenda (see attached.) Dan said to notice the November Statement attached to the Agenda, the December Statement is not yet ready. Ronni said the original budget is in the right column and when the Board approved the Audit a deferment was approved on a portion of the 1993 Campaign to cover this year's budget due to the fact that the fiscal year was originally the calendar year. She said the Campaign ended on June 30, 1993 at approximately $863,000. Ronni said our new budget is for July 1, 1993 through June 30, 1994. She said according to auditors the decision was made to defer $518,499 from the 1993 Campaign toward this year's budget. Ronni said some of the money from the 1994 Campaign will be needed to cover this time period as we are stretching a six month Campaign to cover eighteen months of overhead. Ronni said once we get a full handle on what our debt is we will be coming back to this Board with a final understanding of what our deficit which we may want to amortize over a few years. Dan said we were running in an organized basis and we should be current sometime in 1995. Allan said to make it clear that the percentage of administrative expenses has gone down. Milton I. Schwartz asked why we changed the fiscal year, and Ronni said the Federation was allocating or budgeting money before it was raised. The Federation's fiscal year originally started January 1 and the Campaign was not finished until May and June. Milton pointed out businesses budgeted their year before it was raised. 4 Ronni said in the Federation world it is not wise to budget money until we know the amount we have as there is no way to know the amount of revenue that can be realized. She said we cannot work with projected revenues as it is not a responsible way to handle community dollars, and we should not allocate money we do not have. Dan said the Financial Statement for November is in the Controller's office and anyone who wishes can go over it. Ronni said both the volunteer and professionals have worked very hard over the last seven months to get things in order and she wanted to thank Tony Figueredo, our Controller, who has worked tirelessly to get the computer system working and to be able to articulate the budget so the Board can be comfortable with what the figures reflect. Mike Novick motioned to accept the November Financial statement. Judy Frank seconded and the motion carried. VI. STRATEGIC PLANNING PROGRAM Allan said we will be participating in probably the most important process this Jewish community has ever been engaged in, and that is the Strategic Planning Seminars facilitated by Dennis Stein, Director of the Nevada Development Authority, on Sunday January 23, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sunday January 30, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. He said he expects all members of the Executive Committee to attend both of these sessions. Allan said if we are ever to be successful and move forward in developing a quality Jewish community we must take the responsibility to participate in this process. He said outside of the Campaign, nothing is more important. Allan asked for any comments or questions regarding the Strategic Planning Process. VII. ALLOCATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT Allan said this year the Allocations Committee process began early in an effort to make the procedures more effective. Allan called upon Mike Novick, Allocations Committee Chair, to give a report on the progress of his Committee. Mike said the committee has visited with the Jewish Family Services and Hebrew Academy and will visit Temple Beth Shalom and other beneficiary agencies in the near future. He said sub-committees are being formed and the committee is in the process of developing a Memorandum on Understanding. Stan asked if there are any changes in the recipient agencies. Allan said the Allocations Committee will make their recommendations to this Board for discussion and vote. He said the 5 Allocations Committee is working hard to understand the agencies that are asking for money both from a financial and physical plan standpoint. He said the Committee is also working to put together a Memorandum of Understanding. Mike said from the meeting with Hebrew Academy we are heading more toward "program" based allocations rather than "agency" based allocations which is more in line with the manner United Way allocates their funds. Mike said he and Ronni are going to meet with Garth Winkler to learn more about how the United Way handles its allocations process. Allan thanked Mike Novick and his Committee for their hard work, and explained this process will increase the credibility of the way in which we allocate community dollars, and make sure that the money which is so hard to raise is being spent in the appropriate fashion. VIII. ENDOWMENT REPORT Allan called on Daryl Alterwitz to give an Endowment Report. Daryl said the Committee has made some recommendations of donor advised funds. We have forms everyone is comfortable with and a system to process these. Daryl Alterwitz moved to make the following recommendations for distribution to several organizations from Philanthropic funds as follows: $22,000 Operation Exodus $ 100 Goldberg Lecture Series $ 1,650 Adat Ari El $ 5,000 Federation Building Campaign Dan Goldfarb seconded and the motion carried. Daryl said an Endowment of $6.85 needs to be moved into the unrestricted funds. Dan Goldfarb motioned to move the Endowment of $6.85 into the Unrestricted funds. Mike Novick seconded and motion carried. Daryl said there are now sub-committee that have met and are coming back with marketing strategies. He said Nachman Rosenberg, from the Palm Beach Federation, will be meeting with us to give us guidance in how to reach our goals and develop more endowments made for the benefit of the Federation. Allan said by setting up a Philanthropic Fund, whenever money from that Fund is donated to any charity it would be written on a Jewish Federation check. Allan said the donor would be given credit for his donation and other organizations would see the Jewish Federation is out there and it will lend creditability to our name. Allan thanked Daryl for his report and for finally getting our Foundation program on the right track. 6 Sandy asked if we would need to announce recommendations each time a gift is made. Ronni explained that what generally occurs is the Board will receives a list, with their Agenda, for the Philanthropic Fund disbursements. IX. MISSION TO ISRAEL Allan said as previously discussed we would like a Board Mission to Israel in conjunction with the President's Mission for those who have donated $10,000 or more. The President's Mission is at no cost to donors of $10,000 or more. Because some on the Board have given that amount we would like to coordinate the President's Mission with the Board Mission. The tentative dates being looked at are October 16 through October 23, and the cost will be approximately $2,500, or less, per person. We need to know quickly if people are interested in going. Allan asked how many Board members would consider going. Allan said we needed at least twelve members before we open this up to the Jewish community. Ronni pointed out there would be an overlap of three days with the President's Mission and the Board Mission. X. GOOD AND WELFARE Allan asked members for any announcements. Barry Eisen, of Jewish Family Services Agency made the following announcements: 1. Agency adoption license renewed. 2. Applications be made to Clark County and City of Las Vegas and Title XX for housing program. 3. A Grant of $11,000 was received from FEMA to be used to prevent evictions. 4. The JFSA receives approximately $12,500 (restricted.) 5. Approximately 42 home-sharing matches per year are made - over 90 calls a month are received for our housing service to seniors. 6. A Russian family will be arriving Thursday, January 20, 1994. 7. The Agency needs a new computer. Harold Hyman, Jewish War Veterans, announced the forming a new group. Tamar Lubin, Hebrew Academy, said that Las Vegas was hosting the Annual Conference of Day Schools March 13 - 16, 1994. Edythe Katz said Mr. and Mrs. Leopold Page will have a press conference this Friday afternoon at the Federation and the Riviera Hotel is hosting them. Allan congratulated Harris and Liz Waters on the birth of their daughter, Maria Rae. 7 Allan gave upcoming congratulations to Judy Frank for her daughter's wedding. Ronni said the Klezmer Conservatory Band had an excellent program and response. She congratulated Marta Sorkin for her suggestion to put a table up and she said we must support these programs to attract others to this community. Shelley Berkley said we need to begin pushing members of our Jewish community to run for more offices in the State. She said we have no one on the School Board and it helps to have members of our community interacting with the secular world. Shelley pointed out we must be vigilant and have a high profile in the community. She said the Jewish community needs to have a profile on the Federal level as well as the local level. Allan said the Jewish community has always raised money for politicians but always in November never in Primacy. IX. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned. 8