Project Better Place

In my opinion this is the coolest, smartest, politically and economically sensible project I have seen in forever!!

This is the only car in the world that I know of that could really succeed in direct mail.

Project Better Place could market themselves in the mold of a non-profit environmental group/ political organization and or humanitarian group. These guys are really all of those things wrapped into one and that's what I love about this maverick project.

The potential here to raise money for this project is HUGE!

Shai Agassi or anyone at Project Better Place, if you are reading this, you need to call me now. I would love to be part of this project and help you market to the U.S. Jewish crowd... I'm serious!

I can't wait for late 2010!

Check out this article to see what all the fuss is about: Electric Car Debuts in Tel Aviv

Yoav

The Never Ending Project

Beer Sheva is one of the biggest cities in Israel behind Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, and is also home to Negev Direct Marketing.

For the last seven years as I drive home from the city center, I see the unfinished Beer Sheva cultural center and wonder to myself...

will this project ever get finished?

I mean, seven years, come on, the Hoover Dam probably took less time to build... maybe one of our readers could verify that for me?

Well, good news for the city of Beer Sheva today. Drum roll please.... the brand new Beer Sheva cultural center is scheduled to celebrate it's grand opening complete with dignitaries, members of government, speeches, pats on the back, etc., etc. on Sept 22nd 2008!

The new cultural center will house the Beersheba Sinfonietta and the Beersheba Theater, offering abundant offices, rehearsal space and performance venues.

Here's the link to the article from the JPost.com

Since the cultural center will wind up costing around NIS 150 million, or around 40 million dollars, I wonder what sort of fundraising campaign went into building the capital for this spendy project! I certainly was never asked to donate towards this project, but if I was, I would have given with pleasure!

I can't help but think that If the city of Beer Sheva had implemented a direct mail fundraising campaign for this project, the cultural center might have been completed in half the time, saving money along the way.

For a city separated from the economic center of the country that would have been no small accomplishment!

Yoav

Mind the Gap

There exists a broad generational leadership gap within many Jewish organizations, large and small.

This gap, and how well we handle the transition, will have a profound effect on the future of Jewish fundraising.

Here are my thoughts on the aforementioned Jewish organizational leadership gap:

Many high profile Jewish institutions have simply not properly groomed the next generation of leaders on how to be viable and successful future leaders.

I'm not sure if this has occurred out of a lack of available talent in the next generation, which I doubt very highly, a lack or foresight, or possibly mistrust by the current generation of leadership in turning the reigns over to the new generation.

Have the Boomers been at the helm so long that they can't or won't imagine it any other way?

Are the Boomers really "indispensable"?

One undeniable fact in this multi-dimensional debate is that the baby boomer generation is nearing retirement age. They simply cannot work forever.

If the Boomers can't or won't see far enough down the proverbial road to properly train the future generation then I think that they are doing themselves, their organizations, and really the greater Jewish community a huge disservice.

Do we need some sort trust building seminar between the Boomers and the next generation in order to realize that yes, Jewish organizations will continue to thrive in the future? Maybe the Boomers need to let go a of a little bit of their well deserved ego and the young leadership needs to get a little swagger in their step.

Does the new generation need to prove themselves before any responsibility will change hands? Maybe, but it's tough to prove oneself unless given the opportunity and the proper preparation.

One things for sure: We have come a long way with our current organizational leadership and in order to preserve our gains and carry on successfully in the future we need capable new leaders to be properly trained and given the opportunity to show that we too can be great leaders!

One last plea to the Boomers: Set the next generation up for success not failure. Believe in us and give us the proper tools to achieve what you have. You earned your wings, let us have that opportunity as well.

Here's to a a successful new generation of Jewish leadership and here's a hat tip to Aimee Neistat who wrote the article I read that put the the wheels in motion for this post...

"Ideally yes - if you're a Zionist and you're a Jew, you should live in Israel.
But that's ideally. In the meantime, just because you don't live in Israel that
doesn't mean you don't have to take responsibility and some sort of role in the
state. Whether that's done by raising money [or] by bringing people to the
country, there are plenty of ways you can [support Israel]," she said. Despite her undying loyalty to WIZO, Gostin points out that many of the group's leaders had considered themselves indispensable, and hadn't bothered to train successors. According to Gostin, this organizational flaw (hardly unique to WIZO) caused an age gap, and could possibly have led to the group's demise. But in recent years, she says, WIZO Australia has focused on closing that age gap through programs designed to attract younger members. "We now have some very active [young members]. They're tremendous - they understand what they're doing and they're thrilled with what they're doing," she says. "It's fine that I'm president, but the next one should be younger," she adds."
- Aimee Neistat,
Jerusalem Post, Jan 2008.

Jewish War Veterans - JWV

Day 6: Jewish War Veterans - JWV

Web Site: http://www.jwv.org/

JWV's Mission (from the JWV web site):

We, citizens of the United States of America, of the Jewish faith, who served in the Wars of the United States of America, in order that we may be of greater service to our country and to one another, associate ourselves together for the following purposes:

To maintain true allegiance to the United States of America; to foster and perpetuate true.

Americanism; to combat whatever tends to impair the efficiency and permanency of our free institutions; to uphold the fair name of the Jew and fight his or her battles wherever unjustly assailed; to encourage the doctrine of universal liberty, equal rights, and full justice to all men and women; to combat the powers of bigotry and darkness wherever originating and whatever their target; to preserve the spirit of comradeship by mutual helpfulness to comrades and their families; to cooperate with and support existing educational institutions and establish educational institutions, and to foster the education of ex-servicemen and ex-servicewomen, and our members in the ideals and principles of Americanism; to instill love of country and flag, and to promote sound minds and bodies in our members and our youth; to preserve the memories and records of patriotic service performed by the men and women of our faith; to honor their memory and shield from neglect the graves of our heroic dead.

Are Meetings Really That Necessary?

We don't like to hold a lot of unnecessary meetings at our company.

We have always thought that most things we need to get done can be discussed informally and get done faster without a sit down, lengthy, flip chart filled meeting.

We find that our time is better spent actually working and solving the problems that are presented to us each day.

If we are ever stuck and need another perspective on anything, there is always someone to talk to and to throw an idea around with, we just prefer to not meet about anything, unless it is absolutely necessary.

I found this funny "ad" on Seth's blog on a post he calls "Let's skip the meeting" It's an "ad" that we can relate to and will surely make you grin.

Next time you have a meeting, you may want to ask yourself: Is this meeting is absolutely necessary?

Yoav

The OR Movement

Day 5: The OR Movement

Web site in English: http://eng.or1.org.il/Htmls/home.aspx

About The OR Movement (from the OR Movement web site):

The OR Movement’s mission is to populate and develop the Negev and the Galilee regions which represent 80% of Israel’s territory, yet currently house less than 20% of its population.

The OR Movement was formally founded in 2000, but the idea of building new communities and strengthening existing ones began several years before, when a group of four highly motivated teenagers from Petach Tikva dreamed of establishing their own community in the Negev.

After their army service in 1999 they moved to the Negev to build Sansana, the first new community to be established in the region since the beginning of the 80's.

To date, OR has established 5 new communities in the Negev (Sansana, Givot Bar, Be'er Milka, Merchav-Am and Charuv), and is in the process of establishing 4 more.

In the Galilee OR has already established one new community (Mitzpe Iron) and is in the process of establishing two more.

Over the next 5 years OR plans to relocate 26,750 families to the Negev, and 27,000 families to the Galilee.

In order to achieve these goals, a strategic plan was created focusing on 90 communities: 45 in the Negev, and 45 in the Galilee.

Both the Negev and Galilee strategic plans include Flagship projects with added values and leveraging abilities such as a new community for English-speaking new olim, a community for Army veterans, an ecological community and others.

OR, together with its partners in Israel and around the world is turning the dream of populating the Negev and Galilee into reality.

Masorti - The Conservative Movement in Israel

Day 4: Masorti

Web site: http://masorti.org/

About Masorti (from the Masorti web site):

MASORTI, meaning traditional, is the Hebrew name for the movement of Conservative Judaism in Israel.

The Masorti Movement, founded in 1979, is the umbrella organization of Masorti kehillot (congregations), which foster the practice of traditional Judaism among Israeli men and women while embracing modernity.

In promoting the combined values of Conservative Judaism, religious tolerance and Zionism, the Movement strives to nurture a healthy, pluralistic, spiritual and ethical foundation for Israeli society.Approximately 50,000 Israelis are members and affiliates of our kehillot and national programs, which engage some 125,000 Israelis each year. More than sixty percent of the Masorti community are native-born Israelis or come from lands in which English is not their native tongue.

The Masorti Movement in Israel comprises some 50 kehillot and havurot, the Religious Affairs Bureau, a kibbutz, a moshav, the NOAM youth movement, IDF Garinim (Masorti groups in the army), the Marom students and young adults organization, programs for children with special needs, regional and local educational learning centers for adults as well as pre-school programs.

We are currently developing programs in the fields of family education, and leadership and community development. This is in addition to our ongoing synagogue services, events and social activities.Legal advocacy is one of the central roles of the Movement, which represents the religious rights of Masorti and Conservative Judaism before the Israeli establishment, including government ministries, the Supreme Court and municipalities.

The Movement is deeply involved in the absorption of new olim - immigrants - from Latin America, as well as from countries of the Former Soviet Union. Masorti's inclusive and pluralistic approach is attractive to many olim, who might otherwise take little or no interest in Judaism.

A number of Masorti kehillot operate special programs for olim, as well as programming for the integration of olim run by NOAM and Marom.The Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel supports the work of the Masorti Movement, raising funds to enable the Movement to further its activities in Israel.

The Foundation also serves as the Movement's voice to American media, public officials and Jewish leadership.

The Straight Answer

Yesterday, while working with a client on an email marketing campaign I was part of the following conversation:

Client: Can you guarantee me that the email delivery system being used can omit my previous order?

Me: The list owners are in the middle of purchasing a new email delivery system and they can't guarantee that they will be able to omit previous orders.

The client wasn't 100% satisfied with my answer so he went to another broker and asked the same question:

Client: Can you guarantee me that the email delivery system being used can omit my previous order?

Other broker: Yes.

With two conflicting answers the client wound up calling the company delivering the emails to get the answer from the source.

Client: Can you guarantee me that the email delivery system being used can omit my previous order?

List owner: We are in the process of buying new software and they are not sure of it's capabilities so we can't make any guarantees.

After these two conversations I talked to the client again and you know what he said:

"I get the feeling that those other brokers (names removed to avoid embarrassment) are just in this to sell me a list and will say yes to anything I ask, even if it's not true. You know what, I would rather work with you because you guys actually have good customer service and care about what's best for me and my business"

At the end of the day, we got the sale, and that other broker lost out!

Lesson learned: Caring about what's right for the client, even it risks loosing one sale gives you more credibility and builds more trust than just saying yes to any client request just because that's what they want to hear.

Being a "yes man" or a "yes company" may work in the short term but eventually those companies will realize that people spending their hard earned money aren't stupid and they can smell BS a mile away.

Most businesses with integrity will look for a company to work with that will give them the straight answer... even if a sale is on the line.

Yoav