Purim In Beersheva

It's Purim 5770 today in Beersheva as it is in most all of Israel and the Diaspora.

In honor of the topsy-turvy nature of the holiday: remembering a serious crisis in Jewish history while being playful at the same time, we have the deep honor of posting our holiday feast's guest, Robert Klein's, "Prayer for the Welfare of Beersheva".

Enjoy.

Our Father who art in Heaven, Rock of Israel and its Redeemer - Bless the City of Beersheva, the beginning of the flowering of our roasted seed-&-nut stands. Protect her with the wing of your loving-kindness, and especially protect the way-cool video sign over there at the intersection of Rager and Tuviahu streets.

Send your light and truth to the mayor and the deputy mayor, and the deputy mayor, and the deputy mayor, and the female deputy mayor - yes, to all four of these terribly vital deputy mayors, together with their office workers - and the nephews of their office workers, and the friends of the nephews of their office workers, and the friends of the friends of the nephews of their office workers, and the sister of the veterinarian of the dog of the friend of the friend of the nephew of one of their office workers - and set them up with a high-profile position and a good salary according to Your will.

Strengthen the hands of the defenders of our holy city, i.e. the Southern Region Police Force. Crown them with a crown of victory for the Beersheva soccer team, in reward for faithfully watching the team for many hours in the television room of the police station, and bless them with comfortable couches in that same television room, and bless them with a good living made off of the cameras which catch drivers who in actuality are going ten kilometers per hour less than the typical police car. And grant free parking throughout the city, and thusly peace to her inhabitants.

And our brothers, the whole House of Israel, watch over them throughout the lands of their dispersion, and speedily lead them upright to Zion your city, and to Jerusalem, the tabernacle of your renown - but if they don't have the money for an apartment there, at least lead them upright to Beersheva your city, and lead them on her sidewalks with caution. And also lead them with clear maps, lest they fulfill what is written in the Torah of Moses your servant "And she went and got lost in the wilderness of Be'er Sheva". (Genesis 21: 14)

May all the inhabitants of Beersheva merit Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) that they might fathom the mysteries of her street system. For example, why is it that at almost every traffic light, the street name changes, but when your turn right at the Stadium from HaMeshachrerim Street, you end up on HaMeshachrcrim Street- what's up with that?

Appear in the majesty of the pride of your strength to all those who are standing in line at the local post office that they shouldn't faint, and that no broken fingernail afflict the only clerk who is, so-to-speak, "working".

And let us all say, Amen.

Who's The Target Audience?

Who should non-profits be targeting first for donations and membership offers?

“Nonprofits should (first) be targeting people who have benefited from their services,” says Sargeant, whose latest book on the subject, “Fundraising: Principles and Practice,” (Jossey Bass), will be published next month. “Sometimes nonprofits are a bit shy of doing that, but a lot of people, when they’re in the position to give back, are happy to do that. There’s no reason to feel uncomfortable.”

- Adrian Sargeant, Robert F. Hartsook Professor of Fundraising at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy. From "Payback Time" thejewishweek.com 2.25.10

After that, targeted Jewish postal, email or telemarketing lists are a very good second option.

That's It?

"The average consumer receives 24.7 pieces of mail per week. That's the fourth straight year that shows a drop in volume, a 5.7 percent drop compared to the heydays of 2005 and 2006 (which registered 26.2 pieces of mail per week). Of course, this also means there's less of a crowd to stand out in (if you're doing a direct mail marketing campaign)."

Source: Studies Show Direct Mail Healthier than Expected

by Ethan Boldt, editor-in-chief

insidedirectmail.com

Meetings

You could sit in meetings all day or you could get some actual work done.

Unfortunately we know way to many Jewish non-profits that prefer to sit in meetings all day instead of actually getting off of their chairs and doing some actual fundraising!

Thanks to the guys at 37Signals for putting this clip together. You can pre-order a copy of their new book called

"REWORK" here.

"ZOA asks donors to avoid UC Irvine"

Group slams college chancellor who did not condemn anti-Semitic speech.

From The Jpost.com 02.17.10

IRVINE, California — The Zionist Organization of America on Tuesday asked potential students and donors to the University of California, Irvine to look elsewhere after months of growing tension between Jewish and Muslim students.

In a statement, the New York-based organization lambasted Chancellor Michael Drake for not condemning anti-Semitic speech on campus and enabling a years-long history of "bigotry, discrimination and the violation of civil rights" by the school's Muslim Student Union.

"We're not asking the university to infringe on anyone's free speech rights, but our contention all along is that the chancellor has his own free speech rights, and for whatever reason, he's refusing to exercise them," said Susan Tuchman, director of the ZOA's Center for Law and Justice. "He can come out and condemn the speech as hurtful and anti-Semitic."

Full article here

What's Your Higher Purpose?

Profit and or donations are a necessary outcome, but how you get those dollars could be the difference between success and failure.

Are you building trust in your community, with your donors and with potential donors?

This Quote is a repost from the SVN blog

"Survival and profit are fine, but if you don’t have values or “higher purpose” at the heart of your business, you may be losing out in the battle for the hearts and minds of customers, suppliers and employees…

[Jason Fried] recently broadcast a 100-character challenge to his 24,000 Twitter followers: “What’s missing most from business today? Not sales. Not service. Not technology. Answer: A point of view.”...

A company known for having a point of view and commitment to community generates a payback worth more than money: Trust."

—

Rick Spence in What do you stand for? [Financial Post]

Featured Cause: United Against a Nuclear Iran

UANI Mission:

"The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran should concern every American and be unacceptable to the community of nations. Since 1979 the Iranian regime, most recently under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership, has demonstrated increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the US and the West. Iran continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in their attempts to monitor its nuclear activities. A number of Arab states have warned that Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke a regional nuclear arms race. In short, the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran is a danger to world peace.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons."

Join Facebook UANI Group

Follow UANI on Twitter

Sign the Pettition

Visit the UANI Website

Direct Mail "Quotes"

Denny Hatch has been in the marketing industry 50+ years and I tend to think that he's one of the foremost experts in the field of direct mail marketing.

These are a few of Denny's quotes from his recent article in the Target Marketing e newsletter.

• "In this high-tech, connected world of the Internet and e-communications, many marketers think they can save money by relying solely on e-mail efforts. I urge all marketers not to ignore old-fashioned direct mail."
• "Recent surveys have shown that many in the 18-to-34 age group prefer old fashioned direct mail to e-mail. The reason: their brainpans are grafted to the Internet and their in-boxes are a perpetual blizzard of Spam—which they HATE, and do not trust people that send it."
• "If you have the budget, test direct mail alone, e-mail alone and a combination of the two."

Source: Target Marketing e newsletter

02.09.10

Full article by clicking here

The Remarkably Generous American Jews of 2009

Slate's annual top 60 list of the "largest American charitable contributions of the year" has been published and you can view the full 2009 list by clicking here.

Ok, so none of the known Jewish Donor Blog readers made this year's top 60, but hey, there's always next year.

If you do want to check out which of our fellow Jewish donors did make the cut you can check out this nicely compiled list by Jakob Berkman from the JTA's Fundermentalist Blog.

1) ** Stanley F. and Fiona B. Druckenmiller, $705 million. (according to Gawker, Druckenmiller is Jewish.)

4) Michael R. Bloomberg, $256 million.

6) George Soros, $150 million.

7) Eli and Edyth Broad $105 million.

18) Ronald P. Stanton, $50 million.

24) Lawrence J. Ellison, $46.9 million.

31) ** David Eddings, $30 million. (I am not sure if the late fantasy author is Jewish, but he left $10 million to National Jewish Health in Denver for Asthma research.)

40) Irwin M. and Joan K. Jacobs, $24.3 million Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego.

41) John W. and Janice B. Fisher, $22 million.

43) Stewart A. and Lynda R. Resnick $21 million.

52) David M. Rubenstein, $15.75 million.

54) Steven L. and Carol Aaron, $15 million Dallas Jewish Community Foundation.

56) Jeffrey S. Skoll, $13.7 Million to his Skoll foundation

Jobs in Jewish Philanthropy 02.04.10

Source: Philanthropy.com

Senior Development Officer

Center for Jewish History

Posted: 02/03/2010

Category:

Special events

Location:

New York

Director of Leadership Giving, Capital Campaign

Jewish Home Lifecare

Posted: 02/02/2010

Category:

Capital campaigns

Location:

New York

Vice President for Human Resources

Jewish Child Care Association (JCCA)

Posted: 01/19/2010

Category:

Other administrative

Location:

New York

Director of Resource Development and Special Projects

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Inc. (JDC)

Posted: 01/12/2010

Category:

Government relations and advocacy

Location:

New York

Senior Development Director, New York

National Jewish Health

Posted: 01/11/2010

Category:

Special events

Location:

New York

Development Officer

American Jewish World Service

Posted: 01/08/2010

Category:

Major gifts

Location:

New York

Development Manager

Clal-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership

Posted: 01/06/2010

Category:

Fund-raising administration

Location:

New York

Fundraising "Quote"

"2010 is not going to be the year of social media. 2010 is going to be the year of relationships. Yes, it will be the social media toolset that invigorates relationships. There is a subtle mindset that will separate winners and losers."

From SocialSteve Blog

— Jan. 4, "2010 – Don't Think Social Media, Think Relationships," posted by Steve Goldner, SocialSteve's Blog

Email Marketing Tip of the Day

"Put a date in the subject line. Having a date or specific time period in the subject line generates increases in open rates of 39 percent, Schwedelson said. "By adding a sense of urgency, such as 'Offer ends Friday,' '2 days left' or 'offer expires on Oct. 22,' your emails will more likely get opened,"

- Source: EM+C Online Marketing Strategies and Tactics

8 Email Prospecting Best Practices

February 4, 2010 By Melissa Campanelli

Former Young Judaea head launches rival gap year program

$22,000 per person for one year of Young Judaea's Year Course??!! When I went in 1992 it was more like 5k. Wow.

Anyway, here's a nice article from todays JPost.com about former Young Judaea director Kieth Berman's plans for a new, more affordable Israel gap year program.

"It’s time to make Israel programs more competitive, affordable."

"Former Young Judaea Year Course director Keith Berman, who announced his resignation from the organization last month, has launched a new “year in Israel program” for teens Monday aimed at stirring up competition for long-term programs here and making such experiences more affordable to young Diaspora Jews.

“Many charities have very large overheads and bureaucracy that does not need to exist,” Berman, who ran Young Judaea’s wildly successful year program for the past decade, told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview. “We will run our new program with much less overhead.”

He explained that “it will be another program for [Diaspora] teens to choose from that is much more affordable and in tune with today’s 18-year-olds.”

Called Aardvark Israel – the small mammal is a symbol of an animal that is connected to the ground, like experiencing the Land of Israel, said Berman – the new 10-month program is set to kick off this coming September with two volunteer/study tracks based in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

More importantly, Aardvark Israel will offer a very competitive price likely to lower the cost of year programs in general. Berman has already started advertising the program to potential participants in North America and Britain for just under $15,000, significantly less than Young Judaea Year Course and Nativ, which currently ask for more than $22,000 per participant, and Kivunim, which costs more than $30,000 a person.

“Our goal is to offer the best program at the best price,” said Berman, who hopes to start the year with at least 100 participants. “We want to get as many kids as possible to come to Israel because there is nothing better to fight assimilation and to positively increase one’s Jewish identity.”

The program “will be at least $5,000 cheaper than Year Course,” he continued, adding that the cost did not include flights or the traditional weekly food stipend.

“We decided people are better at managing their own money than we are and that many people are good at finding deals on flights or prefer to use frequent-flyer miles,” said Berman. “As far as the stipend for food, we will suggest an amount and encourage participants to create a group budget for the apartment they are living in. It still works out cheaper than any other year program.”

As for the course itself, the decision to base it exclusively in the center of the country – Jerusalem and Tel Aviv – stems from Berman’s own experiences working with teens from the US and Britain.

“They either want to be in the cultural heart of Israel, which is Tel Aviv, or in the spiritual heart, which is Jerusalem,” he said. “It is clear that today’s youth are not the same as in previous generations; peripheral places no longer speak to them, and if the goal is to get them to identify with the country in a positive way, then this is the way to do it.”

Berman, who took four other Young Judaea staff members with him to the new initiative, said he plans to utilize on-line social media to reach potential participants, who will initially come from the US, Canada and Britain, and to spread news about the program via word of mouth.

In addition, he said, the program already has the full support of the Jewish Agency and some financial backing from the Jewish Agency’s flagship MASA framework, which provides scholarships to participants on long-term programs in Israel. Aardvark Israel will also be recognized by the American Jewish University, enabling participants to receive university credits.


The announcement of Aardvark Israel as a rival program to Young Judaea Year Course comes after a year of flux for the Jewish youth movement. Last spring the organization laid off 15 employees, and since then a further 13 people, including Berman, have handed in their resignations.

Furthermore, Young Judaea, one of the largest Zionist youth movements in the US, has seen its funding from Hadassah Woman’s Organization slashed and its two Jerusalem properties – the multi-million-dollar YJ Youth Hostel and Merkaz Hamagshimim, a residential community center for young US immigrants – sold. There is even speculation that as part of its restructuring and downsizing, Hadassah will be forced to partner with the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America in a bid to save the historic movement."