As this issue of the Jewish News goes to press with a special focus on investments, we are approaching Super Bowl weekend. With many sports fans in my house, I cannot help but think about our short- and long-term investment strategies for our annual Community Campaign. Of course, that is not a game. Your Federation lay volunteers and professional staff are working diligently, throughout the year, to ensure that we can continue to build, secure, and sustain our Jewish Tidewater community.
The Short Term
Why did we ask you to make your 2021 commitment to our Community Campaign in the late summer, early fall, or certainly by the end of 2020? This has been a conscious effort to change our mindset, accelerate and shorten our “campaign season” so that we can secure the funds needed to meet community needs and requests for the next fiscal year (allocated in the spring of 2021 for the new fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2021). It also allows us to have expanded conversations with community members, plan for allocations and the coming fiscal year, and engage deeper in the work we do on behalf of our community.
The Long Term
As we ensure that our local community needs and organizations are funded, that programs our community supports outside of Tidewater receive appropriate assistance, and that we continue to help vulnerable Jews around the world, we are also working to secure our future. Many of you have chosen to endow a portion or all of your annual campaign gift through a Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowment (PACE) or Lion of Judah Endowment (LoJE). Many of you are supporting our community in the future through a Life and Legacy commitment. We continue to work closely with the Tidewater Jewish Foundation to assist community members in ensuring that our Tidewater Jewish community remains strong—today, tomorrow and TOGETHER. (Look for a new community endeavor coming soon!)
I cannot say it enough—Thank you for your involvement and investment in our community, our present and our future.
Betty Ann Levin is executive vice president/CEO of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC.
– Betty Ann Levin