By Sergio Carmona
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Barry Scwhartz, JCS's vice chair of board of directors, said the organization has stayed true to its mission during tough economic times. (Submitted photo)
The recession hasn’t kept the non-profit social service agency Jewish Community Services of South Florida from staying true to its mission of serving its clients throughout Miami-Dade County and reaching out to its donors.
In fact, Barry Schwartz, JCS’s vice chair of board of directors, said that last year, the organization bucked the trend that he’s seen in the general nonprofit world the last couple of years.
“If you look at the statistics in the general nonprofit world, fundraising is down somewhere between six or seven percent, from the numbers I’ve seen. Some places a little more, some places a little less,” he said. “We’ve held our own and in fact this year we’ll show an increase in fundraising because there’s an outreach and because we’ve added a vice president of development of major fundraising to our staff so we’re gearing up to make sure we can stay true to our mission instead of retrenching and taking a step back.”
With its clients’ increased demands and its donors’ financial hardships, Schwartz said that during a board meeting last summer, the discussion centered on what programs the organization is willing to drop. However, the board determined that there weren’t any programs it was wiling to drop and the challenges it gave Schwartz was to make sure JCS has the resources to stay true to its mission. He said that since then, the organization has dramatically stepped up its presence to its donor base.
“Since Nov. 1 for example, we’ve had four parlor meetings,” Schwartz added. “We’ve had two other events to reach out to different parts of the community to get them involved so rather than retrenching, we have dramatically stepped up our game in that respect. We’re looking for more ways to touch donors, to reach out and to broaden our base to new donors.”
David Feigenbaum, the organization’s new vice president of development, said that its work in staying true to its mission during these times is what’s exciting about being involved with its fundraising.
“We really take our mandate in the community seriously and we’re looking for opportunities to make a difference in people’s lives,” Feigenbaum added.
Copyright © 2011, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Here’s the link: http://www.floridajewishjournal.com/news/miami-dade-county-news/fl-jjdc-jcs-0105,0,7559830.story