MAKE THE WORLD BETTER! - Greater Miami Jewish Federation

14
Touching Lives in the Lehigh Valley
Though admired for their financial generosity, Lions
have shown they’re more than willing to get their hands
dirty out in the field. So Judy Diamondstein, development
director at the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh
Valley (PA), knew her women would answer the call for a
recent “Mitzvah Day.” Volunteers could either help clean
and organize a Jewish Family Service food pantry or work
on silk flower arrangements with residents of an assisted
living facility. To reach more young women—and
encourage them to mingle with the Lions—the event was
also open to Pomegranate ($1,800-plus) donors.
As with other Federations, the impetus for the event
was a marked desire among donors “to be more engaged,
to do social action projects,” Diamondstein says. “Lions
are used to being treated to a trip or a show—we wanted
to put the mitzvah back in what we do, to remind people
in a very tactile way about the lives we touch.”
The Art of Giving in Portland
“There are only so many times people want to hear
speakers,” says Jen Feldman, explaining why the Jewish
Federation of Greater Portland decided to go a different
route with a recent Lions appreciation program. Actually,
it was three programs: a series of behind-the-scenes arts
tours in May that managed to be elegant, interesting,
and, not least, inexpensive, says Feldman, the
Federation’s associate campaign director.
“The arts are a really big deal to most of our major
donors, and arts groups were struggling to the point that
a couple were going under,” said Lion Chairs Carol
Danish and Lydia Lipman. So when the chairs arranged
visits to local dance and theatre venues and a private art
collection, the Lions were happy to go and the arts
groups were happy to host a group of active philanthropists
interested in their work.
There was morning tea, a theatre talk, and the
chance to watch a set being constructed at Portland
Center Stage, in the recently renovated historic Portland
Armory building. Later, one Lion gave a tour of the museum-quality
art collection housed at her office. And the
next day, Lions saw a studio rehearsal at the Oregon
Ballet Theater.
It’s not easy bringing younger women into the
The program was a hit. Some 75 to 80 women
showed up to work, with about half the group at each
venue. By a stroke of luck, a resident of the assisted living
center turned out to be an artist who created Judaica. The
volunteers ended up in a circle around the woman, who
showed pictures of her artwork and regaled them with
stories of her life.
As for the Mitzvah Day, Diamondstein says the participants
“loved it—they were raving!”
Portland Lions program, Feldman says. But Feldman and
local lay leaders are learning that even if they can’t
always sell the Lions program, they can bring new
women to Federation—and convince a fair number to
make substantial gifts.
What’s made a difference, says Feldman, was reinventing
Portland’s women’s division—now the
Women’s Philanthropy Committee—and finding members
committed to donating money, recruiting others,
and sharing the Federation story. “You have to be willing
to invite your friends, and to say, “This matters to me, I’d
like it to matter to you.”
Committee members, who join by invitation, must
make a $1,000 minimum gift and must, in the first year,
conduct three face-to-face solicitations. At certain events,
women can come only if they bring a friend.
It turns out that asking more, rather than less, of
people can yield big results. At a spring event, the committee
invited women they’d met who they considered
good prospects for joining the philanthropy committee
or being active in Federation. As part of the pitch, the
women were told clearly: “If you want to get on the committee,
here are the requirements,” Feldman says. The
result? “We were inundated.”
— Andrea Glick