Posted on January 20, 2009

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Pressure Mounts for Jewish Nonprofits to Merge

The announcement last week that the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education was canceling its annual conference and looking to fold its programming into an existing organization is the latest sign that the Jewish nonprofit world could shrink in coming months as some organizations struggle to remain open and others seek mergers, the JTA news service reports.

The Jewish nonprofit world went through a dramatic change over the past two decades, moving from a revenue model that was supported primarily by a centralized Jewish federation system to more of a free-market system funded increasingly by private philanthropists. And while the free-market model allowed for intense innovation and growth, it also created layers of overlap that could have been streamlined along the way, says Jonathan Sarna, a professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University. "Hard times will promote consolidation," Sarna added. "Initially, there will be great sorrow at the loss of this organization or that organization, but if we do it right, we will find that we are leaner and meaner...[W]hen looked at from the Jewish community as a whole, there is a sense that we expanded a bit too rapidly and far too many organizations came into existence."

Even before the Madoff scandal damaged many Jewish organizations, the bubble had started to deflate, with many organizations cutting costs and programs preemptively to ensure that, fundraising woes notwithstanding, their core mission would be carried out. In the mid-Atlantic region, for example, Baltimore Hebrew University has announced that it will become part of Towson State University, while the Philadelphia Jewish Archive Center said it will close its doors in 2009 and move its collection to Temple University.

But the closing of CAJE, Sarna said, is perhaps the best example of what happens when an organization does not adapt quickly enough. As CAJE aged, it became less innovative and struggled to compete with a new crop of effective, innovative organizations that had emerged.

Its closing could serve as a wake-up call that more such moves are on the way. "In some ways, the CAJE closure is a big flashing red light of warning to other Jewish not-for-profits who should be looking for combination," said Jeffrey Solomon, president of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, "because if you wait too long, there may be nothing left to combine."

Berkman, Jacob. “Pressure Mounts for Jewish Organizations to Merge.” JTA News Service 1/15/09.

Primary Subject: Philanthropy and Voluntarism
Secondary Subject(s): Arts and Culture
Location(s): National

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