new york | Can the CEO of the company that makes Purell hand sanitizer keep the North American federation system healthy?
Joseph Kanfer, the chairman of the board of the United Jewish Communities, is hoping to make the umbrella organization as accessible and successful as the flagship product of GOJO Industries Inc.
Kanfer, of Akron, Ohio, faces a daunting task following his election as chairman of the UJC board of trustees on Nov. 15.
The federation system, which includes 155 local federations, has created new momentum after raising nearly $350 million through its Israel Emergency Campaign in the wake of Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon over the summer.
And the system takes in nearly $3 billion annually through its campaigns, special drives and endowments, making it the second largest charity in the United States.
But even though the federations’ combined annual campaign is growing incrementally — from $826 million in 2000 to $877 million in 2005 — the number of federation donors has shrunk significantly over that same period, from 650,000 to about 565,000, according to UJC figures.
Kanfer, 59, has a straightforward mission for the system that provides millions of dollars for local, national and overseas needs: “Broaden the base,” he said at the UJC’s General Assembly in Los Angeles in mid-November, the day before he took office.
Achieving that goal has eluded his predecessors, but those who have worked with Kanfer say he is uniquely qualified to succeed.
The father of three daughters and a son, he is described as something of a Jewish Renaissance man with a global vision for the broader Jewish community.
In Akron he attends Chabad-Lubavitch services and regularly learns with the center’s rabbi, Mendel Sasonkin, who also offers classes at the city’s GOJO headquarters. But Kanfer says he also belongs to and attends all three mainstream synagogues in Akron, across the denominational spectrum.
The immediate past president of UJC’s Renaissance and Renewal Pillar, which is charged with looking at Jewish identity issues and the Jewish future, he is also keenly in tune with the need to engage young Jews.
UJC, which has been using the slogan “Live Generously,” has gotten away from its roots, he said. Those roots, Kanfer said, are found in Jewish texts that have provided Jews with successful guiding principles for 3,000 years.
Kanfer also understands from personal experience the need for UJC to have multiple entry points.
Growing up in Canton, he belonged to an Orthodox shul, but his family was not particularly religious.
A self-described gym rat, Kanfer said he spent hours at the local Jewish center. In high school he found out that his parents couldn’t afford the membership, but it was being subsidized by the local Jewish community.
“When I discovered that, it left an indelible impression of community responsibility,” he said. Kanfer was moved as well by Israel’s wars in 1967 and 1973, which showed him the need for the Jews to have a connection to Israel.
At about the same time, he was introduced to the federation world, joining the National Young Leadership Cabinet of the United Jewish Appeal, which in 1999 merged with the Council of Jewish Federations to become the UJC.
Kanfer said he has spent the past six months examining how UJC works, and developed a two-year plan to build on the organization’s strengths.
He suggested several areas that need improvement. These include strengthening lay and professional partnerships and streamlining the UJC’s decision-making process by creating “coalitions of the willing” that would enable the organization to act quickly in certain situations rather than getting bogged down waiting for consensus.