Update from Marty Ricks

Swan Song

This is officially my final community message as I am close to retiring from the Federation or Foundation for the third time. Since January of this year, Jan Goldstein, Phil Malcom, Mike Siegel and I have been alternating writing this biweekly community update. My next rotation would fall this coming January; however, with Bob Goldberg arriving at that time as our newly appointed CEO, he will be taking over the reins, and I will be stepping down as Fundraising Consultant. Most definitely, the JFO cannot get rid of me that easily, as I will continue to be available on a volunteer basis as Bob adjusts to his new position.

I cannot tell you what it has meant to me to be asked to help the Federation in between CEOs, supporting Interim CEO, Phil Malcom and the Executive Leadership Team with my longtime partner Jan Goldstein. I retired from the Federation in May 2016 after eighteen years at the Foundation and the Federation. After a brief stint in Portland, Iris and I realized how much we missed our friends and moved back to Omaha in December of 2020.

Apologizing in advance for “bragging” and making this space “about me,” I was overwhelmed when six months after returning here, I was given the Federation Humanitarian of the Year Award at the 2021 Annual Meeting and Awards Night. Then asked to get involved again with Iris and the tremendously committed and talented Jess and Shane Cohn, we shared leadership of the 2022 Annual Campaign. Finally, I was asked to take my current consulting position at the Federation, which was anticipated to last about three or four months. And here I am, almost eleven months later. (By the way, Jan may have been away from the Federation for ten years, but she has not lost her touch. She remains the leader she always was as JFO Executive Director from 1998 to 2013. And, as for Phil, he is a terrific Interim CEO, so smart with ten years of JFO history behind him.)

Speaking of the Leadership Team, having met with most of them weekly for most of the year, in my opinion, the Federation is in good hands going forward and has a great executive staff for Bob Goldberg to lead. I don’t have the space to talk about each of them at length, but I would like to recognize the rest of this terrific team:

Sharon Brodkey, Jewish Community Relations Council; Karen Gustafson, Jewish Family Service; Scott Littky, Institute for Holocaust Education; Mark Martin, Staenberg Omaha JCC; Amy Shivvers, JFO Foundation; Jennifer Tompkins, Federation Philanthropy and Engagement; Chris Ulven, Rose Blumkin Jewish Home; and Annette van de Kamp-Wright, Jewish Press.

I want also to recognize four people who I have worked with closely for the last eleven months, especially to the ones who have helped me navigate through the Federation software, which has been my most challenging experience since coming back to work:

Richard Goedeken, Senior Director of Finance; Rachel Ring, Director of Development; Michelle Johnson, Campaign and Data Coordinator; and Jessi Taylor, Executive Assistant (the terrific lady who takes my drafts and makes it look like I can write proficiently).

Now, on to my special heroes: you. Yes YOU – our 1,373 donors who gave $3,510,779 to the 2022 Annual Campaign and as of November 22, 2022, 879 donors have pledged a total of $2,035,533 for the 2023 Campaign, putting us at 56.5% of our goal. Last year’s amount was a record, and Jess, Shane, Iris and I have high hopes that last year’s amount will be surpassed. If you have not yet been contacted, please call Jenn Tompkins (402-334-3435), Rachel Ring (402-334-6443) or myself (402-301-4038) and we will accept your pledge. Thank you all for your generosity and support.

(I write my final comments not as a consultant, but as a longtime member of the Omaha Jewish Community.)

I want to acknowledge three super volunteers – all Omaha transplants – who are working above and beyond, fitting precious volunteer hours into their days while running successful businesses. Thank you, Michael Siegel, Federation President, for your devoted service to the Federation, for leading the Board through COVID interruptions and issues, for appointing and being a part of the CEO search committee, and being a great sounding board for Interim CEO, Phil Malcom. Our 2023 Annual Campaign chairs, Nancy and Joel Schlessinger, are on a mission to surpass last year’s record total. Nancy and Joel are succeeding in bringing fresh new ideas to the Campaign and are willing to meet with anyone, even with their busy schedules at their practice and company. What a delightful couple to interact with!

And finally, I absolutely love the renovated Staenberg Kooper Fellman Campus. What a great environment to work at! Thanks to the many of you who have worked on and supported the project. I want to give a special thanks to Michael Staenberg, Howard Kooper, Tom Fellman, and Larry Kelberg. Those of you who know me, know that I’m not going to miss a chance to fundraise. We still have some exciting naming opportunities, so please reach out to me, Jenn, or Rachel, and we’d be more than happy to help you leave a legacy for the next generation of Jewish Omaha.

Shabbat Shalom,

Marty Ricks
Fundraising Consultant

Update from Mike Siegel

A couple weeks ago, I attended the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) General Assembly (GA) in Chicago along with four professional JFO staff. The GA is a conference that brings together all Federations in North America to discuss and learn about the current issues facing Jewish communities locally and globally. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the GA was packed with great content and interesting speakers. I left the conference with many valuable takeaways for our community. Following are some highlights:

One of the sessions I attended analyzed Jewish data that has been gathered through national studies. It showed that many cities are good at welcoming new Jewish families to their communities but fall short of making these new families feel like they belong to the Jewish community. Our Federation is making positive strides with our welcoming process, but this session served as a reminder that the process needs to continue past the initial welcome. Some communities host Shabbat dinners welcoming new families and introducing them to a community contact. This helps with assimilation. Others host “Belonging” events where the community matches new families with existing families that have similar makeups. We, as the Jewish Federation of Omaha, need to make a concerted effort to welcome not just those that have previous ties to Omaha, but those who are brand new to this wonderful community.

“The New Jewish Family” was another session I attended. This session addressed interfaith marriages and how the Jewish future will be redefined. Interestingly, most interfaith couples say that while they have the desire to learn more about Judaism and what it means to live a Jewish life, they are more likely to wait to be approached rather than proactively seek this information out. Toronto has started a program called “Jewish And” which provides support and programming for interfaith couples, connecting them with one another to further the discussion of how religion is going to fit into their family dynamic. These couples find comfort in knowing others are having similar fact and faith-based experiences. The JFO plans to dig deeper into this topic to determine how best to help our interfaith couples on their religious journey.

Our group had the opportunity to meet with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), a leading global Jewish humanitarian organization. This meeting allowed us to see our campaign dollars in action. JDC does amazing work aiding vulnerable Jews, rescuing Jews in danger, and responding to global crises. In addition, the JDC has programs that help cultivate Jewish life. Two key programs are “Senior Guidance Centers” and “Entwine.” Senior Guidance Centers help seniors prepare for retired life by supplying life coaches and workshops for their next phase of life. These centers are already established throughout Israel and might be a program that would benefit our Omaha seniors. Entwine is like a Jewish Peace Corps. It provides pathways for Jewish professionals and lay leaders to hone their skills and commitment to global, Jewish issues. Programs like these are potential opportunities for us to expand our own programming to appeal to a broader audience.

Finally, a general observation I walked away with is the need to send more lay leaders to attend the GA. It gives community members a greater understanding of JFNA. Endowments have been established to help defray the costs.

Attending the GA was a meaningful experience. The speakers, sessions and other participants sparked conversation and gave us ideas for how best to improve the JFO. Thank you to our generous donors who had the foresight to establish endowments to provide lay leaders with professional development opportunities such as these. I look forward to making new connections at a future GA and hope that a few more Omaha community members will consider joining me.

Shabbat Shalom,

Mike Siegel
JFO President

Update from Mike, Phil & Ben

It’s been a while since we have given the community an update on the progress of the Milton Mendel and Marsha Kleinberg Jewish Omaha Heritage Center. Eisterhold Associates, the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society (NJHS), and the JFO have been working diligently on putting together all of the content – the text narratives, artifacts, and images – that will be placed on walls and in multimedia throughout the museum space. NJHS recently completed a very thorough set of narratives to be utilized throughout the space. These are both the blocks of texts you frequently see throughout museums as well as the overall content that guides the placement of artifacts, photos, and other materials. In addition, we’ve identified the major artifacts and photographs to be used throughout the museum, including bringing back the Riekes exhibit.

Our next step will be to gather community representatives to read through the narrative material and provide feedback to make sure we are telling a compelling and complete story about our Jewish community. These contributors are being organized in the next week to provide a final review of our content.

Simultaneously, Eisterhold is working on developing oral histories for the exhibit. NJHS has sent them a sampling of their collection, and Eisterhold is editing them down to find compelling narratives and pairing that with related images to add additional context. Think of these as “short documentaries” which will be accessible from a searchable touch screen in the museum space. Eisterhold has also completed detailed drawings of the architectural, electrical, and lighting requirements of the space so that, over the fall and winter, a contractor can build the extra walls needed for the final product.

Finally, Jon Meyers, Ben Justman, and Phil Malcom recently traveled to St. Louis to select a fabricator who will complete all the fine details of the installation (wall graphics, casework, A/V, mounting artifacts, etc.). The fabricator we chose (Icon Design) is the company that is working on the new Holocaust museum in St. Louis, and we had the opportunity to visit their shop and see their work up close. We were very impressed and think they will be a great partner when we are ready to begin the final installation.

We are still on target for the timeline we sent out to the community this spring, meaning the Kleinberg Heritage Center should be complete next summer. We want to be sure to stress that this project has not fallen by the wayside. We have design and content meetings with Eisterhold every other week, and we’ve been actively working through the content to make sure we are telling the most compelling story possible. We have committed to having everything installed by August 1, 2023, if not earlier. You should start to see some more activity in that space soon as we build out the new walls!

Shabbat Shalom,

Mike Siegel
JFO President

Phil Malcom
Interim CEO

Ben Justman
NJHS President