Jewish Federation of Greater Portland Board Chair Leslie Beard marked a year in her role at the organization’s annual meeting Wednesday afternoon at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center. What a year it’s been.
“It has been a year of unexpected growth, profound learning and many lessons in leadership,” she said.
As the organization gathered to elect new board members, present awards, bid farewell to departing staff and celebrate the 12 months prior, a big part of that growth was expressed behind a dollar sign.
The Federation has raised $4,511,871 this fiscal year, Beard said. “We saw an astonishing 8 percent increase in our annual campaign and over 300 new donors to the campaign.”
Most of the numbers that describe the Federation’s successes in the last year, however, don’t represent currency.
“As we like to say, it is not about the money,” Beard continued, “it is about what the money does.”
She explained that the Federation’s money supports 250 immersions at Rachel’s Well Community Mikvah per year, more than 200 Gather Grants since the program began, more than 20 professional development trainings for local leaders and educators on antisemitism in the last three years, 2,380 of Dignity Grows’ signature hygiene supply totes and more than 170 articles across these now-weekly pages this year.
Some of that money goes overseas as well. Beard explained that, among other programs supported as Overseas Special Projects, JFGP provided financial assistance to more than 300 financially challenged Holocaust survivors living in Israel and helped replant 220 plum trees destroyed by war in Moshav Margaliot.
The Federation also distributed $200,000 of the $3.5 million bequest by Prineville’s Marvin Harris, z”l, to support 43 children in Israel orphaned by the Oct. 7 attacks.
“Over the past months, the Jewish Federation and Oregon Jewish Community Foundation have been working collaboratively on exploring ways to increase endowment giving for our Jewish community,” Beard continued. “We are in discussions with the OJCF and look forward to sharing more in the weeks and months ahead. Please know endowment giving is a key component for our Jewish community going forward.”
The plans for the “going forward” were, in part, laid out by Federation president and CEO Marc Blattner.
Blattner explained that, looking ahead, the Federation will focus on five core areas: Philanthropy, Community Engagement, Networking, Antisemitism and Government Relations and Israel and Global Responsibility.
Those focal areas will be addressed by a slightly different team. Wendy Kahn, the Federation’s Chief Development Officer, retired in March after 10 years with the Federation, during which she launched Dignity Grows and the Women’s Giving Circle.
“The campaign total that Leslie shared earlier -- $4.5 million - is just one of the many accomplishments Wendy had in her tenure,” Blattner said. “Wendy, we thank you and miss you and I hope you are enjoying your retirement”
Additionally, Chief Planning and Engagement Officer Caron Blau Rothstein will depart next week after 15 years at the Federation, for a role at Denver’s Rose Community Foundation, where she and husband Ari will be living closer to their eldest son and daughter-in-law .
“Caron and I have not only worked together here, but also at the Baltimore Jewish Federation some 30 years ago,” Blattner said. “Caron, thank you for your work with our community partners, partnering with our allocations committee in the difficult task of allocating funds, being the lynchpin behind the creation of Rachel’s Well Community Mikvah, and truly helping us better understand what engagement means.”
Blau Rothstein was presented with a handmade challah board and cover, along with a mezuzah intended for her office in Denver, made by Ben O’Glasser.
With the departure of two senior professional leaders, changes are afoot at the Federation. One has already been made as Rachel Nelson’s appointment as Chief Planning Officer was announced at the meeting.
Blattner also spoke of the upcoming Portland Jewish Festival, scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 30, at Zidell Yards in Portland’s South Waterfront. Tickets are available online now at jewishportland.org/jewishfestival.
“It is our way to say to the City of Portland, ‘The Jewish community is here, and we are a vibrant part of this city,’” Blattner said.
It’ll be a celebratory cap on Beard’s first year-plus as chair – one that’s not only been profound for the organization and the Jewish community as a whole, but for Beard personally.
“As many of you know, I grew up in a Federation household. My father, Jerry Stein, of blessed memory, served as Board Chair of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation,” Beard said earlier in the evening. “What I’ve come to appreciate even more recently is just how influential my mother, Louise Stein, was as a leader in the Jewish community. She has always talked about leadership development and mentoring others.”
Beard recalled that last fall, during the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly, she sat next to a woman who had participated in a leadership training program sponsored by Stein, and that Stein had been a major part of her own leadership path.
“That woman is now the new board chair of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation,’ Beard said. “It was one of those moments that reminded me how leadership ripples outward in ways we never fully see.”