The Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York, and the UJA-Federation Campaign of New York announced and celebrated Tuesday their plans to merge on July I into one organization: the UJA-Federation.
The decision — a culmination of two-and-a-half years of negotiations — took material form Tuesday, when four top leaders of the three organizations signed the merger proclamation at their headquarters.
The merger ends New York’s unique status as the only metropolitan area in the U.S. with separate philanthropic entities for raising and disbursing funds for domestic and overseas needs. The new body, which will perform all these functions, will be the largest such organization in the U.S.
The merger document was read cloud at the celebration, attended by approximately 50 leaders of the three bodies, by Ivan Boesky, the general chairman of the UJA-Federation Campaign. It was signed by Boesky, as well as Daniel Shapiro, president of the Federation; Peggy Tishman, president-elect of the Federation; and Morton Kornreich, president of the UJA of Greater New York.
The proclamation read, in part:
“We set forth the purpose of this new unified body, which is to support Jews in need wherever they may be and to enrich the quality of life in Israel, in New York, and throughout the world …. We proclaim the inauguration of the UJA-Federation of New York in the spirit and tradition of its founders and all who contribute to the welfare of the Jewish people in the true spirit of tzedaka ….”
The proclamation was witnessed by Israel’s Consul-General in New York Moshe Yegar and Mayor Edward Koch. Yegar called this a “day of great historic importance, and it will be remembered in the annals of the Jewish community of New York.” Koch, praising the quality of social services provided by the Federation, said the signing of the merger document “brings to an end the historic relationship between the German Jewish community and the East European Jewish community …. “In an oblique but obvious reference to the conflicts between the two groups that took place in the past, Koch concluded:
“To have these historic issues be ultimately resolved by a marriage” between the major organizations representing those two communities “is a historic moment.”
Shapiro, calling the merger a “historic event,” said it will “ensure that the gifts (contributed) will be used as effectively as possible to help Jews” in Israel, New York and communities around the world.
OFFICERS OF NEW ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCED
Shapiro said that Tishman will become president of the Federation-UJA on July I, with Kornreich becoming chairman of the Board of the new entity. Each will serve for 18 months and then switch jobs for the next 18 months. Subsequently, the terms of office will be three years. Ernest Michel, currently executive vice president of the New York UJA, will serve the new body in this capacity.
Commenting on this alternation-of-office scheme, Shapiro told the gathering that the negotiators had taken a “political clue from the Peres-Shamir compromise” according to which Premier Shimon Peres of Labor will turn his position over to Yitzhak Shamir of Likud on October 13.
BACKGROUND OF THE MERGER
Tishman, tracing the history of the Federation and what led up to the merger, said the unification of New York’s Federation and UJA was a “natural evolution …. It was inevitable that we should come together.”
Until 1973 the Federation, established in 1917, and the UJA of Greater New York, formed in 1939, “worked along parallel tracks,” said Tishman. Each conducted separate fund-raising campaigns — the Federation, for domestic needs, in the fall, and the UJA, for overseas needs, in the spring. Each had a separate structure, with lay leaders, a Board, professional staffers, and worked at separate addresses.
The first move toward merger goes back to the Yom Kippur War of 1973 which, said Tishman, “changed everything.” When the war broke out in October, on the eve of the Federation’s campaign, “that was the moment which gave birth” to a joint campaign which raised $120 million “in an outpouring of support” for Israel.
The combined campaign having been such a success, the leaderships of the Federation and the UJA decided, in 1974, to form a third organization, the UJA-Federation Joint Campaign, with a single staff, to raise funds for both domestic and overseas needs.
In the next decade, each of the three organizations maintained a separate board. The Federation and the UJA of New York each had separate lay leaders and professional staffs to allocate the funds raised in the joint campaign. In 1980, the three organizations moved a step closer to amalgamation by locating under one roof.
At this juncture, the possibility of merging the three organizations began to be explored in earnest.
The Committee to Explore the Future Relationship of UJA and Federation first met in April 1983. Chaired by attorney Charles Ballon, whom Kornreich referred to at the Tuesday gathering as the “shadchan” (matchmaker) of the “marriage” of the three organizations, it was composed of 31 representatives of the boards and officers, including past presidents and major committee chairpersons, of UJA and Federation. The final negotiating team, said Shapiro, had 10 members, “each committed to protecting his organization.”
A FACTOR IN THE MEETINGS
One of the factors that arose in the deliberations during hundreds of meetings was New York’s per capita contribution to the UJA-Federation Campaign — $67– the lowest in the U.S. ‘s 13 largest Jewish population centers. The other big cities average a per capita contribution of $105, with Cleveland leading ($301), followed by Detroit ($291).
The Federation’s Board of Trustees voted in favor of the merger in January, by a vote of 358 to 47. It was officially approved Monday night, Tishman told the gathering, by the “membership” of Federation — which she defined as anyone” who gives $130 or more.” About 200 people attended the meeting. The UJA’s Board of Governors approved the merger unanimously in February.
TERMS OF THE MERGER
The terms of the merger provide that the UJA-Federation will be governed by a board of approximately 130 members, chosen from the boards of the three organizations that merged. One of the three new divisions, the campaign division, will raise funds for both local and overseas needs.
The other two divisions will distribute the raised funds. The domestic division will deal with allocation of funds to the Federation’s member-agencies. The overseas division will perform the same function with regard to funds for Israel and Jewish communities abroad.
The percentages of funds to be turned over to each division for allocation will remain the same as it has been until now when the UJA-Federation Joint Campaign turned over funds to the Federation and the UJA; approximately 70 percent to the overseas division, and about 30 percent to the domestic division. That split will remain in effect until June 30, 1991.
After that time, all monies over the average of the amounts raised in the 1990 and 1991 campaigns will be disbursed after votes each subsequent year by the allocations committee and the Board of Directors.
Kornreich, hailing the merger, said that a major result of it will be that “we will now speak with a single voice.” In celebrating the “marriage” of the three organizations, Kornreich stepped on and broke a glass, to the cheers of the participants in the gathering.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
