The United Jewish Communities, the umbrella organization of the North American Jewish federation system, will be getting a new name some time this fall.
The UJC, which for the past year has been in the midst of a million-dollar-plus marketing research initiative, has come to the conclusion that its name is just not working, as few of the federations that it represents have attached the letters to their own names.
The lack of uniformity of name has sometimes made it difficult for donors to find a federation from state to state. The idea is to convey that the federations are all part of one system.
The new name will not be officially announced until the federation system’s annual General Assembly, which will be held in Washington this November. But, shortly after the meeting of the organization’s board of trustees/delegate assembley Monday in New York, UJC chairman Joe Kanfer told the Fundermentalist: "It is very likely that when it is all said and done, we will be called the Jewish Federations of North America."
According to Kanfer, starting after the G.A., the federation system will try to get all of its constituents to have some uniformity in their names that would include "Jewish federation."
It should not be too difficult a process, UJC leadership feel, as more than 130 of the 157 federations already have Jewish federation in their names.
The soon to be ex-UJC will also create a logo that all federations could adapt for their own purposes.
“It’s common branding,” Kanfer said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
