While philanthropies everywhere struggle to pry dollars loose from communities reeling from the recession, Baltimore's Jewish federation is celebrating what in these times qualifies as an outstanding result: simply raising as much money as it did the year before.
The annual campaign of the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore hit the mark Tuesday, the last day of the fiscal year, organization officials said. The $30.8 million they raised means they will be able to fund all of the Associated's local educational, cultural and assistance programs at the same levels this year as last.
"What's at play here is provision of service," Associated President Marc B. Terrill said Tuesday. "We have to be the mouthpiece for the people that can't speak for themselves. So we went in with an attitude essentially that failure is not an option."
His organization's feat comes in a bleak environment for philanthropy both locally and nationwide. U.S. charitable giving fell 2 percent in 2008, according to a report released last month by the Giving USA Foundation. More than 80 percent of the nonprofit organizations surveyed by the Center for Civil Society Studies at the Johns Hopkins University early this year reported experiencing some level of fiscal stress, and close to 40 percent described the stress as "severe" or "very severe."
Among 157 Jewish federations in the United States and Canada, the pace of giving is off 13 percent this year, according to a spokesman for United Jewish Communities/Jewish Federations of North America. As a result, spokesman Joe Berkowfsky said, some federations are extending their annual campaigns beyond the June 30 close of the fiscal year.
Locally, the United Way of Central Maryland saw a 7 percent decline in receipts in 2008 and is anticipating "another tough year" in 2009, President Larry Walton said. The Baltimore-based chapters of Catholic Charities and Associated Black Charities did not respond to requests Tuesday for information about fundraising progress.
The Associated supports some two dozen local agencies and programs, including Jewish Community Services, Comprehensive Housing Assistance Inc. (CHAI) and the Counseling, Helpline and Aid Network for Abused Women (CHANA). The annual campaign, meanwhile, funds two thirds of the Associated budget. At the outset of the campaign last year, organization officials set the goal of raising the same amount as they had the year before.
