FY18 Annual Report

always thankful We thank our tireless committee chairs whose ideas, time and guidance have enabled our JCC to best serve our community. Arts and Education Phyllis Bernstein • Jill Horowitz Rome Audit Committee Erez Liebermann • Yossi Jayinski Board Mentoring and Engagement Carrie Drake Budget and Finance Barry Friedman • James Pritchett Building Jeff Silverstein • Alex Skibinsky Camp Yachad Tracey Hoberman • Alex Skibinsky Create a Jewish Legacy Mindy Goldberger Development Stacie Friedman • Tracey Hoberman Personnel Carrie Drake Poker Tournament Barry Friedman • James Pritchett Recreation and Wellness Linda Denkensohn • Bob Simon Safety and Security Jason Benedict Strategic Planning Task Force Don Abraham • Stefani Klaskow Super Raffle Lauren Barr Teen Engagement Stacie Friedman Touch a Truck Beth Schwartz • Dale Schwebel And a huge thanks to all of you who volunteered on these committees ! 2017-18 Committee Chairs September 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018 Peter Weissbrod President Mike Goldstein Executive Director A letter from our President and Executive Director Dear Members, FY18 was quite a time for our JCC – filled with many proud moments as well as meaningful change. As in past years, our Annual Report depicts the daily magic that happens within and beyond our JCC walls. This year we began a new campaign, #whyij , in which our community convened in the virtual town hall of social media and told stories about their personal connections to the JCC. The scope and color of these stories are inspiring and bring our proud moments to life. As always, a strong present helps secure our future. We are proud to report that enrollment is very healthy in our youth programs – especially our school, after school and camp. Our Senior Adult program was the beneficiary of a major gift this year. Our culture of philanthropy is evolving, and we added 18 new members to our Chai Society Legacy program, in its 2nd year. Our lay/staff partnerships are the engine that drives our JCC. Together, our volunteers and professional staff continue to achieve amazing results. Yet as successful as we’ve been, challenges remain: we lack the overall space to fully meet the needs of our community, and our operating revenues are not consistently funding the cost of depreciation. In order to meet these challenges head on, we are exploring strategic use of space (within our walls and beyond), and we continue to focus on our fundraising efforts. Our goal is to ensure accessibility to JCC programs and services to as many as possible and to make sure we are leaving the next generation with a strong JCC. One of our significant FY18 changes was adjusting our fiscal year. With the guidance and support of our Budget and Finance Committee, we changed our fiscal year end to June 30 instead of August 31. This shift puts our biggest core program, Camp Yachad, at the beginning of our fiscal year so we know what camp revenue is early on and are better able to make well-informed decisions over the course of a year. We are happy to say that Camp Yachad had a very strong summer 2018 which put our JCC in a remarkably strong financial position to begin FY19. The start of FY19 also marked an important change as Jennifer Mamlet stepped down as Executive Director after five years. We thank Jen for her leadership and know she will continue to have a positive impact on our JCC and our movement. On that positive note and on behalf of our Board and Staff, we say thank you. We are so grateful for our professional staff, lay leaders and members who remain deeply committed to our JCC. It is our hope that this report inspires you and reminds you why there’s something about this place. Early Childhood Lauren Barr • Debbie Chustek Early Childhood Incognito Event Marnie Nathanson Financial Assistance Bob Simon Governance and Nominating Ken Rotter HaDerech Mindy Goldberger Jewish Film Festival of Central NJ Elyse Deutsch • Marcy Lazar Membership Jessica Silverstein Past Presidents and Board Member Engagement Scott Lazar • Jill Horowitz Rome