IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES...NOPE, IT WAS JUST THE WORST OF TIMES!!

This Replacement Refs Rube Goldberg amalgamation of lay and professional leadership is worthy of Oz or Alice in Wonderland or Orwell -- or all three. It was the immortal National Football League Coach, Super Bowl winner Bill Parcells who observed: "You are what your record says you are." So, what's the JFNA record of the last 6 years; what will the organization conjure up as "achievements:"

• The hire of one from outside the federation system as CEO;
• The rebranding of UJC as JFNA and the creation of a tag line (quick, what is it??) but at a cost yet to be fully disclosed;
• Community Heroes, #ish and TribeFests 1 and 2;
• The continuation and "reinvention" of I-LEAD, the Million Dollar Roundtable (that has now met...twice[?]), low-end giving exercises, the continuing great work of JFNA-Washington, and other extensions of programs of UJA and CJF;
• The creation of SCN (a function created under Steve Hoffman's leadership) and the IAN (demanded of JFNA by Chicago, among others); and
• The chaotic, confused creation of the Global Planning Table

If you've got more, friends, send them to me, we'll add them to this woeful list.

And what do we find JFNA has also done over the last six years? Try some of these:

• Spent in excess of $200,000,000. Are you happy with the ROI for your federation let alone all federations?
• Deconstructed the national financial resource development effort almost entirely but for National Women's Philanthropy. The Young Leadership Cabinet, which should be an elite force for change and leadership at the federation level, as it once was, is but a shadow of what it once was. The Prime Minister's Mission sending 1/2 the number we sent in 2007; the King David Society Mission, canceled. Campaign planning, Solicitor Training, Suite Solicitations, etc....what are those?
• GA full pay registration fell to 835 by 2011; less than the drastically subsidized Registration for TribeFest 2.
• Hired and forced out within one year the eminently qualified Joanne Moore as millions more are "invested" in (in the sense of bad money after bad) the Global Planning Table and, G-d Forbid, TribeFestivus 3, and JFNA-Israel.

And, what has Jewish federation leadership demanded of its national organization over these same six years? Absolutely nothing -- apparently we are willing to pay Dues so long as JFNA "stays out of our hair." And, there's the rub. Leaders who would never tolerate waste -- either of budget or time -- in our own communities pay no attention to the continuing waste of communal resources at 25 Broadway and, by their inattention, have encouraged more of the same.

The new Board Chair and Chair of the Executive have got their hands full -- it's tough steering a sinking ship away from the shoals and to shore. We wish them every success.

Remember, as you hear of fictional successes and the fictional embellishment of a sorry record: "You are what your record says you are."

Rwexler