5-Minute Interview--Mark Wilf & Victoria Agron

5-Minute Interview--Mark Wilf & Victoria Agron

Jan. 31, 2006

By Abny Santicola, associate editor, FundRaising Success

New York-based United Jewish Communities is the umbrella organization for 155 Jewish community federations across the nation. UJC's annual campaign enables it and the Jewish Federations of North America to build community and provide humanitarian and educational assistance to those in need.

Here, Mark Wilf, national campaign chair for UJC, and Victoria Agron, senior vice president for development at UJC, discuss the organization's annual campaign, the role of giving in the Jewish community, and how organizations can incorporate culture and giving in their appeals.

FundRaising Success: How important is the annual campaign to your organization's fundraising efforts?

Victoria Agron: Each year, UJC and the federation raise over $2 billion, and the annual campaign for unrestricted funds for 2005 will be approximately $880 million.

FS: What channels do you use?

VA: The giving in our system is individuals making these gifts, and they are solicited by volunteers. The real strength of our system is that it really is one person asking another person to help a third person, and so our most effective fundraising method is personal solicitation, face to face, one on one. I would say that the other very successful method that we use to raise funds is through personal experience on trips so donors can see for themselves how funds are utilized and what needs are yet unmet.

FS: What role does culture play in your annual fund campaign?

Mark Wilf: Not just from a physical fundraising standpoint but also from a value and principle standpoint, the annual campaign represents the core of our Jewish values and that is a concept that is very important philosophically.

FS: How do you tie the messaging of your appeal to emphasize that philosophy?

VA: We relate the cultural values of the Jewish people to the work that we do because they're intrinsic, and we use that in our marketing material. We use that also thematically in the names of different kinds of campaign efforts, and we also use that very much in terms of our volunteers ... who [go] out to communities and talk about values in a very personal way and tie that to responding generously through giving.