Behind the scenes at CJA

KELLEY KORBIN

I admit that I ignored the first two messages he left on my machine. I even told a friend, who is "in the know," that he was trying to get in touch with me and she warned me to tread carefully. Undeterred by my avoidance, he relentlessly pursued me and called a third time. In an uncharacteristic move I answered the phone without checking call display and, after a short chat with my pursuer, he told me that he had my card and that he had specifically chosen me. How could I argue? So it was, with trepidation, that I accepted his invitation for coffee and a "nice Jewish conversation."

"He" is not a potential new boyfriend (we are both happily married); rather he is my Combined Jewish Appeal (CJA) canvasser, none other than campaign director, David Berson.

For many of you, being personally canvassed is as annual a fall event as raking leaves, but, for me, this was my first time receiving a call from an old friend (actually, more like an old camp counsellor) asking to talk to me about my campaign gift for this year.

In the days leading up to our meeting at Urban Fare downtown (he generously agreed to meet me halfway: I live on the North Shore, he works at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver), all manner of thoughts ran through my head: Does he think I'm made of money? How much does he want? And, most dreaded of all, Is he going to ask me to be a canvasser?

When the day came, true to his word, we engaged in a nice Jewish conversation – a conversation about our respective families, jobs and camp nostalgia. He also asked me lots of questions about the North Shore Jewish community. He didn't go for the kill until I had all but drained my non-fat decaf latté.

You see, Berson, whose job it is to manage the annual donations of more than 4,000 community members, believes that personal discussions are vital in developing Vancouver's Jewish community. In fact, he's absolutely passionate about it.

"You know, the funny thing is that, for some people, this is the only Jewish conversation they have all year," said Berson.

"Face-to-face meetings are an integral part of developing a community in a place like Vancouver, a place where you can't just walk down the street, as if you're at Sheppard and Bathurst in Toronto, and bump into Jews. Here, the conversation and the outreach and informing people is so important because so many people say, 'Oh, I didn't know you could get a scholarship to go to Camp Miriam' or 'I didn't know there were still Jews in Ethiopia who were moving to Israel' ... a good canvass is about having a Jewish conversation. The gift will come.

"You're not sitting down with somebody and saying, 'OK, this is what you gave last year, this is what you should be giving this year,' that's like the icing at the end of a conversation. It's really an opportunity to meet and to hear about what's important in the community and sometimes it's listening to kvetching and sometimes it's listening to kvelling," said Berson.

Obviously Berson can't have 4,000 conversations on his own, he depends on a 300-person-strong network of volunteers, who are trained every year to ask community members to support the CJA. They learn that, by supporting the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, they are providing funding to 27 local Jewish organizations that provide more than 70 services in the Lower Mainland, as well as funding support agencies that provide services overseas and in Israel.

Canvassers also learn tips on how to get the most out of their donors, including facts about the needs of the local community and about the Jewish community around the world. They also learn "how to use objections as an opportunity to have a conversation."

Most of all, said Berson, they learn that "the kernel of a good canvass is having a personal story." To this end, many canvassers are offered opportunities to see CJA dollars at work – through a tour to the Jewish Family Services Agency offices, a visit to a Jewish preschool and other similar CJA- funded projects.

Much of the CJA canvassing takes place in "telethons," where people on Federation's list are telephoned and, after a brief conversation, asked to give to this year's campaign.

But people who Berson describes as "higher level donors," usually people who have given gifts of $250 or more, are assigned individual canvassers. According to Berson, the idea is to develop long-term relationships with community members. To this end, everyone on Federation's list has a pledge card that tells the canvasser that person's history of giving, the reasons they give (or don't give) and any concerns they might have expressed about the campaign or things going on in the community.

Berson assured the Jewish Independent that Federation has a stringent privacy policy and never sells its list or shares the information on the cards. He added that he sees the list and the pledge cards as a history of the community, and that's what makes the Jewish community so good at raising money.

"Ideally," said Berson, "if the canvass goes well there will be continuity and the same canvasser will approach the donor again year after year." Apparently, that means I can look forward to another nice conversation with Berson next year.
With the support of its canvassers and the community, the CJA has already raised $4.3 million of its $7.5 million 2007 goal. Last year, the average gift to the campaign was about $1,900. So where does that put those donors who can't afford to give more than chai (18) dollars?

Berson was clear that the number of donors is equally important to the dollar amount of individual donations. In a sense, the number of donors is a measurement of the strength of the community, he said.

"We value every gift that we receive," he explained. "When I can say with pride that we have more than 4,000 donors [in a Jewish community of 23,500, making Vancouver the highest donor penetration level on the West Coast], that's amazing.... Making a gift to the campaign, whether it's $18 or $18,000, is making a statement that you support and you belong and that you embrace what the community does."

Veteran canvasser Helen Pinsky has been working with CJA for almost two decades. She told the Jewish Independent that, overall, she has found canvassing to be a rewarding experience. However, she acknowledged, "there have been years where people have had a lot to say about, for example, politics in Israel, and they've been angry at something or another and that's impacted on the conversations and it's hard to [deflect that]. Then it's no fun."

But this year is a different story. "My own personal experience is that times are good for a lot of people that are still in the working world," said Pinsky.

"I made some phone calls the other day and I just came out of it on a total high thinking, 'wow,' something good is happening here. Maybe it's because people are seeing that Federation is really putting their money out wisely, or maybe they just see that they themselves are so privileged they want to share."

Pinsky is especially motivated by the CJA's "Live Generously" theme.

"It makes you bigger than yourself," she said. "It's something that really sticks with me. It's such a beautiful concept that I really try to campaign by sharing that – giving people the opportunity to live generously."

Berson also was quick to assure me that, "Canvassing is an extremely gratifying process ... you're not really asking for money."

Oh yeah? Then how did he manage to get me to increase my annual gift by almost 70 per cent?

For more information about the CJA or to make a donation to the campaign, visit www.jewishvancouver.com or call 604-257-5100.

Kelley Korbin is a Vancouver freelance writer.

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