A Letter from the President

Jeremy Pearl, J.D., LL.M. is the President and CEO, in addition to the Senior Vice President and CFO of the Jewish Community Foundation. As Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Jeremy is responsible for fiscal oversight of the Foundation including finance and operations, investments, human resources and information systems. He also regularly works with the professional community and donors in charitable gift planning and assists in planning and managing the activities of the Foundation.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity and the honor of sharing some thoughts with our talented Teen Foundation participants. I learned that they had decided to focus on the essential needs of at risk youth and I was impressed with their attention to detail and the way they clearly related to this area of need in our community. However, what really excited me was to learn that they plan to not only make grants to meet immediate needs, but to focus on allowing organizations to build infrastructure.

One of the challenges in philanthropy today is the unintended consequence of a great focus on efficiency and transparency. There is a wealth of great information available to the public, such as through rating services like Guidestar and Charity Navigator. Much of this information, and the accompanying press, focuses on dollars sent out of the door, not dollars spent in house on infrastructure. In fact, infrastructure often gets a bad rap. When it’s labeled ‘administration’ or ‘overhead’, there can be a negative connotation. Infrastructure can be labeled as taking away from the primary mission, or suggesting inefficiency. Often times, organizations are afraid to ask donors for what they need to build infrastructure, fearing negative perceptions.

What the JTF participants are doing this year is very smart and forward thinking. They’re helping to give voice to the narrative that strong infrastructure means strong organizations…and they’re being specific as to what it means by focusing on one, important area of need and getting to understand the organizations and their impact.

This example of targeted, strategic philanthropy is a great story to share with our donors at Jewish Community Foundation, who have made us the largest grant maker in San Diego. Now the JTF cohort is going to be part of that story.

Program Officers- thank you for being innovative, thank you for your thoughtfulness…most of all, thank you for your time, commitment and passion.