tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post8715997306791663094..comments2024-03-24T05:22:27.179-04:00Comments on Orthonomics: Orthonomicshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07892074485262548496noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-20550845862973432182008-11-19T13:05:00.000-05:002008-11-19T13:05:00.000-05:00Rudy Giuliani writes in his book Leadership that w...Rudy Giuliani writes in his book Leadership that when he wanted to lower the major crime rate in NY he started by focusing on smaller crimes like squeegee cleaners and similar smaller crimes. He was basing on research that had shown that building without any broken windows and looked to be in good repair were less likely to get graffiti.<BR/>I would say that yeshivos need to start similar programs. Yeshivos that are careful about paper use, phone lines, electric bills etc. are more likely to be properly focused on higher costing items such as salaries, fundraising etc.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-9416943241146590592008-11-19T10:03:00.000-05:002008-11-19T10:03:00.000-05:00Correction has been made. The point still remains ...Correction has been made. <BR/>The point still remains the same: it is important to be sensitive to the klal and holding events in 5 star venues re: Jewish education while the average parent is really struggling to pay for a Jewish Education that is out of reach is not particularly in good taste. <BR/><BR/>The CEO of IKEA flys in economy class. The is an integral part of the corporate culture of frugality. True or not, many people feel that those at the "top" of the ladder in Jewish Education are not careful with the money of those struggling to pay the bills.Orthonomicshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07892074485262548496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-88582932717005465382008-11-19T09:40:00.000-05:002008-11-19T09:40:00.000-05:00According to Mr. Schick's article:"A month from no...According to Mr. Schick's article:<BR/><BR/>"A month from now, Torah Umesorah will hold an 'Inaugural Presidents Conference,' at a luxurious PGA resort in Palm Beach Gardens in Florida. The organization is urging day school leaders, particularly lay leaders, to participate in 'a weekend to cultivate relationships, share ideas and realize visions' and doubtlessly to have good food and a good time."<BR/><BR/>Mr. Schick was not referring to the convention as this blog erronerously stated, but to another TUm event.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-41386118947079787092008-11-19T07:54:00.000-05:002008-11-19T07:54:00.000-05:00The Torah Umesorah Convention will be held at the ...The Torah Umesorah Convention will be held at the Friar Tuck Inn - not exactly a 5-star venue. It serves a real purpose for the out-of-town teachers in particular, by allowing them to meet and network with others. Where on earth did anyone get the idea that the convention would be held in Palm Beach? ROFL!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-35223817200809999992008-11-18T15:42:00.000-05:002008-11-18T15:42:00.000-05:00The need for dinners (though I never go to any):I'...The need for dinners (though I never go to any):<BR/><BR/>I've heard that R' Revel (first president of Yeshiva College) used to say that donors need a COD - Cavod on Delivery...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-48589752259530285262008-11-18T10:05:00.000-05:002008-11-18T10:05:00.000-05:00One school I am familiar with does very successful...One school I am familiar with does very successful fundraisering using this model: dinner parties with 20-30 guests each. Someone lends their home for the evening (no cost for venue), hires a caterer (cost), and invites 5-6 interesting guests of honor (experts of some kind - possibly alumni, even parents of students, popular teachers). There is informal conversation, but no speeches by the guests. It's your chance to get to know the experts and their field. The price to attend ranges depending on where you sit (ie next to a guest of honor) but it can range from a little more than the cost of the meal to $500 per person.Chana Germanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07190448206840391274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-49776022907267560712008-11-18T08:45:00.000-05:002008-11-18T08:45:00.000-05:00Oversight, oversight, oversight. Money should NOT...Oversight, oversight, oversight. Money should NOT be given to any (American) Tzedaka that does not publish its 990's AND demonstrate that it has real Board oversightDAGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09475799835170867139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-822576132829656392008-11-18T08:01:00.000-05:002008-11-18T08:01:00.000-05:00Two organizations I am quite familiar with basical...Two organizations I am quite familiar with basically break even on the dinner, and make the money on the associated ad book. Why not just do the ad book, and send it out to the community without a dinner. If the school makes people come to the dinner, they can make them buy an ad just as easily. <BR/><BR/>By the way, if they make you do this as a condition of sending your kid to the school, you can't deduct any of it. In which case, rather than make the parents go to the dinner, they can just raise the tuition. Because no G-d fearing person would cheat on taxes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-72178072238520228652008-11-17T21:21:00.000-05:002008-11-17T21:21:00.000-05:00Many schools require parents attend (and pay for) ...Many schools require parents attend (and pay for) the banquet. I'm with you though: time to try something different.Orthonomicshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07892074485262548496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-8708637817521935652008-11-17T21:00:00.000-05:002008-11-17T21:00:00.000-05:00By the way, is there any reason for the dinner par...By the way, is there any reason for the dinner part of fund raising dinners? If you just had a fund raising campaign the donations would be fully deductable. The cost of the dinner always seems to be four or five times what a comparable restaurant meal would cost. And they are not enjoyable. I suppose people feel shamed into contributing since their peers will see if they show up, but aren't we more mature than that? Perhaps this crisis can be put to some use in focusing fund raising on raising funds needed for worthy endevors. Not only would more of the money go to the school rather than hotels and caterers, but people would have more time to spend productively, and wouldn't need the extra outfit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-75573788319833395762008-11-17T20:54:00.000-05:002008-11-17T20:54:00.000-05:00I participate in teleconferences frequently. Ther...I participate in teleconferences frequently. There are some things they are good for, but a great many things they are not good for. They are fine for meetings of 2 or 3 parties who already know each other. Or for giving a speech or lecture to multiple parties who may ask infrequent questions. They are not very good for first meetings, nor for highly interactive discussions among multiple parties.<BR/><BR/>A great many conferences and conventions are for networking; for people in a field to meet each other, and find out what is going on at other venues. This is an important activity, but it doesn't have to be done every year. If your budget is swamped by the stock market crash, this might be a good year to skip.<BR/><BR/>You can also look for donors who had short positions this year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-4608399433927780672008-11-17T17:27:00.000-05:002008-11-17T17:27:00.000-05:00As someone who works in Change Management in the c...As someone who works in Change Management in the corporate world it never ceases to amaze me how the Yeshivos and other NfP's are so blind to what is going on and always seem to be behind the 8 ball.<BR/>They need to see what the corporate world is doing and borrow the best practices.To borrow from what the corporate world is currently doing.<BR/><BR/>1.Identify the percentage of annual budget that will be decreased for 2009. It will need to be big, 25-35%. This will be accomplished by cutting office staff, teaching staff, nice to haves and other non-essentials (conferences, extra curricular activities etc). The cuts will have to mirror the expected losses incurred by lower tuition collections and fund raising.<BR/>2. Stop passing on non-essential costs to parents. Instead of a petting zoo @ $12 a head, next year might be the year to forgo the petting zoo for a dvd about animals.<BR/>3.In general,cutting back on parent requests for money for extras. The focus should be on tuition and covering the budget before any extras at all.<BR/>4. Schools/NfP's pooling resources. This has been suggested before. Without going into this at length, the reason this is not done more often is because of the fear of one school defaulting on their portion of the costs and the liability falling on the other schools. Schools and not for profits need to reconsider this option and pool non-risky resources and potentially, staff. In addition, offices, phone lines and others could be shared.<BR/>5. Cutting office expenditures. This needs to be a directive, "Cut 25%!".<BR/>6. Engaging all of the staff to look for creative ways to save money. Why should this responsibility just rest on the administration and not the rest of the staff?<BR/>7. Now is the time to tell the staff that there will be no raises next year. Don't wait until the annual raise conversation time for that conversation to happen. Let people make the long term decisions they need to make now.<BR/><BR/>If schools and NfP's get focused on 2009 now, they have a shot at making it. If not, some will definitely fail. Maybe that's not such a bad thing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-73716397881249437822008-11-17T16:45:00.000-05:002008-11-17T16:45:00.000-05:00Thanks for the link!Thanks for the link!The Rebbetzin's Husbandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14977193945074906534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-52213703569961183882008-11-17T14:37:00.000-05:002008-11-17T14:37:00.000-05:00i think this is one of schick's better essays. (on...i think this is one of schick's better essays. (on the other hand, i thought he missed the point in his article on sex abuse last week's jewish). my son's school just sent home a form requesting an email address to they can eliminate mailings.<BR/><BR/>regarding teleconferences: i think these are silly. at most of the ones that i've been present at, most people are doing something else and the conference is just the background.<BR/><BR/>if the conference is important, i think face to face is the best way to go. if it's not important, it doesn't even merit a teleconference. so the real question is whether all these conferences are justified. do they actually produce anything worthwhile to begin with and not whether or not they should be virtual.<BR/><BR/>ANON:<BR/><BR/>"this way parents could pay off the cost of tuition long term- say, over a 25 year period, instead of having to pay it all in a compressed 12 year period"<BR/><BR/>how is this different than taking out a loan or second mortgage?Lion of Zionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10342299133387602141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-24323593616444888942008-11-17T11:54:00.000-05:002008-11-17T11:54:00.000-05:00I was wondering if you had heard of the idea by Ra...I was wondering if you had heard of the idea by Rabbi L. Kelemen- he mentioned in a recent speech the idea of floating a bond to pay for Jewish day school education (in the same way that municipalities float bonds to pay for long term investments)- this way parents could pay off the cost of tuition long term- say, over a 25 year period, instead of having to pay it all in a compressed 12 year period.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-4679678324746624632008-11-17T10:27:00.000-05:002008-11-17T10:27:00.000-05:00Profk raises a great point. There isn't even a nee...Profk raises a great point. There isn't even a need to use a Motel 6 - the conference can be fully online using web conferencing technology. This saves on the cost of the lecturers (you don't have to pay travel and lodging expenses), and the travelling expenses for conferences goers who can login from home or school. In the same vein, schools can use web/video conferencing to "beam in" guest lecturers for PD days. Or schools can band together to hire a facilitator for PD days, so that the cost per school is lower. <BR/><BR/>Chana German<BR/>The Lookstein Center<BR/>http://www.lookstein.org/home.htmChana Germanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07190448206840391274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-37872479736613828372008-11-17T10:21:00.000-05:002008-11-17T10:21:00.000-05:00Most of these dinners and other expensive fundrais...Most of these dinners and other expensive fundraising attempts are done out of sheer inertia - this is how it's always been done. However, that doesn't mean is made sense in the past either! So many of our organizations are run by well-intentioned people that don't know ANYTHING about budgetting, bookkeeping, or how to run an organization.<BR/><BR/>I recall in college when I was active in Jewish groups on campus someone telling me "we raised $X through mishloach manot!" to which I replied, "No, you raised $X - advertising costs - expenses for the materials to put together the mishloach manot." All I got back was a confused look. I see the same thing with these dinners and mailings - all you hear back is we raised $X without any mentioned of how much the event cost.<BR/><BR/>No thought at all goes into whether more money, net, could be raised without all these expenses.<BR/><BR/>As for our yeshivas, this may sound morbid but I'm actually looking forward to some of them failing and/or parents being forced to pull their children out and send elsewhere or to public schools. I think our yeshiva system has gotten bloated and is rife with abuse of employees and parents who are trying to pay the bills. It's about time something shook up the system so that things can maybe become more fair to all involved.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-52693941447387899312008-11-17T07:09:00.000-05:002008-11-17T07:09:00.000-05:00Living in a world where tele-conferencing and othe...Living in a world where tele-conferencing and other instant and real time communication is possible what justification is there for having mega=conventions at all, given the economic climate? Sharing information and concerns is an important element in most professions, but it can be done with far less expenditure, even if they were to pick a Motel 6 for the venue, by utilizing today's technology.ProfKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17954446826821665314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21976303.post-16038908078183538972008-11-17T01:25:00.000-05:002008-11-17T01:25:00.000-05:00You might find this useful: The Average Living Wag...You might find this useful: <A HREF="http://www.livingwage.geog.psu.edu" REL="nofollow">The Average Living Wage Calculator</A> - Give it a location, and it will tell you what the average expenses are for that area, for different family sizes.The Hedyothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15193083251783618457noreply@blogger.com