[by Shiela Steinman Wallace]
Spring means that Passover is just around the corner. It also means the Jewish Community of Louisville’s Annual Campaign is moving forward, and it is time for the Planning and Allocations Committee to begin its work.
This year, David Klein and Joe Hertzman are co-chairing the Planning and Allocations Committee, and they have already begun focusing on the planning aspects of the process.
“I’m honored to have been asked to serve,” Hertzman said, “and I’m very excited to get to work with David Klein as my co-chair.
“David has some very progressive ideas moving forward of how a highly productive and effective committee should function,” he continued. “Our main objectives are to be very community inclusive,” bringing beneficiaries, JCL Board members and the community at large into the discussion. He credited Klein with having done a lot of the preliminary work already.
Klein explained, “I’d like the allocations process to be part of the planning process. … It will become a year-’round process involving representatives from all agencies, synagogues and segments of the community.” He also plans to involve JCL Board members as liaisons to the agencies.
He sees the committee’s work as, “a collaborative, community-wide process. We will be able to see where there are overlaps and gaps,” that will inform the decision making process, enabling community dollars to go further. The committee may recommend the integration of services or even combining services among the Jewish agencies, the synagogues and the JCL.
“Our objective is to get the money where it should go on a needs basis to provide the most good for the community,” Hertzman added.
Klein identified several givens for the committee:
- We have to have an allocations process.
- It is based on how well the Annual Campaign does.
- The JCL is a changed entity this year that is still evolving.
- There are not enough funds to do everything the community would like to do.
“We want to make the committee and the process effective, efficient and apolitical,” Hertzman said.
Even before Hertzman was named co-chair of the committee, Klein began meeting with communal leaders – agency professionals, rabbis, presidents, past presidents and JCL committee chairs. He also plans to attend the JCCA (Jewish Community Centers Association) biennial meeting where he will focus on strategic planning.
“I’m doing a lot of listening,” he said, and he has been getting positive feedback from his efforts.
“This process,” he explained, “is a vision for maximum utilization of our human, physical and intellectual resources from all the organizations.” By working together and sharing ideas, Klein hopes to build consensus and help the whole community achieve more. He also envisions a shift from the Annual Campaign providing base funding for agencies to more program specific funding, bringing Louisville in line with what other communities are doing, according to JCCA reports.
Klein has also engaged Kelly Wesley, J.D. a partner in Trek Advancement. “She’s committed to help facilitate the process of this committee as we organize ourselves and establish our own rules and game plan. We’re starting from scratch, and the committee members will be designing the process,” he said.
Klein also recognizes that JCL’s constituent agencies have depended on allocations from the Annual Campaign in the past to support their basic infrastructure. He stressed that this will not change overnight. The new procedures the Committee is implementing this year are the first step in the evolution of the planning and allocations process.
“In the current difficult environment for non profit organizations,” Hertzman commented, “the committee will have tough decisions to make and our objective is to be as fair and just as we can possibly be.”
Both Klein and Hertzman are members of the JCL Board of Directors.
Klein has been living with leukemia since 1996. He directs his energy towards making a positive impact in his Jewish community and his cancer community. Klein is active with Gilda’s Club and has served on the executive committee of the Fund for the Arts.
Nationally, he is a member of the Strategic Planning Committee for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and is a member of the national Planning Committee for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. He is one of two state delegates from the Foundation who advocates for cancer support bills in Washington, D.C.
Klein was also the executive director and board chair of the Metro Parks Foundation. He was chief operating officer of the Bank of Louisville before its sale.
Klein has two daughters: Erin Klein-Hilsenrad and her husband, Adam, have a son, Luke; and Kathryn Klein; and his two ex-wives, Jill and Jody, are both dear friends. He also regards his three huskies, Kody, Portia and Libby as family.
Joe Hertzman is a restaurant franchisee with 23 Papa John’s in Columbus, OH, 13 Rally’s in southwestern Indiana and western Kentucky, and eight Long John Silvers in the Louisville area and Central Indiana. He serves on the Rally’s Franchisee Advisory Council, and, with his brother, Allen, has received the Papa John’s Franchisee of the Year Award.
Last year, he also received the Legacy Award from Rally’s and Checkers in acknowledgement of his longtime service and commitment to the Rally’s brand. He is only the second franchisee to receive that award.
He also founded Dispute Solutions, a human resources consulting company, specializing in alternative dispute resolution programs for businesses, with a partner in Lexington.
Hertzman is also a member of The Temple Board, and has served for a number on the Salvation Army’s Boys and Girls Club Advisory Council.
In the past, he has been a vice president of the Jewish Community Federation and served on its Executive Committee, was a member of the United Jewish Appeal’s National Young Leadership Cabinet, and served on the Board of Standard Country Club.
His oldest son, Nick, is currently doing volunteer work in South Africa. His other children, Julie, Rachel and Alec, attend Collegiate.