Looking back on my April reflections as a charity chief executive on “planning in a pandemic”, which the JC published, I am struck by how dated most of it now reads.
I had shared the New Israel Fund’s thinking on “battening down the hatches” and wondered what would happen to our November annual dinner, which we held virtually on Sunday.
Not only do my language and questions feel dated. My expectations and focus have needed to shift and adapt. No longer will I throw out buzz phrases such as “Protect.Survive.Pivot.Thrive.”
We at the NIF head towards the end of 2020 in a relatively good position. Our focus until the summer was on the short-term. How do we make the savings through the furlough scheme to avoid job losses? How do we strike the balance between meeting our immediate commitments to Israel and ensuring our medium-term health?
The powerful response of our supporters during the crisis has seen many not just continue to back us, but at an increased level.
This has enabled us to respond to urgent Covid-19 needs in Israel and keep existing work going. In truth, we have also had some strokes of luck.
For me, the unevenness and the uncertainty of the last few months has proved challenging. Israel and the UK are responding to the pandemic in different ways — from lockdown and economic support to differing political realities.
The civic awakening in Israel with tens of thousands on the streets each week protesting outside the Prime Minister’s residence and across the country can be difficult to relate to from here. This has made connecting our community to Israel and demonstrating its relevance more tricky.
Personally and professionally, each of us face a set of challenges and problems for which it is harder to come up with solutions.
With this in mind, it has been important to develop in our organisations a collective acceptance of where we are now while continuing to convey realistic hope.
Who wants to deal with loss, whether loss of loved ones, loss of the familiar, loss of the social, the cancelled simchahs and even the loss of the office routine?
People use avoidance mechanisms as they seek to cope with the shifted and difficult reality they are experiencing.
Looking after staff and volunteers has taken on a new meaning. The idea of a “work face” separate to your home life reduces with each Zoom call. This can be exposing and the best leaders are making it “OK to not be OK” for their staff and others.
As we begin to plan for next year, the current economic climate and uncertainty over the path of the pandemic is requiring NIF to think cautiously and delay decisions on rehiring positions, when to plan for our next Israel visits, etc.
This is deeply frustrating and I have to challenge myself not to fixate on what has been lost but to consider what has been gained.
For instance, switching our annual dinner online lost us our key moment of celebration and gathering our community, not to mention making fundraising more difficult. It did, though, bring in a larger and more diverse audience and points to new possibilities.
Looking back again to my April piece, what holds up is the sense of solidarity within the Jewish community.
The Jewish charity sector’s vibrancy springs from its diversity. In working hard to ensure this survives, my peers are finding ways to share and collaborate across the community. This must continue beyond Covid-19.
Adam Ognall is the NIF chief executive
