Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Mercer Board of Trustees Meeting Highlights

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The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Mercer held a board of trustees meeting discussing key topics such as financial reports, new board members, and charitable initiatives. The president's report highlighted contributions to the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund and expressed gratitude for the community's support. The meeting agenda included various committee reports and actions to support the organization's mission of providing sustainable legacies for the Jewish community.


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  1. Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Mercer BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING VIA ZOOM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14,2020

  2. JCFGM Mission Statement To provide a sustainable legacy for our Jewish community locally and globally through endowments and resources that maximize the charitable objectives of our donors. The Foundation is a donor-driven organization. We represent the entire Jewish community. The Foundation works in cooperation with United Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks, local agencies, synagogues, and other charitable organizations. We are the endowment arm that supports all 501(c) (3) organizations in the interest of our donors.

  3. Agenda Call to order 8. Administrative Matters Vanguard Renaissance Banking Action Item: Positive Pay Approval 1. Welcome and introduction of new board members 2. Approval of Minutes from June 15, 2020 Annual meeting 9. Treasurer s Report for FY 2020 3. President s Report 10. Investment Committee 4. JFedShaw Action item: Board ratification of agreement JFedShaw Task Force 11. Audit Committee 12. Book Awards Committee report 13. Staff 5. Princeton Area Community Foundation 14. Good & Welfare 6. JCFGM Business Plan committee formation 15. Adjourn 7. Funds Committee

  4. Presidents report 1. Apples and honey 2. Punia Fund 3. Insurance 4. COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund of Greater Mercer

  5. Presidents report continued Dear Jerry and Mark Shana Tovah! The JCFGM decided to do something a little different during a year when so many things are different. The Foundation has issued a grant of $540 to the Jewish Community COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund of Greater Mercer fund in honor of our donor advised fundholders. We felt that this would be an appropriate way to recognize the critical role this fund has performed for the community, and to simultaneously honor the commitment of our fundholders, and the Foundation itself, to philanthropy at a time when the need may be the greatest in decades. Please convey the thanks of the entire Foundation board and all of our donor advised fundholders to the board of the Federation for their efforts to soften the burden of this crisis. Best wishes for a happy, sweet and healthy 5781. Chip Loeb Linda Meisel

  6. Presidents report continued Dear Chip: Thank you for informing us of this very generous gift to the local COVID-19 Emergency Fund, which will be extremely helpful to the agencies and synagogues working tirelessly day in and day out on the frontlines of the fight against this pandemic. Shanah Tova to you and your family, and Best regards, Jerry

  7. Presidents report continued Two new committees Ad Hoc committee Trenton Property Howard Cohen Jim Schragger Scott Schaefer Chip Loeb Marketing committee Susan Falcon Michael Feldstein

  8. Presidents report continued

  9. JFedShaw agreement 1. A copy of the JFedShaw agreement was sent to the board. 2. The agreement was approved by the JFedShaw board on August 5, 2020 3. The JCFGM Executive committee reviewed and approved the agreement at it s August 10, 2020 meeting, subject to board ratification. 3. Board action: Ratification of the JFedShaw agreement. 4. Next steps Board discussion Formation of JFedShaw Integration Task Force

  10. Princeton Area Community Foundation The PACF suspended its strategic business planning as it moved to create multiple funds for COVID-19 relief both for individuals and organizations in the greater Princeton area. On June 24, 2020, Linda and Chip had a zoom meeting with Jeff Vega (president) and Laura Longman (CFO). The update was that at that time, PACF was then able to allocate staff resources to planning process. The timeline was to present a plan to the PACF board in August 2020. The plan would include: 1. A gradual increase in fees, to take place over a three-year period. 2. expenses without fundraising, thereby allowing them to direct their fundraising efforts towards programming, donor advised and special purpose funds. A fee-for-service approach, which would permit them to cover operating The JCFGM ad hoc committee on the PCACF met by Zoom on July 1, 2020 Chip ands Linda will meet with Jeff Vega and Laura Longman again on September 30,2020

  11. JCFGM Business Plan Goal: To create a 3-5 year business plan for the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Mercer The business plan will serve as a roadmap for JCFGM

  12. Funds Committee The Ad Hoc Funds committee was established to review all documents and policies related to the JCFGM fund holdings. The committee recommends that the bylaws be amended to make the Funds Committee a standing committee, and asks that the following amendment be adopted by the board: Amend Article IX, Section 1 of the bylaws to add subsection F, to read as follows: The Funds Administration Committee shall consist of no fewer than four Trustees, one of whom shall be the Treasurer, one of whom shall serve as its chairman, as well as members of the community who are not Trustees as appointed by the chairman. The president shall designate the chairman at the Annual meeting. The committee shall i) establish procedures and guidelines for management and distribution of funds, ii) review and interpret documents establishing and governing funds, iii) from time to time update forms used by the staff to open donor advised and custodial funds, iv) in cooperation with the Investment Committee make recommendations to the Board as to the gift acceptance policy as provided for in Article X Section 2 of these bylaws, and v) undertake other tasks as requested by the President or the Board, or as it deems necessary, from time to time.

  13. Administrative Matters Vanguard Renaissance Banking At the Board s instruction, Linda sought the advice of the Foundation s outside auditors as to the appropriateness of using positive pay. The auditors endorsed enrollment in this system.

  14. Positive Pay a refresher Positive pay is a bank system under which checks issued by an accountholder (other than those issued by the payroll provider) are not valid until approved by an authorized user online, which is typically done the same day the checks are issued. QuickBooks uploads to the bank a list of checks issued, then a representative of the accountholder logs into a secure bank website, is presented with the list of checks (date, payee, amount) and approves or rejects each of them for payment. When a check is presented to the bank for payment, the bank compares the information on the check with the list of approved checks. Any unauthorized checks or deviations trigger a notice to the accountholder, which can permit payment of the check or decline to do so. Positive pay has become a common tool in the reduction of risk of fraud and error.

  15. Positive Pay Authorization The chair proposes the following motion: 1. The Foundation shall enroll in positive pay at its bank and the Executive Director shall be the primary individual responsible for approval. In the event the Executive Director is unavailable, the VP for Development shall be responsible for the approval. These two individuals shall not be granted authority to sign checks or otherwise distribute cash with respect to any account for which positive pay is in place. 2. Checks issued by the Foundation shall be signed by any one of the President, Secretary, Treasurer, or the VP at Large. 3. In the event the Executive Director position is vacant and the VP for Development is unavailable, a member of the Executive Committee, other than the President, Secretary, Treasurer, and the VP at Large, is authorized to enroll in positive pay for the duration of such vacancy.

  16. Treasurers report FYE 2020 June 30, 2020 July 31, 2020 Personnel change

  17. Investment committee report 1. On July 1,2020, JCFGM moved to a managed portfolio platform at Vanguard 2. Portfolio manager: Daniel Voss, CFA, Senior Investment Consultant 3. Portfolio is 60% equities 40% fixed income Marty and Harvey met via zoom with Dan on August 27th, 2020, to review portfolio status in depth. Investment committee meeting September 8, 2020 Presentation by Dan Voss regarding status of portfolio The portfolio outperformed the benchmarks by about 68 basis points during July a difference of about $70,000 over market

  18. Audit committee report Audit committee: Brenda Zlatin, chair, Dan Brent, Marc Wisotsky The Foundation has been working with the current audit firm, Bedard Kurowicki and Company (BKC) for more than 5 years. In conformance with best practices, the audit committee sent out requests for proposals to BKC and four other firms. Four firms sent proposals. On September 10, 2020, the audit committee reviewed the proposals and selected BKC again to conduct the JCFGM audit with the caveat that there be a new audit team.

  19. Book Awards Book award committee : Michael Manning, Jeff Miller, Linda Meisel as staff 1. Nine applications were received. Seven were from returning students, two were new applicants. 2. Each application was reviewed individually with the following criteria a. Financial need b. Initiative in working and academics c. Short Essay Committee decided not to set a precedent by funding a 5thyear award to a returning student. Awards were given to 8 applicants in the range of $800 to $1,300 and a total of $10,000 was awarded. The JCFGM receives $50 per application to cover the staff time to process the applications for awards. The monies for the scholarships came from two JCFGM scholarship funds, the Kahn Fund and the Garb Fund. Benjamin Garb Scholarship Fund $37,883.54 Albert B. Kahn Scholarship Fund $144,770.61

  20. Staff updates 1. Two Princeton University Students, Hannah Bein and Marley Jacobson, will be working on special projects for JCFGM. 2. October 23, 2020, JCFGM will host a workshop entitled Building a Culture of Philanthropy. The workshop will be led by Elizabeth Wagner of Bryn Mawr Trust and former director of philanthropy at Princeton Area Community Foundation. 3. October 29,2020, JCFGM will host the Life & Legacy Kick off event for JFedShaw. 4. November 15, 2020 and December 6, 2020 a two-part program on Ethical Wills will be presented, co-sponsored by The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Mercer and The Jewish Center. The JCFGM Staff is looking to partner with community organizations to present workshops on philanthropy, resource development and related topics for both lay leaders and professional staff.

  21. Good and Welfare Mazel Tov to Marty and Judy Schwartz on the engagement of their grandson Ben to Allison Mazel Tov to Steve and Florence Kahn on the Bar Mitzvah of their grandson Ellis Mazel Tov to Amy and Eran Zacks on the Bat Mitzvah of their Daughter Noa Mazel Tov to Scott and Jeri Schaefer on the engagement of their daughter Lyndsay to Ted Mazel Tov to Don Leibowitz and Karen Brodsky on the birth of their granddaughter Emery Mazel Tov to Chip Loeb on the graduation of his daughter Tamar from Drexel University Mazel Tov to Josh Waldorf on the occasion of his daughter Lily making aliyah to Israel

  22. Upcoming EC and Board Meetings Executive committee Meeting Monday, November 16, 2020 Board of Trustees Meeting Monday, December 14, 2020

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