New president of The Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks

Princeton resident Daniel Herscovici, a partner at growth-stage venture capital fund Edison Partners, led an effort to formulate a new strategic plan for The Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks and now takes the helm as president of the board to help bring that plan to life.

Herscovici understood that umbrella-style fundraising, like that of the United Way or the Federation, is becoming unsustainable in a digitally transparent world. In the past busy people felt they had done their civic duty when they contributed to an umbrella organization. They trusted these unified fundraisers to effectively distribute monies among nonprofits to improve the lives of individuals and communities. These organizations historically relieved the burden on both individuals searching for agencies or causes and on agencies conducting their own fundraising efforts.

“Today, with most information digitally accessible, those passionate about a cause can easily find an organization and donate directly, and digital payment platforms make collecting gifts easier than ever,” Herscovici said. “As a result, individual nonprofits have ramped up direct solicitation and rely less on umbrella organizations.”

A recent article on the CharityWatch website reported that giving to The United Way, one of the largest umbrella organizations in the United States, declined almost 28% over a 10-year period starting in 2007.

Herscovici realized that as people change both their giving behaviors and expectations, organizations need to evolve accordingly. He explained that these changes are directly affecting his organization, which historically allocated its dollars to agencies in support of their Jewish and communal programming.

“I believe the umbrella model will be wholly obsolete within 5 years. The umbrella fundraise approach no longer delivers enough value to either side, donor or agency. To continue to flourish we need to evolve.”

The new strategic plan, which as board president since July 2021 he is responsible for implementing, “evolves the way the organization operates and has operated for 30+ years,” he said. Its purpose is to “transform the way we allocate funds, measure success, define expectations of grantees, and communicate our results.”

The Jewish Federation’s new model focuses on

• researching Greater Mercer County needs and specific donor interests
• deeply understanding potential programs that can address those needs, and
• ensuring accountability through measurable results.

“We are investing significant time to understand local community needs in the areas of Jewish continuity for youth and families, caring for the vulnerable, combating anti-Semitism, and connecting our Jewish community to needs in Israel. We do so by engaging with experts, lay and religious leaders, and the community at large. Our objective is to use their feedback to inform our areas of focus,” Herscovici said.

“With these identified needs in mind, the Federation actively searches for the best programs out there—regardless of who delivers them,” he added. “Most important is that we will identify metrics of success, require active reporting, and make follow-up funding decisions based on performance and impact.”

“It is important to our future to think locally, be the expert on programs globally, and hold grantees accountable to results,” he said. “We must be able to move dynamically, nimbly, and swiftly as we respond to changing community dynamics and unanticipated needs.”

“Our insights, across a broad range of community wants and needs, allow the Federation to also act as the convener and organizer when no clear one exists—especially when the need is local to Greater Mercer County. We are a resource for this community and work every day to bring disparate constituents within the Jewish community together as a unified force.”

Another important role an organization like the Federation can play is to respond quickly to communal emergencies, he said. For example, an emergency campaign enabled the Federation to respond successfully to the impacts of Covid-19—by raising funds to procure personal protective equipment, to subsidize or supplement people who are recently unemployed and have food insecurity, and to make sure critical communal agencies had what they needed to open up safely.

Although Herscovici had not been meaningfully involved in Jewish organizations until he moved to this community, he joined the board of the Jewish Community Center (JCC), whose camp his children would be attending. A year in, he became its president and shepherded the Abrams Camp through a transition from two borrowed camp spaces to a permanent home in East Windsor, where it is flourishing today.

“Throughout my career as an engineer, entrepreneur, and investor, I learned what it takes to build, transform, and grow organizations. My comfort with measured risk and my understanding of what it means to make smart bets, be nimble, and drive change is analogous to what you need in transforming any organization. This paid off with the JCC and I think we will be able to do the same at The Federation,” he said.

“We will work to unify and bring this community together. We are more than a collection of religious congregations, unaffiliated families and charitable organizations. We are a strong and vibrant community, and our hope is to reinforce and strengthen what we already have.”

About Daniel Herscovici

Daniel has a BS in mechanical engineering from Boston University, an MS in mechanical and manufacturing engineering from Drexel University, and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Herscovici moved to the Princeton area in 2007 to work for Comcast in Philadelphia, where he founded and led several new business units, including Xfinity Home. In 2018 he became a partner at Edison Partners, a growth stage venture capital fund in Princeton, where he invests in and supports entrepreneurs as they build world-class companies. Daniel’s wife, Laurie, and two children, Aaron (16) and Olivia (11), live in Princeton.

About The Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks

The Federation’s forebear, The Jewish Federation of Trenton, was officially organized on September 29, 1929. Today it is the primary local philanthropic Jewish organization whose focus is on funding programs that result in the greatest impact on the most urgent and emerging needs of the local Jewish community, Israel, and throughout the world. It aspires to bring a sense of unity and strengthen community, to act as a center of excellence and a resource for all, and to build a sustainable Jewish future for generations to come.