A talk with Rabbi Shimon Yehuda Mandel

1. Brejt

There’s no arguing with the frum community’s blessed growth over the last few decades.

Nor is there arguing with the proliferation of needs that comes along with it.

Not too long ago, the mother of all frum organizations, Agudath Israel, housed in one office in Manhattan, was the go-to address for solutions to the full gamut of Orthodox Jews’ issues. Today, organizations abound, addressing every need one can dream of, but Agudah’s all-encompassing advocacy hasn’t diminished; if anything, there’s a need for more.

That’s where Rabbi Shimon Yehuda Mandel comes in.

Making a difference

Idealism aside, more assistance to the klal costs more money. Rabbi Mandel, the newest addition to Agudah’s Lakewood office staff, is intent on making sure that a lack of funds will never come in the way of ensuring the community’s needs are met.

His methods include meeting potential donors, arranging events, and crowdfunding, but his job encompasses much more than fundraising. It’s a multifaceted position that involves outreach, PR, marketing, and more. For Rabbi Mandel, it’s all about the people, and in addition to ensuring funding for Agudah’s various projects, his aim is to let every person know how Agudah can help them.

Recently, he held several town hall-style meetings where he met people, told them what Agudah does, and let them know how to reach out.

“After each town hall meeting, we created a chat where I periodically post updates about what bill has been passed, Agudah’s latest accomplishments, and important information for the public to know. These chats help people understand what Agudah does and lets them feel a part of it.”

His outreach has been making waves. Right before the presidential election, Rabbi Mandel posted a video showing clear statistics that prove voting makes a difference in the long run even when the voter doesn’t live in a swing state. Its timely message may be one factor behind the especially high number of Republican votes in traditionally blue New York and New Jersey.

Path to prominence

What steered Rabbi Mandel to his current unique role at the hub of Orthodox Jewish askanus?

“The real answer is yad Hashem. I never dreamed of being a fundraiser.”

The profession chose him.

“My real dream was to be a rebbi,” he says, “and I taught English in a local cheder for four years.”

While Rabbi Mandel was teaching in his classroom, he was blissfully unaware that organizations were coming after him.

Across town, Rabbi Zalman Katz of Bonei Olam was looking for the right person to run a campaign. He turned to his friend Chesky Gershbaum, the Lakewood fundraiser for RCCS, for assistance.

“I don’t have anyone,” he was told.

But Rabbi Katz kept on pushing. “I need someone. Can you find someone for me?”

Finally, Chezky threw out, “Maybe Shimon Yehuda Mandel will do it.”

Rabbi Mandel’s response to the unexpected request?

“I thought they were out of their minds. They asked me when I wanted to start, and I didn’t even know what I was doing.”

But siyata d’Shmaya and natural capability quickly produced a smashing success, and the word was out: Shimon Yehuda Mandel was the one to turn to. Over the next year, Rabbi Mandel ran several different campaigns for various organizations before finally taking a full-time job with Agudah.

Why Agudah? Because it was there that he saw the greatest need and the greatest potential to make a difference.

 

Sidebar:

All in a day’s work

When big legal issues come up, they’re out there, rubbing shoulders with those in the halls of power, advocating for legislation that protects our Constitutionally mandated rights to religious observance. But what does Agudah do on a day-to-day basis?

The layman doesn’t see it, but the real answer is: anything that needs to be done.

Of course, a huge part of the job is all the work that Agudah does on a national and state level, working with congressmen and lobbying for bills that will help the Jewish community. Every state office has a legislative director, who is responsible for working with the state government, as well as three people in Washington working on a national level. While it’s impossible to even scratch the surface of what Agudah does on a government level, some projects include advocating for bills for continuous funding for private schools and CHS funding and protecting against discrimination against Torah values and shemiras Shabbos, just to name a few.

On a more individual level, Agudah helps with passports and other issues that involve government bureaucracy.

Then there are the organizations that are part of the larger umbrella of Agudath Israel, such as:

• PCS/COPE: courses that can help individuals launch a career in a short time, aptitude testing, free advice for new employees, and assistance for small businesses
• Yahalom: a resource center to support families of children with special needs
• Zahav: assistance for seniors navigating social security, Medicare/Medicaid, medical directives, and halachic and legal wills
• Chayim Aruchim: answers to end-of-life questions by qualified rabbanim around the clock

End sidebar

 

Ahead of the curve

The most significant way Agudah helps Klal Yisrael is in the way that’s noticed the least: by being proactive.

In June, the $56 billion New Jersey budget is crafted and voted on. That’s zero hour at Agudah. Any relationship or contact made throughout the year it utilized. Agudah’s job is to catch any mistakes before the budget is voted in.

“If we see a mistake, often a simple phone call is all it takes to fix it. In addition, upping funding even by a few dollars per child for our most vulnerable can make a difference of great sums throughout the community. No one knows about it, but it saves much more money and time than if we have to deal with it afterward.”

When despite all the efforts, Agudah is unable to work out an issue before the school year starts, a lot of effort and money may need to be invested to fix the problem. This summer, a small clause in the state budget ended all special ed funding for private schools. Rabbi Yeruchim Silber of Agudah’s New York office spent the months from June to September calling in all his contacts, but nothing worked. No pleading with anyone was able to get the wording changed. On September 1, the funding stopped, leaving Agudah with no choice. under the guidance of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, they filed a lawsuit.

“It’s not something we like to do,” Rabbi Mandel notes. “It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it doesn’t make us any friends, but we needed to do it.”

On Rosh Hashanah, a temporary injunction was issued to allow the funding to continue, but the final hearing has yet to follow.

“The publicity from the court case is great,” Rabbi Mandel comments wryly. “But would have preferred that it have been worked out in June, without anyone knowing, so the funding could have continued interrupted. The children wouldn’t have lost out, and all the time effort and resources could have been used for other things.”

Another facet of Agudah’s work—also before a budget is voted on—is addressing eligibility rates for certain grants, ensuring that they reflect the current state of the economy. The amounts of money, even if to a layman doesn’t look like much on paper, can translate into significant savings for individuals.

“We raised the eligibility rate for school lunches this year from 175 percent to 224 percent. That means that if someone has five kids in school and they’re earning below the 224 percent line, they’re saving $2,500. It also means that in some schools, no one has to pay for lunches, because if 60 percent of the school falls in that bracket, it’s free for everyone.”

At times, a simple explanation to a friendly government official can clear up misunderstandings about our community, resulting in a solution that makes all parties happy.

Sometimes it’s not so simple, though, and if an organization is denied a grant or a yeshivah doesn’t get an application for legitimate funding approved, Agudah can make sure it was just a mistake instead of an indication of a larger issue.

For Agudah, the greatest success is when they don’t need to step in and save the day.

“We don’t want the glamor,” Rabbi Mandel stresses, citing in a mashal from Rav Reuven Feinstein: There were two ball players in the outfield. One was always where he was supposed to be, and the other was always running around the outfield and managing to catch every ball. The second player was heroic, but the first player was doing his job.

Being where they’re supposed to be at the right moment to help others out—that’s Agudah’s job. That’s what they aspire to be.

Agudah’s challenge

We’ve all seen the glossy brochures with heartbreaking pictures of innocent bald children. We’ve noticed the cleverly worded posters with the images of serious, driven men rushing off to saves lives. We’ve sat glued to the video of tearful parents holding tiny beautiful babies.

As the frum world grows ever more sophisticated in our expectations, and the needs for tzedakah are more urgent than ever, organizations create campaigns to tap into the naturally generous hearts of Klal Yisrael. It’s basic logic: if people know who you are and what you do, they’ll be inspired to donate.

This is where Agudah struggles.

“Bonei Olam, by its very nature, has dramatic, easy-to-understand stories. Agudah doesn’t. More than that, our job is to prevent the dramatic stories. There’s so much that Agudah does behind the scenes that no one will ever know or understand—all to allow certain freedoms and benefits that we assume are coming to us to continue.”

“No one knows what any organization really does,” Rabbi Mandel admits. “You have no clue exactly how RCCS talks to doctors and how much time they spend researching. But they can fall back on emotion-wrenching campaigns, and Agudah can’t.”

Rabbi Mandel has tackled the challenge head-on, with astounding results to show for it.

What’s the secret to his success?

The successful campaign

It’s a broader question, really, Rabbi Mandel points out. What makes any campaign successful? Why do some organizations knock the ball out of the park while others barely break even?

Marketing is a big factor, but that doesn’t just mean splashy posters and fancy ads—although those are usually also important. Marketing is positioning the organization in way that people can relate.

“If you don’t have that, it’s DOA.”

Another large piece is meeting the donors’ expectations. Rabbi Mandel notes that there have been some complaints in recent years about the sums of money spent on parlor meetings and donors’ events, but there’s a reason for the expenditure.

“Donors pick up very quickly what’s expected of them. A donor can go to four parlor meetings in one week, and the sums he’ll donate will vary from 180 to 500 to 1,000 to 10,000. The amount they give very much depends on what they feel is expected of them. I’ve made about a hundred parlor meetings, and I’ve seen this every time.

“Once, I made a parlor meeting in a wealthy neighborhood and I did a standard event. I lost out; I didn’t get nearly as much money as I’d expected. The next year, I called up a fellow fundraiser and asked him what I’d done wrong. His answer was simple: ‘You didn’t go all out.’”

With so many organizations out there, all doing important work, it’s inevitable that a donor will gives based on whom he feels connected with.

“Do your homework,” Rabbi Mandel urges fundraisers. “You can throw thousands of dollars in the garbage because you made an event that wasn’t the right type for the crowd you’re looking at.”

Then there’s the opposite of glitzy, exclusive events: crowdfunding.

“The biggest advantage of crowdfunding is that the workload of the organization is being shared with its parent body or caring supporters.”

Rabbi Mandel recalls speaking to a rosh hamosad, who told him that when he used to make a dinner, he worked alone and the burden was unbearable. If done right, a crowdfunding campaign can bring in a lot more money. Six years ago, a successful dinner brought in $150,000. Today an unsuccessful crowdfunding campaign brings in $300,000.

Rabbi Mandel admits that crowdfunding is bringing in less today than it was a few years ago, but the advantages still outweigh this downside. “People do give smaller individual amounts through crowdfunding than they would in person, but the reach is still much greater.”

Both the personal touch and mass appeal have their time, he sums up. It depends what you’re looking to accomplish.

“During last year’s pre-Purim campaign seasons, there were over 14 campaigns taking place in just one week. I spoke to the head of another organization, who told me they would all be successful—and he was right. Over $75 million was raised in Lakewood during those few weeks.

“It’s not to be believed,” Rabbi Mandel adds. “Although there are so many organizations and needs, people just keep giving as if you are the only one.”

Because that’s who we are—a nation that gives.

And as someone who has a front-row seat to that giving, Rabbi Mandel is honored to be part of it.