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Federation web sites create a portal to the Jewish world
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Two years ago, Beth Miller knew nothing about building or managing web sites. But Miller (then the director of public relations and com-munications at the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas; now the C.O.O.) did know that she needed one to promote the federation to the portion of the community that does all of its business on the web. When UJC asked federations to volunteer to be part of the development of a new web portal, Meyer Bodoff, the executive in Las Vegas, raised his hand. He saw what the project could do for his federation. He knew if Miller was part of the design process, it would more likely meet his community's needs. As the program developed, Miller and three other federation representatives were part of every decision. |
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In March of 2000, UJC called a meeting of 18 community representatives, experts in either marketing or interactive technology, and they came up with a plan. UJC would develop "an electronic network to connect people to Jewish life and enable each federation to fulfill its own Internet strategy and communicate with its constituents effectively, efficiently, and interactively." The network, or portal, was dubbed FedWeb.
Las Vegas was the first federation FedWeb site to launch, just two weeks after UJC's own ujc.org, in the spring of 2001. Since then, dozens more federations have joined up, bringing the total to 56 as of March 2003, when the two newest federation sites, Kansas City and San Diego, went live. Nine more sites are in the works.
FedWeb sites share many common features, including a shared content library of news and feature stories, community calendars, registration for events, e-cards, polls, discussions and chats, and a career center. An on-line donation feature was added this year. UJC oversees technical improvements to the portal, provides unlimited technical support, and updates content frequently.
Within three months of conversion to a FedWeb site, average traffic to a local federation's site doubles-at the least. "We've registered 228,000 home page hits since mid-May," said Howard English, marketing director of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. "Our monthly average is six times higher than it used to be. Most importantly, our community is responding strongly to the site. Community organizations want to be on jewishtoronto.net."
"Las Vegas is benefiting tremendously from our state-of-the art web site," Beth Miller said. "It enables us to reach more donors than ever before, recruit more volunteers, and generate greater interest in our programs and events." She added, "It was truly an honor to be the first site to launch."
FedWeb's benefits reach beyond the individual communities they serve: it is an effective tool for communicating a message quickly and effectively across the continent. When the Washington rally for Israel was called in April, FedWeb sites spread the world immediately, ultimately mobilizing over 100,000 people. At Passover, FedWeb helped Jews across the country find seders to attend in their communities, and in September, FedWeb listed high holiday services all over North America that didn't require tickets.
The past year has proved the FedWeb experiment an unqualified success. As Cynthia Geller, marketing director of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey put it: "With MetroWest's new FedWeb site, we have been able to reach out and touch Jews around the corner and around the world."
Annual Report table of contents:
Mobilizing Our Jewish Values | Annual Campaign | 9/11 Fund | Israel Emergency Campaign Missions | Israel Overseas: Argentina | Planned Giving and Endowments | Renaissance and Renewal Alliance | Human Services And Social Policy | FedWeb | How UJC Works
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