Big Expectations for Federation’s New Web Site

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles rolled out a new Web site last month, the first phase of a new initiative hoping to engage more — and younger — Jews.

“The Federation has been, in essence, an old-media model of how we communicate with our donors, and now we’re using this technology and using social media to create a two-way conversation. These are tools we have not historically used,” Federation president Jay Sanderson said. “We have created a platform that is user-friendly and is attractive, which will appeal to Jews of different generations and allow us to tell our story and to hear back from people.”

Sanderson, previously CEO of the Jewish Television Network, took over as president in January, promising to bring Federation’s communications apparatus into the 21st century.

He awarded Blue State Digital, the firm that launched Barack Obama’s online presence, a $200,000 contract to use technology to build a new constituency for Federation. The funds were redirected from other marketing programs, such as Mosaic magazine, which will no longer be published.

Whether jewishla.org will deliver all that Sanderson expects is not yet clear.

The new site is more user-friendly and graphically appealing than the hard-to-navigate, static site it replaces. An opening montage of photos invites users to learn more about Federation’s activities and causes, and offers ways to get involved. A high-quality, presumably rotating, video production now tells the story of two bat mitzvah girls who collected donations for Federation. The community calendar and community guide are clear and easy to browse or search.

But if the new Web site is supposed to invite active enthusiasm, it will need more substance to back it up. The “Groups” button, in the “Get Involved” menu, leads to a list of Federation’s traditional fundraising and volunteering groups focused around professions — such as the real estate and legal and entertainment divisions. The “Volunteer” link has just four options — Federation’s literacy and hunger programs, a civic leadership initiative and “other.” A “Share Your Story” form leaves up in the air what sort of story to share and where that story will end up.

Sanderson said this is just the first phase of the new marketing and communications revamp, and it will tie in with other changes already under way. He said hundreds of constituents already respond to his regular blog posts and follow Federation on Facebook and Twitter.

The next phase of the Web initiative will come before Chanukah, in the form a of a communitywide contest for the “next big Jewish idea,” Sanderson said.

“We’re going to engage a whole new generation of people in defining who we are and what we’re doing,” he said.

Sanderson recently unveiled a restructuring that focuses Federation around three initiatives: engaging the larger community, ensuring the Jewish future and caring for Jews in need.

Federation also just announced it has hired Catherine Schneider, previously the Los Angeles director of AIPAC and assistant director of the Progressive Jewish Alliance, as a senior vice president in charge of community engagement. Her portfolio includes creating social justice initiatives and large-scale volunteer opportunities, both expected to strike a chord with a younger generation.

Lanny Levine, who was the chief development officer the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas, is the Los Angeles Federation’s new vice president of premier philanthropy, responsible for cultivating major and multiyear gifts.