Volunteer Leadership Profile—Stephen Gaerber
Allocations Committee Chair
If you’re looking for someone who has a good handle on Jewish Federation activities, both locally and overseas, Stephen Gaerber is your guy. Stephen, who manages a family business with his brothers, has been volunteering with Jewish Federation since the early 90s. He has served as the chair of the Israel and Overseas Affairs committee, and co-chaired the Yom Ha’atzmaut committee for 12 years, making it the large, diverse community celebration it is today. Stephen continues to be involved in leadership roles in many capacities, including holding the position of vice chair of Allocations, representing our local Jewish Federation on the JFC-UIA national board, and serving as national chair of the Coast-to-Coast partnership with our partnership region in northern Israel.
Outside of Jewish Federation, Stephen spent a number of years on the board and is a past president of our partner agency Jewish Family Services Agency (JFSA). “When I became the chair of the Allocations committee, I already had a fairly good sense of some of the local needs from serving on the JFSA board for nine years,” explains Stephen, “but I was struck with the amount that’s being done in our community. We’re not able to fund, unfortunately, the total array of needs. But Federation, through its partner agencies that are doing the work on the ground, is able to do a great deal of wonderful and essential work in the community.”
Role as Allocations Chair
As the vice-chair of Allocations, Stephen is responsible for chairing the local allocation planning committee and providing overall leadership to the local allocations process. He leads the committee as they assess research and reports of emerging community need generated by the Planning Council; review and prioritize requests from partner agencies serving the local Jewish community; oversee the distribution of funds to a broad range of programs and services; and assess and ensure accountability for the community programs already funded. He also reports on the work of the allocations committee to the Jewish Federation board and, with the Planning Council chair, meets with partner agency leaders on an as-needed basis.
“The allocations process is not easy because the needs of the community are far greater than what we’re able to fulfill,” says Stephen. “So we have fascinating discussions, and it’s a very interesting dynamic. As you can imagine, as we’re looking at allocating almost three and half million dollars, the committee takes its role very seriously. A lot of thought has been put into every dollar we allocate as to how it can best serve the community.”
Volunteering as a Way of Life
For Stephen, volunteering in the Jewish community is an inherent part of life. “My mother was the first female president of the Jewish Community Centre. She stressed the importance of giving back to the community. I grew up being involved with youth groups and social action—giving back is a part of me.”
Stephen volunteers with Jewish Federation because he enjoys a great deal of satisfaction from contributing to the bigger picture. “I’ve made a lot of friends who are similar-minded people. I’m always learning something new and am constantly inspired by other people. The community has changed so much in the time that I’ve been involved, and contributing to the growth and the successes we’ve been able to accomplish through Federation is really satisfying.”