Rich Meyer has been part of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s work as long as he can remember.

“As a young kid, I spent a lot of my time tagging along with my parents to Federation meetings,” he said. “I guess I absorbed a lot of that.”

Meyer is co-chair of the Federation’s 2027 Campaign for Community Needs – the means to raising the nearly $4.5 million dollars the Federation uses to support and sustain Jewish community each year.He is joined in that role by Simon Gottheiner. Gottheiner started coming to Federation events in the early 2000s before being asked to serve on the Allocations committee, which he later chaired. He’s also served as the organization’s treasurer and has served multiple stints on the Federation’s board. This is his first year co-chairing the annual campaign.

“I wanted to give more, and I wanted some more purpose,” he said of his motivation to take on the larger role. “It’s just been something that has really fueled me.”

“We are thrilled that Rich and Simon have taken on this most important leadership position,” Federation President and CEO Marc Blattner added. “They are both passionate and committed to the success of Jewish Portland.”

The pair lead a team of campaign ambassadors, volunteers who make the calls, send the emails and have the conversations that make the campaign go. Laura Jeser, the Federation’s Associate Campaign and Engagement Director, explained that the conversation piece of the process isn’t just window dressing.

“We want to know what speaks to our donors, what are donors passionate about?” she said. “It helps us with our programming. This is our way to connect with our donors to hear what’s meaningful to them.”

Meyer has been part of those efforts since shortly after those years following his parents to the Federation office – he made calls for Federation’s Teen Campaign and later chaired the Super Sunday telethon while still in college. He also later chaired the allocations committee, a role that drives his work on the campaign today.

“I don’t like asking people for money, but I know someone has to do it,” he said. But I think I realized more of the importance of this part of Federation’s work as when I was allocations chair and saw where the funds are going throughout the community; not just to our large legacy agencies, but through to the smallest agencies, small groups that are doing important work with populations that Federation might not have reached in the past.”

“As somebody who’s passionate about giving [funding] away, I think I have realized that I need to be equally passionate about finding it and getting it, and sometimes you don’t see yourself as that best person to be the asker,” Gottheiner said. “This is part of a personal adjustment to ‘Hey, you’ve got what it takes, go show it.’”

Meyer and Jeser both talked about the campaign as an investment. All investments are expected to pay returns – for this investment, the return is in the form of thriving Jewish communal institutions and engaging opportunities for Jewish connection in the community.

“I’m passionate about doing this work because it’s the investment in each other,” Jeser said. “[Meyer] has had this experience of Federation being there his whole life; how can I do that for my children and my children’s children?”

“When there is a fire, that is not when you decide to build a fire department. It needs to already be in place,” Blattner said. “The Jewish Federation’s annual campaign is an annual investment in sustaining Jewish life during stable times and so we can respond immediately during a crisis.”

“If you make an investment, you want that capital to grow and support whatever down the road,” Meyer said. “I think that, whether it’s helping people pay for preschool or day school or summer camp, we’re investing in youth who we want to grow up with Jewish identities and to believe in the Jewish community. We invest in the Ben Gurion Society, developing new leaders for this community, and to provide services for seniors or people who need something.”

Portland’s chapter of the Ben Gurion Society, for young adults contributing to the campaign at certain threshold levels, is entering its third year and will kick off its season with a wine-tasting event in November – details are being finalized.

“We’re building up that pipeline of leadership, and we’re building upon our next generation. of community here in Portland,” Jeser, who’s work supports the Ben Gurion Society, said. “That’s really important.”

Beyond young adult leadership, Gottheiner talked about new programs like Gather Grants and the recent Jewish Festival as ways that the Federation is increasing Jewish engagement.

“I just love that we can go to a Jewish festival, or we can go see a movie, and there’s no solicitation at all, and we’re out in public in a venue that you wouldn’t normally like bring a bunch of Jews together to experience,” he said. “My daughter Ava said to me,’ Dad, are you kidding? They’re going to give me $180 to go to the movies and have an experience with my Jewish friends?’ That’s leaps and bounds from where we were when I first got involved, and I just think that it’s an adjustment and a reflection of being current to the times and what people want.”

“If you go to pretty much any Jewish event in Portland, or participate in any organization, that Federation has helped make that happen,” Meyer added.

“[Those experiences are] ultimately creating community and bonding, and I think that that allows for us to be there for each other when things happen, when we go through traumas or someone’s new to the community. That community is already in place and there to help each other and be there for one another, and that is invaluable.” Jeser added “We depend on Federation and these organizations that we fund to create that community.”

Any community has connection at its core – and you’ll likely have a chance to make that connection soon.

“When a campaign ambassador calls you or sends a text or sends an e-mail, they are really trying to make that connection with you,” Jeser said. “It’s not just about the ask; it’s about the connection.”

“Our campaign can only be successful when ‘people answer the call,’” Blattner said. “Our campaign is truly about one Jew asking a second Jew to help a third Jew."

PHOTO: From left, Gottheiner and Meyer at the Federation's Illuminate event in 2025. (Rockne Roll/Jewish Review file)