PHOTO: Outgoing Jewish Federation of Greater Portland Board Chair Mindy Zeitzer speaks at the Federation's 105th Annual Meeting Thursday, June 12 at Congregation Neveh Shalom. The gathering highlighted both the year's accomplishments and Zeitzer's three-year tenure as chair and introduced her successor, Leslie Beard. (Rockne Roll/The Jewish Review)
Organizations often use their annual meetings to celebrate their accomplishments. The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland did just that at its annual meeting, the organization’s 105th, Thursday, June 12 at Congregation Neveh Shalom in Portland. But more than just the events of the year, the meeting stood out as a celebration of the people that made them happen.
Among them were the recipient of the Rogoway award, the two recipients of the Sussman Shenker Scholarships, and the four outgoing and three incoming members of the Federation’s board of directors. But the list doesn’t stop there, certainly. There were so many other people who played small parts, one person who has played an enormous part over the last three years, and another person whose biggest part is just beginning.
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Board Chair Mindy Zeitzer, presiding over her final annual meeting in that role, gave what she described as a “very abbreviated” list of the Federation’s accomplishments in the 12 months since she had stood at the podium in the Stampfer Chapel. Each of those accomplishments had people behind them – often many people.
Some of these groups involved large numbers of individuals. There were the over 100 preschool educators who participated in JFGP’s day of learning, the 116 women involved in the newest networking group launched by Women’s Philanthropy, and the more than 300 people who attended the joint Purim/Holi celebration held at the Conestoga Recreation Center in Beaverton. There were also smaller groups – the 10 mixed-heritage couples that participated in the Reset and Refresh program, the 18 people that travelled to the nation’s capital for the Federation’s Joint Civil Rights Mission with Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church, and the 11 individuals who traveled to Israel for the 76th birthday of the Jewish state during some of her most perilous hours in the last 30 years – peril which may yet continue, as President and CEO Marc Blattner announced mid-meeting that Israel Defense Forces aircraft had struck nuclear sites in Iran.
This is an abbreviated version of an abbreviated list. Every accomplishment – mentioned here or otherwise – has a face and a story behind it, not least among them Zeitzer’s.
“I’m so proud to have represented this organization that oversees the entire Jewish community of Portland and really is looking out to help maintain its vibrancy for years to come,” Zeitzer said.
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Many of those faces aren’t publicly visible, but their roles are essential – they’re the donors to the Federation’s annual campaign.
“It’s important to note that our community's communal organizations really depend on the allocations and the campaign success of the Jewish Federation,” Blattner said. “In my 15 years here at the Federation, this has been by far the most challenging and I’ll also say rewarding campaign we’ve ever had.”
The challenge came in the form of individuals either passing away or leaving the Portland area who had contributed a combined $430,000 to the previous campaign.
“This is why an endowment campaign is so important to the Jewish community of Portland, and something we hope to talk about more in the future,” Blattner continued. “But I have to tell you that what made this year so special is that, because of the work of Jack Birnbach, our Campaign Co-Chair, Leslie Beard, our Campaign Co-Chair, all the campaign volunteers, the Campaign Cabinet, the solicitors, our professional team of Wendy Kahn, Laura Jeser, Jacob Rich-Levin, who’s our database administrator and Julie Alvarez in our finance department, we really did something remarkable.”
That something is measured in dollars – 3,961,000 of them, which is the total amount the 2025 annual campaign raised. But that amount also represents the people who contributed it, including the 68 percent of campaign donors who increased their contributions by at least 10 percent and the record number of donors at the crucial $5,000-10,000 contribution tier. It represents the 49 members of the Ben Gurion Society; young adults who contributed at least $1,000 to the campaign. And it represents the more than 200 people who contributed to the Federation for the first time this year.
“Someone said to me a long time ago, early in my career, that it’s not about how much money you raise, because things happen during the year,” Blattner said. “It’s really the number of donors that’s a referendum on ‘Is what you’re doing getting across to the people in the community and do they want to support that?’ So we’re really grateful to everybody who’s a new donor.”
Additionally, the three-year campaign to raise a million dollars for the Zidell Family’s Catalyst Fund challenge grant to support initiative stemming from the 2023 Community Study is 98.5 percent complete in its first year.
“We have $15,000 in two more years. I think we can do it, so thank you,” Blattner said. “These funds are used to implement a whole array of new initiatives, and what makes me so proud is literally, in the past 12 months, we have made every single one of these happen.”
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There are people behind each of the Community Study-driven initiatives, too. Sometimes they’re more recognizable – Federation Director of Jewish Life and Learning Dr. Yosef Rosen and Volunteer Coordinator Merit Pinker, for example. Some will be more recognizable soon, like Shiri Greenfeld, who will be Portland’s first Israeli community shliach (emissary) in 35 years when she arrives in the Rose City later this summer. Some are less recognizable – the participants in the 12 focus groups held to provide a qualitative perspective on the study’s quantitative data, the 72 participants in Resetting the Table’s dialogue on Israel, or the many beneficiaries of Federation’s Gather Grants program to create small-scale Jewish community. Some aren’t even in Portland, like the teams from Moving Traditions and BeWell that are supporting teen mental health. There’s plenty more – again, this is an abbreviated accounting of an abbreviated list.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am that we heard what people wanted us to do, we raised the money to do it, and we made it happen in a very short period of time,” Blattner said.
There’s yet more to come: a massive Jewish community festival set for the summer of 2026, and a three-year Global Travel Experiences program to connect Portland Jews with their each other and with Jewish communities around the world.
“Jewish travel is important and makes a difference. There are connections, there are bonds that get built, and at the same time, you get to see people in a whole different light than you do back at home, and you get to explore and understand Jewish life around the world,” Blattner said. “We have a three year calendar of destinations around the world open to anybody in our community, and we hope that you’ll join us.”
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Though it has taken countless people to make the Federation’s accomplishments and goals come to life over the last year, Mark Zeitzer took to the podium next to recognize the person who has been the face of that work for the last three years.
“Let’s take you through Mindy’s Jewish journey,”, Zeitzer said to began his tribute to his wife, outgoing board chair Mindy Zeitzer, in an acknowledged homage to The Jewish Review Podcast’s standard opener.
A slideshow played on the wall of the chapel, narrated by Mark.
“When she was 10, she discovered earrings. When she was 11, she discovered hair ties, and at 12, she discovered braces, and she went on her first trip to Israel,” he said.
The details ranged from the humorous – her parents dressed as Gumby for her bat mitzvah – to the essential – how she had not wanted to participate in the ritual as a form of rebellion against her Jewish heritage but later became deeply involved with Jewish community throughout high school and college, where the couple met, and into their time in Philadelphia.
“She started making challah. Really good Challah. And then this happened,” Mark Zeitzer said, as the slideshow displayed a picture of their eldest son, Noah, “and then she made some more challah.”
Eventually, pictures of their other two sons, Ari and Ezra, appeared on screen, followed by another picture of a sweet, eggy loaf with the words, “and then she made some more challah.”
“Somewhere along the line, she had time to volunteer for Federation. I still haven’t figured this out, but she’s done it,” Zeitzer said. “She got involved with allocations, and allocations is notoriously known as a lot of work, but she really got to know the community, and she loved it, and she continued her volunteer work.”
“One of the greatest joys of my job,” Blattner said, “is that every two to three years, I get a new best friend and that’s the Jewish Federation chair.”
“[Mindy Zeitzer] makes time for everything, for every meeting, for every call, whatever needs to be done” Blattner continued. “She’s thoughtful. She always wants to do what is right, not always what is most popular, and that’s what leadership is all about.”
As a thank you for her service, Blattner presented Zeitzer with a custom Seder set crafted by local artist Eddy Shuldman.
“Never did I imagine standing up here in front of the Jewish community having concluded a three year term of being board chair,” Zeitzer said. “I really could not be more proud to be part of this organization, to lead the board, to work with the incredible professional team and to partner with Marc.”
Zeitzer had a gift of her own for Blattner – a bag full of Cadbury Curly Wurly bars, an approximation of the Marathon bars that Blattner had mentioned being his favorite childhood candy when the two travelled to the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly during Zeitzer’s first year as chair.
“I probably owe you a challah, since in these three years, I haven’t made you a challah. So with all my newfound time, name the flavor, and it’s yours,” she added.
She also thanked her fellow board members, the rest of the community, her children and her husband.
“Thank you for being my rock, my ultimate cheerleader, my partner in every sense of the word, your unwavering support, your steady calmness when I was freaking out or doubting myself,” she said. “Because let’s be clear, you’re the calm one.”
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A four-word phrase marked the turning of the page from one chapter of JFGP’s story to the next.
“Leslie, it’s your turn,” Zeitzer said.
The last stage of the annual meeting marked the installation of Leslie Beard as the new chair of JFGP’s board. She’s the sixth woman to lead the Federation, and her election to the role makes Portland the first and only of America’s 30 largest Federations to elect three consecutive women as board chair.
“I know that she will bring such thoughtfulness to this role,” Zeitzer said of her successor. “She comes from a dedicated Federation family in Milwaukee, where her father served as chair of the board and her mother as campaign chair. I know how proud they must be of you.”
“I’m just truly honored to be the new Board Chair,” Beard said. “And thank you to the board and to Mindy for your confidence in me. I look forward to building on the board’s cohesiveness and accountability.”
She also thanked Birnbach, with whom she has co-chaired the last two annual campaigns, as well as Rich Meyer, who will succeed her in that role.
“[My parents’] legacy of Jewish leadership in Milwaukee, Wisconsin continues to guide me, and I hope to carry that forward now, building a legacy for my own family and for our community here in Portland as chair,” she said. “I want to thank each of you for your support for the Federation. None of us can do this work alone, but together, we can make a real difference.”
A recording of the annual meeting is available online at jewishportland.org.