Officials from the Freeman Center for Jewish Life announced last month the hiring of an experienced fundraiser as its new executive director, boosting efforts to improve the center's financial footing.
Jonathan Gerstl, who has worked for various Jewish organizations around the country and in Israel for the last 12 years, will assume the post July 1. The Philadelphia native and Temple University graduate will be charged with bolstering the Freeman Center's depleted reserve.
Gerstl said he hopes to make programming the focus of the Freeman Center's fundraising efforts and its efforts to involve students. The more options the center provides to students, he said, the more donors will be willing to give.
"I'm looking for a place where each student finds some way to participate in the Jewish experience, whether it's eating kosher food with other students or celebrating Jewish culture," Gerstl said.
Dr. Harold Kudler, chair of the center's board of directors, said Gerstl will focus on serving students, rather than the Jewish community at large.
"I think the board was primarily impressed by his perceptiveness and his understanding of how people function in the organization," said Kudler, also an associate clinical professor of psychology and behavioral sciences. "He quickly picked up on the issues facing the board and the center and, in particular, understands our wish to develop a Freeman Center focused on Jewish students and developing their Jewish life."
This philosophy has been missing from Freeman Center programming, said senior Nicole Maltz, a member of the center's student board. She said many students feel that the board of directors has not been responsive to students wants; she added that Gerstl impressed her and other students.
"He seemed to understand that the Duke Jewish community is very diverse, from the very religious to the very secular," Maltz said. "He seemed very willing also to bridge the gap between adults and students."
Current director Roger Kaplan said he has not yet decided future plans.
Officials began the search for a new director in January after announcing a $200,000 deficit on the center's $500,000 operating budget. Kudler said the deficit was caused by a desire to be self-supporting--without University funding--and increasing operating costs for the center's facility, which was completed in 1999.
However, increased fundraising by Gerstl, the acquisition of the center's kosher kitchen by Dining Services and additional cost-cutting could bring the budget in balance as early as this year, Kudler said. The center's operating budget will be only $350,000 next year, he said, with most of the reduction coming from having no kitchen expenses. Kudler also said the center will share more resources with the University in areas such as maintenance.
"Operating costs are the first concern. We want to make sure we're building reserves and not spending reserves," Kudler said.
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