FAQs*
1. What happened to CAJE?
CAJE ceased operating on the last business day of February after laying off all of its employees. CAJE filed for bankruptcy protection in early March.
2. Is there anything that can be done to save CAJE?
Yes and no! CAJE is in bankruptcy--an irreversible process of dissolution. We are forming a new organization that, for the moment, will be called NewCAJE. This new group will be formed as a non-profit corporation that will meet the charitable organization criteria of the IRS and be provided with 501(c)(3) (non-profit) status.
3. Why did CAJE file for bankruptcy protection?
CAJE had used its available cash reserves to pay deficits and retirement fund obligations for a number of years and had depleted it. They owed significant debt and even if they had had a conference in 2009, they couldn't have repaid their debts without significant outside support, which was not forthcoming.
4. What type of bankruptcy protection has CAJE sought?
CAJE elected to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy that permits the Trustee to marshal and liquidate all of the identified assets. In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy all of the assets of the debtor are used to pay the known creditors in accordance with preferences established by law. They could have chosen a Chapter 11 bankruptcy which would have given the debtor and the creditors the opportunity to negotiate a restructuring plan to permit the debtor to pay off the creditors while continuing to operate in accordance with the court approved plan.
5. How did CAJE get into the predicament of not having sufficient operating funds to organize another Conference?
Reduction in operating funds occurred over a number of years as solicitation efforts did not meet expected goals. This fact, coupled with increased staffing and overspending at the last few Conferences, significantly depleted CAJE's cash reserves. Add to this the decision by the former Officers, Directors and Executive Director not to seek continuing and new memberships for 2009 and their decision to cancel the 2009 Conference. This significantly impaired any chance for CAJE to obtain new funds from its traditional funders and Federations.
6. Are there any major creditors that are still owed monies by CAJE?
In the original Petition for Chap 7 Bankruptcy, CAJE indicated that it owed over $1 million dollars to potential creditors. The University of Vermont was stated to be owed $529,943.00 as of the date of filing in March 2009. It is believed that only the University of Vermont remains a significant creditor. CAJE had an agreement with UVM to give them 25% down in August before the conference. The next payment was not due until March of 2009. CAJE filed for bankruptcy in February and defaulted on its debt to UVM.
7. Will there be any monies remaining when the CAJE bankruptcy is concluded?
CAJE will have no monies remaining when it emerges from bankruptcy as the filing was for a complete liquidation. Whatever money there is will go to UVM to satisfy part of the debt they are owed.
8. If we rebuild a NewCAJE, will we be obligated to first repay CAJE's debts?
No. Only the former corporation owes the money and it has no assets. A new group can acquire the assets of the former organization and not be obligated to pay its debts. On the other hand, many people feel we have a moral obligation to repay Vermont for its services. Until the bankruptcy is concluded, we will not learn how much is still owed to the University.
9. How can NewCAJE run our organization without information and software from CAJE?
It would be difficult. The bankruptcy proceeding permits us to purchase the Intellectual Property assets of the "old" CAJE, including the CAJE name and logo(s) for each of the Conferences, the "member" database, conference database and office programs, the domain name
10. How will the new organization plan and implement a national Conference?
We will need to be able to afford a minimum staff consisting of a conference coordinator and an administrative assistant. We will need to rely heavily on our most significant asset, our volunteers. For the first six years of CAJE's existence, the conferences were run with one conference coordinator and a volunteer Mazkirut. Over the years, hundreds of you have volunteered to do one aspect of conference planning or another. We are counting on these volunteers to come forward one more time to use their expertise to put together the first conference and to mentor new volunteers who want to be part of this effort.
11. How will we finance the NewCAJE?
We will begin to raise funds by soliciting charitable donations and tax-deductible contributions from CAJE's present and former membership. We will use the unique resources we have to raise money in new and innovative ways. Soon we will announce our first fundraising venture-LEHRHAUS ONLINE a series of monthly Webinars featuring volunteer scholars and rabbis who want to support NewCAJE through their teaching. To succeed, of course, you will need to attend these Webinars and to publicize them widely through your institutions and social media groups. The profit from LEHRHAUS Online along with member contributions will keep our operations self-sustainable. At least, that is our hope.
12. Given the bankruptcy of CAJE, how can donors be certain that the donations we give now to NewCAJE will be used properly?
Our organization is in a formative stage. We have an Organizing Committee serving as a temporary board of oversight. This committee is chaired by Cherie Koller-Fox and includes: Treasurer, Sandy Piltch, Pearlstone Conference Chair, Bunnie Piltch, and Peter Stark. Financial oversight and reporting is the responsibility of the Organizing Committee. We have by-laws and articles of incorporation that will be posted on our website www.newcaje.org
NewCAJE will follow established accounting procedures and will report its budget to its membership every quarter. There will also be a 990 form prepared and available to the public. Right now, NewCAJE has no paid employees. The monies that we raise will fund our financial priorities: acquiring the assets of CAJE, paying the necessary legal fees, producing the first NewCAJE conference, reaching out to the next generation, and other activities that promote NewCAJE and serve our membership.
13. Will we have membership as in the "old" CAJE organization?
Yes. Anyone who donates to NewCAJE will become a founding member and will receive on-going updates on Twitter and invitations to local and national events and conversations. This membership will expire before the first conference.
14. Will NewCAJE be just like "old" CAJE?
Yes and No. All of us appreciated the core values of CAJE: pluralism, networking, torah le-shma, re-jew-venation and celebration of Jewish teaching. We learned from each other and shared new ideas. We loved having access to the best music, books and techniques available. We valued the inclusive definition of teachers as including all who transmit Jewish culture and identity. Today that definition would also include new fields that have emerged over the years, like filmmakers, environmentalists, high school educators and service learning educators. We hope that we can build on the positive core of CAJE; however, we will need to re-imagine ourselves and our field in order to be ready to face the challenges of the 21st Century. New leaders of a NewCAJE will surely emerge and will have new ideas for the conference and the Coalition that will change the face of NewCAJE.
15. What about subsidies for people to attend our conference?
Many teacher subsidies were cancelled from budgets with the demise of CAJE. There are at least two ways to approach this issue. One is to lobby our communities, our Federations and schools to restore the subsidies. It is in the best interest of our communities to support us in our ongoing learning. Another approach is to organize locally and find ways to fund our own teachers' subsidies.
16. Why are CAJE vatikim involved in jumpstarting NewCAJE instead of waiting until a new generation does it by themselves?
The effort to bring an organization back from bankruptcy, re-establish it and redefine it for a new reality, is a difficult one and we believe can only be successful if young and old partner together for our common interests.
17. What is the last CAJE board’s position on what happened to CAJE?
We received the following communication from Iris Koller, last President of CAJE:
I took the time to read through the NewCAJE website. I came across the FAQs you had posted and had some questions about what was written. Having double checked and confirmed my thinking, I am attaching a document that clarifies a few of the statements made within the FAQs.
1. What happened to CAJE?
CAJE ceased operating on the last business day of February after laying off all of its employees. CAJE filed for bankruptcy protection in early March.
Clarification
CAJE formally filed for bankruptcy on March 5, 2009. Jeffrey Lasday continued serving as CAJE’s Executive Director until bankruptcy was formally declared. Jeff continues to work on bankruptcy proceedings with CAJE’s pro bono legal team, PBGC pension team and court appointed Trustee.
3. Why did CAJE file for bankruptcy protection?
CAJE had used its available cash reserves to pay deficits and retirement fund obligations for a number of years and had depleted it. They owed significant debt and even if they had had a conference in 2009, they couldn't have repaid their debts without significant outside support, which was not forthcoming.
Clarification
CAJE’s business plan for running the organization started breaking down about five years ago when CAJE membership and conference attendance started to sharply decline. Though CAJE annual expenses stayed within budgeted parameters, anticipated income from membership, donations, and conference attendance fell significantly short. These shortfalls started occurring just as CAJE moved into larger office space and took on more staff. CAJE turned to its reserves to cover budget deficits and by the end of 2008 the CAJE reserves were depleted.
4. What type of bankruptcy protection has CAJE sought?
CAJE elected to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy that permits the Trustee to marshal and liquidate all of the identified assets. In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy all of the assets of the debtor are used to pay the known creditors in accordance with preferences established by law. They could have chosen a Chapter 11 bankruptcy which would have given the debtor and the creditors the opportunity to negotiate a restructuring plan to permit the debtor to pay off the creditors while continuing to operate in accordance with the court approved plan.
Clarification
Based upon counsel from both the business consultant with whom CAJE was closely working and CAJE’s legal team there was no other choice than to declare Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Without a realistic business plan for paying back the debt, Chapter 11 bankruptcy was not an option.
5. How did CAJE get into the predicament of not having sufficient operating funds to organize another Conference?
Reduction in operating funds occurred over a number of years as solicitation efforts did not meet expected goals. This fact, coupled with increased staffing and overspending at the last few Conferences, significantly depleted CAJE's cash reserves. Add to this the decision by the former Officers, Directors and Executive Director not to seek continuing and new memberships for 2009 and their decision to cancel the 2009 Conference. This significantly impaired any chance for CAJE to obtain new funds from its traditional funders and Federations.
Clarification
The problem was not so much that CAJE solicitations (fund raising) didn’t meet budgeted goals, but that anticipated income from conferences and membership fell short. There was not over spending at conferences. Conference expenses came in as budgeted, however income due to smaller participation fell short.
In addition, it was only after CAJE was unable to obtain significant new funds from foundations, federations or other donors (in part due to the economic downturn), and carefully surveying the field to determine financial viability of a conference, that the 2009 conference was cancelled. CAJE leadership chose not to seek 2009 membership dues when it felt it could not morally ask people to pay for membership when they could not guarantee that there would be an organization to which to belong.
6. Are there any major creditors that are still owed monies by CAJE?
In the original Petition for Chap 7 Bankruptcy, CAJE indicated that it owed over $1 million dollars to potential creditors. The
Clarification
CAJE filed for bankruptcy
7. Will there be any monies remaining when the CAJE bankruptcy is concluded?
CAJE will have no monies remaining when it emerges from bankruptcy as the filing was for a complete liquidation. Whatever money there is will go to UVM to satisfy part of the debt they are owed.
Clarification
Any remaining CAJE assets will be distributed pro rata among CAJE’s court approved creditors, based upon total amount of available assets against total court approved debts. For example, if CAJE owes creditor X 50% of the total debt, then creditor X would be entitled to 50% of the total available assets. The
12. Given the bankruptcy of CAJE, how can donors be certain that he donations we give now to NewCAJE will be used properly?
Our organization is in a formative stage. We have an Organizing Committee serving as a temporary board of oversight. This committee is chaired by Cherie Koller-Fox and includes: Treasurer, Sandy Piltch, Pearlstone Conference Chair, Bunnie Piltch, and Peter Stark. Financial oversight and reporting is the responsibility of the Orgnizing Committee. We have by-laws and articles of incorporation that will be posted on our website www.newcaje.org
NewCAJE will follow established accounting procedures and will report its budget to its membership every quarter. There will also be a 990 form prepared and available to the public. Right now, NewCAJE has no paid employees. The monies that we raise will fund our financial priorities: acquiring the assets of CAJE, paying the necessary legal fees, producing the first NewCAJE conference, reaching out to the next generation, and other activities that promote NewCAJE and serve our membership.
Clarification/Question
This section seems to imply that the funds to purchase CAJE’s intellectual property have yet to be raised. There is no definitive timeline for the Trustee. The property can not be turned over without full payment. The Trustee holds title to the assets until such time that he conveys title pursuant to an order of the Bankruptcy Court.
*NewCAJE has attempted to fairly and accurately represent the facts concerning the financial status of CAJE and the events leading up to its closing down in accordance with its present knowledge of those facts as uncovered to date.
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