It is with a heavy heart that the PresenTense Group has decided to freeze the publication of PresenTense Magazine, starting with this Winter edition of the magazine.

As you may know, PresenTense Magazine had an ethic of fiscal sustainability since its founding in December 2005. From Issue 1, PresenTense was able to finance its operations, layout, print and distribution thanks to advertising and subscriptions, and the volunteer effort of hundreds of young adults around the world who gave of their time, ideas and skills to grow the conversation around the question of Jewish identity and life in today’s day and age.

Over the past few years, as the PresenTense Group grew more focused around its Community Entrepreneur Partnership programs - and supporting a growing community of social entrepreneurs and their volunteer coaches and mentors - PresenTense Magazine continued to be budgeted separately from the growing operations of the PresenTense Group. We did this because we believed our different units could stand on their own so long as the demand was there, and for nearly three years, was able to sustain itself and grow.

But this changed in recent years. Like many other publications across the world, the fiscal crisis that kicked off in 2008 crippled our advertising revenue, leading us to operate in a loss since the Spring of 2010. This Fall, 2011, we came to the conclusion that it would be impossible for us to recoup our losses or bring the publication back into break-even in the time-being, and so we decided to freeze the magazine publication until further notice.

Once a year, we at the PresenTense Group try to take a step back to reflect on our plans for the year ahead through the prism of our mission and the requirements of the sector we work in. It's an engaging, inspiring and sometimes frustrating process, one that we throw ourselves into out of the recognition that we are working in PresenTense to serve a higher calling, and that the community which makes our work possible deserves to know what it is we are planning to do with their volunteer hours and their dollars.

This year's process began in June, when we brought together our staff from around the world to look a few years ahead and envision how we'd like the future to be, and how we could use the tools we have to get there. The next two seminars, in July and August, were devoted to the more practical matters, turning those visions into reality.

The result of this process is the Year in Preview document, included here. The Year in Preview is broken into three parts: first, an introduction, giving a high-level overview of how PresenTense views the year to come, and what new assets we have at our disposal to make sure that this coming year results in successful programs and positive change for the Jewish People and the World. Second, a more in-depth look at our programs through what we've called Project Summaries, which provide a clearer look at the 'how' of what we do. Last, our budget, which can provide those with a more quantitative mind a sense of how we are allocating resources and setting priorities.

(This article contains the remarks I was planning to share at the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) General Assembly, when I was invited to speak on a panel on the youth's connection to Israel. When, due to budget considerations, JFNA reduced the size of the panel, I decided to turn the ideas into a short article instead.)

Sometimes, I've found that I can get so wrapped up in a problem that I lose perspective on how others have dealt with something similar, or even how I have dealt with the same type of problem in the past. I'm sure others join me in falling for this 'blinder effect,' and in hindsight we wished we were able to learn more from our past experience and get outside perspective. Instead of having to figure out how to get get online or even soothe a relationship that had soured each time all over again just doesn't make sense. But unfortunately, we often aren't able to get that perspective in the moment, and it seems that we humans, and especially we Jews, are less able to gain perspective when it comes to those problems that strike at our very core: our continuity, and specifically how our youth chose to carry on, or not carry on, the values we hold dear.

The issue of Israel has particularly is at the center of current debates about Jewish identity, as it should be, considering that Israel was the central project of the Jewish People over the past century. But often discussions about Israel catch us with our blinders on. So before we address the present day and the relationship or lack thereof that our youth have to Israel, let's try to gain some perspective by looking back a bit to remember the origins of our current relationship to Israel and Jewish identity.

All communities face challenges. Some are lacking high quality, engaging education, others are lacking sufficient access to resources or jobs or clean water. While the scale of the challenges differs, what is clear is that without addressing those challenges a community will never realize its own potential, and better its members so that they may better the world.

We at PresenTense believe that most communities include the inventive, innovative entrepreneurs who could solve these challenges, but unfortunately our community members do not yet know how to find and support those innovators and help them grow their ideas into solutions. That is why PresenTense developed its Community Entrepreneur Partnership - and why the SpeedInterview, the crux of the application and admission process, is built as it is.

SpeedInterviewing is the fun, fast-paced core of the admissions process. In the months before the SpeedInterviewing event, local volunteers on the Steering Committee or among the Mentor Community have determined what sorts of start-ups they would like to support, and encouraged their peers and community members to apply. On average from the dozen Community Entrepreneur programs we've run, local programs tend to draw 300% applications (or 3:1 applicants per slot), where the global program tends to bring in 1000% applications (or 10:1).

This is wonderful news. It means that the community has more than enough entrepreneurs to solve its problems! But due to resource constraints, each program can only support a certain number of entrepreneurs per cycle. How do you chose which ones?