Can you handle the truth?

It’s a new year full of new beginnings.

It’s a time when lots of new people come into our lives offering us wonderful opportunities, if we are open to receiving them.

post high holiday survey

Indeed, this process of integration is being played out in all of our synagogues as each of us welcomes our new members and begins the work of transforming them from newcomers to insiders.

Last year, an article I wrote—What Will You Do with theJew in Your Pew?—opined on many integration ideas. (You can access it below.)

The inspiration for the article came when I observed how much effort we put into recruiting new members, but how little we did after delivering a welcome challah once they joined.

If this topic seems relevant to you, I invite you to save the date for an upcoming SLI program on Membership Integration on October 14 at the UJA NNJ offices in Paramus. (More info available at www.ujannj.org/sli.) Riffing on that theme, I began to think about how our synagogues might be evaluated on other offerings.

For a number of synagogues, the High Holy Days are their single largest event of the year. They expend months of planning, learning, and coordinating to offer a meaningful and satisfying experience for the biggest crowds of the year. We know this is a major and unique opportunity. We think long and hard about

what compelling messages we want to convey to make the

most out of the opportunity.

My question is: “How do you know if you have succeeded?” Many synagogues engage in High Holy Day post mortems to review all of the aspects of those intense days. How do we gather that information? Whose opinions are taken into consideration, or are we only considering anecdotal information and the opinions of those around the meeting table?

Can you handle the truth? This year, why not set about compiling real data to truly inform your discussion and decision making.

Consider asking questions from the mundane to the spiritual. Check out our excellent sample survey from Temple Emanu-El of Closter, NJ (shared with permission), located in the B.R.E.A.D. (Best, Replicable, Expandable, Adaptable, Doable programs that work) section of the SLI website at www.ujannj.org/sli.

In a world where choices abound I encourage you to embrace the truth and use it as a stepping stone for enhancement and change.

Wishing you a happy and healthy 5771.

Lisa

Lisa Harris Glass, FSA

What will you DO with the JEW in your PEW?

What will you DO with your JEW in your PEW? It’s time to talk integration.

After the high holy days is the point in the year when most congregations have seen the largest influx of new members that they are bound to get. We have gained members through outreach, open houses, pre-school and religious school . . . now what?

It seems that so many of our congregations spend (and rightfully so) a large amount of time and resources recruiting new members. We then seek to integrate the new member by bringing them a challah on Shabbat and perhaps even welcoming them at a new member Shabbat dinner in the synagogue. After that, then what? What is your plan? To truly be successful at creating life-long members an integration plan must be developed, nurtured and updated.

The low-hanging fruit of integration includes such things as:

• Make sure new members are entered into the database so they will receive e-mail and snail mail.
• Be sure to make sure that any yahrzeit information has been entered in to your system so notifications can be sent.
• Be sure to enter new members’ Hebrew names onto your Sanctuary rolodex so when they are called for an honor (aliyah) their names are on file.
• Check to see what committees or interests a new member has checked off on his/her application and forward that information along so new members are invited to participate. Follow up with committee chairs to be sure they were.
• Beware of using terms on notices and in articles such as, “after services” and “after minyan” without mentioning what time those services and minyan take place. New members are unlikely to have this information memorized.

Havurot groups (friendship circles) are another way that many synagogues use to integrate people into social groups. These havurot may be based upon common interests, common time in life (singles, young marrieds, married without kids, married with kids, empty nester, single again, senior, GLBT). These groups often become the foundational structure for a synagogue with many groups staying together for decades.

The above steps are great, but they are not enough. If a welcome challah, shabbat dinner, committee work and havurot are the only integration plans at your synagogue I would ask you to do more. I urge you to do more. The above is a good start. But we can do better. Consider the following:

• Give new members an opportunity to have a private or group meeting/meal with the rabbi, cantor, school director, executive director. Developing a relationship with the rabbi and other professionals are key to member integration. It is the best way for people to know that they are recognized, known and appreciated. Further, is lays a groundwork for the future for times when these members will be interacting with them on a more intense and intimate level regarding life cycle events.
• Are you Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, Orthodox, Modern Orthodox? Do your members know what that means? Take the time to explain what your religious practices are to new members. You would do well to spell out the specific observance customs of your community. For instance, do you do a full Torah reading or are you on the triennial cycle? Do women count for minyan? Are members encouraged to participate as service leaders and Torah and Haftarah readers? Etc.
• 
  
  Take the time to explain to your members your style of worship? Remember, some people actually join your synagogue without ever having attended a service. Different synagogues have different worship customs (for example do you stand for the entire Aleinu or sit down after Ain Od? Does everyone stand for Kaddish or only the mourners and those observing yahrzeit? Are you a synagogue where community members wish each other “l’shana tova” or are you more of a “gut yontiff” community? Knowing the customs of your community will go a long way to making people feel “in the know” or like “insiders.”
• 
  
  Do we provide new members with a map of our building? Doing this helps by explaining your synagogue “jargon” (Not everyone will know what you mean when you refer to “Weinstein Hall,” or “Littman Loge.”). Also, some synagogues only unlock certain doors on Shabbat and even different doors for the high holy days. Walking to the wrong door can be frustrating and embarrassing. Pass this information along. Members should also know where the rest rooms and coat rooms are. I would go so far as to encourage you to communicate fire exits and fire extinguisher locations. The location of first aid and AED devices and your evacuation plan if you have one. Of course, your building should have good signage so it is easy for people to navigate their way once they are in the building.

What great integration techniques are you using in your synagogue? Please feel free to comment so we can learn from eachother.

Edited August 2010

Crafting Your Compelling High Holy Day Message

It’s not too late to craft a compelling, powerful High Holiday speech! Click here (leads to the SLI landing page and then look on the right for the phone) to spend fifteen minutes listening to SLI’s August 5th teleconference on “Crafting Your High Holiday Message”, presented by SLI Director Lisa Harris Glass.

Membership Season

Duck season! Wabbit season! Membership season. It's July, and it's hot. So, stay inside and work on your membership plan. What are you going to do this summer to meet affiliated and formerly affiliated people in your catchment area and attract them to your insitution? Here are a few items to consider . . .

1. Make sure you are open for business for new members. Is your membership kit/brochure up-to-date? Is there a letter of welcome from the rabbi and president and education director in it? Are there descriptions of your programs? Service times? A map of your facility? Web-site information? An application and a list of your fees? Great! Now, IS THE WHOLE THING ON LINE? A great on-line application package that I came across can be viewed at: www.mjcby.org/Membership.html.

2. Traditional open houses are still a great idea and you should definitely schedule a couple; however, synagogues need to be a little more out of the box when figuring out where you will go to meet prospective members.

a. One idea is to use geo mapping to find out where your members live. (A great free tool is http://www.batchgeo.com/.) You can easily download your members' addresses into the utility and batchgeo will map your membership. Once done, this can be a tool for figuring out where to focus your membership activities such as advertising, mezzuzah hunting and parlor meetings during which you can even offer to set up carpools.

b. The batchgeo tool can also help you focus on where to host your out-of-building activites. Consider a playground playgroup, bookstore or library story time, book discussion or speaker, or a friend finder table in your local supermarket.

c. Why not plan a synagogue reunion at your local town pool. This is great if your pool offers a day rate. If your pool does not, call and see if the synagogue can book a party. Many town pools already offer birthday party deals. Consider this a giant anniversary party. Just think, when non-members see all the fun that your members are having together as a group, they will just naturally want to join the fun.

d. Take a table at the local town fair or farmer's market and offer a raffle item so you can collect names and addresses.


3. Signage is important.

a. Hang a banner on your building such as, "Now accepting new members." or "Ask us about High Holiday tickets." or some other catchy phrase. Your building is a great canvas for your message.

b. Not situated well to put a banner on your building . . . ? Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael in Springfield, NJ bought an ad on a billboard in the middle of their town to adverstise their presence there (as they are located off the beaten track.) The synagogue found that this way of advertising was not prohibitively expensive at all when compared with advertising in local print media.

c. Buy some ad time at your local movie theater. Let people know you are there while they are waiting for the coming attractions.

What has worked for you? Feel free to share some of your great membership ideas.

B'shalom, Lisa

Two years with no raise . . .

It's budget season and once again many synagogues (and other non-profit organizations) are facing income projections lower than they had hoped for when they were doing last year's budget. Many of you took real and extensive measures to trim our budgets last year. The results, in many instances, was a lean budget with almost no fat left. Now in the Spring of 2010, many synagogues are engaged in putting together a 2010-2011 budget that has not significantly eased since last spring.
Last year many synagogues gave no raises to non-contract staff and even asked contractual staff to forego increases they were contractually entitled to. This year many are contemplating a similar situation for non-contract staff again. While every employee should be grateful to have a job in this economy, we must also keep in mind that staff morale is a real issue that effects productivity.
If you cannot give money this year. Consider giving things that cost the synagogue little or nothing to give. For instance, perhaps you could offer an additional week of vacation in lieu of an increase. You could also offer free high holiday tickets, synagogue membership, and building usage for little or no impact on your bottom line.
Afterall, expenses have gone up for your staff. They are paying more for health insurance, property taxes and grocery bills. As their incomes have stagnated their ability to afford what they need has narrowed. I encourage you to get creative so your staff will know that they are valued by your community even when you cannot show them in the form of money.
B'shalom, Lisa

I've been giving some thought to how synagogues can assure that their volunteers meet with success. I've always been a big proponent of giving people the tools they need to be successful at their jobs. I promote the use board handbooks for all synagogues containing contact information for all officers, trustees, committee chairs and staff; constitutions, by-laws, fund information, yearly calendar of events, etc.
A couple of years ago I developed a concept called the "Committee Chair Covenant" which outlined what tools committee chairs need for success and additionally included a list of expectations for committee chairs.
Recently, I discovered a wonderful Event Planning Guide from Temple Beth El of Aptos, California. http://www.tbeaptos.org/events/event_planner.shtml
This guide takes the user through the steps of creating a program.
From the event proposal form, to facility services and calendaring, publicity, and mailings, there is no guess work involved. This workbook includes such items as an event countdown calendar, explanation of costs, reimbursement policy, budget worksheet, keeping event funds secure worksheet, check request information and event contacts for the current year.
Every page ends with the following statement, "We love to make you look good! When we receive your communication in a timely manner, it's easy to do." Love it!
Why not take a moment to check out this excellent example and see how you can replicate this important tool.
B'shalom, Lisa