Becoming Stakeholders

nlevitinNow that the holidays are behind us, I want to once again thank all those who invested so much of their time and energy into making them such a wonderful experience for us all. We are blessed to be a part of such an engaged community.

To continue to thrive, it is necessary for us to deepen and broaden that engagement. Therefore, as I announced during the High Holidays, the Board has begun consideration of a new membership model that seeks to encourage each of us to shift our perspective from one of being a dues-paying member to one of being a stakeholder in the synagogue. We are about to have the congregation join in that discussion and look forward to your response.

In our traditional “country club” model of membership, we pay our dues and receive a package of services. If we are not happy, we try to get “them”—the “club”—to do something about it. If that doesn’t work and we continue to be unhappy, we either stay as members resigned to a certain level of unhappiness, or we leave.  If, on the other hand, we are satisfied with the services, we re-up every year.

So what does the stakeholder model offer and how is it different?  Well, one way it has a direct impact is that it ups the ante. We are not merely buying a package of services; we take a stand on being an active part of the community. For the most part it removes the concept of “us” and “them.” As stakeholders, we all have something literally at stake in the success or failure of realizing our vision of what Shomrei should and can be.

I suppose another way of putting it might be the difference between being in the stands and being on the playing field. I can already hear people saying, “Hey, wait a minute, I didn’t sign up to be on the field!” I understand that. What we are hoping the new round of Community Conversations will provide is an opportunity to explore what it might actually be like to be on the playing field––to have a direct impact on the course we take to meet the challenges of the future.

The cold facts are that religious institutions across the country are feeling the painful effects of a generation who no longer seems to find value in the older or more traditional membership model. It seems that people either don’t want any part of it, or that they actually want to be engaged, in a very personal way, in community building.

I very much look forward to exploring these issues with all of you in the weeks ahead and hope that whichever model we decide on, we will have all benefited from a spirited engagement in the issues and challenges that face us.

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What do you think?