A Midyear Report

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nlevitinWe have reached the mid-point of our fiscal year (June 1 – May 31).  A question I have often heard since we introduced our new dues model is “how are we doing?”  I am pleased to report that we are doing quite well. Here are just a few highlights:

 

 

 

Sustaining Share Membership Model

  • Through our Sustaining Share membership, we have raised approximately $533,000 in pledges. That compares favorably to the total of membership dues and Kol NIdre pledges in the previous year of $495,000. Almost 40% of our member-households pledged at least 10% more through the Sustaining Share model than their membership dues and Kol Nidre pledges in 2014-15.
  • As a result of the success of the Sustaining Share pledges and our efforts at cutting expenses wherever possible, our financial situation is stable. Our overall cash flow status since June has been unprecedented in terms of recent history. For the first time in years, we have money in the bank and our new invoicing system is working well, providing us with a steady stream of cash. Arrears from prior years continue to be addressed by the AR committee and we are making significant headway. We still need to ensure that we come in on budget. Right now we are projecting to break even. Preschool enrollment, the Annual Dinner and other fund-raising efforts we will be pursuing are critical factors in making that happen. Most important, however, is that people honor the commitments they make to Shomrei especially the payment plans they have agreed to.
  • The not-so-good news is that as a result of LAST YEAR’s deficit, we have had to pay some of the bills from 2014-15 from this year’s cash, which has created some cash flow pressures. It is important to note that this is a legacy issue, not a result of this year’s budget. This is a situation that we are working on resolving as quickly as we can through the collection of arrears and other methods we continue to explore.

 

Membership

  • Our current membership stands at 187 units. During this past year, we gained 13 families, many of them young families with children and our new membership model has made joining our community easier for many of them. We lost 15 members (12 full-time and 3 associates.) Of those, four families joined other local synagogues; the remainder is made up of people who have moved, are empty nesters who no longer feel the need to affiliate, or those who passed away. This continues a trend we have experienced for the past several years of membership remaining more or less flat.
  • Our membership committee is addressing this and has made a significant effort to reach out to potential members using HMT, the Chanukah party and other recent events as a magnet to draw people in. It’s working! Several new families have started attending Shomrei events and have expressed interest in joining our community.

JLC and Preschool

  • The JLC currently has 53 children enrolled and the Preschool has 42 children. This is 5 preschool students less than we budgeted for, however, we have reason to believe that as the students in our toddler-time class move into the preschool, that enrollment will increase next year.

USY

  • For the first time in many years, we now have an active USY Chapter at Shomrei. USY teens attend local, regional and national events, interacting with teens from synagogue youth groups near and far.

Hinei Mah Tov (HMT)

  • HMT, our intergenerational Shabbat Service which meets twice a month is back on the map! Under the guidance of our Congregant Organizer, Education Director and committed volunteers, and with the active participation of HMT families, attendance has risen dramatically and is typically anywhere from 35 to 75 people!

Social Action

  • MESH Café – Shomrei continues its long tradition of feeding the hungry once a week with delicious meals prepared by our dedicated volunteers.
  • IHN – Another example of Shomrei’s commitment to the community-at-large is our 25 year partnership with Interfaith Hospitality Network housing the homeless for one week during the summer and one week at the end of the year.
  • Shomrei Shares, our annual effort to provide homeless families who have recently moved into an apartment with much needed items, was a success. Preschool families took full responsibility for responding to the needs of one of the nine families on the list, JLC families took responsibility for another family, and many congregants contributed items to the rest of the families.
  • We have strengthened our ties with Israel through Rav Siach (a program to strengthen and deepen the relationship between Conservative communities in the Diaspora and Masorti communities in Israel) and an Israeli congregation in Petach Tikvah. Also, we recently co-sponsored the Beit Tefilah Yisraeli concert held on the afternoon of the first night of Chanukah.

Social/Community Events

  • Preparations for our Annual Dinner Event – Shomrei Celebrates, which will honor Aileen Grossberg and celebrate the entire Shomrei Community are well under way.
  • In addition to HMT, Shomrei’s Chanukah party and our Wine Gladdens the Heart events have been huge successes with high attendance and enthusiastic participants.
  • Shabbat Across Shomrei, where congregants host congregants in their home for Friday night Shabbat dinner, once again proved to be a meaningful experience for many.
  • Taste of Shabbat – a recent Friday night service in a congregant’s home with everyone bringing potluck dinner demonstrated the warmth and vibrancy of our community wherever we conduct our services.
  • Monthly musical Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat services provide our community with a gem of service led by Rabbi Greenstein and accompanied by Shomrei’s very own Park Street Band.

Communications

  • Our online publications Shomrei Week and Kol Emunah keep our congregation up-to-date on what’s happening at Shomrei. And, beautifully designed email blasts make sure that we are reminded of all important events.

Miscellaneous

  • A community-wide request to contribute to Jorge Moreno’s retirement gift received a wonderful response. A check in the amount of $6,300 was presented to Jorge the day before he left. He shared fond memories of working at Shomrei for 22 years and said he will miss us. We shall miss him!

We still have much work to do with the volunteer component of the Sustaining Share model.  We are going to be focusing on this in the months to come, encouraging our membership to step up.  As you may well be aware, we’re still functioning with the same 15-20% or so of members volunteering to do most of the work for the entire congregation.  Our community cannot afford to fund everything we want and therefore it’s critical that volunteers step up to help – in the office, running programs, preparing Kiddushes, and MESH meals for the hungry, etc.

So, with all the positive things that are happening, there is still much work to do in the days ahead. Our efforts to-date are making a meaningful difference. The critical area for us to focus on, in addition to the volunteer component of Sustaining Share, is membership. Given the introduction of our new membership model we have a unique opportunity to reach out and enroll new members. I invite everyone in our community to keep an eye out for their unaffiliated friends and neighbors and to introduce them to Shomrei. To increase membership would have a huge impact on our budget and our future.

Once again, I want to thank you for the success of our new membership model, your generous support of our community and all you bring to it. Through your continued support and our reaching out to those looking for a spiritual community, we have a wonderful opportunity to ensure that Shomrei grows and continues to flourish. As we continue to sustain Shomrei, Shomrei sustains us! Thank you.

 

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Nick Levitin
President, Congregation Shomrei Emunah

 

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