by Michael Saxe-Taller, Executive Director
We are coming near the end of our fiscal year, paying our last bills, receiving our final gifts and closing the books on the 2014-2015 year. As I prepare for the final board meeting of the year, I have been reflecting on what a fine year it has been. Given some of the financial and administrative challenges that this community has faced in the past 16 months, we are in remarkably good shape.
Here are some of the highlights that you might not see or know about from this fine year:
• The board of directors just approved Kehilla’s first balanced budget in many years!
• Final numbers are not in, but it looks like we will end the year in the black, with a modest budget surplus!
• We ended the year with 386 member households, an increase of five households from last year.
• Through the extraordinary generosity of our congregants and the incredible hard work of the Generosity Committee and its chairs, Susan Freundlich and Joel Kreisberg, we raised over $150,000 this year.
• We redesigned our website, streamlining the content, making it more secure and user-friendly and adding a new members-only section as well as the ability to make recurring payments. All of this while keeping the same beautiful look.
• Thanks to the partnership and hard work of our bookkeeper, Molly Melamed, we have put into place new financial systems and are current on both our payables and receivables.
• We completed the redesign of our beautiful sanctuary.
• We have made major new technological upgrades, including our email, electronic calendar, file server and phone lines.
• With the exception of the departure of school assistant, Malka Stover (who is beginning a chaplaincy internship), we are returning with all of our current staff.
• And we have had dozens and dozens of congregants take on meaningful leadership of many committees, working groups and projects.
It has been quite a year, wouldn’t you agree? I look forward to more growth and change in 2015-2016, and pleased to do it in partnership with all of you.