Kehilla’s membership is rapidly approaching 500 households! This change can provide challenges and opportunities. We, the Board, are eager to assure that social connections, lived values, and the web of mutual support this community has always had, are maintained as we go from a small group of folks to a larger and more diverse community.
As the Board of Trustees, we wish to open an active channel of communication with our members, both those who’ve had active participation in Kehilla’s communal life and those who can’t grasp where to begin. While there’s no “Main Street” at Kehilla, each “center of energy” holds a door open to the curious seeker, and to borrow from Kehilla School’s mission, we are a community who seeks to “Do Jewish, Grow Community, and Harvest Justice.”
With this column, we ask how can we best communicate with members (in both directions), to inform our Board role. We hope you will answer this short Doodle survey, letting us know which of these communication options most appeal to you:
- Attend and contribute to the monthly Board meeting (shown on website Calendar)
- Monthly column in Kol Kehilla
- Group meetings in someone’s home, or at Kehilla
- Individual conversations
- Establishing a Board email address for member communications
This fiscal year, the Board has set itself these goals:
- Supporting our annual fundraising efforts, particularly Visioning Climate Justice: Embracing the Wisdom of Indigenous Leadership and Youth Activism,Saturday, March 28th at 7:00 pm at the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley;
- Recalibrating our member engagement strategies; the Board previously shared a Kol Kehillaarticle soliciting member involvement in an upcoming Greeter Program and also welcoming members who’d like to become involved in our Member Engagement Committee. If you’d like to know more, please use this link to contact member_engagement@kehillasynagogue.org.
- Increasing our communications withwith members, particularly about how each household’s annual dues support Kehilla’s financial sustainability.
Our next articles will focus on annual dues as a tool for Kehilla’s financial stability, in lead up to our May Community Meeting, where the Board hopes to lead a discussion about financial sustainability and annual dues.