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This session will not take place as planned. We are sorry for the inconvenience. If you'd like to schedule a one on one conversation with Rachel Sisk, please contact her at rsisk@uscj.org. Thank you.

June 4, 11:00am PDT//12:00pm MDT //1:00pm CDT //2:00pm EDT

Very Small Congregations Gathering for leaders of synagogues with under 80 member units

Topic: Endowments, Legacy Giving, Soft Income 

(a continuation of the prior topic of Generating Income Beyond Dues)

This will be an interactive discussion and will rely on your participation. Please come prepared to share what takes place at your synagogue along with the desire to learn from others. 

The conversation might include:

• Does your congregation have an endowment? How was it started? Do you have partners? Who manages it?
• Have you formally introduced legacy giving conversations? How did that work? What’s been learned?
• What fears or misconceptions exist around endowment-building? Around legacy giving?
• If you have a local Jewish community foundation, do you partner with them in any way?
• How are you maximizing facility usage (rentals, co-working, staff-sharing, early childhood, community groups), especially when the building is empty or less occupied?
• Are there partnerships with other faith communities or nonprofits that could create revenue?
• What skills, talents or expertise exist within your membership that could potentially generate income?
• What mission-aligned social enterprise models have you explored for generating income?
• What other assets does your synagogue have that could be optimized for income generation?

What else do you want to ask each other?

Staff, clergy and lay leadership are welcome.

The session is scheduled for 60 minutes. In order to optimize free-flowing conversation, notes will not be taken and it will not be recorded. It will be the final gathering of the 2025-2026 fiscal year, before a summer break.

Contact Rachel Sisk (rsisk@uscj.org) with questions or to share ideas for future discussion topics. If you wish, you may also contribute them to this list of ongoing ideas.

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