In Preparation for the Annual Congregational Meeting: A Review of the Temple Finances

Ed. Note: This article appeared in this month's Scroll and is repeated here with color charts for ease of review. As we approach the upcoming congregational meeting on June 15th, we would like to ensure that every member of the congregation has an understanding of the Temple's financial position. This article invites your feedback and ideas. We also hope to see you on June 15th at 7:30 for our Congregational celebration.

Please click on any chart below to open a larger version for ease of viewing.

Dear Temple Beth Shalom Family

All year we write and talk with you about the sacred goings on in our building – about our innovative programming, as well as the exciting ventures of our transforming professional staff. While we are blessed with a rich and ever-growing community, we need always to ensure its sustainability and development.

Because all of our members are sacred partners in the building of our community, it is important that everyone understand clearly the fiscal realities which sustain us as we continue to grow and thrive. It is our intention that this article will become an annual tradition of June reports on the financial health of our congregation.

Our Composition:


We celebrate the diversity of our community in all of its aspects. While our membership is certainly primarily based in Needham, (83% of our households), the remaining 17% of our households come from Natick, Newton, Dedham, Dover, and other neighboring communities, as well as from out-of -state.

We also have a diverse population by age (of oldest family member): 50% of our households have an oldest family member between 40 and 55 years old, 7% have an oldest family member in the 30 - 39 year old age range, and 43% have an oldest family member in the 55 years of age and older.

As a complete picture of our membership, we have grown from a congregation of 540 households eight years ago to one of over 700 households today. When we utilize comparative data from the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts, we sit in the category of synagogues with the largest number of members (500 and above) regardless of denomination (from the Union for Reform Judaism, URJ, we sit in the next-to-largest category of congregations, 500 to 1000 households).

We should be proud of how our congregation has grown in size while maintaining its warm and welcoming nature. We continue to celebrate our diversity in all of its aspects, from gender and sexual orientation to religious upbringing and ritual observance.

Our Sources of Financial Support:


Our TBS Vision reads: “Membership in our congregation and education for our children are accessible to all, regardless of financial circumstance.” It is our belief in this community that each household will contribute towards dues the amount they are able. Of the total amount of dues assessed in 2010-11, 84% were collected. The remainder of the dues was subsidized by the operating budget. This financial support is a fundamental lifeline for families who would not otherwise have sufficient resources to become or remain a part of our congregation. This fiscal reality also requires that we grow other income sources as we cannot simply forgo revenue and continue to provide excellent programming and services to our members.


The total amount of net dues accounts for 49% of the Temple’s annual operating budget. Our next largest income source stems from Teen Programs, Religious School, and Children’s Center tuitions, which amount, collectively, to 37% of all income. Additionally, we secure 4% of our annual operating income from fundraising (Taste of the Town, our Golf and Tennis Fundraiser, Elijah’s Table, High Holy Day Pledges, Fund donations), 1% from house rental, and 9% from all other sources combined (Scroll advertising, Membership Directory advertising, grant income, program fees, etc.).

Our Operating Expenses:


The largest portion of our operating expense is the 64% which funds salary for all of our staff, including clergy, professional and support staff (both full and part-time), as well as employee benefits. Building and Operations (which includes custodial services, building and outdoor maintenance, utilities, etc.) comprises 9% of operating expenses. Programming accounts for 7% of our annual operating expenses, whether fully funding or subsidizing costs for events such as our Scholar-in-Residence Weekend, Teen Programming, Oneg receptions following services, and Shabbat dinners. Other expense categories are organizational dues (a required cost in support of our parent URJ organization) at 6%, interest on our mortgage debt at 3%, contractors (consulting or contributing outside educators and musicians) at 2%, telecommunications (technology and phone costs) at 1%, and finally 8% of other miscellaneous expenses, including advertising, office supplies, printing, books, professional development, equipment, insurance and legal fees, among others.

Sustainability and Financial Implications:

In order for us to move forward as an organization, we need to not only benchmark where we are, but also to complete our analysis of what financial resources will be required to move us toward our TBS Vision, adopted last year. As our Strategic Planning work is underway, we have begun to review the information outlined above, and to create big picture assessments of the gaps between our existing structures and our vision for ourselves. So too we are actively determining strategies to help us to bridge our gaps.

To that end, we will continue to help congregants thoughtfully grow and refine their giving relationships with Temple Beth Shalom. As part of this effort, within the next months we will be unveiling a cyclical calendar of giving. These regular giving opportunities have been designed to afford people ample chance throughout the year to share their gifts and blessings. We share this calendar with you now so that you can best anticipate the ways and times at which you want to offer support:

• Summer membership renewal will include opportunities to give the gift of sustaining membership for those undergoing financial hardship.


• Celebrate the start of our school year in the fall by contributing to scholarship funds for our Education Programs through our Golf and Tennis Fundraiser.


• During the Days of Awe, our High Holy Day appeal will allow us to practice tzedakah… a most fitting way to start a new year together.


• At Chanukah, we will offer an opportunity to pledge to our scholarship endowment as we celebrate our teachers and educators who bring enlightenment to our students.


• At Pesach, we will revitalize Elijah’s Table to spiritually provide sustenance through Temple membership for those who hunger for, yet require assistance with, the associated costs.


• Finally we will spring forward into the hope of new visions for our youth funded by our Taste of the Town evening of fun and celebration, which help defray the operating costs for all our learning programs.

Invitation:

With this information in front of you, we invite you to offer feedback on this blog post that can then be utilized in our strategic planning assessment and goal-setting. As well, please mark your calendars to join us at the Annual Congregational Celebration on Wednesday, June 15th at 7:30 pm for a comprehensive Annual Report, an election of the slate of nominees for the Board of Trustees, a vote to approve our 2011-12 budget, and a celebration (with refreshments and music) of the year’s work. AND for the first time, this evening will include a ritual of welcome to our new temple leadership: we will be installing our new officers and trustees in the sanctuary at 8:45 pm. We look forward to seeing you there and we thank you for your ongoing partnership in building a sacred community of which we can all be proud, and within which we can all find our spiritual home.

Rabbi Todd Markley
Beth Pinals
Daniel Barkowitz

The Seventh Commandment: A Personal Reflection by Daniel Barkowitz

The image to the left comes from the web page for Jewish Marriage Encounter in Israel.

Ed. Note: This post, by Daniel Barkowitz, continues our series on the Ten Commandments. Credit is due to About.com's post for quotes about the Jewish Marriage Encounter philosophy of "Love is a Decision". For information on Jewish Marriage Encounter visit their web page.

Just as Faith is a decision, I believe that Love is a decision.

I remember sitting next to my wife, Rebekah, in (what was then) the Newton Sheraton Tara hotel, hanging over the Mass Pike. We were there for a Jewish Marriage Encounter Weekend, an event which promised to teach us how to better communicate with each other as a couple. We were still young in our marriage, what we referred to then as DINKS (Dual Income, No Kids) and we were excited to see what we could gain from a weekend focused on just our relationship with each other.

One of the more controversial statements made that weekend by one of the presenters is that "Love is a Decision." It was a statement that reminds couples to love the person, not the behavior.

Many people do not see why a person would have to make the decision to love since they made that decision many years ago when they said yes to one another on their wedding day. We were taught on the weekend that it is normal in married life to have periods of romance and disillusionment. This cycle is often repeated – sometimes over days, weeks, even months.

One way to break out of disillusionment is by deciding to love. Feelings change and aren't not easily controlled. Love is not only a feeling, it is more than a feeling. Love is a decision.

By saying that “Love is a decision”, I mean that I am committing myself to be open and to share when I don’t feel like it. By saying that “Love is a decision”, I am promising to make the decision to love even when I don't think my spouse deserves my love.

Saying that “Love is a decision” means that you are open to honest communication with your spouse. That's not only talking, but also listening. It is also a decision to be loved.

Making the decision to love includes the everyday, little things that you often do for one another, especially when you’re not feeling loving. From the action of deciding to love, often the feeling of love will follow.

This resonates in our Jewish tradition as well. Often the decision to do a good deed and the commitment to the mitzvot only happens after the mitzvah itself is completed. We are taught to pray with intention, but that the act of prayer itself will lead to the development of the intentionality of prayer.

--Daniel T. Barkowitz

The Second Commandment: A Personal Reflection by Daniel Barkowitz

The image to the left comes from youmademesayit.com. The image was chosen for its reference to the position of covering the eyes before saying the Shema, and also for its reference to the duality of faith - being willing to close your eyes and trust even while the world argues to keep your eyes open.

Ed. Note: This is the second in a series of ten posts in the days leading up to Shavuot. Each post explores one of the ten commandments. Today's post is written by TBS Executive Director, Daniel Barkowitz. Please feel free to add your response to this post to the comments section below. How do you experience faith and doubt? What does the second commandment mean to you? How do you interpret the commandment to have no other g-ds before G-d?

Have no other G-d before me.

I believe that faith is a Decision.

Making the decision to believe in G-d when the world argues against such faith and commitment is itself a decision. If I make the decision to have faith, even in moments where having faith is hard, then the decision to have faith will bring me the intention I need to follow through.

Faith is a decision to live your life in such a way as to find meaning in it beyond the material things that the world says you must possess. It is a decision to believe that there is more to life than meets the eye, and that life extends even beyond death. It is a decision to be able to have a rock to hold onto even when all around you is chaos, even when people declare in the streets that all is hopeless, and that all is lost.

Faith is a decision means knowing that not all questions have to have answers, and that sometimes the answers will come without their corresponding questions. Making the decision to have faith does NOT mean removing all doubt; in fact by making the decision to have faith I embrace the doubt I feel as a genuine part of my spiritual self.

G-d demands that we have no other g-d before YHVH. I respond that making the decision to have faith means that I place my trust in that Miraculous Power.

-Daniel T. Barkowitz