Membership Has its Privileges

One of the key findings from the recently published synagogue web usage research for the organized Jewish community, including synagogues, is to use technology to be more outward facing.  As membership-based organizations, we tend to reflexively want to draw a hard line in the sand between those who belong and those who don't.  And as human beings, once we choose to belong to an organization, we want to maintain that dividing line--to be seen as a member of something valued and worthy. After all, as American Express has so successfully drilled into our culture, there are privileges to membership.

Every membership-based organization, Jewish or not, needs to deal with this dichotomy. On the one hand, membership does mean belonging to a special organization, and the organization must continuously provide benefits for participation.  And on the other hand, the organization must be constantly looking for ways to increase membership.  This organizational challenge can be effectively met by understanding and making good use of the rich technology available today.

My experience in the organized Jewish world is that there is much to gain from using technology to offer enhanced membership benefits.  Smart organizations know that continuously adding value to their members provides a rock-solid foundation for both a successful retention and a new membership strategy. In a world where value (or lack of it) is personally transmitted every moment of every day through Twitter and texting, creating positive word of mouth--both on and offline--is the key to building a successful future.

Let's use synagogue religious schools as an example.  In many ways religious schools are the foundation for the successful synagogues of the future:

• they provide learning and connectedness for our children
• they create congregation family connections
• they teach the parent through the child
  
  

And just like public education or others engaged in education, the synagogue can create a better learning environment through the use of technology.

Dream with me for a moment.  Imagine that through your synagogue website you had access to your child's classroom.  Imagine that you could understand their assignments, could access a parent's guide to help you ask the right questions. Imagine that parents and students from the same grade could talk to one another, that if your child missed a day of school, the material that was covered in class, plus the homework, were all easily accessible on the synagogue website. Imagine that the access you offered families became the standard of excellence for your community and that new families found their way to your doorstep by the local online buzz they had accessed.

Now stop dreaming. All this is available today.  One of our biggest challenges is to make religious schools such positive places for learning and community building that all those other after-school options available to parents and their kids are viewed as less valuable.

Synagogues that recognize the long-term value inherent in embracing technology to reach and expand their membership know that having a vibrant and engaging website is an important part of an approach to congregational growth and sustainability. The benefits of real time access to both community and to one's Jewishness should be available online through your congregation. The benefits of membership you offer your community will mean more satisfied and connected members, whose word-of-mouth will ultimately bring more congregants and members to your doors, both virtual and actual.