Recession--Over?

Well, the government has declared that the Great Recession has ended.  So all those extra fundraising concerns you had are over.   Everything is headed back to the ­­­way it was.  No more financial worries.  How can they even release such a statement?  What newspaper is the Federal Government reading?  Oops, I’m sorry, what blogs are the Federal Government reading, what tweets are they receiving?

Fundraising must be a non-stop synagogue effort.  And synagogues must look at new ways of generating income.  All the things your community is now doing — book sales, special events and annual appeals — must go on with more energy than ever before.  But now you have the potential of a new 24/7 fundraising opportunity through your website.  Is your rabbi’s fund growing?  Does your community know there is a rabbi’s fund or what that money is used for?  Is your building fund growing outside of dues?  Does your community know what your building needs are or where to donate in support of those needs?

Your website can be an active part of your fundraising efforts.  Its only limits are your imagination, or your board’s point of view.  Just imagine weaving together our established Jewish pathways and online technology to do the right thing:

• if your calendar of events lead someone to an online registration form that included an immediate payment method,
  
  
• if the b’nai mitvah announcement had a link to a designated donation for synagogue youth activities,
  
  
• if your religious school asked for grandparent e-mails both to inform them of upcoming events and drive them to online donations,
  
  
• if the death announcement e-mails had a clickable link to a contribution in memory of the deceased,
  
  
• if your homepage “donate” tab provided multiple donation options (e.g. rabbi’s fund, building fund, library fund),
  
  
• if your recipe page provided links to an online book store where your members could buy the featured recipe, and the synagogue received a percentage of the purchase.
  
  

Your members, their guests, and the drive-by Jew who is sampling your synagogue online are all potential donors. Can you accept online donations on your website? Have you created online donations as a contextual part of our online Jewish pathways?