Hill Havurah Annual Report Mark Sherman Chairman May 2015 The Torah is a sacred scroll, yet one that we use, read, even touch in the course of our religious endeavors. With use comes the need to nurture and protect it for the future. Such is the case with our 200-year-old Torah, the spiritual heart of our community, as well as with our community itself. This past year has been a good one, filled with B nai Mitzvahs, holidays and special Shabbats. And our Torah has been central to each. Looking ahead, we know these special events and important uses will not just continue; they will increase in frequency. Fortunately for our Torah, community leaders foresaw this need some years back and established a Torah fund with the generous bequest from the estate of Ruth Rappaport. As for our Hill Havurah community, we also must envision our future, forecast our needs and fortify our organization. This is true for many reasons including, perhaps most significantly, the transition involving the person who has been at the center of so much of what we do. Laurie Solnik s contributions to Hill Havurah are too numerous to list, and so I was thrilled that the community was able to celebrate her at our recent Kabbalat Shabbat service. Like all of you, I will be eternally grateful for her work, warmth and friendship. In many ways, the Torah that Laurie found languishing in that Jerusalem attic and the vision she had to bring its spirit back to life through our vibrant Hill Havurah community is symbolic of the shared vision we are working to realize today at Hill Havurah. And how wonderful that we have such a talented and diverse membership that is willing to help us meet our education, space, administration, service leadership and financial needs. Community members have been working in each of these areas, as well as on a strategic plan that is aimed at keeping Hill Havurah true to its roots as an independent, egalitarian community and relevant to the needs of a growing organization. I address each of these efforts as well as our plans for the future in the coming report. A couple of brief highlights from the year: I was pleased to have our Yavneh students and Gan Shalom families join us at more Shabbat services this year. These included earlier Friday night gatherings to accommodate parents with young children, and Saturday morning services that are geared to helping our children familiarize themselves with the kind of service they will lead when
they are called to the Torah for their B nai Mitzvah. Some families also are in the midst of months-long exploration of the Anacostia River through a Jewish lens. The Sages group meets every other month on a Saturday evening for Havdalah and a pot-luck supper. Sages also volunteer regularly at the Church of the Brethren s Nutrition Center, which provides hot meals to those in need. We also continued to serve others on Capitol Hill by supplying Thanksgiving baskets for the Capitol Hill Group Ministry s program to make sure more of our Hill neighbors have a proper holiday meal, and volunteering to feed the homeless, vulnerable and elderly around Christmas. So another Hill Havurah year is behind us, and a new one is about to begin. We have much to look forward to and much to do. Even with our many areas of growth, we have retained our non-profit mission and have been quite conservative with our finances. We pledge to remain frugal, even as reality dictates that we ask more of you. On a personal note, the coming year will be my last as chairman. I am excited about our many accomplishments as well as our future. Please let me hear from you. We need your help and guidance. Mark Sherman Chair, Hill Havurah Steering Committee The following report outlines Hill Havurah activities for the past year and our plans for the coming one: Addressing physical space needs Our growing, integrated childhood education program Joyful calendar of spiritual events and rituals New roles for religious and lay leadership Shoring up administration and governance A Strategic Plan for the future ADDRESSING PHYSICAL SPACE NEEDS When we initially hired an experienced team of Jewish fundraising consultants early in 2014, we asked them to look into the feasibility and capacity of Hill Havurah and its membership to purchase and operate our own space. Their report was extremely useful as it identified an overwhelming community desire to having our own space, but also a reluctance to commit to ownership until we first prove ourselves an organization capable of managing its own space.
In response, the Steering Committee established a Space Sub-Committee made up of community members to look into the cost and feasibility of leasing a single space to house all our education programs, administration, and religious services (other than the High Holidays) under one roof. The Space Sub-Committee reported its findings to the Steering Committee in February. A link to the very thorough report can be found as a separate attachment to this email, but in brief, the committee found the initial annual cost of leasing, renovating and furnishing the size and scope of space we need on or around Capitol Hill to be quite high, in excess of $1 million. The estimate of annual operating costs also was very high, close to $500,000. Further, the Space Sub-Committee found that the same annual sum, applied instead to paying down a mortgage, would allow the Havurah to purchase and renovate a building with a total development cost of approximately $5,600,000. Due to the surprising cost of leasing space, the Steering Committee is asking our membership to endorse our continued pursuit of all available solutions to our space needs, including sharing. We also believe that buying space is preferable to leasing because of the comparable costs and inability to build equity in most leasing situations. GROWING, INTEGRATED CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAM Under the leadership of Alexis Tinsley our childhood eduction programs continue to grow. At last count 102 children were enrolled in our four vertically integrated programs: Gan Shalom, Pre-Yavneh, Yavneh and B nai Mitzvah. We continue to pursue opportunities to bring all of our childhood education classes under one roof. I hope to have more to report on this front soon Gan Shalom, the Hill Havurah s cooperative pre-school for 2 to 4 year olds currently has 29 children enrolled in three classes spread across two sites. Pre-Yavneh bridges the gap between Gan Shalom and Yavneh for Pre-K3 and 4 children. Held on Tuesdays, it currently has 7 children enrolled, most of whom graduated from Gan Shalom s 2-year-old program. Yavneh, the Hill Havurah s K through 7th grade Hebrew School meets on Sunday mornings during the school year. 64 children are enrolled in classes that have a coordinated curriculum that culminates in B nai Mitzvah preparation.
New this year, the B nai Mitzvah program, under the stewardship of Cantor Rebecca Pohl combines attendance in 6th and 7th grade Yavneh classes with tutoring in students homes. With her lovely voice and friendly demeanor, Cantor Rebecca has been a wonderful addition to our team. JOYFUL CALENDAR OF SPIRITUAL EVENTS AND RITUALS Kabbalat Shabbat is the Havurah s oldest and most enduring religious gathering. We continue to meet on the third Friday evening of the month, but this year introduced occasional earlier start times, informal catered meals and targeted programming to successfully boost attendance. Tot Shabbat meets every second Saturday of the month and incorporates music, story, and legendary Torah Parades to create a joyous Shabbat experience for toddlers and their parents. The High Holidays remain Hill Havurah s best supported programming with upwards of 250 attendees at each of the Erev and morning Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidre, Yom Kippur morning, and concluding services followed by our annual break-the-fast. Traditionally inspired yet Informal Shabbat morning services are held on the first Saturday of every month. The Havurah s newest religious service has seen steady growth in attendance during its first year, attracting regular and new members. The Hill Havurah continues to celebrate other Jewish festivals including Chanukah and Purim and plans on adding new services and religious celebrations to the coming year s calendar. NEW ROLES FOR RELIGIOUS & LAY LEADERSHIP Steering Committee members have formed a group to research opportunities for engaging religious and lay leaders who may supply the additional pastoral and religious leadership many of you have asked for. We are seeking guidance from Jewish organizations, Jewish leaders and other area communities and have already had many fruitful and enlightening conversations. We of course welcome input from members in this process. In the meantime, we are grateful to Aaron Hiller and Monk Topping for their willingness to take on our monthly Tot Shabbat services, as well as to Michael Allen and David Hoexter for continuing their roles for Kabbalat Shabbat and Saturday morning services.
We also have begun planning for the High Holidays and encourage all of you who are looking for a meaningful way to involve yourselves in or lead a part of the services to let us know. SHORING UP ADMINISTRATION & GOVERNANCE Executive Director: Simon Epstein is already at work in the important role of coordinating the transition from Laurie to a new executive director. This process will include refining the current job description to better represent our growing needs, and leading the search for a permanent successor. Administration: Over the coming year we will establish a sustainable business model that balances professional and volunteer management and supply of logistics and services in accordance with Hill Havurah s unique personality. In addition to building a vibrant sub-committee structure, Simon will be reaching out to many of you in the coming months for ideas and help on how to make the Havurah more efficient without losing that certain spark we love. We also plan on professionalizing and centralizing the way we manage our budgets and finances. In the next month we will seek the help of an accounting firm skilled in managing non-profits of similar size to supply the necessary financial guidance and manage all our programs books. In addition to improving performance, this should allow our volunteer Treasurer more time on fiduciary matters. Finances: While income has typically exceeded expenditures, the opposite has been true for past two years as our community transitions from exclusively voluntary to partly professionally run, and hires professional consultants to advise on space, fundraising and strategic planning. Thanks to prior frugal fiscal management we remain in excellent financial shape. Our continued growth and exciting plans for the future dictate a need to increase revenues. As such, we are seeking a balance between the expansion of dues and other fund-raising throughout the year. Volunteer support will also be an integral task over the coming year. A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE FUTURE We brought back our Jewish organizational consultants to lead two very productive and illuminating sessions this year. First and foremost, let s be clear that our mission is not changing. We continue to strive to keep the informality and inclusiveness that makes us special. But as we try to accomplish the tasks laid out above, we think it is important to have a guiding document that distills our vision and lays out our priorities.
The Strategic Planning working group did suggest a refined mission statement to reflect today s Hill Havurah, and six goals for the FY15/16 Steering Committee. Here s the statement that emerged from the meeting, and that I hope to have adopted at the upcoming Annual General Meeting: To meet and anticipate spiritual, educational, religious, cultural and life cycle needs of a growing and evolving Jewish community on Capitol Hill and beyond while retaining the open and inclusive informality that makes the Hill Havurah special. And here are the suggested goals for the FY15/16 Steering Committee: (After 7 responses. Need to be confirmed at the time of printing) 1) EXPAND FINANCIAL RESOURCES DONORS, FEE FOR SERVICE, CHARITABLE EVENTS 2) DEFINE STAFF FUNCTIONS AND ASSIGN RESPONSIBILITY BETWEEN POSSIBLE PROFESSIONAL AND VOLUNTEER LEADERS 3) PLAN FOR SPACE NEEDS 4) RITUAL/RELIGIOUS FUNCTIONS ASSIGNED TO APPROPRIATE STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS 5) INCREASE SUPPORT OF LIFE CYCLE EVENTS AND VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES (BIKKUR CHOLIM) 6) VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT, ENGAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FOR ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERS I look forward to leading the Steering Committee as it tackles these goals in accordance with a newly adopted mission.