This Month's Message from our President

The development of the various “action” or “implementation” teams gives us an opportunity to engage many more members of our congregation in the Vision 2020 project.

Our Vision 2020 project is based on the understanding that we have the ability to position Temple Beth Ami as an institution that remains an attractive, sustainable center for Jewish worship, learning, culture, and community in a changing environment. We can best do that if we have the active participation of a large number of our congregants. We are about to transition from the research phase to the action phase and now is the best time for you to get involved.

A Brief History of Vision 2020

We started this process in the fall of 2017 with a survey. That was followed by some preliminary work to organize an information-gathering effort. A large part of our information-gathering was the house meetings, which were held last March. The concerns that were expressed by the hundreds of congregants who attended those meetings helped to inform the strategic planning team about the areas in which we should focus our efforts. As a result, we formed research teams to look at the current status at Beth Ami and common/best practices outside of Beth Ami in the following areas:

• Member Affiliation and Engagement
• Spirituality and Spiritual Engagement
• Membership and Finance Models
• Financial Stewardship
• Operations, Communications, and Technology

In addition, we had a group working on crafting an update to our Core Purpose, Mission, and Values, though this group was working toward a decidedly different type of report than the first five. Along the way, we also brought our Financial Development (a.k.a. Fundraising) Committee into the Vision 2020 project.

Starting in November 2018, the various research committees presented their findings at meetings to which the entire congregation was invited. While I realize that many of you were unable to arrange your schedule to attend these presentations, I will remind you that all the material is available on our website. You can go to BethAmi.org, and under the “Members” tab, click on the “Vision 2020” link. From there you can find all the research reports and other documents related to Vision 2020.

The reason I am reviewing what we have done and where we are now is to emphasize that we are about to transition from the research phase to the action phase of this project. The Board will be discussing the results of the various research areas, not as separate, individual topics, but as the components of an integrated whole. These discussions will lead us to the development of a strategic plan, which will require us to take some action. The development of the various “action” or “implementation” teams gives us an opportunity to engage many more members of our congregation in the project.

I invite you to – no, I encourage you – to become engaged or re-engaged in this project. If you have interest in any of the areas I have mentioned, please let me know. You can reach me by email at buzz@karpay.com.