April 28, 2008

The Results Are In: It's Time for Change

More than 650 of our members responded to the programming and communications surveys we sent out at the end of January. As we tallied the results, we learned that we’re doing great in many areas, but lacking in others. Here are some of the findings in more detail.

Adult Programming
There were no clear winners in the categories for suggested adult programming. Almost all of the categories scored an average between 2.5 and 3.5 (1 = least interest, 5 = most interest), which tells us we have a congregation with a wide variety of interests. The highest-scoring categories were political speakers, political issues and Jewish history. On the suggestions and comments question, we received more than 150 ideas ranging from book clubs to family-oriented events to political events, which suggests that providing variety in our adult programming is essential.

One area of highly requested programming was for events geared toward young professionals or members without children. We’re actively moving forward on this and look forward to including these types of events on our schedule soon.

We also learned that Shabbat service times and event location could be improved, and we’re currently evaluating ways to improve both the time of Shabbat service on Fridays and the hosting of events on weekends at the Irmas Campus and Temple Campus.

Communications
Almost all our congregants read our newly redesigned Temple Bulletin at least sometimes (91%), which is great news. We were disappointed that only 38% of congregants visit our website at least sometimes, and we’re working on ways to improve the website as well as encourage its use. We also discovered that very few parents of Brawerman children know that Brawerman has its own website (www.brawerman.org).

We learned that our members are split into thirds on their communication method preferences. One-third prefer electronic communications only (e-mails and website) to save money and paper. Another third like both print and electronic forms, and the last third preferred print only. We’re currently contemplating ways for members to customize their communications, including frequency and type.

Many of our congregants who have children in our schools feel they are receiving too many e-mails and/or too much print mail. We understand the concern about “overdoing it,” and this will be evaluated as well.

We will be using the information gathered from the survey and input from staff, congregants and clergy to develop a new Temple Communications Policy and Plan. This guide will re-evaluate our communications as a whole and set a plan to improve and streamline our methods. It will organize our e-mail communications program and inform our policy on mailing, in addition to instituting a “green” policy and developing a communications calendar. Our goal is to have a plan finalized by fall. Members should expect to see an improvement in communications by the High Holy Days, and we’ll be conducting another survey later in the year to review our progress.

As always, we appreciate your input. Changes are underway!

- Jessica Accamando
Director of Communications
jaccamando@wbtla.org