STRATEGIC PLAN: TWO-YEAR REPORT JUNE 2016huc.edu/sites/default/files/About/TwoYearUpdate.pdf · STRATEGIC PLAN: TWO-YEAR REPORT JUNE 2016 . 2 . 3 A Letter from the President _____

STRATEGIC PLAN:

TWO-YEAR REPORT

JUNE 2016

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A Letter from the President _____________________________________________________________ 5 Creating the Strategic Plan______________________________________________________________ 6 Five Strategic Goals____________________________________________________________________ 8

Goal One: Thought Leadership

Strategy 1: Symposium One: Crafting Jewish Life in a Complex Religious Landscape____ 9 Strategy 2: Smashing Idols Fellowship for College Students________________________ 10 Strategy 3: Zimmerman Institute Model_______________________________________ 11 Strategy 4: AlumniLearn____________________________________________________ 12 Strategy 5: Continued Expansion of Web Presence and Offering_____________________ 13

5a: Website Enhancements and Digital Marketing_________________________ 13 5b: College Commons _______________________________________________ 16

Goal Two: Recruitment and Admissions

Strategy 1: Refine Current Program to Increase Enrollment ________________________ 17 Strategy 2: Bolster Recruitment Through Our Alumni and Campuses_________________ 17 Strategy 3: Expand Partnerships with External Groups____________________________ 18 Strategy 4: Review of Financial Aid Policies_____________________________________ 20

Goal Three: Growth and Sustainability

Strategy 1: Leverage Real Estate _____________________________________________ 21 Strategy 2: Campaign for Planned Giving ______________________________________ 22 Strategies 3 & 4: Financial Reporting and Dashboard_____________________________ 23 Strategy 5: Deferred Maintenance ___________________________________________ 24 Strategy 6: New Initiative Review Process______________________________________ 25 Strategy 7: Employee Development and Performance ____________________________ 26

Goal Four: Curriculum

Strategy 1: Revise Curricula ________________________________________________ 27 Strategy 2: Five-Year Research Cycle _________________________________________ 28 Strategy 3: New Hebrew Initiative ___________________________________________ 29 Strategy 4: Plan for Academic Resources______________________________________ 30

Goal Five: Israel Strategy 1: Support Israeli Rabbinical Program__________________________________ 31 Strategy 2: Lay Leadership Development in Jerusalem ____________________________ 32 Strategy 3: North American Reform Congregation Tours and Life-Cycle Events _________ 33

Conclusion____________________________________________________________________ 34 Appendix (Original Strategy Matrix)________________________________________________ 36

Table of Contents

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A Letter from the President

Rabbi Aaron D. Panken, Ph.D., President

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To the HUC-JIR Community, On behalf of the faculty, administration, and Governors of HUC-JIR, I am pleased to present you with a detailed report on the College-Institute’s progress and outcomes in relation to the goals set forth in our 2014 Strategic Plan. As you will see in these pages, HUC-JIR continues to grow in the number of students we train, programs we offer, and communities we reach. Our strategic planning process has given us the necessary guideposts for ways to continue serving the Jewish people as a center of scholarship and leadership. All of our diverse activities at the College-Institute have been guided not only by our core mission, but also by the five strategic goals we determined and adopted together: thought leadership, recruitment and admissions, growth and sustainability, curriculum, and Israel. I am deeply grateful to all the members of our community who helped make this happen: students, faculty, staff, alumni/ae, all the members of our Board of Governors and Overseers and the partners in the Reform movement and beyond. This report demonstrates the significant progress we have made toward our strategic goals, as we continue working to balance our thirst for innovation and improvement with our concern for efficiency and sustainability. While we celebrate the tremendous work completed until now, we know that there is much still to be done. In the coming year, as we complete the objectives outlined at the start of this process, it will be time to begin a new long-term strategic planning process. The rabbis tell us in Pirkei Avot, “You are not expected to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it.” I thank each of you for your important contributions. I especially want to thank our Vice President for Program and Business Development Liz Squadron, and Program Assistant, Kristin Young, for their work on this report, and their thoughtful coordination of so many elements in this plan. They, along with our Provost, Dr. Michael Marmur, our Vice Presidents, Dr. Jane Karlin and Sandie Mills, and each of our campus deans and program directors, have worked hard to turn dreams and plans into an exciting reality. May we all go from strength to strength in our shared commitment to the growth of the College-Institute in the years to come. In friendship and gratitude,

Creating the Strategic Plan Background The 2014 strategic plan was built on the foundational work of our key stakeholders, beginning with our Board of Governors (BOG or “the Board”). The BOG launched a strategic planning initiative task force to make recommendations regarding key strategic questions and issues during a period of Presidential search and transition. The BOG task force began its work at the time of its October 2012 meeting, and continued throughout 2013. The task force identified four large areas for further work: 1) Curriculum review related to the skills and competencies that will be needed by future Jewish professionals given the dramatic changes in the demographics and culture of the contemporary American Jewish community 2) Recruitment and enrollment 3) Financial sustainability 4) HUC-JIR and Progressive Judaism in Israel Beginning with his appointment in August 2013, President Aaron Panken convened a series of conversations throughout the institution to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of HUC-JIR in all its locations. Through nearly 200 conversations, he garnered a deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges faced by our institution, and began work with the senior team in January 2014 to craft a strategic plan with focused goals for the next three years, building upon the earlier work of the BOG’s task force. The five broad goals that comprise this strategic plan (in the four areas listed above, as well as a thought leadership initiative) were crafted and agreed upon by the senior administrative team in

March 2014. The initial draft included five core goals with 35 specific initiatives related to them. A draft of these five goals and 35 strategies was shared with the BOG at their June 2014 meeting, with a request for feedback. After receiving Governors’ feedback and after two days of further conversation and prioritization with senior staff, the five goals have remained essentially the same, while the initiatives have been contracted to 23 specific areas. The Executive Committee of the Board of Governors officially approved the plan in September 2014 and implementation began that fall. This Report The last eighteen months have seen an unprecedented degree of debate about and engagement with our institutional goals and strategic plan. During 2015 alone, seven town hall meetings took place in which HUC-JIR's President Panken went to each of our campuses and engaged with various constituencies – students, faculty, alumni, Overseers, Governors and staff. HUC-JIR’s goals and strategies have been integrated as a regular part of the work of our Board of Governors. In November of 2014, the Executive Committee of the Board determined that it would use the institution’s five goals as a planning guide for its meetings. Each Board meeting since has been focused around one of the five goals – allowing the Governors to continue to engage in the strategies that might be implemented to attain those goals, and holding administration and staff accountable for delivering on the progress we committed to in the plan. At each meeting, Governors have received status reports on each initiative and a timeline of key plan milestones.

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Creating the Strategic Plan

While the administration thought it would take the better part of three years or more to implement and make progress on the 23 strategies, as of June 2016, substantial progress has been made on over 90% of the initiatives . The past eighteen months of strategy implementation have led to many accomplishments, including: • The deployment of new programs that will

enable HUC-JIR to serve its students, alumni, and congregations in new and exciting ways, even as we enhance our reputation as a center of scholarship, leadership, and innovation for college students and academics from other institutions;

• The expansion upon and diversification of our

recruitment strategies to reach more highly-talented applicants for our programs;

• The streamlining of some of our back office processes for greater inter-department/campus transparency and efficiency;

• The initiation of a process of reimagining our curriculum to ensure the future success of our students; and

• An increase in the number of North American visitors to our Jerusalem campus as a result of changes made to our staffing and marketing of the campus.

It is now time for the BOG and administration to begin developing a new, long-term strategic planning process. This report is meant to explain the progress that has been made since the BOG first saw a list of draft initiatives two years ago at the June 2014 meeting. While not each of the 23 items has been successfully completed, there have been a number of accomplishments in a short time period, of which the institution is very proud. This report shows both those accomplishments and the work that remains.

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Thought Leadership: We will develop a thought leadership initiative that will expand our reach via creative use of technology, teaching to key audiences for recruitment and development, and offering resources and educational opportunities for alumni and lay leaders in partnership with appropriate organizations. We will strive to enhance HUC-JIR’s position as a vibrant intellectual center for scholarship, research, and learning within the Reform Jewish community and the Jewish world.

Recruitment and Admissions: We will evaluate, reshape, and implement new recruitment and admissions strategies that will raise the number of quality incoming students across all programs and create a new generation of first-rate Reform Jewish leaders to serve the Jewish people and the world.

Growth and Sustainability: We will continue to build and sustain the Reform Movement and its congregations and organizations, and work to secure its future and funding. At the same time, we will develop new sources of revenue and fundraising, enhanced efficiency in our operations, and broader pluralistic outreach, making our institution more widely relevant, financially sustainable, and self-sufficient.

Curriculum: We will create a process for the review and redesign of our various curricula and programmatic offerings, starting with the rabbinical program, in order to prepare students to meet the needs and challenges of the changing Jewish world. One specific focus of this process will be to examine the Hebrew skills of our students and how we can enhance language learning through creative new means in Jerusalem and the stateside campuses. We will also evaluate our faculty, library, and archival resources for their appropriateness, relevance, and currency.

Israel: We will continue the process of crafting HUC-JIR’s key role in building and sustaining progressive and Reform values in the state of Israel, and the relationship between Israel and global Judaism, even as we examine new ways that our campus in Jerusalem can influence this relationship, produce revenue, and continue to build the Israeli Reform Movement.

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Five Strategic Goals

Symposium One: Crafting Jewish Life in a Complex Religious Landscape

Initiative Background HUC-JIR often brings people together for different conferences, lectures, and gatherings. The idea behind a Thought Leadership conference is to engage our various stakeholders for a thoughtful, enriching dialogue around critical issues of the day. Producing a conference that brings together thought leaders from various backgrounds will solidify HUC-JIR’s role as an institution that is opening its doors to different perspectives and sharing knowledge across multiple channels. Tactics and Areas of Focus This November 2016 we will launch our first thought leadership conference, Symposium One: Crafting Jewish Life in a Complex Religious Landscape. The Symposium will bring together academics, lawyers, and historians as well as experts in music, art, liturgy, and literature, to discuss two key themes: The growth of fundamentalism and its impact on progressive religions and how Judaism might create a more encompassing culture for its adherents. Results and Projected Outcomes If the Symposium is successful it will mean three things will have happened:

1. A strong number of registrants attend (our goal is to host 175 alumni and others);

2. Participants will feel that the two days spent at the conference were valuable and worthwhile, as measured by surveys distributed at the end of the conference; and

3. The conversation will continue after the Symposium ends – either through tools and information that the College-Institute produces (e.g. a book, an app, teaching materials, etc.) and/or through the initiative of the participants who are enthusiastic enough about what they heard to create lesson plans, sermons, adult learning, or other follow-up activities based on its content.

What’s Next This spring and summer, planning will continue for the Symposium, and registration will remain open until the end of October. We will use Symposium One as a learning opportunity to help guide us in the production of future conferences. Rotating the setting for the conferences across our campuses, we plan to schedule one, at a minimum, every other year.

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The Smashing Idols Fellowship: Collaborative Leadership to Strengthen Progressive Jewish Life on Campus

Initiative Background HUC-JIR has unique and valuable resources to offer both high school and college students through our faculty, students, and campuses. By reaching these audiences with compelling programs, the College-Institute is helping to educate and support young Jewish people at different stages in their lives. Data has told us that college students, feel especially disconnected from their Jewishness; having programming available to them from HUC-JIR could help support Jewish connection, pride, and intellectual stimulation. Tactics and Areas of Focus Eighteen students from 14 northeastern colleges gathered at the New York campus for the inaugural Smashing Idols Fellowship from March 24-27, 2016. The Fellowship was developed to invigorate progressive Jewish life on college campuses by empowering, training, and supporting Fellows over a twelve month period. Working with Hillel professionals throughout the Northeast and led by Rabbi Benjamin Ross and Rabbi Elle Muhlbaum, ordained in May 2016 in New York, the weekend proved to be very successful. The students included with their applications an idea for how to invigorate Jewish life on their campus. The weekend served as an incubator for these ideas as the Fellows worked through

what motivated them, why their idea was important, and the best way to present their concepts to stakeholders on campus. Over the course of the next school year, they will form support systems through chavruta, ongoing webinars, and check-ins with HUC-JIR rabbinical students. Results and Projected Outcomes The Fellows had - by all accounts – a moving, inspiring, and productive weekend. Over the next year, we will be working with them to see how they can successfully implement the ideas they worked on over the weekend on their campus. Metrics we might use to measure their success include number of students participating in the programs created by Fellows and the percentage of program ideas that have been implemented 12 months after the Fellowship began. What’s Next There is still work to be done in terms of building out the rest of the content and curricula for the fellowship. In addition, we will begin recruitment of a second cohort of Fellows for the 2016-17 academic year both in New York and Los Angeles. Once those programs are in place, we can look at expanding to Cincinnati and Jerusalem. After two years, we should have some indicators of success. With those indicators, we can begin to find a donor to endow the program and ensure its success and sustainability going forward.

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Left, SIF marketing postcard; Right, SIF fellows in Bushwick, Brooklyn.


Zimmerman Institute Model

These objectives were achieved by creating an exciting intellectual program, steeped in Jewish literacy and issues that showcased compelling faculty who would teach at an attractive venue. Participants became ambassadors for HUC-JIR’s contributions to the dissemination of knowledge, and select attendees deepened their financial and leadership involvement with the College-Institute. Tactics and Areas of Focus

Our tactic was to pilot two Zimmerman Institute-style experiences, one in 2015 and one in 2016. HUC-JIR in the Hamptons “HUC-JIR in the Hamptons” took place on July 31 – August 2, 2015. The agenda included a Shabbat dinner with services on the beach, public programming on Shabbat, and a Sunday brunch and seminar. About 130 people in total attended the events. HUC-JIR in Palm Beach “HUC-JIR in Palm Beach” took place on March 6 –8, 2016. Rabbi Panken spoke to congregants at Temple Judea, a group of parents on “Bringing Up Jewish Children in a Challenging World,” as well as to a leadership group at Temple Beth El of Boca Raton. Over the course of three days, 160 people attended the events. Results and Projected Outcomes We expect to see increased attendance going

forward as HUC-JIR and its excellent programs become better known. We will grow our database by collecting contact information from attendees, who will be included in HUC-JIR Annual Fund solicitations. We are working on coding the records so results can more easily be followed. Select attendees at Hamptons and Palm Beach events have been assigned to Rabbi Panken and campus deans and their fundraisers for further cultivation. What’s Next There is interest in planning “HUC-JIR in Palm Beach” in winter 2017. We need to acknowledge the challenge of building our brand in the Hamptons and Palm Beach, where the nonprofit and Jewish calendars can be crowded. Consideration should be given to identifying HUC-JIR lay leaders who, on an ongoing basis, will help access new donors/lay leaders. Staff support that is needed should also be discussed. 11

Save-the-Date invitation for “HUC-JIR in the Hamptons.”

Initiative Background The Zimmerman Institute was a residential experience that enabled current and prospective lay leaders and friends of the College-Institute to study with HUC-JIR’s President and faculty. Its objectives were to 1) raise HUC-JIR’s profile and 2) increase fundraising and volunteer engagement.

AlumniLearn

Initiative Background HUC-JIR will provide excellent learning opportunities for its alumni to nourish them as they lead and influence Jewish life in North America and around the world. The content will cover topics from skill-building to textual learning for its own sake, all while supporting our alumni and strengthening the connection they have with the College-Institute. All of this will exist under the AlumniLearn banner. We have three major goals for the AlumniLearn program. First, we will provide diverse continuing education opportunities for HUC-JIR alumni through a variety of presentation modalities (podcast, video classroom, in-person meetings, etc.). We will also establish a one-stop learning portal for all HUC-JIR alumni that taps into the expertise of our outstanding faculty and presents an annual calendar of all learning opportunities. Lastly, we will serve the alumni need for continuing educational and professional learning with an online archive of presentations and content for teaching. Tactics and Areas of Focus 1. Identify all the educational opportunities available to alumni throughout the HUC-JIR system, Alumni Associations, and Alumni Council. 2. Create a campaign for AlumniLearn to publicize these opportunities that includes website design, email, and brochures. 3. Create and publicize an archive system, as well as a communications plan.

4. Evaluate our efforts toward these objectives. Results and Projected Outcomes In total, 310 alumni have registered for AlumniLearn sessions, or approximately 8% of alumni. The alumni range in graduation/ordination years from 1946 through 2014. Registration by school has been the following: Through evaluation, we learned that 80% of participants felt the presenters were engaging and prepared. What’s Next Future initiatives include small courses taught by retired faculty, monthly stand alone learning on two overarching topics, sessions in which professors will share the latest thinking on a range of topics, and sessions during which the Jerusalem faculty will keep alumni informed on topics pertaining to Israel. We will also work with a consulting group to learn best practices in recording and archiving sessions.

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Initiative Background Our website is our fifth (virtual) campus and supports all of HUC-JIR’s strategic objectives by providing a home for their online presence, marketing, and outreach. Expanding access to our website, increasing the number of visitors to our website, and enriching our website’s offerings support all of our initiatives and is the primary goal of this strategy. The sections that follow outlines our efforts used to accomplish these goals. Dashboard To track our online presence in a more data-driven way, we worked with a consultant to develop a Digital Communications Dashboard that would monitor all of our digital communications, month over month, and year by year, to track traffic, engagement, generation of leads (prospective students), and guide media planning.

Data is collated and entered into the Dashboard, which is updated monthly to record visits to our website, traffic by medium (organic search, search engine marketing, retargeting, banner ads, email blasts, etc.), media investment, social media key performance indicators, email performance, and recruitment leads by month, by medium, by source, and by program. Continual analysis of data will guide our further development of the website, digital media marketing, social media outreach, and email communications to maximize traffic to our website, email performance, and media investment impact. In other words, in the projects described below the “what’s next” would be determined, in part, by the data available in the dashboard.

Website Enhancement and Digital Marketing

13 Dashboard: Sessions and leads, month by month.


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1. Live Streamed Events We have greatly expanded our Live Video streams on the HUC website. Using this technology, community members who are not on campus, can join us virtually for events and performances. With Dean Shirley Idelson in NY, we have live- streamed dozens of student pulpits and student recitals. This vibrant and engaging video media expands our reach. In the past two years our Livestream views have increased significantly, with the memorial for Debbie Friedman generating a total of 1,346 unique views. 2. Learning Opportunities on the HUC Website The prominent placement of LEARN on the homepage and the development of huc.edu/learn offers a curated selection of video and podcast teaching by our faculty, accompanied by educational materials, that are organized by scholar, theme, and include College Commons productions (see page 16).

Since July 2014, we have grown the offerings from an initial six learning opportunities with an additional 37 significant videos and podcasts of our faculty teaching everything from Bible and cognate studies, to social responsibility, and women’s studies. This represents a nearly 617% growth in the learning content available at huc.edu/learn. While adding and creating content for the website, we are also driving traffic there through our social media channels. Over the past two years, we have gained 5,747 likes on Facebook and 2,789 followers on Twitter. 3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) The goal of SEO is to maximize visitors to our website by ensuring that our website appears at the top or high on the list of results returned by a search engine. SEO is organic (not paid) search.

We optimized our website to ensure that our website shows up high on the list of organic search results by updating website content, navigation, and tagging. Monthly metrics are collated in our Digital Communications Dashboard and analyzed month over month, and year by year. We will monitor our website content, navigation, and tagging to ensure continued robust organic search. 4. Search engine marketing (SEM) The goal of search engine marketing (SEM) is to augment our already robust traffic generated by organic (unpaid) SEO (see above) through paid search. When a user searches for a word or phrase that matches keywords we’ve selected, our website may show up above organic (unpaid) search results with the word “Ad” or “Paid” or the like next to it. We pay for each time a user clicks onto that text ad to get to our website. Our year-long financial investment of approximately $500 per month has significantly influenced the logarithms of Google search. HUC-JIR now appears at the top of a user’s search results with a paid text ad when the search matches up with one of the thousands of paid search words or phrases relating to HUC-JIR and all of our programs and campuses. 5. Retargeting Our retargeting goal is to convert users who visit the admissions section of our website into recruitment leads. We have a pixel (Javascript code) on the admissions section of our website and other admissions-related pages that places a browser cookie on a user. If that visitor does not fill out the online “Kickstart Your Future as a Jewish Leader” intake form, we serve our ads to this user when they visit other websites (not huc.edu webpages). We have invested approximately $500 per month for retargeting this year.


Thanks to retargeting efforts, HUC-JIR ads now appear automatically on a visitor’s screen when they visit other websites if they have visited our website. Our display ad is a reminder to return to our website and connect with our admissions process. 6. New recruitment marketing campaign and HUC-JIR rebranding In June 2015, the Recruitment Summit convened by the President and National Office of Recruitment and Admissions (NORA) determined that HUC-JIR was ready for a significant investment of resources into a new recruitment marketing campaign. A search resulted in the choice of David Shavrick & Partners, specializing in a broad range of services, including brand positioning and identity, print and online advertising, and content development. Shavrick was charged with creating a new look and feel for HUC-JIR recruitment collateral materials and a rebrand of HUC-JIR’s graphic identity and logo.

In consultation with senior administration and the communications and NORA staff last Fall, David Shavrick created HUC-JIR’s exhibit and recruitment-oriented collateral materials for the URJ Biennial to test new directions in messaging and design that were well received. This past winter, Shavrick conducted in-depth focus groups with Governors, senior administration, deans, program directors, recruitment staff, faculty, alumni, students, and millennial outsiders. This Research and Discovery phase led to the development of several creative concepts for a new look and feel for our recruitment materials, both print and digital. Review in April by recruitment staff, senior administration, program directors, and students resulted in the enthusiastic, unanimous choice of two concepts, which are currently in the process of being implemented in a new campaign. The campaign will include new recruitment materials as well as a refreshed website homepage; among other materials.

15 Recruitment advertising promoting the College-Institute during the URJ Biennial in November 2015.


College Commons

Initiative Background The strategy of the College Commons is to increase the perceived and real value of HUC-JIR primarily for the Reform community and secondarily for the Jewish community at large by providing unique, topical, and scholarly digital Jewish learning to synagogues worldwide. HUC-JIR scholars and Reform colleagues join us in public conversations that are digitally recorded and distributed to audiences either as live events, podcasts, or pre-recorded videos. All of this content is accessible on the Commons website. Tactics and Areas of Focus The College Commons consists of three digital platforms: a podcast, live-streamed events, and an online course, all of which include the participation of HUC-JIR scholars, alumni, and Reform colleagues. To increase the offerings of thought leadership on the web, we created a total of 29 videos for the live-streamed events and online class (up from four videos last year) along with over 20 podcast interviews (a new initiative).

We launched a clean and easy-to-navigate general website for the Commons along with the Digital Seminar’s private site. Both online destinations allow for content to be accessible at the learner’s convenience. Results and Projected Outcomes We measure the success of our project through increased subscriptions and social media metrics. As outlined in our three-year plan, we have met, and at times surpassed, our benchmarks (see chart below). Moving Forward The College Commons will continue to fulfill its three-year plan of creating digital content. We are in production on the second Digital Seminar and have the 2016-17 Live Encounters season almost set up. We will also continue to seek out interviews for our Bully Pulpit podcasts and promote them. We will need to have approximately 300 subscribers/year for the Digital Seminar by 2018 to be self-sustaining. In order to succeed, we have begun to implement a sales plan.

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1 “Enrolled”=Participated in the previous (2014-15) and committed in the coming (2015-16) year. Beginning in 2016-17, subscribed on the sliding-scale annual fee ($360-$1000/year).


• Refine current program to include strategies and timelines to increase enrollment.

• Deploy enhanced strategies for bringing new applicants to the College-Institute using our campuses and through alumni networks.

• Expand partnerships with external groups for implicit and explicit recruitment initiatives.

Initiative Background Between 2014 and 2016, the National Office of Recruitment and Admissions (NORA) executed a wide variety of recruitment programs and initiatives in order to achieve its goals of increasing the number and quality of the applicant pool of prospective students who will choose to enroll at HUC-JIR. Tactics and Areas of Focus Deploy enhanced strategies for bringing new applicants to the College-Institute using our campuses and through alumni networks

Many new initiatives have been developed and expanded to further leverage our alumni network for implicit and explicit recruitment. They include: • Establishment of the Rabbinic Recruitment

Cabinet • Launch of Alumni Recognition Recruitment

Awards • Development of Days of Learning for the

Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music by the Recruitment Working Group

• Alumni Recruitment at Camps Initiative • Alumni Mentorship of Prospective Students

Initiative

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Gathering of high school students in Cincinnati.

Recruitment in Israel The NORA team has expanded our reach within the world of long-term Israel travel programs, primarily through creating partnerships with MASA long-term programs in Israel. In the past year, NORA has expanded the number of MASA programs that it visits in Israel by over 25% from the year before. Working closely with the leadership of key institutions in Israel, such as the Jewish Agency, MASA itself and the World Union For Progressive Judaism, we have broadened the range of target groups to whom we have presented the College- Institute and its programs, and deepened the connection with programs and their participants whom we consider to be core constituencies. Expand partnerships with external groups for implicit and explicit recruitment initiatives By significantly expanding NORA work with Hillel and Birthright and expanding the number and type of college programs offered, in 2015-16 NORA directly engaged over 750 college students. This is an increase of more than 75%.

Dramatic expansion of institutional partnerships has enabled a much broader and deeper reach of HUC-JIR in identifying and recruiting future students. This has resulted in an increase in the volume of prospective students who, in the course of the coming years, must be carefully mentored from the opening of the funnel (red, in the funnel image below) through the status of determining which program and when they will apply, developing the necessary skills and gaining the experience that will make them strong candidates until they become viable applicants (green) and if viable and admitted (aqua) and choose to enroll (dark blue). This process of mentoring and guiding a prospective student through the recruitment and admissions funnel takes three to ten years.

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Alumni recruiting at a summer camp.

Results and Projected Outcomes The following are highlights of the successful impact of the tactics and strategies described above: • 57% increase in enrollment in the rabbinical

program. In 2016 we accepted and will enroll the largest rabbinical program numbers in 6 years, and second largest in 10 years.

• In 2015-2016, more than 250 high school students attended our programs, more than double the number in any previous year.

• Increased the number of new college-aged

inquiries to programs of study beginning in 2016-2020 by 500.

• Summer 2015 recruitment work reached over

3,500 prospective students, an exponential increase.

• Launch of new recruitment programs

including a first-ever National Nondenominational Teen Spirituality Retreat and Recruitment and Admissions Webinars for prospective students.

• New recruitment and admissions team;

including the hiring and launch of high-level six-person professional recruitment team to identify, inspire, and recruit an increasing number and quality of first-rate applicants for all programs.

What’s Next While a great deal has been achieved even more is yet to be done. Having now exponentially expanded the number of prospects and programs, continuing to maintain and nurture them will be even more labor intensive and will likely grow increasingly complicated. NORA will develop a Strategic Plan for 2017-2020 that will: • Obtain external and internal evaluations of

ongoing and new initiatives;

• Increase the profile, presence, and impact of HUC-JIR in recruitment-ripe environments both internal and external to the Reform Movement networks through implicit and explicit recruitment-focused work;

• Build and expand on the institutional and professional partnerships;

• Increase the number and intensity of HUC-JIR alumni, faculty, Jewish professionals, and other stakeholders engaging in recruitment of applicants;

• Continue to develop increasingly area-specific recruitment strategies for each school and program of the College-Institute, working directly with the directors and alumni of each program; and

• Launch College Student Leadership Fellowship programs – like Smashing Idols for college students in the Western and Central Regions.

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Review of Financial Aid Policies

Initiative Background Over the past few months we have focused on determining whether our financial aid practices are competitive with other Jewish seminaries and whether our scholarship awards would most likely lead to increased enrollment. To assist in this process HUC-JIR engaged Ruffalo Noel Levitz. The firm is the industry leader in assessing financial aid programs throughout the higher education community. Tactics and Areas of Focus During the Ruffalo Noel Levitz research period, HUC-JIR also collected data from other institutions for comparative purposes; specifically, we analyzed academic program enrollment data, student financial need and scholarship dollars awarded over a period of years. For each academic program, alternative award practices and computer models were created. From our research, we learned the following: 1. The HUC-JIR scholarship program was not sufficiently competitive with Hebrew College in Boston and the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, which risked HUC-JIR losing accepted rabbinical and cantorial students to these seminaries. 2. The vast majority of students who apply for aid received the same award ($12,000 toward $24,000 tuition); consequently, HUC-JIR underfunded some students and overfunded others. Students who are underfunded are especially susceptible to better offers from other seminaries.

3. HUC-JIR did not try to lock in accepted students by immediately awarding scholarships based on testing criteria, such as GRE score and GPA. Other seminaries have opted for this practice. 4. HUC-JIR did not use merit-based scholarships on a regular and consistent basis to recruit the strongest students in a field. Results and Projected Outcomes Based on these findings, the following recommendations were made: (1) Increase the funds available for student financial aid; (2) Create a more nuanced scholarship program where students receive awards that are more closely tied to need; (3) Institute a “trigger” scholarship program in which college students of high potential could be offered funds based on predetermined criteria; and (4) Create criteria and seek funding for merit-based scholarships. These policy changes were approved by the Executive Committee of the Board in September 2015. What’s Next By creating and implementing these policies we have been able to positively affect the recruitment of the FY 2016/17 incoming class. In order to uphold the policy we will need to raise at least $70,000 in additional scholarship funds for FY 2016-17. We will be monitoring the policy changes to ensure that they have the desired impact on recruitment and student need.

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Goal Three: Growth and

Sustainability

Leverage Real Estate

Initiative Background Taking advantage of our rich real estate holdings is a key element of our plan to remain financially sustainable. There may be opportunities to rent our facilities and other creative uses of our spaces that have no negative impact on our programs. Tactics and Areas of Focus There are two tactical areas that we have worked on under this strategy. First, we are working on better communicating to the public that our spaces are available to rent when we are not using them for mission-critical work. This communication included the creation of space rental websites for all four campuses including photos, rental rates, and policies. In New York and Jerusalem, we have worked on additional materials highlighting the unique aspects of our campuses. In New York, this material and outreach has been aimed at other Jewish organizations and event planning professionals. In Jerusalem, the focus has been on communicating with alumni and Reform congregations visiting Israel. Second, we are considering additional ways we can better manage our space and monetize our real estate. On the New York campus, the URJ Youth Division began a long-term lease on the ground floor of One West Fourth Street in 2014.

In Jerusalem, we have begun making improvements to the Presidential Apartment to enhance rental revenue there. We are also in the process of hiring consultants in both cities who will evaluate additional strategies for leveraging our real estate to bring in revenue without disrupting our regular operations. Results and Projected Outcomes Early results show that rental income has increased 15% for the New York campus. In Jerusalem, revenue for the past fiscal year was over $40,000. In the coming years, we will continue to expand upon this income. With real estate consultant evaluations launching this summer in Jerusalem and New York, we will be able to determine if there are additional ways to monetize our real estate. What’s Next With deferred maintenance projects in the works, there will be even more opportunities to improve upon our space for rentals and events opportunities. Lastly, after the New York and Jerusalem consultant studies are complete, the Cincinnati and Los Angeles campuses should also be evaluated for their potential revenue possibilities.

21

Left, NY campus space rental postcard invitation for open house event; Right, Cincinnati campus rental website.


Sustainability

Campaign for Planned Giving

Initiative Background Over the past decade the ten largest higher education fundraisers received between 10.5% and 31.1% of their donations from planned gifts (bequests, trusts, etc.). In 2014, 8% of the $358.38 billion in charitable giving came from bequests. That figure reflects an aging donor base as the “greatest generation” is succeeded by the “baby boomers,” whose own transition of wealth is estimated at $30 trillion over the next generation. While HUC-JIR had established a legacy group over 10 years ago – The 1875 Society – there had been little attention paid to keeping in touch with 1875 Society members or to marketing planned giving. While charities are often surprised to learn about bequests, HUC-JIR was not taking customary steps to stay current about future gift intentions or to encourage including HUC-JIR in an estate plan. Tactics and Areas of Focus In April 2015, Susan Kulick, then Director of Development, Central Region, was named National Director of Planned Giving. Working from the Cincinnati campus, Ms. Kulick would have responsibility for introducing a comprehensive program for growing testamentary commitments as well as blended (part outright/part estate) and complex gifts. Over the past year HUC-JIR has taken the following steps to advance the planned giving program: - Completed an inventory of estate

correspondence - Assisted in creating processes for recording

bequest expectancies. - Researched, updated and enrolled new

members for The 1875 Society

- Produced print and web materials to introduce planned giving at HUC-JIR and explain to donors how to include HUC-JIR in a will or estate

- Represented HUC-JIR in a complex real estate transaction enabling an Overseer to satisfy a $500,000 endowment pledge balance almost three years in advance

- Presented at several HUC-JIR meetings and visited current and prospective planned giving donors in South Florida

Results and Projected Outcomes The metrics that have been developed to measure success are inquiries received, bequest intentions recorded, estates in probate, and dollars received. Our research identified 21 older bequest intentions with an anticipated value of at least $1,124,605. In FY 2016 alone, the College-Institute has recorded 24 bequest intentions with an anticipated minimum value of $2,370,002. What’s Next In FY 2016/17 we will roll out a stewardship plan to ensure ongoing and regularly-scheduled communication with current and prospective planned gift donors. We will continue to educate alumni, lay leaders, and friends, reach out to prospective donors, and refresh the planned giving website. HUC-JIR will also explore an initiative to endow a donor’s annual gift and increase alumni L’Dor Vador commitments.

22


Sustainability

Financial Reporting and Dashboard

Initiative Background HUC-JIR Governors and administrators have been eager to see reports from the business office that can better communicate the status of different funds, as well as provide periodic budget updates throughout the fiscal year. In addition, a common best practice in higher education (and many other sectors) is to present a management “dashboard” that tracks performance across different divisions and allows senior staff and Governors to focus their efforts on areas of success or improvement. Tactics and Areas of Focus In order to produce clear and customizable financial reports in our Abila MIP accounting system, we purchased a new reporting tool (Drillpoint) and hired a system consultant to help with new system reports. In addition, our Controller and Assistant Controller attended Abila Advanced Training Class. We are now coding spending policy investment income and scholarship fund transfers (release of restrictions) by campus and department. At the February 2015 Board of Governors meeting, we presented a first phase “dashboard” that tracks key metrics for three departments (determined by the Executive Committee of the Board). While not a true dashboard in format, the report provides regular updates from the

National Business Office, the development team and the National Office of Recruitment and Admissions in a consistent format to the Board in advance of every board meeting. Results and Projected Outcomes Enhanced reporting has meant we are now able to look at reports by campus and department and see the net revenue or net expense. We can also determine the fundraising goals for scholarships and/or break even student enrollment in specific programs. These different views have already improved planning and will advance budget manager accountability. The dashboard reports have also added a measure of transparency and accountability to our board and senior managers. With the reports in hand, board members can ask even more focused and specific questions about our performance. What’s Next Our current focus is to upgrade Abila MIP to Advanced (hosted in the cloud) and create new dashboard reporting that allows even greater access to information for the Finance Committee, President Panken, and others. We will work on training programs for Budget/Business Managers and further enhancements of our financial reporting to meet the needs of all stakeholders.

23

Sample Quarterly Dashboard.

Initiative Background For years the College-Institute has worked to address its list of deferred maintenance projects. In order to keep our institution safe, attractive, and fit for its required activities, campuses need to be able to regularly address maintenance issues so that last-minute, potentially expensive building issues are limited. Tactics and Areas of Focus The Buildings and Grounds Committee of the BOG requested that operations directors assess their deferred maintenance needs during the fall of 2014. Each campus created a list of deferred maintenance projects and predicted their recurring needs for the next 30 years. After asking operations directors to prioritize their projects, the Buildings and Grounds Committee, along with the Investment and Executive committees, voted to create an additional 0.50% spending policy from the endowment for capital budget deferred maintenance projects for the next three fiscal years, beginning with the current fiscal year, 2015/16. Results and Projected Outcomes Since the approval of the capital budget during the summer of 2015, projects have started on two campuses: • In Jerusalem, the bathroom and underlying

plumbing have been replaced in the Rau Building;

• In Cincinnati, tuckpointing has started on the Classroom Building and Gym Building.

Moving Forward At the end of the current fiscal year, work will begin on the New York campus on the conference

level to replace the air wall dividers and ceiling tiles. In Los Angeles, work will begin to replace plumbing in the restrooms during the early part of the 2016-17 school year. Operations directors have also been asked to submit any new or reprioritized requests for projects to the Buildings and Grounds Committee for approval. All projects must be approved by the Committee in order to receive funding from the capital budget. The progress to date has been slower than anticipated, due largely in part to operations staff’s limited ability to dedicate time to find contractors, review and compare proposals and scheduling work. The College-Institute continues to find ways to support this work to ensure that the funding that was set aside is used in the way it was intended. When the three year funding period is complete, the Buildings and Grounds Committee and staff will determine the best way to fund any remaining and recurring projects.

Deferred Maintenance

24


Sustainability

Tuckpointing work on the Cincinnati campus of HUC-JIR.


Sustainability

New Initiative Review Process

Initiative Background Many of the best ideas and programs at the College-Institute were developed thanks to the creativity of individual staff, faculty, and students. To continue to foster innovation and leverage good ideas across campuses, while ensuring that the core mission of the College-Institute is affirmed and that our limited financial and personnel resources are used to best advantage, the President’s Cabinet has created a process for considering and approving new initiatives. Tactics and Areas of Focus Over the summer of 2015, the President’s Cabinet (comprised of the President, Vice Presidents, and Deans of HUC-JIR) developed a process and protocol by which all new initiatives with a budget of $10,000 or more must be presented to the President’s Cabinet for consideration. The process was announced at faculty meetings on each campus and a memo was distributed to all program directors in the fall of 2015. A diagram of the new approval process flow is below. Results and Projected Outcomes This process is meant to streamline the consideration of new potential programs, to ensure that those programs that are in the best interest of the College-Institute are “pre-vetted” and have the clearly stated support and backing of the administration.

The process should reduce redundancy across campuses, ensure program owners get relevant support (e.g. legal, fundraising, etc.) in a timely manner, and prioritize which projects are presented to current and prospective funders. What’s Next With the process now in place for a few months, the hope is that high priority projects will be able to get the relevant approvals more quickly to satisfy program directors and donors. In addition, with the cabinet members now aware of all new, large proposed projects there should be more opportunities for communicating, and resource and best practice sharing across the College-Institute.

25

Initiative owner brings new idea to a VP for initial go ahead to start process.

Description and budget of initiative are created. Dean, director or VP sign off.

Meeting is held with VP’s and initiative owner. Recommendation made to the President.

If in agreement, President brings idea to Cabinet for formal approval.

New Initiative Review Process


Sustainability

Employee Development and Performance

Initiative Background The staff of the College-Institute, along with the students and faculty, are the key to ensuring that our four campuses and international functions continue to operate smoothly on a daily basis. The idea behind this strategy is to make certain that employees have a sense of how they are contributing to the important work of HUC-JIR, while ensuring that the institution is getting all it can from its dedicated and talented staff. Tactics and Areas of Focus There were two tactics originally identified as part of this strategy: 1. Create a performance evaluation system for employees; and 2. Update the employee handbook. A new performance management system was developed in early 2015 and trainings began in early 2016 on the Los Angeles campus . That beta testing identified some technology glitches with the new electronic performance management system, which are in the process of being addressed. In the new system, supervisors give feedback to the employee and focus upon the employee’s future performance measures and continued development. The Office of Human Resources will review and maintain all employee performance reviews. Our HR consultant has completed a first draft of updating the employee handbook. This draft is currently being reviewed by colleagues on all of our campuses and should be forwarded to legal counsel before the end of June 2016. The last

official update to the employee handbook was in 1999 so this update is long overdue. Results and Projected Outcomes The performance management system may face challenges in roll-out since it is not tied to merit-raises or salary in any way. We will consider implementing the new system of annual performance reviews based on work anniversary dates rather than fiscal or calendar year. We will also provide trainings to develop HUC-JIR staff and supervisors. Our hope is that an updated employee handbook will also give existing staff and any new hires the information and tools they need to understand the policies and protocols of working at HUC-JIR. It should also add a level of consistency between our practices on our stateside campuses. What’s Next In the coming months, we hope to roll out the performance evaluation system as well as the new employee handbook.

26

Initiative Background This strategy is in fact the core of the wider goal. The task is to ensure that our programs are all engaged in curricular review, so that they remain vital and responsive both to changes in the cultural environment and to the core values upon which they are based. Tactics and Areas of Focus The rabbinical program, the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, the Pines School of Graduate Studies, and the Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management are all engaged in currcular reviews, at different stages of development. Due to major changes in the leadership of the Schools of Education, this curricular process has yet to begin in earnest, but it will start in the course of 2017-18. The first strategy, then, was to engage the Directors of the various programs and to encourage them to plan for curricular review. A good deal of research has gone into this process. The 2015 Cohen Report offers a number of suggestions, particularly regarding the Rabbinical Program. Other research includes a poll of the Governors to get a sense of their approach to the current curriculum. Results of this survey were tabulated and shared with the Governors. Results and Projected Outcomes We will only know if the curricular process has been successful in a number of years. Criteria for judging its success are: • Demonstrable improvement in learning

outcomes;

• A greater degree of cross-campus collaboration and integration, and healthy faculty engagement in the process; and

• A “buzz” about the curriculum spreading to recruitment and other mission-critical areas.

What’s Next Much work has been done regarding the rabbinical curriculum, although there is still much to be achieved. The faculty on all four campuses has produced detailed responses to a proposal first presented to them in September 2015. This proposal was written at the behest of the Provost by three faculty members. The faculty council (with representatives from each campus) has become highly engaged in the process. In May 2016 a timeframe for the completion of this work was agreed upon. We intend to spend the next two academic years working on the curricular review, with certain issues placed on the front burner – Hebrew, integration of professional and academic dimensions, and eLearning. Cross-campus groups relating to these topics are to be created, as well as an oversight group charged with the task of bringing the work to completion.


27

Revise Curricula

Prof. Adriane Leveen teaching at HUC-JIR New York.

Create a Five-year Research Cycle Initiative Background The overarching purpose of the “Curriculum” goal is one of review and redesign of the various curricula of the College-Institute’s programs, which is supplemented by directorial program review of internal (e.g. strengths and weaknesses) and external (e.g. market fluctuations) trends. Tactics and Areas of Focus To help organize the process of review, we developed guidelines and a schedule for five years of research at HUC-JIR. Results and Projected Outcomes A. During its first year of implementation, the College-Institute thoroughly analyzed and researched the Schools of Education and the National Business Office. An important emphasis of the 2015 Monitoring Report to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education was the demonstration of using data to make informed decisions. A key piece of evidence of our culture of data-driven decision making was the Schools of Education program review, which asked: (1) What does the job market in Jewish education look like today?; (2) What educational experiences and areas of study do graduates see as core to their professional success?; (3) What are the attractors and obstacles to enrollment in the Schools of Education? The study produced a 43-page document that

illustrated the College-Institute’s deep commitment to program improvement, including a recommendation to add an Experiential Jewish Education concentration within the Masters in Jewish Education programs. B. The second area of research was a study of the National Business Office. The study was an opportunity to reconsider current long-standing methods of operation and organization that have not been formally reviewed or revised for quite some time. Grant Thornton was brought in to provide a third-party perspective and conducted an Operational Review of certain areas within the Finance function. They came up with 90 recommendations to improve our work in key areas: leverage technology, address functional gaps, document and review policies, improve communication, and enhance training and staffing. We have already begun implementation of many of their recommendations. What’s Next Currently, we are working on the IT and eLearning program review. The focus of the review will be on the type of technological infrastructure necessary to support these efforts. The rabbinical school program review will focus on furthering Hebrew instruction and pedagogy to better prepare students for the kinds of Hebrew that are needed in the field.

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Five-Year Research Cycle Schedule

Academic Year Academic Program Administrative Unit

2014-15 Schools of Education National Business Office

2015-16 Rabbinical Program IT & eLearning

2016-17 School of Sacred Music Student Life & Admissions

2017-18 Jewish Nonprofit Management Alumni Relations & Institutional Resources

2018-19 School of Graduate Studies Leadership & Governance


Initiative Background We have identified Hebrew as a key driver of our curricular vision, particularly in relation to the rabbinical program. While there are many professional dimensions to the training of Jewish Professionals which are not directly connected to Hebrew, we judge it to be at the core of our student’s capacity to act as bridges between Judaism and the Jewish community they serve. Precisely when a widening gulf threatens to separate Reform leadership from aspects of Jewish tradition, Israel, and the wider Jewish community, more effective Hebrew instruction at the College-Institute can act as a powerful corrective. Tactics and Areas of Focus Some tactics have already been put in place. Students at lower levels now have more Hebrew instructional time in the Year-in-Israel program. Hebrew days have also been instituted. In 2014-15, Dr. Wendy Zierler, Professor of Feminist Studies and Modern Jewish Literature, at our New York campus, embarked on an extensive program of research in this area. We are hoping to have a plan, based on her research, funded in the coming years. If our plan is successful, it would mean: • A significant number – but not necessarily all

– of our graduates will be in fluent in spoken Hebrew;

• Among them, spoken Hebrew will be used as a medium for ongoing instruction; and

• All graduates will reach advanced level of competency in reading and decoding Hebrew texts.

Results and Projected Outcomes Some aspects of this initiative are easily measurable. A student at the beginning level of Hebrew is studying two more weekly hours of Modern Hebrew than previously. Hundreds of hours have been invested in planning. It is harder to gauge the impact of these efforts, particularly because the major curricular impact will only be felt in the 2017-18 academic year and beyond. A survey of students and alumni in the rabbinical program concerning their attitudes to Hebrew, their use of it in their work, and self-assessment of ability, will be undertaken as part of the College-Institute’s institutional research cycle. If our efforts - comprising in-person and electronic remediation and instruction, regular teaching and testing throughout the years of study, and more - bear fruit, we hope to be able to play a leading role in the revival of Hebrew competency in non-Orthodox Judaism. What’s Next Curricular change, particularly lasting curricular change, takes many years. If our efforts to raise a “war chest” prove effective, we will be in a position to dedicate significant resources to the stated aim of upgrading our Hebrew instruction. If these efforts yield no fruit, our commitment to this goal will not disappear, and we will need to come up with ways of integrating these steps into our work in a different manner.

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New Hebrew Initiative


Initiative Background The College-Institute needs to be appropriately resourced in order to deliver the fine education it plans to provide. Overhauling the curriculum without paying attention to the academic resources at our disposal – their strength and judicious deployment – would be a futile exercise. Tactics and Areas of Focus It was decided to focus on the needs of the library. In the course of this planning period it became clear that the National Director of the Library will retire at the end of the 2016-17 year, so the decision was taken to build a planning process which would help identify the qualities required in a new Director, and to give that individual (not as yet identified) a useful platform upon which to plan for the library system in the coming years. We approached Professor Valerie Hotchkiss of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to act as a consultant through this review process. In parallel, the data regularly collected by each of our libraries will be used to get a picture of the kind of utility being made of our library resources from both internal and external users.

Results and Projected Outcome There has been only limited success in the creation of a plan for academic resources. It is now scheduled to be in place for the full roll-out of the rabbinical school curriculum in the 2018-19 academic year. The only measurable success has been in the production of an agreed-upon statement about the future of the faculty, our commitment to academic freedom, and the nature of the tenure system, agreed upon by all sides in January 2016. What’s Next There is still much work to be done in assessing and planning for optimal utilization of our academic resources. The library planning process will proceed with vigor in the 2016-17 year, which is a crucial time in the life of our library system. As for faculty resource planning, significant changes in the make-up of the faculty, and predicted retirements for the coming five years, provide both a planning challenge and a strategic opportunity. It is also significant that the Academic and Faculty Affairs Committee has decided to put the question of faculty planning on its agenda.

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Plan for Academic Resources

Breakdown of tenured/adjunct faculty on stateside campuses.


78%

65%

34%

22%

35%

66%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

CN LA NY

2014-15 Academic Year

Tenured Adjunct

Goal Five: Israel

Initiative Background HUC’s presence in Israel is a clear priority for our President and administration and we are working tirelessly to secure our sustainability. Two recent gifts have been obtained that will have a transformative impact on our Jerusalem campus. The first is the Roswell’s willingness to create an endowment for Israeli Rabbinical Program (IRP) Fellowships, and the second gift, from the Taube Philanthropies, will go towards supporting all of our work. These gifts will keep us aligned with the College-Institute’s goals. Both the Israel Committee and the Jerusalem Board of Overseers (BOO) have been reconstituted and are working in parallel to insure high visibility in the overall work of the Governors. The Israel Committee will work with the administration to explore the impact of our programs and the potential to maximize the use of the campus. A new, emerging BOO in Israel has targeted Israelis who are very committed to Reform Judaism and HUC-JIR, and are willing to offer monetary and other types of support. Tactics and Areas of Focus

Rabbi Ofek Meir, the new IRP program director, has brought fresh energy and perspective to the program since his appointment in July 2015. It is critical to note that he has made every effort to double and triple our enrollment. From four entering students in the 2015/16 academic year, we will most likely take ten students next year and for at least the two years that follow.

Results and Projected Outcomes Making this program a priority within the strategic plan has resulted in more attention to the program from staff across the college-institute. It is a long range project - the IRP remains an expensive program for our institution in that we do not ask for tuition and we offer student stipends. However, this is the only way to guarantee great candidates for a program that is essential for leading and nurturing Reform Judaism in Israel. What’s Next We must continue to make the IRP a priority for fundraising. While we continue to explore the possibilities, Israeli philanthropy is not at the point of supporting programs like this. At some point in the future we may consider a future hire for Israeli based fundraising. This would include getting funding from the Israeli government.

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Israeli Rabbinical Program

Group of students from the Israeli Rabbinical Program.

Goal Five: Israel

Lay Leadership Development in Jerusalem

Initiative Background In order to increase our visibility and keep Israel as a top priority for HUC-JIR, we must have Israeli partners who are committed to Reform Judaism in Israel. The current Board of Overseers (BOO) is in need of a complete overhaul. Over the past year, we have assembled a committee, by means of both group and individual meetings, of five people who are willing to give time, energy, and resources to the Jerusalem campus. These individuals represent the kind of “movers and shakers” within Israeli society that will raise our profile. Tactics and Areas of Focus

We are trying to create a “leaner/meaner” body. The new BOO will not have more than 10 members, including HUC-JIR and the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) professionals. We will hold fewer meetings and will time them to coincide with key events at the Jerusalem campus. The group meetings are coordinated with visits by President Panken, as follows: (1) Nov. 2015 on IRP Ordination Day; (2) Tel Aviv office of new member in February 2016; (3) the next meeting will take place when members of BOG/Israel Committee are in Israel in late June. Between meetings, staff in Jerusalem have met with the new members individually to maintain involvement and interest. Our key programs - IRP, Education Department, and the Blaustein Center for Pastoral Care - have created presentations to promote their work, which will be presented at the next meeting.

Results and Projected Outcomes There is slow and steady progress on this strategy. We are creating a new concept for the BOO and redefining their roles. We hope to receive donations from these new Overseers during 2016/17, which would be a major milestone. We will also continue building and nurturing new Overseers who can, over time, transition into leadership roles. What’s Next We must keep cultivating this small group of BOO members by bringing them to campus and involving them in the mission of HUC-JIR in Jerusalem. Next year should mark a deepening of their commitment and involvement. Moving forward, we will coordinate three additional meetings; assign each new member a specific task or area of involvement, such as Admissions, Campus renovation, visibility and PR, or academic programs; and set clear deadlines for receipt of annual donations and follow up.

32 Jerusalem campus arches.

Goal Five: Israel

North American Reform Congregation Tours and Life-Cycle Events

Initiative Background The Jerusalem campus is working to reach a much larger North American audience, which will grow the number of communities that come to visit, celebrate, study or pray. The ways in which we plan to accomplish this are by efficiently answering and accommodating requests, initiating activities and generating income, and demonstrating to each visitor our responsibility to serve the global Reform Jewish Community. Tactics and Areas of Focus In July 2015, we hired our first Director of Community Relations in Jerusalem who is charged with helping us achieve the goals above. This hire has been integral to our success, as demonstrated by the production of promotional materials which were distributed at the URJ Biennial, CCAR conference, and communication-based correspondence via email blasts, etc. We built a rental website in the Jerusalem section of huc.edu to advertise the campus and show the various spaces that one can use for an event in Jerusalem. In addition, we developed menus for public programming and outreach to our Reform partners and alumni that include lecturers, b’nai Mitzvah packages, and alumni opportunities. Results and Projected Outcomes Through this initiative, we have succeeded in growing awareness of and improving upon the Jerusalem campus. The following metrics describe the realization of developments made in the 2015-16 fiscal year: - Over 2,500 people visited the campus,

including 25 congregations, 18 families celebrating B’nai Mitzvah, and 15 North American youth groups; and

- Over $40,000 were gained in revenue from campus events of which there were over 150.

What’s Next Part of keeping our affiliates and alumni engaged will be to offer continued, dynamic programming, such as Kabbalat Shabbat services led by top Reform rabbis and scholars, as well as a dinner catered by Beit Shmuel. It will be essential to maintain ongoing communication with alumni to encourage their congregations to visit, as well as develop more offers to best serve them. We are also in the process of aesthetically improving upon many of our facilities, such as the Presidential apartment and student lounges, to maximize their use and generate more rental contracts for the spaces on campus.

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A flyer describing B’nai Mitzvah offerings on the Jerusalem campus that also advertises other activities, such as archaeological digs and lectures.

Conclusion Over the past two years, the College-Institute has worked hard to make progress on the goals described in this report and laid out in the strategic plan of 2014. While we have made substantial efforts in many areas, there is still work to be done. To reach our goal of enhancing Thought Leadership, we have produced (or will create) new programming for college students and lay learners. We are more thoughtfully providing additional learning opportunities for our alumni and lay leaders. We are taking advantage of our web presence and using technology to bring Reform Jews to our “virtual” campus through College Commons and Live-streamed events. A multitude of strategies and countless hours have gone into our recruitment efforts to ensure we get a robust group of new students into our academic programs each year. Those strategies are paying off already – with the largest class of rabbinical students in six years enrolling for the fall of 2016. We continue to safeguard the sustainability of the College-Institute by focusing on fundraising programs like planned–giving and ensuring that our precious resources are performing well. We will build on the planning we have done to implement staff performance evaluations and getting all we can from our real estate. Our curriculum is constantly evolving but the past few years have seen unprecedented activity as we reaffirm our commitment to Hebrew, commit ourselves to constant review and assessment through a new research cycle, and spend considerable time thinking about our rabbinical program curriculum. Lastly, in Israel there will be thrilling changes on our Jerusalem campus as the Taube Family

Campus develops and we create a comprehensive strategy for how to best use our resources there. In the meantime, we have strengthened our outreach from that campus to North American congregations and the world. We are also working hard to connect to even more Israelis through the Israeli Rabbinical Program and our new Board of Overseers. Next Steps During the summer of 2016, we will assess the best way to move forward on those aspects of the strategic plan that as yet are not completed and that require additional attention. We will also concretize the strategies within this report that will help us continue the early successes we have had. At the same time, there is now an opportunity to begin a new, longer-term strategic planning process with the Board of Governors, Boards of Overseers, staff, faculty, alumni, and students. That process will include: • Revisiting the goals in the 2014 plan and

determining how they should be included in a ten-year (or longer) plan;

• Creating a vision for the College-Institute for the future that can be leveraged for a new fundraising campaign, recruitment, etc.;

• Determining a sustainability plan that takes into account various scenarios for existing sources of revenues (e.g. RMAC support and changes in the financial markets); and

• Generating ideas and parameters that make decision making and mission alignment easier for staff, board members and all stakeholders.

We look forward to working with our community on all of this and more in the coming months and years.

Conclusion and Next Steps

34

35

Appendix

Goal 1: Provide Thought Leadership for the Jewish Community

Objective A: Teach to Key audiences for recruitment and development

Strategies/Initiatives Description or Tactics Deliverables and Metrics

1. Hold annual

conference beginning

in AY 15/16

• First Thought Leadership Conference

Scheduled - Symposium One:

Crafting Jewish Life in a Complex

Religious Landscape

2. Create elite high

school and college

programs

• The Smashing Idols Fellowship for

college students created

• Program production schedule and plan # of applicants to program () # of participants in program () Program participants who apply to

HUC-JIR ()

Objective B: Offer resources and education opportunities for alumni and lay leaders


3. Leverage

Zimmerman Institute

model

Lay leaders in retreat environment,

includes donors, volunteers, board

members, other Jewish leaders

• Plan and schedule for creation of new

program

# of program participants ()

Dollars raised from program

participants ()

4. Expand alumni

learning opportunities

with quick wins and

long-term programs

E.g. micro-certification, courses, best

practices sharing, holiday prep, Hebrew

discussion days, faculty book club

• Alumni learning plan and schedule

# of alumni participants ()

Objective C: Develop initiatives that expand our reach via creative use of technology


5. Continue expansion

of web presence and

offerings

- Expansion of College Commons experience to additional congregations

- More and better content available on the “Learn” section of our website

- Continued enhancement of HUC.edu in terms of functionality and appeal

Hits on HUC.edu () Number of congregations participating in

College Commons ()

37

38

Goal 2: Reshape recruitment & admissions to raise the number of quality incoming

students

Objective A: Evaluate, reshape and implement new recruitment and admissions strategies


1. Refine current program

to include strategies and

timelines to increase

enrollment

Using NORA strategic plan as a

jumping off point.

• Work plan for 2014/15 and beyond

2. Review financial aid

policies with aim of

increasing enrollment

Consider merit-based aid and

changes to definition of “in need”

• Analysis of financial aid policies # of eligible students receiving financial aid () TARGET: 0 eligible students choose not to attend because of program costs

3. Deploy enhanced

strategies for bringing new

applicants to the college-

institute using our

campuses and through our

alumni networks

Increase the number and intensity of

HUC-JIR alumni engaging in

recruitment as well as planned

events for prospective students on

all four campuses

• Schedule of on-campus events # of prospective students brought to

campus • Plan and schedule for faculty/admin participation

# of faculty/admin hours spent on recruitment ()

Number of prospective students who meet personally with a member of the HUC-JIR staff or faculty ()

4. Expand partnerships

with external groups for

implicit and explicit

recruitment initiatives

Reform movement partners as well

as external (e.g. Hillel, Birthright,

AIPAC, JStreet, AEPi, Adamah)

Number of explicit and implicit recruitment events and meetings ()

39

Goal 3: Continue to build and sustain the Reform movement and its congregations and organizations

and work to secure its future and funding

Objective A: Develop new sources of revenue


1. Leverage real estate

portfolio for increased

revenue

a. Jerusalem: Hotel rezoning effort,

congregational visits

Number of congregations visiting campus ()

Dollars earned from congregational programming ()

Dollars raised from rezoned property ()

b. NYC: Cellular antenna, additional

space rentals, events and conference

center build out

Dollars raised from antenna leases () Dollars raised from space rentals () # of new Jewish “eyes” on campus ()

c. LA: Explore opportunities for public

to rent HUC space

Dollars raised from space rental()

d. Cin: Explore leasing or other space

maximization opportunities

Dollars raised from leased space/land ()

2. Refine and improve

fundraising strategies by

launching a campaign for

planned giving

Create a strategy for adding to our

annual fund through donors’ estates

or based upon a binding annual giving

plan

• Planned giving marketing plan Dollars spent on planned giving marketing Dollars raised from planned giving ()

3. Enhance financial

analysis to meet reporting

needs of all stakeholders

and create a management

dashboard that tracks

various performance

indicators across

departments

a. Design report through budgeting

software that can be sent to cabinet,

budget managers and BOG on a

regular basis

b. Design management dashboard for

Feb. 2015 Board meeting, including

head count analysis as recommended

by BOG Peak Efficiencies report

• Rollout of dashboards

4. Work to eliminate

deferred maintenance

expenses on all campuses

Create plan that identifies

maintenance issues for all four

campuses and how to address them

• List of deferred maintenance projects Funds raised for deferred maintenance projects () Percent of projects completed against target ()

5. Identify process and/or

criteria for evaluating

prospective academic and

extracurricular efforts

Ensure limited redundancy, alignment

with mission and the creation of

metrics for success

• Proposed process or standards for continuing and initiating programs

6. Focus on employee

development and

performance

Create structures for performance

management and leadership

development. Revamp and update

employee handbook

• Leadership development plan • Formal performance management evaluation system • Updated employee handbook

Goal 4: Ensure resources are best used to prepare students for leadership and innovation

according to the highest standards and in the spirit of HUC-JIR’s core values

Objective A: Ensure that students receive the education and formation likely to enhance their

ability to lead effectively in a changing world Strategies/Initiatives Description or Tactics Deliverables and Metrics

1. Revise our curricula

through a process that

includes wide-ranging

consultation on our

programs and research on

the changing face of the

rabbinate, cantorate and

other professions

Assure resources are integrated and aligned

to deliver and support curricula

• Analysis of current educational programs

• Research report on each profession • Curriculum revision proposal and

plan

2. As part of broader

project, create 5 year

research cycle to include

evaluation of academic

areas or offerings

To be led by the institutional research

department

• Annual research reports

Objective B: Ensure that students in relevant programs achieve a consistently high level of Hebrew

language attainment Strategies/Initiatives Description or Tactics Deliverables and Metrics

3. Plan and adopt a new

Hebrew initiative including

preparation, remediation,

and continuity throughout

the curriculum using

benchmarks

Including the creation of tools for measuring

capacity, multi-year curriculum, and

dedicated staff

• New Hebrew initiative plan • Benchmark design % of students scoring “very good” or

higher on Hebrew exam ()

Objective C: Leverage Academic Resources to Maximize benefits


4. Create and adopt a plan

for academic resources for

2016-2026

Assess data on current usage of the Klau

Library, the AJA and e-learning departments.

Consult with key internal leaders and

outside experts on likely trends for academic

support networks

• Klau Library, AJA, and e-learning current state analysis

• Report on academic support trends • 10 year plan

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Goal 5: Maintain the leadership role of the Jerusalem campus for North Americans,

Israelis and Reform Jewry

Objective A: Maintain and grow the role of the College-Institute in building Progressive Judaism in

Israel


1. Create permanent

sources of support for Israeli

Rabbinical program

Outreach to Israelis and North American

donors.

• Outreach strategy # of Israelis coming to events at HUC-JIR ()

2. Develop lay leadership for

Jerusalem campus of

College-Institute

Develop long-term strategy for

reconstructing the Board of Overseers in

Jerusalem

• Strategy document and plan

Objective B: Build ongoing relationship between Israel, State-side campuses and World Jewry


3. Using marketing and PR

strategies, expand

experience for North

American Reform

congregations visiting

campus for tours, education

and/or life-cycle events and

celebrations

Work with partners to make the Jerusalem

campus a part of tours and plans for

congregations, teen travel, etc.

• Plan for engagement with North

American congregations

# of congregation visits ()

• Promotion plan and program

# of events held on campus ()

Dollars raised from events ()

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STRATEGIC PLAN: TWO-YEAR REPORT JUNE 2016huc.edu/sites/default/files/About/TwoYearUpdate.pdf · STRATEGIC PLAN: TWO-YEAR REPORT JUNE 2016 . 2 . 3 A Letter from the President _____

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