DC MINYAN

LC MEETING NOTES 7/22/10

 

 

I.         Membership Drive

 

            A.        Families Dues:  There's a consensus that the Minyan ought to increase the cost of membership dues for families, at least to cover the actual additional costs of kids to the Minyan (e.g. kids programming, babysitting, etc.).  The actual amount of the increase to families' dues will be determined in part by reviewing the total kids' expenses and the number of kids in the Minyan.

 

            B.        Membership Target:  Judy indicates that our membership target number is 300 members.  This represents considerable increase over last year's total, but will still be a reasonable size.

 

            C.        High Holidays Dues:  The LC discussed the possibility of changing the costs of dues for Rosh Hoshanah vis-a-vis Yom Kippur dues (currently $100 for Rosh Hoshanah and $50 for Yom Kippur).  The LC also discussed the possibility of changing the cost of High Holidays dues vis-a-vis full membership dues. 

 

            D.        Membership Drive Questionnaire:  Judy suggests shortening the questionnaire given to registrants during the membership drive process regarding members' interests for possible involvement in the Minyan.  The LC also suggests ways for the Membership Committee to better communicate the data gathered on the questionnaire to the various other committees about members who volunteered for activities in their particular areas.

 

II.        Website Redesign

 

            Rivka reports on the ongoing redesign of the Minyan's website.  She indicates that the SC members will receive a draft of the new website redesign in the next few weeks for their initial review.  LC members will also be asked to review and edit the description of their respective committees. 

 

III.      High Holidays

 

            A.        Space:  The Minyan leadership continues to search out feasible options for alternative space for High Holidays space (other than the JCC), without much success.  Fees for nearby hotels are extremely expensive, e.g. $15,000 - $35,000.  The LC agrees that that level of expense is not worth it

 

            B.        Ensuring Seats for Registrants:  Since seating at the JCC is limited, the LC discusses various ways to improve the likelihood that paying registrants receive seats on the High Holidays (especially on Yom Kippur, when the most people attend).  Last year, several paying registrants who arrived late did not receive seats and had to stand at the back of the room.  Possibilities discussed:

                        1.         Advanced messaging:  Inform registrants several weeks in advance of High Holidays services that seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis, and encourage people to come early in order to ensure themselves a seat.

                        2.         Early sign-up period for members:  Have a few weeks of members-only registration, followed by opening registration up for non-members.

                        3.         Limit registration:  cap High Holidays registration at a particular number, near the total number of seats.  People who ask to register after registration is full could either be told that space is full, or could be issued standing-room-only tickets for a lower price.

                        4.         Tickets / List:  require registrants to bring tickets to demonstrate registration, or simply have a list with all registrants' names at the door.  People who come without having registered ahead of time could be told that they could use the standing-room-only space in the back of the room.

 

            The LC discusses which of these options to use (or to use several in combination), and will follow up over email to decide the best option(s).

 

IV.       DC Minyan Dialogue Report Follow-up

 

            A.        Hospitality Committee:

                        1.         Mystery Guest Shabbat:  One recurring suggestion in the Dialogue Report was for small-group dinners.  This is now happening in a few weeks with the Mystery Guest Shabbat program.

                        2.         Greeters:  Various LC members suggest that shabbat greeters wear some sort of physical identification (e.g. button, name tag, kippah of a particular color, etc.), so that new members can easily identify them.

 

            B.        Simchat Torah:  LC discusses ideas for how to soup-up its Simchat Torah celebration.  Ideas include assigning a particular coordinator (other than the High Holidays coordinator) for Simchat Torah alone; petitioning the D.C. government to be able to shut down Q Street for dancing in the street.

 

            C.        Kashrut Policy:  The Kashrut Policy Taskforce reports on their several meetings thus far.  Its first meeting focused on framing the issue, mostly around whether members could host Minyan-promoted or Minyan-arranged meals at their homes if they did not conform strictly to the Minyan's own kashrut policy.  The second meeting reported on the results of halakhic research into this issue.  The third meeting focused on the discussion of the possibility of distributing a questionnaire to Minyan members to obtain further information on kashrut issues.