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In addition to its ongoing Membership activities, Marlboro Jewish Center ("MJC") introduced two new programs that have had a positive impact on the rate of new members joining the synagogue and on their participation in synagogue life. Those two programs are described below, the Free Membership program and the New Members Weekend.

Free Membership Marlboro Jewish Center developed a free membership program in 1998 that provided a years' free membership to any Jewish household that was newly established in the previous 12 months. To be eligible the family (or seniors or singles) had to have never belonged to the synagogue previously and their residence had to be the first home the family had in "the area" in the last five years. These later conditions kept people from moving across town to a larger home and being eligible for free membership. In plain English, the program was aimed at those new to the area (or establishing first households) with an opportunity to join the synagogue with no dues (or building fund), although they would be responsible for tuition and other fees.

In summary, the objectives of the program were to:

• At its best, encourage committed conservative Jews to move to the area;
• Get Jews to be involved in organized Jewish life and the Jewish community sooner, with positive benefits for them (the synagogue would be a bigger part of their life) and us (they would be more committed);
• Grow membership more rapidly, with the trial period leading to less dropping out and encouraging conservative Judaism;
• Establish the synagogue as a warm, welcoming shul.

Marlboro is a community of 30,000 people and is growing at a faster rate than other communities in New Jersey. It has a large Jewish population (some estimate that 20% of households have a Jewish adult in them). Many large new homes are being built and plans are in the works to build large senior communities as well. Our experience with membership is that the majority of members who have families join when they "have to" in order to begin their children on the bar mitzvah training track. One reason is that families stretch themselves financially when they move into a new home and feel they can't afford a synagogue. By the time they can afford the shul or have to join, they already have lived in the community for a number of years. By that point the synagogue is going to be less important to them in making roots in the community, establishing friendships, or modeling behaviors.

We also felt that the program was going to create a positive image of the synagogue in the community. Our mission statement calls on us to be a warm, welcoming community and this helped achieve that mission.

Finally, and perhaps most optimistically, we hoped that this program would encourage those Jews who were considering moving to Monmouth County tomove to Marlboro, making sure that Jews stay "over represented" in Marlboro. We also hoped that the offer would attract those Jews to the area that were anxious to be part of a Jewish community and that these new members were likely to add something to the shul in terms of "Jewish energy". A final consideration - many "in-married" Jews are in a marriage where one partner grew up conservative and the other partner didn't. This program allowed the non-conservative partner to be part of a conservative congregation for a year, without obligation. We hoped that the free membership would provide us with a way to, for lack of a better term, win market share among the Jews who had not yet decided what kind of Jewish community they wanted to be part of. More importantly, the Jews who ultimately joined would know they had made a good decision. In the past, a number of families have left to join a shul of another movement (or join ours) after finding out they did not comfortably "fit". This trial period would hopefully lead to better marriages between shul and congregant.

What happened? In the first two years of the program, 31 members joined under the free membership program. These memberships typically happened over the June to September period for two reasons - that's when families move to an area and that's when the High Holidays occur. Many families moved in the previous summer and waited 11 months before joining under free membership. All of the free members have not reached the "pay up" point yet. But we estimate that over 50% will join immediately. Some of those who have not joined immediately intend to join our shul when they do join. Finally, a handful was probably just taking advantage of a good deal. A couple of families were just passing through the community on corporate relocations.

What does the program cost? The "hard" cash cost of the program is modest. The cost of mailing to the members and the office work of tracking them and knowing when they need to be invited as paying members. However, there are opportunity costs as well. Some of the families who received a free membership would have joined anyway. So there are "lost" revenues. Some of the non-joiners might have bought tickets for the Holidays. Another "soft" issue - you will be giving out more tickets for High Holidays so make sure you have room. The revenue gains for this program come down the road - some of the free members join your shul sooner than they would have giving you the benefit of extra years of revenue. The most positive revenue gain however comes from getting a family to join that would not have joined otherwise. Since families are typically members for 15+ years and pay building fees, tuition, and make donations, the "lifetime value" of just one family member is on average $40,000 (not "present value"). There are non-revenue gains as well - some of the members who came as free members have rolled their sleeves up and got involved right away. One is President of the Men's Club in just his second year. They do have a very positive first impression of our shul and feel "at home".

How was the program promoted? We put an ad in the local newspaper in June to promote the program. We gave flyers out (see attached) to local realtors to keep in their office for prospective residents. We also went to the township. The township records all real estate transactions and we mailed the flyer to those homeowners who recently bought a home in the area.

Things to be prepared for - some of your recently joined members paid before the new program and will ask to be "grandfathered" in. Be prepared to deal with this (we decided to give them 50% off). An existing member or non-members who moved into new homes, but always lived in town may make noise (we did not yield). Besides just signing up these members, try and have a new member Shabbat and a new member brunch where you invite and welcome them and let them know what the shul offers them. This is critical to retention.

New Members Weekend For about eight years, Marlboro Jewish Center has had an annual New Members Shabbat Service on Friday night. For the last several years the program has been held on the first Friday night of a month, a time when the congregation has an early Friday night service aimed at families (complete with our own kid friendly prayer book). The Friday afternoon of the service, we deliver to the families a Shabbat Welcome Kit (includes Challah, candles, welcome note, and other items over the years). In a lovely tradition, evoking links in a chain, we have the families who received the Welcome Kit in the previous year deliver the Shabbat kits to the current year's new members. Typically, we have 40 to 70 new member "units" in a year.

Two years ago we reevaluated the Friday night service and thought it was a great foundation, but that it could be enhanced: · Participation in the service was only about 25-35% · Families with children tended to spend little time at the kiddush and so did not have a chance to interact with other members (or were watching their kids) · Our senior new members may have not felt as home at that service · We didn't effectively "harvest" the benefits of the goodwill we engendered · While new members were invited to stand during the service, once in the kiddush room they may not have stood out and could not be greeted.

We decided to expand the event into a new membership weekend. The most important addition was to offer a new membership breakfast on that Sunday. We sent very nice invitations out to every member, hand addressed, weeks in advance of the weekend. Every family that did not RSVP was called the week before. These calls created a great deal of goodwill and helped us understand issues that might be going on in these families (e.g. I'm giving birth any day, I'm having surgery) and we learned from people who could not attend how and where they might be interested in getting involved in synagogue life.

On the Friday night of services we set out a table with nametags for the new members that had RSVPed and invited them to wear the tags (make sure you have both pin and clip on holders). I think one way to improve this part of the weekend might be to skip the nametags and offer carnations instead - less to prepare, still lets new members stand out, and feels more like Shabbat and less like a corporate trade show that way (people will ask each other for names). We did the weekend in November, though Chanukah might provide a theme ("dedication of the Temple").

The Sunday morning breakfast has turned into a new membership fair - each of the temple's arms sent the president or a representative to sign up people, adult education materials were available, and the rabbi, cantor, president, and membership VP came. Breakfast was leisurely; many of the members' children were in Hebrew School (lunch was in the school gym) for 90 minutes. Riding toys and other toys were put out to amuse the smaller children and there was only one very brief welcome speech given.

The cost of the weekend was modest - the cost of laser printing and mailing the invitations, the new members welcome kit, nametags, and breakfast was done at a cost of under $250 for 60 new members and families. The results were as follows:

• Participation in one of the two events was over 60%+ and 100% of the people were welcomed as a result of the RSVP phone call
• A large number of people joined an arm or signed up for an arms event that morning - new members are in "joining mode" and the breakfast took advantage of this in a way that could not be done on Friday night
• New members tend to be peers with much in common - new friendships were definitely begun that day. A few tables saw seniors sitting with our Prime Timers (Chazzak) representatives as other tables' seats were dominated by young families sharing notes on their new community (while keeping an eye on their nursery aged children). It was incredibly heimish
• People had an opportunity to meet the clergy and lay leadership in a casual, relaxed manner
• New members seem to be getting involved in synagogue committees and life more consistently

We recommend the new membership weekend as a great way to reach out to your new members and give them a fun "orientation program". It takes advantage of their initial inclination to get involved, it trains them to be warm and welcoming, and it provides us with incredibly positive new energy.