Strategic Plan

This strategic plan came out of a year-long process involving input from JCOGS members and our board. The board, the rabbi, and our membership will use these touchstones as a guide as we consider deliverables throughout the next five years. Please join us to discuss it at the annual meeting. 

Introduction: JCOGS is an inclusive Jewish home for our members and a strong Jewish presence in a larger, non-Jewish community. We provide support and use our Jewish values to care for others. We educate our children, celebrate, pray, learn, and socialize. We are proud of what we have built, and we are crafting a future for the next generation of Jewish people in central and northern Vermont.

Five Year Vision: JCOGS will continue to thrive in the areas our members have indicated are particularly important to them, including education, sense of community, and strong programming. JCOGS will increase commitment to tikkun olam, enhance member engagement, and strengthen our Jewish presence within central and northern Vermont on a financially sustainable basis.

Touchstones:

• An active tikkun olam committee that provides robust programming for membership;
• Engagement of secular Jews in tikkun olam events;
• Increased collaboration between Jews and non-Jews around social justice issues;
• Whole-family and summer tikkun olam opportunities.
• Areas of particular concern:
  • Green the building and operations
  • Immigration
  • Antisemitism
  • Other forms of bigotry
  • Hunger
  • Housing
  • Transportation

• Continued staffing to cover children from the ages of birth-18;
• Establishment of a daycare and/or preschool program;
• Creation of Jewish day camp;
• Increased intergenerational and cultural programming;
• Development of retreats and workshops on topics of shared interest;
• Support for adult educational programming.

• A membership committee with active committee members;
• All JCOGS committees doing the work and reporting back to the board, allowing the board to govern the organization;
• Consideration of hiring a part-time operations manager or executive director by 2024. Ideally, this staff member would have a strong development background;
• All members have an understanding of their role beyond paying dues, as demonstrated by:
  • 25% of JCOGS members serve on a committee;
  • 90% of JCOGS members volunteer in some capacity each year;
  • A president, vice president, and secretary succession plan;
  • An active board with at least 12 regular trustees.

• An updated website that is utilized by members, staff and board;
• Continued engagement with LSSU and other school boards on topics such as: Holocaust, anti-Semitism, Jewish calendar;
• With support from JCOGS, membership taking on leading events and day-to-day Jewish life in more distant parts of central and northern Vermont;
• Increased positive media coverage.

• An endowment fund with a principal that is increasing yearly;
• A strong annual fund supported by member donors to fund operating budgets;
• Diversified portfolio of funding sources to include non-membership based funding sources, such as state and foundation grants;
• With an increased understanding that dues do not cover the cost of JCOGS operations, members will increase yearly contributions.