Study: Consultants May Hold the Key to Future of Synagogues

A new study examining efforts at long-range planning in synagogues found that -- under the right conditions -- outside consultants, if armed with an understanding of both the business and the nonprofit worlds, can help congregations formulate strategic blueprints for the future.

But the encouraging findings contained in "Strategic Planning in Congregations: Capitalizing on Opportunities for Organizational Change" came with a few caveats.

Among them was the fact that the emerging field of synagogue consulting is so diffuse that congregations often don't even know where to find help or, perhaps worse, wind up hiring someone whose skills don't match the particular project.

Sharon M. Ravitch

"In a world that's changing faster and faster, excellent planning matters to synagogues," said Rabbi David A. Teutsch, director of the Levin-Lieber program in Jewish ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and co-author of the recently published report.

"We need well-trained consultants available, and we need some quality control -- and some help for congregations so that they do a good job in selecting a consultant," added Teutsch, who often assumes just such a role.

Consultants aid congregations in areas such as fundraising, coordinating programs and volunteer activities, helping to clarify the responsibilities of lay and professional leadership, and formulating a strategic vision or mission statement.

Rabbi David A. Teutsch

Teutsch and his co-author, Sharon M. Ravitch, a professor in the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education and an expert in research methods, presented their findings to a small group of invited guests at RRC in Wyncote on April 2.

The 18-month-long study was commissioned by the Minnesota-based organization STAR (Synagogues: Transformation and Renewal). The agency, which would not reveal the cost of the project, is perhaps best known for engineering the Synaplex program, which encourages congregations to host a range of Friday-night activities, such as yoga and meditation classes, along with traditional Shabbat worship.

The new report follows a fall 2007 STAR study called "Consulting in American Synagogues: A Report on the State of the Field," which found a wide variation in consultant's educational backgrounds and limited communication among professionals.

According to Ravitch and Teutsch, the new study examined the impact of consultants on the process of long-term planning. Nine congregations were included: Conservative, Orthodox, Reform and Reconstructionist, all located in the Philadelphia-New York City orbit.

The "experimental" group was comprised of Germantown Jewish Centre, where Teutsch has been a member for more than 20 years; Bnai Keshet, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Montclair, N.J.; and Congregation Agudath Israel of West Essex, N.J., a Conservative shul.

These synagogues were afforded access to a consultant -- namely, Teutsch -- as well as additional seminars. Not surprisingly, all three were able to complete and adopt a strategic plan, and are now in the process of implementing it, according to the report.

Of the remaining six synagogues -- which did not have access to a consultant and have asked to remain anonymous -- five were unable to complete a working plan.

According to the authors, to preserve the integrity of the data and the objectivity of the study, Teutsch did not have any contact with these six, and their progress was evaluated by Ravitch.

"Synagogue change is really hard. To be able to have a long- range plan is tremendously helpful," said Rabbi Leonard Gordon, religious leader of Germantown Jewish Centre.

Gordon explained that, in less than a year, the congregation drafted a new plan that touched on issues of building use, relationships between members and staff, and how multiple minyans can co-exist within a synagogue.

Gordon said that having a consultant helped keep them on track and -- despite the fact that Teutsch is a member -- offered enough critical distance to help synagogue leaders see beyond established ways of thinking.

Betty Murphy, co-chair of Bnai Keshet's long-range planning committee, said that, in order to participate, her congregation had to pay $5,000 for Teutsch's services, but was able to get it refunded if they finished the plan by deadline, which they did. (Murphy said that the board might never have approved the expense otherwise.)

She said that as part of its new strategy, the synagogue conducted a full-fledged, market-driven survey of its membership.

"I believe that we really got a pulse of the community over and above what we thought we knew," said Murphy. "Many things were put into a different perspective."