Manager of Membership Engagement

Temple Emanu-El of Closter seeks a warm, self-directed, energetic professional to manage the Synagogue’s membership recruitment, engagement, and cultivation efforts.
The Manager of Membership Engagement will work with our Clergy, Board, and lay leaders to help implement fundraising campaigns, track and report on progress, and coordinate fundraising events.
The Manager will use their exemplary relationship-building skills to connect to the Temple community and foster and grow membership engagement. They will serve as a social connector to our members.
The Manager should be willing to work weekends and evenings as required. This position works in collaboration with the Executive Director, the Rabbi for Lifelong Learning, the Senior Rabbi, and our Board leadership.

Membership Recruitment and Retention
• Support efforts to recruit, retain, and meaningfully engage members.
• Develop outreach strategies for reaching new member prospects.
• Manage membership inquiries by welcoming, tracking, and following up with prospective members.
• Help to ensure that new members are integrated into the community, assist with “friend matching” and making meaningful connections with other members.
• Builds relationships with members, proactively engaging them for ongoing opportunities to learn, grow, volunteer, and give generously to the synagogue.
• Conduct exit interviews of members when possible.

Programming
Our members have expressed interest in more opportunities for social interactions, including programming involving food, music, drinks, coffees, sports, etc. This new position will work with lay leaders to help make more of these programs happen organically and strategically.
• Design creative, out of the box opportunities for community members to connect with each other.
• Develop meaningful programming and engagement opportunities for cohorts with similar interests to connect and build relationships with one another.
• Strategize membership engagement for important Jewish moments including High Holy Days; B’nai Mitzvah programs, holidays, and other lifecycle events.
• Collaborate with the leadership team in key projects related to strategic planning and innovation, program development, communications, and execute other special projects.

Cultivation and Stewardship
• Serve as the Annual Celebration fundraising coordinator, assisting with tracking of outreach to members and other potential sponsors, reporting on fundraising progress, communicating between lay leadership and staff, and assisting the lay leaders and clergy as needed.
• Systemize and improve our fundraising and development reporting and analysis.
• Establish fundraising protocol and strategies, working with the Clergy and Board leadership teams.
• Identify and research prospective major donors from existing donor base, membership, and greater community. Track and report on donor progression over time.
• Locate potential grant sources and prepare grant proposals as well as grants reports.
• Draft correspondence and acknowledgments, including pledge follow-up and tribute gifts, ensuring appropriate recording, and reporting of all gifts.
• Assist with writing and coordinating all Development materials including but not exclusively limited to the annual fund appeal, quarterly newsletter article, case statements, and web content.

Core Competencies
A successful Manager will possess strong interpersonal, organizational, and communications skills, understand synagogue culture well, and have highly developed capacity to innovate and improve overall operations.
They will demonstrate:
• Exceptional oral and written communication skills and ability skills to relate effectively with clergy, staff, lay leadership, volunteers, and all members of the congregation;
• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple ongoing and developing tasks while following through on short- and long-term responsibilities;
• Ability to handle confidential and sensitive matters with maturity, discretion, diplomacy, and professionalism;
• Empathy and understanding when interacting with congregants and ensure that they feel valued for their ideas, passions and skills;
• Thrives in a team environment, but is a self-starter who thinks strategically and can produce and implement detail-oriented plans;
• Technology proficiency with databases and spreadsheets, Microsoft Office email and calendaring, and experience with various social media platforms.