Dear Friends:

On Sunday, November 18, your Board of Trustees unanimously voted to require all members to have a Capital Campaign pledge in place to be a member in good standing effective July 1, 2008. Being a member in good standing entitles you all of the rights and privileges of membership, including but not limited to: High Holiday tickets, religious school and Hebrew school for your children, Life Long Learning classes, clergy assistance with life cycle events, Bar and Bat Mitzvah for your children, pastoral counseling and much more.

This decision will move our congregation one step closer to fulfilling our obligation to pay for the wonderful facilities we have been enjoying the last four years and retire the debt that we had to incur to complete the construction of our 30,000 square foot Learning Center (complete with 33 classrooms, space for the Child Development Center, youth lounge, clergy suite, music room and library) and remodeling of the multi-purpose Smith Auditorium.
Beginning in January, we will start contacting the remaining 200+ members who have not yet made a Capital Campaign pledge. In the meantime, we want all of our members to know of this decision and what it means (and what it doesn't mean).

Here are the important things to know:

No member of the congregation whose financial situation makes it difficult to make a pledge will be turned away. We will work with every member to make sure that your pledge is not a financial burden.
The expected pledge amount is three times your annual commitment paid over a five year period. Some members can and have made higher pledges while other members have made lower ones. If your existing pledge is less than three times your annual commitment, we ask that you increase it if you can. Again, we will work with every member to make sure that your pledge is not a financial burden, but we also expect every member to consider how important our facilities are to our congregation, your family and our community, and to give accordingly. As Milton Smith used to say, "Give until it feels good."
We do not want or expect that you will have to reduce your annual commitment in order to make a Capital Campaign pledge. I'll say it again: We will work with every member to make sure that your pledge is not a financial burden.
If you made a pledge in the past and are in the process of paying or have completed paying for it, you will not be expected to make a new pledge. Of course, new pledges are greatly appreciated!
During the past eighteen months or so, all of our new members have made a Capital Campaign pledge. Before that time, new members were told that a pledge would be expected from them after their first year of membership. Unfortunately, there was spotty follow-up at best with these members. Our point here is that requiring a Capital Campaign pledge isn't really new.
If you are a member who made a building fund pledge many years ago but not a Capital Campaign pledge, you will be expected to make a Capital Campaign pledge. Building fund pledges from years past were never intended to support construction of any new facilities or improvements to existing facilities. They were only meant to support payment for repairs of our building as it existed at the time.
Having a Capital Campaign pledge in place as well as your annual commitment for 2008-09 will be necessary to receive your High Holiday tickets for 2008 and to register your children for religious and Hebrew school.
Having 100% participation from our members in the Capital Campaign is essential to raising any grant funds or secondary pledges from our members.
Requiring a Capital Campaign pledge as a condition of membership is consistent with the practice of every other comparable congregation in Austin.
You do not have to wait for someone to contact you about making your pledge! You can call Jennifer Smith at 454-6806 or David Goodman at 457-5009 to begin the process.

As always, please contact me with any questions, comments or concerns.

Leon Barish
CBI President
president@bethisrael.org