Sunday, October 27, 2019

K9 Mission Application Video Earns Ghosting

In July I applied for a Senior Copywriter position at K9 Mission, a nonprofit based in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts that provides well-trained Service dogs to Veterans suffering from PTSS. I'm a veteran and familiar with PTSS.


The organization was advertising for a copywriter with 5+ years to create marketing materials, website copy, e-mail newsletters, sales presentations, press releases, media pitches and alerts, and brainstorm visual and copy ideas with creative team members.

I'm a copywriter and very familiar with these communications tools.

Krysta at K9 Mission responded quickly and enthusiastically with an email that requested I submit a 3-5 minute video about why I believe I'd be a "great asset" to their team and why they should hire me to join their mission. 

Hi Bruce, Thank you so much for your interest in joining our team and our mission! At K9 Mission our mission is to place as many K9s with Veterans who suffer from PTSD as possible, with the help of our donors, we are working towards this goal. The next step is to submit a 3-5-minute video about why you believe you would make a great asset to our team and why we should hire you to join our mission.
After researching the organization, I wrote a script; With some help from a friend who has professional video equipment, I recorded this video and sent it to Krysta on July 24th. The process of scripting, editing, and producing the video took a couple of hours.



Since sending the video, I've followed up with Krysta three times in August, four times in September, and three times in October. My follow-ups have been short inquiries about where the organization is in the hiring process and reiterating my interest in the position. 

As is increasingly common practice among employers, K9 Mission neither acknowledged receipt of my video nor responded to my subsequent queries. I got ghosted. Here's why this bothers me

Most likely there are perfectly reasonable explanations for K9 Mission's unresponsiveness; the organization is certainly not obliged to share any information with me, a mere applicant.

Here's something K9 Mission might consider: In many cases ghosting indicates future behavior (or is at least a sign that things would have eventually ended badly). So, shame on K9 Mission for ghosting me, but I'm counting my blessings and moving on to find a employer who appreciates what I offer.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Featured "Times of Israel" Blogger: Read My Premier Post!

This article was originally published by the Times of Israel, where I am a blogger. 

Massachusetts Nonprofit Jookender Connects & Educates Russian Speaking Jews

A new Tribe has emerged in Massachusetts, and—like the 12 of the Old Testament—this Tribe is sowing the seeds of Jewish identity and community engagement in a traditionally insular and insulated segment of American Jewry: Russian Speaking Jews (RSJs).

Numbering about 80,000 of Massachusetts’ approximately 293,000 Jews (Jewish Virtual Library), “most RSJs arrived here after 1985 with very little formal Jewish education,” says Sasha Grebenyuk, Executive Director of Jookender Community Initiatives. Jookender—a new 501(c)(3) organization based in Framingham, Massachusetts (a Boston suburb)—introduces secular Russian-Jewish families to Jewish heritage and culture and offers programs to rekindle their feelings of Jewish identity.

When these current parents were growing up in Russia, they weren’t exposed to Judaism,” Sasha explains, attributing the lack of Jewish knowledge, identity, and affiliation due to aggressive Soviet state-sponsored anti-religious programs and propaganda. 
Judaism and Jews were especially targeted: In 1919, Soviet authorities abolished Jewish community councils, which traditionally maintained local synagogues and were responsible for Jewish education. They created the Yevsektsiya (a Jewish section of the party), which generated and disseminated propaganda against Jewish clergy and religion. According to Wikipedia, 
“The training of rabbis became impossible until early 1940's, and until the late 1980s only one Yiddish periodical was published. Because of its identification with Zionism, Hebrew was taught only in schools for diplomats. Most of the 5,000 synagogues functioning prior to the Bolshevik Revolution were closed under Stalin, and others were closed under Khrushchev. The practice of Judaism became very difficult, intensifying the desire of Jews to leave the Soviet Union.”
After three generations of subjugation and marginalization, the results were predictable, says Sasha: “Most of the current RSJ parents have minimal personal experience and practical knowledge of Jewish ethics, rituals and traditions. When they emigrated to Israel or America in the 1990s, they didn’t know what they didn’t know. I created Jookender to fix that.” 

A Russian Jew who grew up in the grasp of Communism and moved to America in 1994, Sasha is among a handful of RSJ community leaders who have the contacts, credentials, and credibility to engage Jews from the former Soviet Union. Operating Jookender on a shoestring budget, Sasha and her small team of volunteers provide programs and services that achieve outcomes far exceeding the nonprofit’s income. 

Julia Atkin—a fervent Jookender booster—shared Sasha’s experience. Ms. Atkin, who grew up in the Ukraine, feels deeply connected to Judaism but eschews the ‘religious’ label. She and her family have engaged in several Jookender programs (including participating in The Tribe pilot) create a warm, welcoming environment in which she and people like her can rekindle their Jewish kavanah (intention).


“I have blurry memories of my grandparents lighting candles and going to shul but as a child, I had no connection to Judaism. In my teenage years, when Communism started to erode, I got reintroduced to and reconnected with Jewish rituals and traditions. That inspired me to spend a year in Israel studying in a religious program. 

"When we moved to the U.S. in 1999, my husband (a Russian Jew) and I wanted to expose our children to Jewish rituals, traditions, and values. We were referred to Jookender, whose programs have increased our knowledge of and appreciation for Judaism and Israel."

Kira Shandalov, a senior at Reading High School who is also enrolled as a Freshman at Middlesex Community College, has been involved with Sasha and the Jookender team for two years. A native Israeli, Ms. Shandalov moved to the U.S. in 2015. Fluent in Russian, Hebrew, and English, Ms. Shandalov is a popular teacher in The Tribe and a regular participant in Jookender’s programs. “I worked with about 30 kids; they were very enthusiastic. The Tribe is a great program for kids, especially around the holidays.”

Like many Russians and Israelis, Ms. Shandalov also hesitates to describe herself as ‘religious’. “I have some religious knowledge from my upbringing. In Israel, you live it. But in America, it’s not as omnipresent. That’s why I love being involved in The Tribe: I feel connected to my roots and to this community.”

A 2015 study of the RSJ community provides hard numbers supporting these personal observations and experiences. 

Commissioned by Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP, Boston’s Jewish Federation), the study reported that 10% of Jewish households in the Greater Boston area included a Russian-speaking Jew or someone who was born or raised in Russia or the former Soviet Union. 


Nineteen percent of these Russian speakers reported being interested in Religious Services and only 21% were involved with synagogues. While the study’s results suggested the contemporaneous system wasn’t adequately serving Boston’s RSJ’s educational needs, it highlighted the need for grassroots organizations like Jookender to fill in those gaps.


What is The Tribe?


Jookender was one of two organizations (the other was the Worcester Jewish Community Center) to pilot The Tribe’s first year. Funded by the Gemunder Family Foundation, the Armonia Foundation, The Adam and Gila Milstein Foundation, The Lesser Family, and The Frieze Family, The Tribe is a pluralistic program designed to educate, engage, and energize Jewish families.

Conceived and developed by Jewish communal service veteran Arinne Braverman, The Tribe engaged about 100 families in Boston and Central Massachusetts. From October 2017 through June 2018, tribes of eight to 10 families met monthly in members’ homes or community centers.

As Jews increasingly migrate from strict religious affiliations to a more pluralistic approach, Ms. Braverman says The Tribe offers an inclusive roadmap. Intentionally pluralistic, Ms. Braverman calls The Tribe “a values-based program that welcomes everyone who is the parent or guardian of a Jewish child—whether Jewish or non-Jewish. Tribe members journey together to gain a general understanding of Jewish values.”


Describing The Tribe’s curriculum as “approachable, flexible, and fun”, Ms. Braverman explains the modules correspond to Jewish holidays and each month covers certain Jewish values and ethics.


“This flow builds parents’ knowledge about Jewish history, culture, and traditions and inspires their kids to learn more about Jewish values and ethics such as honoring parents and teachers, performing deeds of loving kindness, peace in the home, positive speech, and welcoming guests/providing hospitality.


The Tribe was created to highlight Jewish values and to be accessible to families who did not previously connect with Judaism through religious ritual,” she says. “We selected Jookender because we thought niche populations would be best served by the small group model and we wanted to prioritize engaging currently underserved and marginally affiliated Jews,” she adds. 


Seventy-seven families with children from kindergarten to 3rd grade participated in The Tribe pilot. From these, Sasha and her team created nine tribes, each with nine to 12 families and a leader. Although some of the families knew each other before being invited to join The Tribe, most met during the program.

While most families used The Tribe’s curriculum, Sasha explains, some innovated and created additional lessons based on the provided pedagogy. Most popular among all the tribes were holiday traditions. Sharing the story of a family who knew nothing about Jewish holiday cuisine so they made dishes to share with tribe members, Sasha says such lessons resonated because they brought tribe members together—especially around food.


“The Tribe inspires curiosity and a yearning for learning, especially for Jews who may not have been exposed to the richness of our heritage and traditions. It offers a step-by-step framework within which families can experience those things together,” Ms. Braverman says. “Inclusive and intergenerational, The Tribe is an engaging point of entry or re-entry into Jewish life.”

Stories and Statistics Show Success

Where many point to declining Jewish identity and engagement as existential threats to American Jewry’s future, the success of both Tribe pilots shows that creative, inclusive, and pluralistic programming can produce positive outcomes in the RSJ community.

In addition to post-participant surveys that reveal measurable program engagement milestones, participants’ personal stories describe the life-altering impact of reconnecting with long-forgotten (or never learned) Jewish rituals, ethics, and traditions. Sasha says, “The Tribe’s family orientation actually strengthens religious affiliation by exposing Jewish liturgy, rituals, and traditions to previously disengaged families.”

In terms of measurable impact, Ms. Braverman highlights Jookender’s 333% increase in connection to the Jewish community. “I was surprised by the results of Jookender's participation. Sasha had a 50-family waitlist of families eager to participate in the program's first year.”

Ms. Atkin shares the joy of seeing her children discover Judaism like she did: “The Tribe and Jookender’s other programs give my kids the childhood I dreamed for them—to learn, embrace, and practice Judaism with people who are like them, in an environment free of fear.” Sasha cites an unanticipated community benefit of The Tribe’s structure and programming: “Some tribes grew very close socially in addition to learning from the curriculum.

Program satisfaction isn’t limited to parents. Kira Shandalov says the kids she taught were curious and hungry to learn more. “At all ages, I’ve discovered a deep desire among this community to know more about Jewish heritage, ritual, and tradition.” The Tribe kids are engaged not just by fun and games, but also by teen madrichot (counselors/teachers) whom Sasha and the Jookender team actively recruit and train. Of Ms. Shandalov, Mrs. Atkin says: “Kira was amazing. Her energy and passion really connect with the kids. They look at her and see a model of what they could be.”


Sasha highlights Jookender’s training of teen volunteers and mentors like Kira. “The training we give our teen volunteers has a ripple effect,” she explains. “First we make sure these young men and women acquire and retain Jewish historic and cultural knowledge. Second, we equip them to go to tribes and teach. Third, teen teachers make it more affordable for families with young kids to participate in Jookender’s programs.”


Count Worcester Jewish Community Center Executive Director Emily Rosenbaum as a fan of The Tribe. With her 10-year-old daughter, Ms. Rosenbaum was a member of the Northern Worcester County Tribe.

From a professional and personal perspective, Ms. Rosenbaum says that The Tribe makes it easier for unaffiliated Jews to access comfortable and convenient Jewish fellowship: “The pedagogy is thoughtfully and sensitively constructed to connect Jewish education with practical Jewish values. It shares vital lessons about valuing, maintaining, and manifesting Judaism in our daily lives.”

She believes The Tribe’s non-intimidating, haimish engagement style and flexible, approachable curriculum is appealing because it “caters to people in their comfort zones, involves families, builds community connections, and ultimately enhances Jewish learning."

Following Pilot Program Success, an Uncertain Future

Pointing to overwhelmingly positive objective and subjective feedback, Sasha and the Jookender team are actively seeking funds to grow The Tribe’s reach and impact. Normally calm and unassuming, Sasha lights up when sharing The Tribe’s impact in the community her team serves: “I’m thrilled The Tribe appears to strengthen connections to our faith, especially among the RSJ community. It fulfills our cravings to be more connected with our faith and fellow Jews.”

Although The Tribe pilot was fully funded, Sasha says the budget-conscious nonprofit lacks the resources to conduct as robust a program as in the first year. Reluctantly conceding that philanthropic support to expand Jookender’s other programming remains a question mark, Sasha and the Jookender team are optimistic donors will realize the importance, value, and impact of Jookender’s programming in the RSJ community, and respond accordingly.

With so many Jewish education and outreach programs in Massachusetts, Jookender’s outsized impacts have gone largely unnoticed. “We prefer to have our results speak for our organization instead of slick marketing materials,” says Sasha. “But more support could help us achieve much, much more.” Specifically, she mentions growing the number of tribes and expanding the number of people who can participate in Jookender’s popular Teens4Teens program and Family Camps.

Discover more about Jookender.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

How to Prepare Week-by-Week for #GivingTuesday on December 3, 2019

This article was originally published in Massnonprofit news' "Wednesday Report" on September 19, 2019. 

With #GivingTuesday on Dec. 3 only 10 weeks away, now is the time to prepare your nonprofit to succeed on the calendar year’s biggest—and most competitive—charitable fundraising day.


Since its 2012 launch, #GivingTuesday has been celebrated in the U.S. on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to benefit any registered charity or any type of 501(c) organization. Last year, #GivingTuesday campaigns nationally raised more than $400 million from 3.6 million donors, with an average online donation of $105.

Because most Americans—65% according to PayPal—plan to donate more this holiday season over last year, #GivingTuesday can supercharge your annual fundraising and end the year positively.

#GivingTuesday is an opportunity to broadcast the stories that define your organization, educate and cultivate donors who are interested and moved by those stories, and build awareness of your mission, messages, programs, and priorities.

Consider these tips to help your organization plan in the 10 weeks leading up to #GivingTuesday.

10 WEEKS OUT
  • Register your organization. Whether you plan to go “all in” or pass on #GivingTuesday, you should at least “join the movement.” (As of this publication date, more than 62,000 organizations have registered). Register here.

  • Research and discuss #GivingTuesday ideas/options. For the next nine weeks, add #GivingTuesday to the agendas for your board, staff, and donor meetings. At the first meeting, solicit suggestions for potential #GivingTuesday fundraising initiatives and determine SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound).
9 WEEKS OUT
  • Engage your board. When you feel you have a viable #GivingTuesday plan with SMART goals, share it with your board for feedback, input, and approval. You might invite the most vociferous participant to champion the short campaign. Consider soliciting seed money or a board commitment to matching funds so your campaign doesn’t start at $0.
8 WEEKS OUT
  • Finalize & share the plan. Consider sharing your final #GivingTuesday plan with board members, staff, volunteers, and top donors.
7 WEEKS OUT
  • Designate a “staff champion”: If no one volunteers, assign an ambitious mid-level manager or consider hiring a digital marketing/fundraising consultant to help plan, implement, and evaluate the 10- to 12-week project.

  • “Staff champion” duties: Weekly updates at meetings; collaborate with peers to prepare and share social media content and calendar; manage/monitor social media engagement on Dec. 3; prepare and present a final report including data on donations, social media engagement, and suggested improvements.
6 AND 5 WEEKS OUT
  • Solicit & store #GivingTuesday content. Ask board members, staff, and donors why they support your organization and get their written permission to share their stories. Create and share a secure folder (either on your internal server or Google Drive or DropBox) that includes #GivingTuesday content (photos, videos, and testimonials of your organizations’ projects/successes). Use the content to fill in your social media calendar (Week 3).

  • Brainstorm & aggregate #GivingTuesday hashtags. Because social media is key to the success of #GivingTuesday, create three or four unique hashtags for your donors, staff, and stakeholders to include in their respective social media posts. (This also simplifies tracking engagement!)
4 WEEKS OUT
  • Create online donation form. Brand the form “#GivingTuesday”. Keep it simple: Prominently offer four or five suggested donation amounts (explaining the specific impact of each amount); less prominently offer a “fill-in-the-blank” option. Optimize the form for mobile users (on #GivingTuesday 2016, 45% of donations were made via mobile devices). The most prominent link to your online donation form should be on your homepage above the fold. Wherever you link from , make the form one-click accessible.

  • Test links to form. Test the form several times for mobile and desktop UX.
3 WEEKS OUT
  • #GivingTuesday social media content and calendar. Have your “staff champion” prepare a spreadsheet with unique daily content for your social media platforms promoting your #GivingTuesday initiative. The content should include photos, videos, testimonials, and the hashtags you created in Weeks 6 and 5. Every social media post pertaining to #GivingTuesday should include a link to the online donation form.
2 WEEKS OUT
  • Finalize & share social media content Internally. Remind stakeholders to include the unique hashtags in their social media posts.

  • Social media promotion. Encourage board, staff, and donors to use their personal social media to promote your #GivingTuesday campaign.

  • Prepare & schedule solicitation emails. Use your email platform (e.g., Constant Contact) to craft and schedule solicitation emails a week before #GivingTuesday and twice on Dec. 3 ”“morning and evening (peak social media engagement times). Include content from your social media calendar, hashtags, and highlight the link to your online donation form.
1 WEEK OUT
  • Activate online donation form. Make sure it works.

  • Increase social media engagement. Multiple daily posts using your unique hashtags will build excitement and awareness of your #GivingTuesday initiatives.

  • Prepare staff: Make sure staff know your organization’s #GivingTuesday goals, where they can find content to share, and who’s in charge of social media engagement (staff champion).
DEC. 3 ”“ #GivingTuesday
  • Stay active on social media: Thank donors on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Provide hourly fundraising updates. Post content from donors (you’ve gotten their permission!). Challenge your followers to donate. Be sure every post links to your online donation form.
Additional Resources: