How do synagogues raise funds from people other than their own members?

Question

My synagogue, like many (most?), gets only a portion of its annual income from member dues and investment income, with the rest coming from various fundraising activities. Most of this fundraising targets our own members. Some members have both the means and the inclination to contribute to endowments or other funds, which is great, but they can't do it all.

So what about external sources of donations? I asked our board about grants (not knowing much about grant-writing myself, but having heard it's a thing) and was told that's not viable, but I haven't pressed for details yet. (We did get a recent government grant to improve security, but this was described to me as exceptional.) Some non-profits get corporate donations and we get some of that in the form of ads in tribute books, but that seems to be less common for religious institutions (and it's not clear to me what they get from it if they don't get their name on a building or some such). We've sometimes had public events like food festivals that are designed to raise money, but they haven't raised a lot and they cost a lot of volunteer labor. (Maybe we're not choosing the right ones.)

What do other synagogues do? How do you raise external funds? I'm interested in answers that address both short-term income that balances the annual budget and long-term income that helps build an endowment.

^{(Because I use my real name online and that makes it fairly easy to identify my congregation, let me note here that we are not in any immediate danger or anything like that. This is about long-term planning so we don't get into trouble.)}

Answer 1

A few ideas that have been done in the synagogues I have prayed at.

1 - Raffle sales

2 - Guest Lectures

3 - Yearly Melave Malka or Yearly dinner with entertainment or guest speaker

All these ideas draw in outsiders.

Answer 2

I know of one synagogue that has a medium-sized membership, but has the most daily minyanim in the city. The result is, they have many people who come for a prayer service here and there, but don't consider themselves members.

The synagogue began posting signs all over the place, asking everyone who comes to pay "a dollar a day" - one dollar for every day they attend a service.

I don't know how much money they make from this, but if 100 people donate on an average weekday, it comes out to about $30,000 a year, all from people who would otherwise give almost nothing.

Answer 3

Similar in some ways to Ypnypn's suggestion, the "Shtieblach" minyan factory in Beis Yisrael has a machine in every shtiebl that takes money to pay for the air conditioning. If no one pays, or if the money runs out, the AC turns off. The cost is 2 NIS (~50 cents) per quarter hour. I'm reasonably certain that those funds are used to help defray the costs of the AC ;)

It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure this has been implemented in some shuls in Lakewood as well (though with American currency ;). If I'm not mistaken, the machine I saw in Lakewood controls the lights also (I believe I had the lights turn off on me in the middle of a prayer, until someone paid up), so it's not really as optional as the machine in Beis Yisrael, which means that they're pretty much guaranteed donations from every minyan. This also means that if people are in the shul between prayers to learn, that the lights and AC will be off if not in use.

Answer 4

Supplementing (and expanding) on Gershon Gold's ideas, here's what I think has worked in my shul:

• High Holiday seats, believe it or ot, generate a huge part of our shul's annual income. You may think this is "internal", and for the majority, it is. But, our shul has advertised its services in local (and neighboring community) newspapers as well. Also, regular members bring in their family members and friends, and the y spread the word to others that our shul has a great chazzan, friendly environment, and many of the members pay for their friends' seats - often even if they don't show up! (I don't get that idea, but it happens somewhat. Who cares? The shul is getting money for empty seats.) On Yom Kippur, the extra crowd also generates more income into the annual
• Yizkor appeal - Boy, is this a huge revenue maker! And much of this money is coming from the extra guests, too!
• Along with Gershon's suggestion of guest lecturers, which we sometimes have, the majority of the lectures are run by the rabbi, himself. He is good on using contemporary books and discussing controversial current topics and giving it a Jewish "twist". These events are well advertised, and some of them generate extra income.
• Tap into your own shul's talent, both past & present. Our shul has been around for 85 years, so we've had many interesting noteable past members. Allan Zweibel was one of the major writers for Saturday Night Live. SInce he was a former shul member, they asked him to speak about his career and do a few comedic skits. $75 a ticket to see him and have a small buffet! About 300 people showed up. Plus, he sold some of his books and the shul got a percentage of his sales. Not bad for one night!
• Jews may not necessary like to cook, but it seems that they love to eat, esp, if someone else makes the food. And, if the food is delicious, they want to know how you made it. It does take some effort to compile a cook book from your members. But, with computers and email, etc. the process is not too hard. You need 1 or 2 editors and some clipart / pics, and you can get a great cookbook together pretty quickly. It will sell quite well!
• Education is a huge income source, esp. if you can get lots of kids. Our shul has 5 different "schools" from the "traditional" Hebrew day school to special schools for mentally challenged, Israeli kids, Russian kids, and a few others. Most of the kids come from non-members. I hate to say it, but there are more kids attending school than adults attending most of our Shabbat services! We could use a few of them!
• If your shul has the property space and / or internal footprint to do so, yous hould consider designing a large ballroom / banquet / affair hall. The bigger the better. However, it is more important to make it look extremely nice. Not necessarily "fancy", but nice, modern and clean. If you can get an internal caterer, that's even better. First of all, you're charging outsiders (as well as members) a set price just to rent the room. If the place is nice, trust me, you'll have plenty of rentals throughout the year. If you can design a hall for wedding crowds that can hold 500 - 800 people, and there is little or no competition nearby ... well your shul will sustain itself quite well on just that. If you get a caterer, yes, that will cost, but the caterer will provide a percentage of his profits from each affair. And, keep in mind that as long as the food is kosher, you don't necessarily have to keep it strictly Jewish affairs. (Something to consider.)
• Lastly, the biggest key to financing, internally and externally is to find the right people. I have two types of shuls in my neighborhood. The one that has about 100 "middle class" members, and the one who has about 25 mostly millionaires. Guess which shul is surviving and slowly expanding, and which is barely holding its own?

You didn't describe the demographics of your synagogue, so I can't say how much of what I listed would work well for you - esp. the education area if you don't have a lot of young families / kids. Nonetheless, even if you are dealing with a 70+ congregation, if you have a creative and savvy few people willing to coordinate a regular program, you can cater to them, Our shul runs a "senior" midday program a few days a week. On its own, it doesn't generate income and costs the shul a bit, actually, since they provide free light lunch to about 50 regular attendants. But, word of mouth is the best advertising, I think. The seniors tell younger people what a generous shul we have, and outsiders become members or they end up donating money to defray the cost of the program.

Here's a "crazy" idea. Some shuls know the art of attracting the "big machers" - the people with the big bucks. That's what you really want! I know that you live in Pittsburgh. They have a number of major shuls and yeshivot that are successful. Perhaps, you can contact the executive director or chief fund-raiser for some advice?

Good luck to you. I know that raising money is very challenging!

Answer 5

Similar to the High Holiday seat and Yizkor appeals mentioned by DanF, there is another way that many shul's capitalize (get it?) on occasions with an influx of guests. Many shuls run an auction on Simchas Torah for all of the kibbudim (honors) over the course of the Yom Tov, with everyone welcome to participate. Additionally, some shuls auction off the aliyos on Yom Tov. A shul that I once belonged to would also sell all of the kibbudim of the High Holidays, such as aliyos and opening the Aron.