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Financial Modeling Team

Kavana's Financial Modeling Team is made up of a group of volunteers who care deeply about the financial stability of this community, and have committed to spend several months studying the issue and creating a viable a financial model.

Here's the most recent letter from the Financial Modeling Team:

The Financial Model Team has met three times over the summer and we wanted to give you a brief update of our progress so far.

First, a reminder of our mandate: To develop and recommend to Kavana's partners and participants a financial model for the community that is true to Kavana's identity and ensures a sustainable future.

As you know, our current model is heavily reliant on outside grants, most of which will expire in the next two years. In addition, we have increased program spending significantly in the last few years. Whatever financial model we develop must address both the income and expense sides.

It must also be true to who we are as a community. For this reason, the team kicked off the summer by analyzing the sometimes conflicting values at stake. For ex., how do we square our cooperative credo with our desire for professionalized offerings? Should partnership be required for some programming or do we stay open to all? Should there be mandatory dues, perhaps based on income?

Next, we created a demographic profile of Kavana's partners and participants. Crunching (anonymous) numbers has given us new insight into who we really are, and helped us to dispel some myths. For example, almost 60% of all partners are active volunteers, and they represent the full spectrum of household income.

This fall, we are identifying organizations comparable with ours and exploring their financial models. We expect this exercise will help us build ideas for our own sustainable financial model that is compatible with our organization's values.

We are also expanding the conversation about our community's values around money with a series of in-home "salons" scheduled on multiple dates. These will be intimate and hopefully provocative gatherings where Rabbi Rachel will lead a short discussion on our tradition's teachings on money and community, followed by participants sharing thoughts on how our values and feelings about money affect our financial model. You will receive an invitation, and we need and urge all those who are committed to Kavana to attend one salon.

 

Click here to view the initial letter and see below for interesting and important links: