March 16, 2023

It was 3 years ago this past Monday that we shut down the building for what we thought would only be a two-week closure. Little did we know that we would be closed for several months and things would never really be the same. The world is now a different place and a lot has changed for TBS in many ways, including how we gather, how we communicate, how we engage, and how we keep our community safe. These are some of the areas that are being addressed in our strategic plan which will guide us over the next 3-5 years. Thank you Carolyn Jacobs and Jeff Levine, and the entire strategic planning committee, for leading this very important initiative for our synagogue, for all your time and effort over the last few months meeting with hundreds of congregants and dozens of focus groups to hear what they feel is important, and for your thoughtful presentation to the Board of Directors last night. 

Below are excerpts of my report at the Board of Directors meeting last night: 
These days, a large part of my time is spent on the budget. Both with budget prep for next year as well as projections for the current year. Our Controller, Cyndi, and I have been working together with the heads of each group on their respective budgets for next year. We’re working with Alex and Annie on the ECEC budget for next year, and Rabbi Wexler and Alex on the HaMakom and Religious School budgets. Michele and I have worked together to discuss the budgets for fundraising, holidays, and programs. I have met with Steve Magowan to discuss the maintenance budget for next year. And I have met with our administrative staff to review our budget for office supplies, postage, and things of that nature. It’s a long and time-consuming process as we look at each department, line by line, what we budgeted for last year, what our actual was for last year, what we budgeted for this year, and what our actuals are for this year through February. And we look at the general ledger detail report, line by line, to see who all the vendors are, what we paid them, do we anticipate similar expenses for next year, etc. All of this while simultaneously trying to reduce expenses where we can. For example, just today I signed a new lease on copier equipment that will get us brand new equipment for less money as well as saving us on color and black and white copies. We’re also taking certain steps to reduce expenses in maintenance. 

At our Board meeting last month I mentioned that we were awarded a grant from FEMA for almost eighty thousand dollars to help offset expenses we incurred for PPE, personal protective equipment, during COVID. I was told today that we should be receiving that money any day now. There were certain PPE items that did not qualify for reimbursement on this particular project, but we did apply for another $8,000 of those expenses under a different project with FEMA that hopefully we will get approved for. 

We are also applying for an Employee Retention Credit, ERC for short, from the IRS. ERC is a refundable credit paid to For Profit and Non-Profit organizations via a refund check from the US Treasury. ERC was legislated with the same law that set up the PPP in March 2020. The ERC is for organizations measurably impacted by significant revenue loss or full/partial, mandated closure. As you know, we closed the building exactly 3 years ago, which included the ECEC, which resulted in significant revenue loss for us, but thankfully we were able to continue paying our teachers through a Payroll Protection grant from the government, and now we can seek reimbursement for lost revenue. We are working with a company that helps organizations such as ours in applying for the Employee Retention Credit, and based on the preliminary information we provided, they are optimistic that it’s worth pursuing. It’s a contingency relationship - they would get 15% of any credit we’re awarded. Will keep you posted. 

We continue to evaluate and improve our security initiatives as I am sure you are aware that anti-semitism is on the rise. In addition to Bob, we are utilizing the Federation’s security team as needed, like we did during the neo-nazi day of hate a few weeks ago, by adding additional armed security. We are also strengthening our target hardening initiatives by purchasing lockdown devices that would be used only during an active threat, and it goes over the door closer of an outward swinging door. They are mounted next to the door closer for fast deployment, and we have these mounted next to the door closers on the sanctuary doors. We have an order for 6 more of these devices for the social hall doors. 

We will spend time discussing and practicing how to place these sleeves on the door closers as part of the run, hide, fight active shooter drills that we will be conducting with the congregation at large in the near future. Financial sustainability and security - two big items in our strategic plan, two areas that we are doing pretty well with and working hard to improve. 

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom, and I look forward to seeing you in shul! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, you can always reach out to me at rons@tbsonline.org or (856) 751-6663 x218.
B’Shalom,
Ron Safier
Executive Director