Building a Successful Volunteer Culture: Finding Meaning in Service in the Jewish Community
A step-by-step guide to cultivating volunteers who thrive within the Jewish community.
"We can never forget that volunteering is a two-way street. Volunteers must be motivated, but volunteer organizations also need to maximize volunteer satisfaction. Blaming one or the other for the failures prevalent today in the world of Jewish volunteering helps no one. The search is for a win-win strategy."
—from the Introduction
Cultivating successful volunteers in the twenty-first century is increasingly more challenging. Budgets are tight, hands are few and competition for a person's discretionary time is severe. How do you develop and maintain the volunteers who are essential to the vitality of your organization and community? What can you do to avoid volunteer burnout?
Rabbi Charles Simon draws on over thirty years of professional experience to provide you with the resources you need to build and retain a thriving volunteer culture for your organization—regardless of size or complexity. In a straightforward, accessible style, Simon provides you with:
- Methods for analyzing your organization’s needs
- Innovative ways for creating an environment that strengthens volunteer involvement and satisfaction while increasing your organization’s effectiveness
- Plans for developing or modifying your leadership framework, positions and styles
- The groundwork for creating a language of inclusion that will motivate and inspire your volunteers
- Practical tips for establishing healthy, meaningful interpersonal relationships with and among your volunteers
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Book details
- Author
- Charles Simon
- Imprint
- Jewish Lights, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Formats
- Paperback, Hardcover
- Subjects
- Religion › Judaism
Religion › Judaism › Rituals & Practice - Topics
- volunteering · synagogue leadership · nonprofit management · volunteer engagement · Jewish identity · faith and service
- ISBN-13
- 9781580234085 (Paperback)9781683360001 (Hardcover)
About the author
RABBI CHARLES SIMON is a Conservative/Masorti rabbi who served as Executive Director of the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs from 1981 until his retirement in 2017. He is the author of Building a Successful Volunteer Culture: Finding Meaning in Service in the Jewish Community.
Simon received the Sheirut l'am (Service to our People) award from the World Council of Synagogues in November 2007 and the Yuval Award from the Cantors Assembly in 2011. He has been published in Commentary Magazine, Judaism Magazine, and Reform Judaism, and was instrumental in the creation of the Leadership Council of Conservative Judaism.
Charles lives in New York with his wife, Mary Katzin.
