The Belin Outreach Awards have been designed to encourage and honor Reform synagogues with outstanding Outreach and Membership programs that actively welcome and integrate those new to Judaism. Awards of $1,000 each were made to ten congregations at the 2011 URJ Biennial and the Awards Committee designated at least two of these awards for small congregations (under 250 member units). Award-winning programs will be included in The
Outreach and Membership Idea Book, a program guide for congregations. A
limited number of honorable mentions were also named at the discretion
of the Awards Committee and included in this new publication. In addition to honoring congregations that have developed uniquely
innovative and effective Outreach programs, the Belin Outreach and
Membership Awards also solicit programs that engage and retain members
of our congregations.
Programs are judged on their effectiveness in fulfilling Outreach
and Membership goals, their creativity and their ability to be tailored
to use in other congregations. We look for programs that: 1. support
interfaith families and invite and support conversion; 2. create a
culture that welcomes diversity in your community; 3. focuses on
improving membership recruitment, integration and retention; and 4.
honors longtime members. The programs should be designed to target one
or more of the following groups:
Interfaith couples*
Interfaith families *
Unaffiliated interfaith couples
Children or adult offspring of interfaith families
Interfaith families with children in religious school or deciding how to raise their children*
Young adults, 20s or 30s
Individuals exploring conversion to Judaism*
Congregational programs for membership retention *
Outreach to the unaffiliated utilizing effective print and other media publicity
Empty nesters
*Particularly programs
that promote membership retention, that honor and support the non-Jewish
partner and that invite and support conversion.
Congregations that submit a full-spectrum Outreach or Membership
program may earn an award for the whole program or for a single aspect
of it. Be sure to include full documentation for each element.
In order to allow for differences in
programming due to congregational size, the Awards Committee designates
at least two awards for small congregations (under 250 member units).
The Belin Outreach Awards have been designed to encourage and honor Reform synagogues with outstanding Outreach and Membership programs that actively welcome and integrate those new to Judaism. Awards of $1,000 each were made to ten congregations at the 2011 URJ Biennial and the Awards Committee designated at least two of these awards for small congregations (under 250 member units). Award-winning programs will be included in The
Outreach and Membership Idea Book, a program guide for congregations. A
limited number of honorable mentions were also named at the discretion
of the Awards Committee and included in this new publication. In addition to honoring congregations that have developed uniquely
innovative and effective Outreach programs, the Belin Outreach and
Membership Awards also solicit programs that engage and retain members
of our congregations.
The winning programs of 2011 are featured in the 
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