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THE FINANCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (#1857)
From:
Congregation B’nai Israel
646 households
3600 Riverside Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95818
Tel.: 916.446.4861 Fax: 916.446.2875
E-mail: inquiry@bnais.com
Contact: Marianne Laws
We wanted to improve the financial health of the congregation. However, the board lacked the financial credibility and the knowledge to make appropriate decisions, and the temple was not organized to properly deal with financial matters. We needed overall financial direction and a strategic plan to achieve and maintain financial stability. In order to accomplish this, we established a permanent Finance Advisory Committee (FAC)––consisting of congregants whose credibility in matters of finance, investment, and administration was generally acknowledged throughout the community––to advise the Board of Trustees on how to establish and maintain congregational financial health.
We engaged a committee chair with extraordinary expertise. He invited the best and brightest from his circle (all non-board members) to serve on the committee, and we added the VP for Finance and the CFO to serve ex officio. The committee diagnosed the congregation’s financial health, developed about recommendations for changes in various board policies and temple financial operations, and met with the full board to provide a complete overview of the temple’s financial health and to bring the board members up to speed regarding the FAC’s recommendations. The committee members prioritized their recommendations and gradually brought them first before the Executive Committee and then to the full board for adoption motion by motion. The result is more financial support for the synagogue and a higher comfort level with the continuity of the temple’s financial health for its members.
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