5. Alumni Engagement Fall 2017
● Israel
○ Shabbat ShaHIKE with Professor Zvi, an IDF veteran and nature enthusiast. The Hike consisted of a nature
based Shabbat service, meditation, and a D’var from Professor Zvi about how he finds peace in nature on
Shabbat.
○ Food and Wine Class in Israel this winter, bringing Birthright alumni and their parents to Israel
○ Working with Alumni on doing a Masa or Onward program
● Service
○ Asking alumni to submit names of Birthright eligible names this semester for chance at winning donation to
their UDance pages
● Jewish Life and Learning
○ Sip and Shmooze every Wednesday at local coffee shop to have a non-Hillel location focused on
Jewish/Israel education every week at the same time
○ Shabbat every Friday and Jewish holidays at Hillel
○ Alumni Shabbat at multiple apartments
○ Alumni Finals Study Party at Hillel for First Night of Hannukah
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
6. Registration in Action
● First time tabling on campus, using puppies
at table
● Social media platform
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
● @BeccaUDHillel
● Birthright Israel Shabbat
● 90 Coffee Dates with Sales Team
● 721 interactions with someone from the
Birthright Team
● Freshman Fest tabling, making Sales Team
stand out at Freshman Fest as THE trip to
go on when put next to Chabad
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
7.
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13. Challenges in the #BlueHenBirthrightIsrael Program
● The number of students going with other trip providers that are
non-campus trips
● Political climate in Israel making students and parents uneasy
about travel to Israel
● Students saying that they have been to Israel before and do not
feel the need to go back on Birthright
● For the spring semester trying to be proactive about Spring
Recruitment for Greek Life
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
15. Sales Team: Demographics
● 2 Seniors
● 6 Juniors
● 2 Sophomores
● 1 Acapella Group
● 1 Service Sorority
● 4 Social Sororities
● 1 Service Sorority
● 1 Social Fraternity
● 1 Gymnastics Team
● 10 UDance Volunteers
● 1 Dance Team
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
16. Sales Team Requirements
● Birthright Team Retreat
● Attend a weekly team meeting that consists of reading the Birthright Bliss Bucket, individual check-
ins, Israel Education led by one of the interns, Israel update by IACT
● Weekly 1 on 1 meeting with IACT to talk about life, their role, professional development, their
relationship with Israel, and what is next in their Jewish journey
● Recruit 5 participants for the Winter trip
● 5-8 Coffee Date relationships built throughout the semester
● Attend a Shabbat experience either at Hillel or hosting their own
● Attend all Birthright related events to support their team
● Weekly anecdotes on social media about their #BlueHenBirthrightIsrael experience
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
17. Trip Highlights for Winter 2018
● 10 day Mifgash
● Meeting up with UD alumni and IDF soldier Bar David
● Maccabi Tel Aviv Tour
● Save A Child’s Heart: turned an orientation into a night of service
partnering with Project Change at UD to make socks for SACH,
bringing them on the trip
● Working with former UD staff member who made aliyah and is now a
tour educator
● Letter writing to parents from Jerusalem, in the past we have had
parents write to the students
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
18. Pre-Trip
● 3 Mandatory Orientations
○ Afo HaShiruteem? Learning 10 words to know on Birthright, Ice Breakers, and getting to know
what it means to go on #BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
○ Hachnasat Orchim and Save A Child’s Heart! Learning about our 10 day Mifgash with the
Jewish principle of welcoming the stranger and how we are not strangers at all. We also
partnered with Project Change on campus to make socks for SACH and learned about the
organization.
○ Mayim, Cova, Matzlemah! Learning the itinerary for the trip, learning the do’s and don’ts of
packing, played Jeopardy to go over all the important information for the trip. Dr. Kline also
came to speak about the amazing extension opportunity for the first bus.
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
19. Pre-Trip
● 6+ Community Building Programs
○ Bagels and Birthright: Participants join and alumni panel for Brunch to learn from alumni
about their trips and gain advice
○ Jump start your Birthright experience: Skyzone jumping to meet fellow Birthright participants
○ Touchdown in Israel: Birthright BBQ and Football watch party at an intern's apartment
○ Birthright Sukkot: Israeli food, lawn games, and meeting fellow Birthright participants with the
sounds of Israeli pop music
○ Birthright Israel Shabbat: Experiencing the cities we visit on Birthright with unique activities at
each city while feeling more comfortable with the space of Hillel
○ Ice Café?: Each intern took 5-8 participants individually and in small groups to coffee to
develop relationships and serve as mentors for the #BlueHenBirthrightIsrael experience
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
20. Tracking and Measurement
● 16 Summer Birthright Alumni hold leadership roles
○ 8 Birthright Israel Sales Team
○ 1 StandWithUs Fellow
○ 2 Communications Interns
○ 1 Development Intern
○ 2 Israel Shabbat Chairs
○ 1 President of Hillel Student Life
● 16 out of eligible 31* students applied to be on the sales team
● 1,561 check ins to Birthright events or coffee dates this semester
● 439 participants in Birthright events or coffee dates this semester
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
21. Budget Breakdown
● Sales Team Stipends______________$3,200
● Sales Team Meetings_____________ $114
● SWAG ____________________________$1,741.64
● Israel/Birthright Programming_____$825.46
● Orientations_______________________$303.46
● Alumni Engagement_______________$318
● Coffee Dates/Tabling______________$385.99
● IACT Coordinator Travel___________$786.17
Total Spent for Fall Semester_____$7673.62
68.2% of the budget
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
22. Participant Highlight #1
Leigh Abramson
● Senior from New Jersey
● “Non-typical Birthright experience”
● “My Birthright connection happened
when I came home”
● Birthright Alumni Intern
● Senior Birthright Intern Fall 2017
● Senior Birthright Intern Spring 2018
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
23. Participant Highlight #2
Sarah Pozzi
● Junior from Connecticut
● Birthright Recruitment Intern
● Wrote an article in The Odyssey and for Hillel
International about her experience
● Going back to Israel this winter with the UD Israeli
● “Coming back from Birthright, I made so many new
friends, and something important to me going on the
trip was coming back to a Jewish community on
campus that I did not previously have, and that is
exactly what I got.”
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
24. Participant Highlight #3
Annie Gawroniak
● “I did not think I was Jewish enough”
● “Birthright gave me everything I never
knew I needed”
● Senior Birthright Intern, Birthright
Marketing Intern
● Going on Onward Israel this summer
● Has taken a Jewish little in her
sorority who is going this winter
● Wants to become a Jewish
philanthropist
#BlueHenBirthrightIsrael
25. Summer 2018 Goals
● 80 University of Delaware Students
● Growth in number of AEPI brothers and AEPHI sisters on the trip (1 AEPI and
8 on winter trip)
● Utilizing ShareSomeFriends for the first time on the Winter trip to help with
Summer recruitment
○ Hoping for at least 250 unique referrals
26. Spring Recruitment Plans
● Utilize well traveled spaces on campus to table
● Set up tabling over Winter Break to secure dates ahead of time
● Schedule events before semester begins and promote dates
● Continue with social media posts and videos on Facebook and Instagram
● Use Go Pro video from Summer trip 2017 to promote Summer 2018
● Build strong relationships with #BlueHenBirthrightIsrael alumni represented Greek chapters
● Building and running our new Hillel Leadership Class with Israel curriculum
● Identify key students for Sales Team to be able to pull from unaffiliated groups on campus
● Have contests for Alumni to attend events and be able to raise money for their UDance team
27. Post Trip Engagement: Israel
● Birthright Israel Shabbat
● UD Artists for Peace
● Krav Maga Night with Stand with Us
● Attending AIPAC Policy Conference
● Coffee Dates with @BirthrightwithBecca
● Partnering with The David Project on Israel programming on campus
28. Post Trip Engagement: Service
● Participation in UDance
● Helping alumni raise money for UDance, B+ Foundation when they volunteer
to table/help us recruit for the trip
● Co-Sponsor Gift of Life Swabbing on campus
● Hosting Blood Drive at Hillel
29. Post Trip Engagement: Jewish Life and Learning
● Internship Opportunities
● Birthright Reunion Shabbat Dinner for each bus hosted at Becca’s apartment
● Sip and Shmooze every Wednesday 2-4pm
● Semester long Hillel leadership Class with “Let’s Talk Israel” after party
● Bagels and Birthright Panel
● Hosting Shabbat Across Campus
● Weekly Shabbat Dinner and Services at Hillel
● #BlueHenBirthrightIsrael Passover Seder led by Alumni
● Finals Week Study Party
52 students on trip unaffiliated with Hillel, meaning that they either had not been involved at all or only had been to Hillel once. Heard from Senior BR Interns, both who had totally transformed in terms of affiliation. Prior to the internship and Summer BR triphad never been involved in Hillel.
Sales team speaking at Chapter meetings presenting Birthright and trips for non-Jewish students
Utilizing connection to Panhellenic having taking the president on Birthright last winter
Served as an advisor to Alpha Delta Pi Spring 2017- Fall 2017 to develop relationships with sisters who did not have prior contact with Hillel
Massive shift and increase in Greek participation from prior year. Made it a main focus and had interns reach out to each house.
Shabbat Hike and shabbaton program led by professor. Showcasing a Jewish experience outside of a temple. New experience for most students.
Gave option for extension in Israel for 3-credit class, parents are welcome to join, and is led by a professor/Hillel Board Chair.
Shabbat across UD—5 Alumni hosted their own Shabbat’s.
26 people showed up for Hanukkah/Finals Party
Sip and Shmooze-8-10 students weekly
Tabling didn’t necessarily lead to sign-ups at tabling, but did lead to interactions and positive Jewish experiences that led to sign-ups.
Ran into issues with admin about tabling for Birthright specifically, but were able to get around it by tabling as Hillel and having BR swag there.
Switched FB accounts to a work account to interact with people in a more specific manner. Also posted lots of articles about Israel “Jews, Brews and Israeli News” about various topics, controversial/social/etc
First semester doing coffee dates. Sales team had 90 coffee dates over the semester
Ten Interns—721 interactions, not just a message, but actual interactions/conversations with a potential applicant
“Birthright Big and Little Program”—Similar to greek life—interns were responsible for a specific potential applicants and wrote personalized messages to get people geared up for the trip.
Becca empowered the interns
Every post had hashtag and link—very strong marketing
Posts were about experiences, count down, ads for programs, pro-Israel messages, ads for tabling/swag, BR at UD Pride (Shows, sports, supporting school pride), participant profiles about why people are excited to go, Jewish memes. Posed questions to alumni “what’s something you should make sure to bring on BR?” engaged alumni on another platform and had posts show up to other accounts. Featured registered applicants to increase pressure.
@BirthrightwithBecca
Re-branding the trip not using Hillel in the branding
Swag that people will wear/use
Meeting with students for coffee dates and using referrals from Freshman Fest
Examples of “Jew, Brews and Israeli News”
Shared events that alumni/registrants were in to encourage participation.
Not the Chabad trip, but other non-campus niche trips.
BR Recruitment and Greek Recruitment overlap, which is a double-edged sword.
Potential swag bags/potential hosting co-sponsored events for Greek life. Benefit is that a lot of greek orgs are going to rent out Hillel for event bc campus space is lacking and the Hillel is very close to campus.
Potential SACH event in Feb to bring it full circle?
Students are going to write to parents from Israel
Jocelyn: This would be a god campus to have BR committees organized before the bus departs.
Israel Shabbat: Cocktail style and each city was represented around the room and each had an activity representing the city taking place that the students could expereince.
Speak about the * meaning that we had a high number of students who were seniors, studying abroad fall semester, or did not go to Delaware
Said she didn’t connect to her Judaism on the trip. Very much struggled until she connected when she came back. Wants to go back to Israel now that she has a stronger Jewish community connection.
-was embarrased to identify as Jewish prior to Birthright. Didn’t know the prayers, didn’t have a strong connection to the community, didn’t feel like she was “Jewish enough”. New is a BR Intern.
The Odyssey is an online student publication.
Of 80 students, 6 are friends or family on this trip. Wants it to be 2 full UD busses
Wants to continue to grow Greek numbers
Jocelyn: Talk to Becca about Shabbaton
Gift of Life Intern at UD is an BR Summer Alumni—was inspired to join Gift of Life while on BR trip.
Jocelyn: Maybe join Blood Drive and GOL?
