4. Recruitment & Registration
Student winter ‘17 trip preferences
Ru students with hillel: 97%
Ru students with 22-26: 3%
Ru students with friends 0%
Ru students on alternative date: 0%
10. Post trip and pre trip 2016-2017 overview
❖ Pre trip budget $3,723.07
➢ Bus Ads
➢ Event food
➢ Advertising
❖ Post trip budget $3,136
➢ Event food and supplies
➢ Recruitment incentives
➢ Co-Sponsoring Rockit for Peace
budget
❖ Sales Team Grant $2,500
➢ 5 Winter interns, $500 each
➢ 2 BICEP interns, $500 each
through StandWithUs BICEP
grant
11. Birthright Interns
Recruitment & registration
Fourth Semester Interns:
Paige Mamolen
➢ Winter 2016 Rutgers Birthright alumna
➢ Phi Sigma Sigma
➢ Jews Your Own Adventure alumna
➢ Onward Israel participants 2017
➢ Responsible for event planning, setup, and facilitation
➢ Focused on birthright outreach through tabling, etc.
Ally and Paige tabling for Birthright at the IsraeLIT
independence day fair
Allison Stubin
➢ Summer 2016 Birthright alumna
➢ Phi Sigma Sigma
➢ Responsible for event planning, setup, and facilitation
➢ Focused on birthright outreach through tabling, etc.
➢ Social Media marketing campaign
12. Birthright interns
Recruitment & registration
Rachel Degutz
➢ Delta Gamma
➢ Winter 2017 Rutgers Birthright alumna
➢ Participated in Meor learning class
➢ Responsible for event planning, setup, and facilitation, and tabling
➢ Study abroad at Haifa University, Spring 2018
Nehama Hanoch
➢ Winter 2016 Birthright alumna
➢ Responsible for event planning, setup, and
facilitation, and tabling
13. birthright Intern
Recruitment & registration
Melanie Hand
➢ Former RJX Israel Free Spirit intern
➢ Meor Aish trip to Israel
➢ Responsible for event planning, setup, and
facilitation, tabling, outreach
14. Recruitment & registration
BICEP Interns
Amit Solomon
➢ BICEP Birthright Intern
➢ Summer 2017 Rutgers Birthright IDF soldier
➢ Participated in four Birthright trips as a soldier
➢ Focused on post-trip BICEP planning and engagement
➢ Responsible for event planning, setup, and facilitation
➢ Tabling for Birthright outreach
Alex Winshel
➢ BICEP Birthright Intern
➢ Theta Chi
➢ Summer 2017 Rutgers Birthright alum
➢ Focused on post-trip BICEP planning and engagement
➢ Responsible for event planning, setup, and facilitation
➢ Tabling for Birthright outreach
23. IACT Pillar programing (Jewish)
❖ Birthright Shabbat
❖ Bee-Free, Be Fruity: a
Celebration of Veganism and
Rosh Hashanah
❖ Sushi in the Sukkah
❖ Build-Your-Own Sukkah
28. Greek Engagement
Summer Greeks: Alpha Epsilon Pi - 3
Delta
Gamma - 2
Theta Chi - 2
Sigma Delta
Tau - 2
Sigma Alpha
Epsilon Pi - 1
Phi Sigma
Sigma - 1
Phi Mu - 1
Omega Phi
Alpha - 1
Total - 13
Winter Greeks: Chi Psi - 5
Sigma Alpha
Epsilon Pi - 3
Sigma Pi - 2
Phi Sigma Sigma -
2
Zeta Beta Tau - 2
Pi Kappa Phi - 1
Alpha Sigma Phi -
1
Delta Gamma - 1
Total - 17
Editor's Notes
An overview of applications and deposit breakdown for the winters that IACT has been at Rutgers Hillel (2015-2018). As seen on the chart, the number of applications have increased since IACT showing Birthright presence and interest has grown on campus. As mentioned previously, the number of IO Applicants is inflated due to students who pre-registered that aren’t Birthright eligible. According to the chart the conversion rate between RU Deposits and RB Deposits is almost at 100%. The only two participants who are going on Birthright this winter who indicated Rutgers on their application but are not going on our trips are two participants who attended Rutgers but have graduated and are now working and going on a national 22-26 trip. This statistic shows that students who register for Birthright with Israel Outdoors are no longer seeking an alternative trip. Students are registering solely to be on the Rutgers Hillel campus trip. Affiliated non-Rutgers deposits, which includes friends and family who are not Rutgers students but are affiliated with Rutgers Birthright participants, has stayed about the same this year. The goal ultimately is to have the entire trip be all-Rutgers students with no affiliates.
Rutgers Hillel Birthright is the campus trip--We are the go-to.
When examining statistics of Rutgers participants before and after the implementation of IACT at Rutgers Hillel, we see that prior to IACT there is a majority percentage of national participants with only a 22% participation of Rutgers students, while the number of potential Rutgers participants could have come close to 80/two buses. After the implementation of IACT the Birthright numbers increased by almost 60%. Summer on the Rutgers campus is challenging due to student’s internships and uncertain work schedules. This winter, we are on track to continue the trend of not having any national participants on either of our buses.
71 current Rutgers students registered with Israel Outdoors for Birthright winter 2017-2018 season. All of them registered with Rutgers Birthright (Hillel). Two indicated Rutgers University on their application, but they have already graduated and are no longer current students, so they are registered with the older group. No students chose to go on different dates or made plans to travel with other non-Rutgers friends on a different Birthright trip through Israel Outdoors.
This season a majority of students who identify as “Just Jewish” registered for the Rutgers Birthright (Hillel) trip. Following Just Jewish, the second largest group is “Reform”. The Rutgers Jewish community tends to be affiliated and students typically tend to affiliate with a religious denomination. Usually students who come from intermarried families choose to affiliate as “Just Jewish”, “Other”, and “N/A”. Affiliation choices on the Birthright application are not as conducive to the millennial audience as they were several years ago.
This shows the impact of IACT. Given that Rutgers has one of the most “Jewish” campus in the country, we are still able to have a trip that is almost 44% unaffiliated Jews.
This winter, we have a higher percentage of unaffiliated participants and then we had last year. This can help us tap into new pools of unaffiliated Jews on campus and will help with follow-up.
Huge change in unaffilated numbers as well as Reform numbers. Reform kids used to go more often with camp or non-campus trips, but we have built up the marketshare on campus and thus they seek us out. Additionally, some may not know what the reform movement is versus others.
This season the largest group of registered students are Sophomores. This is ideal because most Birthright underclassmen alumni that we have seen end up becoming very involved and take leadership positions in Jewish life at Rutgers. The second largest group of students are the Juniors. This will be helpful in future recruitment because they already know the campus well, have a lot of social leverage when it comes to recruitment, and unlike the seniors, they are still invested in campus engagement.
56% underclasssmen!
What is the breakdown of underclassmen and unaffiliated?--Just curious
This winter season we raised the percentage of Freshmen and Juniors who registered for the Birthright trip. We intend to utilize the relationships built with freshman on the trip to create impactful follow up for the years to come, and the Juniors will be utilized in helping lead and plan follow up events in hopes that that will help get them involved in Hillel in general.
This semester 58% of students engaged in Israel events. 31% engaged in social action. 64% engaged in Jewish learning. We plan to raise that number by the end of the semester with more BICEP events and more of a focus on follow-up now that recruitment is winding down, including a planned community service event where the BICEP bus is going to make care packages for soldiers, a giant reunion shabbat, participation in the rockit for peace event, and more.
Nikki doesn't know the students...makes follow up a bit of a challenge.
Most of the pre trip funding this semester was spent on marketing materials, advertising, and event food. Post trip budget includes resources for follow-up events.
Ally and Paige are my two fourth semester interns. Both are highly engaged in Jewish life on campus, had post-Birthright Israel experience and took on leadership roles in the Rutgers Jewish community. They are responsible for post trip programming as well as assisting in recruitment as needed.
Likely they will stay on for next semester. Also planning a debrief with them at the end of the semester to see what went well, what didn’t go well, what can be changed, etc.
Rachel went on Birthright last year winter and has been become very involved since. Since she is a sophomore, she is being mentored by Ally and Paige to pass on the knowledge they have accumulated over the past couple of years. Rachel is currently taking Elementary Hebrew and will be studying abroad in Haifa next semester
Nehama is someone we’ve been trying to get on our intern team for a while, she didn’t have the time previously but this semester she has been invaluable. Nehama has a wide network of people she knows and has a very outgoing personality, which has been very useful at tabling events.
Melanie is a great addition to our intern team. She used to recruit for RJX, our competitor here on campus, and because of ideological differences she has decided to switch to our recruitment team. She came already having recruitment experience and a network of people who are involved in RJX’s programs and classes.
My two BICEP interns have been focused on maintaining a cohesive connection and strong bond with the BICEP Birthright group. Amit is an Israeli student in his first semester here at Rutgers. He was lucky enough to participate in many Birthright trips during his time as a soldier in the IDF. When he learned that he was going to attend Rutgers in the fall, he managed to get on our BICEP bus this summer as one of the soldiers.
Before Birthright, Alex was very unaffiliated with Hillel and with Judaism. He was convinced by Ally and Paige, whom he was friends with, that he should go on Birthright. He eventually said yes, went on the trip, and now is very passionate about getting people to go on Birthright. Poster child for Birthright/IACT success.
The two have done a great job at keeping the group together post-Birthright. The interns initiate gatherings and frequently go out together, attend football games together, take class together, and study together. They are working with our StandWithUs campus coordinator, collaborating with her about creative ways to bring Israel back to campus, and now that recruitment and mid-terms are winding down they are excited to implement their ideas for large events, including a large Birthright reunion shabbat, creating care packages for soldiers, and the Rockit for Peace event
Some of our marketing work, the bus ads and the banner outside the building.
All students need to take the bus at Rutgers. It’s a great advertising strategy.
This semester the Birthright alumni proved to be incredibly helpful and resourceful when it comes to recruitment for the summer trip. They referred a lot of their friends and encouraged them to sign up early. This semester we continued our use of bus advertisements for the first 6 weeks of school. It was one of our most expensive marketing advancements, but successful nonetheless, and now that the initial cost of creating the bus cards has been paid we have the cards to use for the upcoming years. Many students noted that they were reminded to sign up for Birthright because of the bus advertisements. It was helpful to learn that most eligible students are very aware of Birthright, but they don’t always feel a need to/remember to register to go. Everyone at Rutgers takes the bus, therefore bus advertisements was a good way to remind people about registration while providing them registration info in the most simplistic way.
The new building has proven to be an incredible asset to recruitment. Though it opened at the end of last semester, there were many students who had not made it into the building until this semester. We started off the semester with a large barbeque and events every night to encourage students to come check out the building. Since the first day of school was also the first day of recruitment, it would have detracted from the success of a Birthright registration opening event to have it competing with the other events already scheduled. Instead, we used the events already scheduled and used them to meet students and advertise Birthright. It was especially successful at the events aimed at freshmen. We also have a massive sign outside of the building advertising Birthright all year long. Given the location of the building in proximity to Greek houses and Rutgers buildings, tons of people walk by it as well.
Some challenge for recruiting for the trip this winter include: Winter classes and family vacations. Many students have expressed their desire to be home for the holidays (New Year's Eve). Some students travel with their family for vacations which tends to conflict with the Birthright trip. Some also elect to take a Winter Semester class, an accelerated semester that takes place during winter break.
There has been a strong desire this year of students who say they want to go in the summer. We have tried to combat that by promoting a culture that Rutgers students go in the winter. This worked with many freshmen who came to campus without expectations of when to go on Birthright and therefor don’t know the difference
This year, we are offering for the first time a trip for Jewish and non-Jewish students, our Hillel Israel Leadership Initiative. There was a lot of confusion within the non-Jewish community about what trip to sign up for. Some thought that Birthright was opening up a trip for non-Jews and got information on Birthright and pre-registered, and many were confused by our website which didn’t make the distinction between the two trips clearly enough. Because of this, we got a lot people who pre-registered and started applications that were not actually eligible for Birthright. We are changing the page on our website to make it more clear which trip is which, and we should not have as much of an issue with this in the spring because HILI is only offered in the winter. Next year, we will know about this ahead of time and be able to anticipate this confusion in students and be able to make it more clear.
Nikki tried to utilize unique selling points--less tourists in winter, it’s nicer weather than it will be in NJ, it’s not super hot in Israel.
Also talked about follow up with connection to Rutgers staff and students, this is your one shot to go on Birthright and we can guarantee that we have the best trip guide/accommodations, play for the unaffiliated students vs the Chabad trip, got the hot springs, graffiti tour,
Note for Nikki: Do you feel that you were adequately prepared and took enough time to plan for tabling/events beforehand? What would you change?
Note for Nikki: Speaking style--go take a toastmasters class
We have many alumni from this past summer’s Birthright trips that are heavily involved in Hillel and Jewish life on campus. Benjamin Bass is the treasurer on Hillel’s student executive board, as well as the Jewish Life Chair at Rutgers’ AEPi chapter. He is currently planning a large shabbat dinner for the whole chapter. Ben is also participating on our Hillel Israel Leadership Initiative trip which is going to Israel this winter. This trip takes 20 non-Jewish students and 5 Jewish students, all campus leaders, to Israel to learn more about the country and the current geopolitical situation. Melissa Gotlib is one of Hillel’s Social and Holiday Co-Chairs. As a part of her position she has run many programs targeted at freshmen and we have found a lot of freshmen for this winter’s trips through her events. Hanna Graifman is Hillel’s Vice President of Communication. She is in charge of sending out the weekly email to all students advertising events and is a large presence here at Hillel.
Miriam is a freshman here at Hillel and we are very excited to have her on our Birthright trip. During her short time here on campus, she has become very involved and is the president of Scarlet Knights for Israel, a Hillel-affiliated pro-Israel student group that brings speakers to campus and has weekly meetings. Scarlet Knights for Israel is also partnering with the Center for Israel Engagement in having a fundraiser later this month that is raising money for Sderot. She has already made her presence known here on campus and will be an asset on our trip.
(Picture will be added) Millie Diaz is on the opposite end of the spectrum as Miriam is. Millie is a student that grew up without a huge Jewish presence in her life. She was raised by her mother, who is Jewish, but she also connects deeply with her family from the Dominican Republic. Having a Jewish connection was offered to her as a child, but at the time she chose not to participate as much. Her sister, however, connected deeply with Judaism and always felt the connection to Judaism and Israel. Her sister went on Birthright and the minute she came back, started begging Millie to go on the trip. Millie is also close friends with Liandy Gonzalez, a non-Jewish David Project intern, who also helped convince her to go on Birthright.
Many pre and post trip Israel focused events are taking place on campus this semester. The Birthright Info Session was geared towards potential participants and Israel 101 was only geared towards pre-trip participants. The Shaksuka Truck and Lego Jerusalem were put on by the Center for Israel Engagement, attended by several Birthright alumni. Our Tech-Fair (IS HAPPENING ON FRIDAY, PUT IN OUTCOME AND NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO ATTEND). The Israeli Fashion Show will be a fashion show put on by students modeling Israeli fashion throughout the years, and Rockit for Peace is a fundraiser concert that will be happening later this month.
We had an Israel 101 session to learn more about the fundamentals of the country. Birthright interns and Onward alumni were given specific areas to focus on, such as culture, history, religion, and food. Each one gave a short presentation, teaching the new participants about a part of Israel. Rockit for Peace is an event we are really excited about. It is a fundraiser concert featuring Sammy K, a popular Jewish rapper. Admission is $5 and all the money raised is being donated to Sderot. There is already a lot of traction for the event, and everyone who buys their ticket before the event will be entered to a raffle to win a free iPad. This is going to be a great event because past Birthright participants have the personal connection to Sderot because we take our trips there, and it will be advertised to this winter’s participants as a way to help out a city that we will be visiting when we go to Israel.
This semester we found that large social/religious gatherings were incredibly successful with our winter 2016 alumni. Due to the relationships and connections that were built during the trip, creating opportunities for the group to come back together Jewishly proved to be the right kind of post-trip engagement for them. This was highlighted in our Birthright alumni shabbat, Passover, and our Greek shabbat dinner which took place in a frat house.
Note: Let’s talk about Depth. What do you think a donor would want to fund? Can you explain a program's purpose to us in a way that makes us excited about it?
The BICEP interns have been really great this semester at getting participants to come to Shabbat dinner. We have had multiple dinners where there is a large Birthright alumni table where they all eat dinner and end up hanging out into the night. We have a formal Birthright Shabbat dinner planned for this month where they will have their own room for an intimate reunion Shabbat dinner where we hope to get everyone together and reminisce about the fun they had this past summer.
Sushi in the Sukkah was a very successful event that many Birthright alums attended. It was a free event for students that promoted Sukkot and eating in a sukkah during the holiday. There were fliers on the tables explaining the meaning behind eating in a sukkah and lulavs and etrogs were passed around during the night. It was highly attended and students raved about it for days.
This semester Birthright alumni participated in various different social action programs. We hosted a blood drive which brought in a lot of students who wanted to donate. Additionally, many participated in our High Holidays Food Drive where we collected food for the Rutgers Food Pantry to help combat food insecurity. Our Chai Healers program is offered every Friday in which students walk over to the local hospital and make visits to Jewish patients.
Note: Are you doing gift of life again?
Note: Difference between a lot of food having and knowing a number. Will make you sound more professional. “A staggering number of students don’t know where their next meal is coming from”-get a stat and tell us what you’re doing with it
A noticeable and impactful contribution to the pre trip experience has been the incorporation of the Birthright interns (alumni) leadership in these events. For the info session and Israel 101, Birthright interns conducted presentations and reflections from their trip and presented the majority of the content. They talked about places they visited in Israel and about the experience of traveling with the Israeli soldiers. The will also be responsible for leading the sessions for the meet your bus events like in previous seasons. These sessions involve a mixture of icebreakers and group bonding activities that related to Israel learning, which have been very successful when led by the interns.
Birthright interns continue to keep a very active Rutgers Birthright social media presence on various mediums such as facebook, instagram, twitter, and snapchat. A highly successful marketing tool has been using past student’s pictures and tagging them in the posts, therefore their friends seem them in these pictures and want to sign up because they see their friends went on this trip and had a great time
Increased targeted outreach to greeks.
Note: Stop discrediting yourself/second guessing yourself in your presentation. “I think I have all the numbers here, I might have missed someone who was Greek. Be confident about your information, don’t leave room for people to question your ability.
Note: Are you doing Dance Marathon again? What’s the percentage of Jewish students in Greek life? What else are you doing to capture this market?
Note: Attention to detail about presentation, consistency on slides and order of slides.
Note: Get a clicker for the computer to change slides.
Note: Ending slide to wrap up the presentation
