2. Registration Results
Total number of Hillel applications
44
Total number of deposited registrants
35
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Winter 2016 Winter 2017
Chart Title
Hillel Applications Hillel Deposits
3. Break down of participants
24 University of Arizona students
58% Underclassmen from the University of Arizona
10 Freshmen
4 Sophomores
70% Unaffiliated with Jewish life at the University of Arizona
33% Second timers from the U of A
8 in Greek Life
4. Registration in Action
Tabling
Shop the Shuk
Table Toppers
Sales Team
One-on-one meetings
Israel Shabbat
Israel Palooza
11. Student Spotlight!
“Birthright connected me
with two thousand years
of history in ten days.”
-Cameron Busby
Summer 2017
“So going on the trip I am hoping
to connect with my heritage”
-Morghan Sonderer
Winter 2017
12. Goals For Spring/Summer
60 paid registrations
Lock in ZBT sign ups
Use social media more effectively
Reach out to diverse campus organizations to create partnership between
Birthright Israel and their organization
Table at different locations around campus to find what works the most
effectively
13. Engagement with Summer Alumni
One-on-Ones with Michael and me
Facebook messages/emailing
Reunion Party at No Anchovies
Challenges
Struggled to get a response from summer alumni
15. Review of Programs
Shabbat every other week
Staff weekly events
Bagels with Michael
Izzy’s Interested
Hangin’ with Hadar
Kamels Koffee and Katie
Nosh and Knowledge
Café Ivrit
Shop the Shuk
Holidays
Rosh Hashanah Services
Yom Kippur Services
Sukkot events
16. Summer Pre-trip programming
Registration Event
Holocaust Vigil
Israel Independence Day Carnival
3 orientations
Jewish identity
Israel
Program in the community
Bouncing with Birthright
18. Post Trip Plans
Reunion Shabbat (First Shabbat of the semester)
Israel Shabbat
Holocaust Vigil
Passover Seder
Yom Hazikaron/ Israel Independence day
Winter Reunion Dinner
Challah For Hunger
Alternative Spring Break
19. Coffee Date $7.43
Cookies for Tabling $35.28
Table Toppers $212.20
Shop the Shuk $17.31
Birthright Tabling Supplies $7.94
Israel Shabbat $671.25
Intern Meeting $6.51
Coffee Dates $23.67
Henna Tattoo Artist $135.00
Coffee Date $23.67
Rosh Hashanah Honey Sticks $87.76
Office Supplies – Photos $17.63
Food for Shop the Shuk $123.75
Coffee Dates $23.76
IsraelPalooza $1,150.00
Coffee Dates $23.67
Mega Challah Bake $225.00
Total:
$2774.63
An overview of applications and deposit breakdown for the past winter IACT Birthright Israel trips. As show the University of Arizona’s applications and deposits have decreased this season, but our retention percentage this season has increased.
In Winter of 2016 there were 56 Hillel application with 41 deposits, at a 73% retention rate.
For Winter 2017 there were 44 Hillel applications with 35 deposits, at a 79% retention rate.
Even though applications are lower, our retention rate is higher.
Market Share: University of Arizona has overall 52 complete and eligible applications, and so UA has 71% of market share.
ShareSomeFriends: 250 on the list. 75 from UA, but none signed up for the trip
Also utilized videos from Upstart. Published on Instagram and Facebook. People didn’t share them or like them online, but had a verbal response and mentioned them to Katie.
Out of the 35 participants going on the U of A winter Birthright trip, 24 are University of Arizona students. 9 of the other participants are choosing our trip because they wish to go with their siblings or cousins. 2 of the participants are U of A graduates.
This coming trip, 14 of our participants are underclassmen. As opposed to Summer’s alum which was 20 participants were underclassmen. The upperclassmen that are choosing our trip, have decided to go on our trip because of they feel that now is the right time to go before they graduate.
8 Greeks: primarily ZBT and Gamma Phi Beta
One on one meetings were super important and the most effective tactic, though getting meetings was complicated—response rate from alumni and new students were low. But of the one-on-one meetings 75% of the people who signed up Katie had a one-on-one meeting
Israel Shabbat: partnered with Israel Fellow, Planned three different Shabbat services to meet people where they were religiously
Israel Palooza: Had Birthright, MASA and Onward all present to help both potential applicants and returning alumni. Less formal meet up. Four summer alumni going on Onward and three students who haven’t been on BR the Onward rep helped plant the seed of going on summer BR and then stay for onward.
Zack Surmacz Summer 2017 Birthright Alum at Shop the Shuk. Zack is a transfer student from Emory. Zack is very passionate about Birthright, and is very active at Hillel.
At our Israel palooza event this year, we set up a table where students could find out more information about our upcoming Birthright Trip, while also finding out more information on how to get back to Israel post Birthright, such as MASA and Onward Israel.
Got interest list for summer of 15 people
This year we purchased Table toppers are flyers which are on every table in the student union. Many students eat inside of the student union and this was the perfect way to advertise is a extremely popular location.
Leah Merral is a graduating senior, Leah has been an intern for two years. She was a great help being a first year IACT, she was able to help me outreach and what previously worked here at the U of A. She was able to give her knowledge of the last two years, to help me transition into the IACT position.
Arielle Devorah is a sophomore. Arielle is involved in many organizations on campus, and with Hillel. Arielle is in United Nations, U of A’s Debate team, and she is also a part of Hillel’s board. Arielle also participated in an Onward Israel program in the summer of 2017. Arielle was a huge asset with tabling, creative ideas for programing, and outreach to students.
Tori Schiff is part of Gamma Phi Beta sorority, who holds an executive board position. Tori helped with outreach to the Greek organizations.
Luke Jaffe is a part of Eller, the business college at the U of A. Luke helped with social media and tabling.
Josh is an RA in one of the dorms on campus. Josh was extremely dependable and would come as soon as I would call. Josh helped with tabling and outreach in his residence hall.
Aliyah is also an RA in one of the residence halls at the University of Arizona. She was a great help during tabling. Aliyah also took it upon herself to message everyone on the Share Some Friends List.
Cameron Busby a sophomore at the University of Arizona from Tucson, Arizona. He is involved in many different aspects of Hillel. Cameron participates in Café Ivrit, Nosh and Knowledge, Holocaust Vigil, attends most Shabbats and also is a Desk Assistant. In the Tucson community Cameron teaches comparative religion for 8th grade students at his local synagogue.
Morghan Sonderer is a graduating senior from Tucson, Arizona also. Morghan has family in Israel and is very excited to see the land where her family is from. Morghan is bringing two friends also from the U of A, Charlie and Hannah. Morghan attended Tucson Hebrew Academy, and participated in various Jewish organizations as a child, but has not been as involved since.
My goals for next semester are to have 60 paid registrations. I will achieve this doing several different actions. I wish do a Birthright registration event, similar to Shop the Shuk. This helped bring Summer alumni and prospective students together to have a conversation about Birthright. I will also achieve this by talking to several different organizations on campus, such as: ZBT, various Hall Councils, and other Greek houses.
ZBT has expressed an interests having many Greeks on one bus. They expressed that they wish to go in summer, and I hope to lock this down in January. I will achieve this by offering an incentive for every ZBT and person that pays their deposit and comes on the U of A summer trip they will receive $25 per person towards ZBT’s philanthropy.
This past semester I noticed that tabling on the Mall, was not effective. Occasionally people will come to our table, but is very difficult. Students are not motivated to seek information from us. For next semester I want to try tabling at popular locations around Tucson and the U of A. Such as: Scented Leaf, Starbucks, and Eller (business college).
Food giveaways were not popular, cookie, shaved ice or ice cream. Going to vary location.
Eric suggested 30 second videos to use on Social Media similar to NYU Hillel.
One of the challenges this semester was connecting with the summer alumni. We struggled to receive a response from the summer alumni, despite trying different means of communication. We have a group of summer alumni students that participate in many of the events at the University of Arizona Hillel, and we have many that do not come to any events. Engaging one-on-one with students it was known that one of the issues was they did not feel a connection to Hillel post Birthright. They spoke at length about their love of their trip, but have felt no need to connect back to Hillel. In response to these comments, we decided to have a dinner at a local restaurant in Tucson. Correspondence for this event came from Facebook messaging, but what was most beneficial was having students reach out and convince the other students to come to dinner. At this event there were 12 summer alumni in attendance.
Of the Summer alumni who still attend the University of Arizona: 10 attended 3 or more events, 3 attend 2 events, 5 attended 1 event, and 8 attended no events.
Spoke to student: “I don’t have a connection to Hillel. I stumbled onto Birthright.” Katie wants to build on this by having more events outside of Hillel and then can bring them into the Hillel fold.
Every other week we will have either a full Shabbat, a Shabbat express “Candle lighting and blessings with small noshes and short program as opposed to whole dinner”, or Havdallah. At full Shabbats we average 50-60 people, and at Shabbat express and Havdallah we average around 15-20 people.
Each staff member has weekly meetings outside of the Hillel building, these events an opportunity to meet and talk to various staff members about different issues.
Michael and Izzy have weekly events where they teach the students an important topic. Hadar teaches Hebrew and Michael teaches different topics about Judiasm. Katie gives out Starbuck’s gift cards. All of these take place outside of Hillel to try and meet students where they are.
Our Registration event this semester was called Shop the Shuk. There students had the opportunity to register for our campus trip. Summer Alumni were also invited, this helped the students who were registering hear a fellow student speak about the U of A trip. We had a Henna tattoo artist, and falafel. The students had a fantastic time!
For Summer birthright we want to hold another registration event, where the students can come in a register for our trip. This gives away for the winter alumni to connect and talk to students interested in going on birthright.
Every year the University of Arizona host a Holocaust Vigil for 24 hours on the Mall. This is an opportunity for students to come and see the different exhibitions about the Holocaust. This also provides an opportunity for students to volunteer to help run the event.
The Israel Independence Day Carnival is also an event that we host every year. This event has games, and different activities for the students to learn about Israeli culture.
Our orientations revolve around the IACT pillars. We first will focus on the participants Jewish journey. The second provides the participants the opportunity to go to different events in the community and different events at Hillel, such as: events at the Tucson JCC, Challah for Hunger, Nosh and Knowledge, and many other community events. The third orientation will be about Israel, Hebrew, and what Israel will be like. The Israel Fellow and I will work together to answer the students’ questions and make them as knowledgeable as we can.
An idea Arielle, a sales team member though of, was if a student refers and friend and they pay their deposit, they will receive a ticket to the trampoline park in Tucson; also if a student signs up for Birthright on their own and pays their deposits they will also receive a ticket. Providing a way for the students on the summer Birthright to get to know each other while also having some fun.
Followed up with students from summer about what they loved—which included the Graffiti tour—so are doing it again.
Winery tour is new and attracted a lot
Also going to play up on being there for Hanukkah—doing a dougnut tasting at one of the hotels.
This coming semester Birthright alumni can participate in various different activities to help connect them Jewishly post Birthright. These activities include Passover Seder, and Shabbat Dinners. Many of the participants who are coming on the winter Birthright Israel trip have expressed that they are only Jewish culturally and were nervous to come on Birthright; having never celebrated High Holidays and Shabbat dinners. These events will provide a connection not only to their Shabbat dinner on Birthright, but will also help connect them to the larger Hillel and Jewish community.
Twice a week we Café Ivrit to help students connect with Israel as they feel if they know Hebrew this will help connect them with Israel on a cultural level. We also have multiple programs next semester to also help students feel personally connected to Israel, these include: Israel Shabbat, Israel Independence Day carnival, and Night out in Tel Aviv.
For next semester I hope to get the winter alumni interest in more activities that we have in Hillel. Almost every Thursday and Friday students bake and sell Challah on campus. The money the students is split between Mazon and another organization. The Challah for Hunger students choose to give half of their profits to the Food Bank of Southern Arizona.
The other option students can get involved with next semester is two opportunities to volunteer over spring break. The students can help with hurricane clean up in Texas, or in the Florida Keys.
This is a very small amount of the total budget…
Having an IACT Coordinator on the University of Arizona’s campus gives students an American to talk to about Israel and someone who had an atypical Jewish journey. Because I come from a home with one Jewish parent and no real Jewish upbringing, I can more easily relate to many of our students who have had a similar background. I also spent a year in Israel which means that I can more readily explain all of the Masa opportunities.
Having the IACT Coordinator whose main focus is Birthright Israel on a full-time basis, and is dedicated to creating the pre, during, and post trip experiences to be the best they can be. This is a post-trip program as well and brings added growth to our Hillel.
Note: It’s nice to talk about Jewish journeys, but when thinking about talking to a donor, what are you doing to bring growth to campus?
Notes: Are you going to Birthright Fellows?
