Strategic Planning Initiative

The Jewish Federation of the Berkshires recognizes the value of long-range planning in fulfilling its mission and serving the community. In particular it is committed to sustaining and strengthening Jewish community, caring for those in need, and nurturing a Jewish future by focusing on related challenges and opportunities.

Strategic planning is an essential step in achieving that focus, a periodic activity designed to set priorities, concentrate energy and resources, and ensure that leaders are working toward common goals. Effective strategic planning can be a critical management and governance tool to articulate where an organization is going and what actions are needed to make progress.  It also provides a process to determine success.

In developing a strategic plan, the Federation sought to:

• Affirm its mission and its core values.
• Understand the community’s needs, concerns, and ideas.
• Frankly and openly discuss challenges the Federation must address including changing demographics and finding ways to sustain support for programs.
• Identify key opportunities for addressing organizational challenges affecting programming, development, internal operations and community relations.

A Strategic Planning Committee was formed in 2019 to initiate the planning process.  This committee consisted of 17 representatives from the Board, senior leadership and a diverse group of community members.  Plans were made to gain input and feedback by facilitating retreats, hosting town halls and focus groups, interviewing individual stakeholders and conducting a community-wide, online survey. There were 250 in-person interactions and more than 500 survey responses.