Hiring People in Lay-Led Minyanim

2009-08-24T17:19:21Z

About 30% of the minyanim participating at the recent minyan conference employ paid staff to assist with minyan operations. The obvious benefit of having paid staff is that it takes the load off of volunteer and lay organizers and frees them up for longer-range visioning

Some problems with having paid staff:
• Most places where minyanim meet do not have offices
• Question of who in the minyan leadership will oversee the staff and if this creates more unnecessary work for lay leadership
• What will it mean for the community in terms of becoming more like an institution?
• Which funds should be used to pay the staff member? Is this an appropriate use of membership dues?

Some recommendations:
• Define the job clearly
• The staff should have a physical space from which to work
• The staff should have a relationship to the community
• There should be transparency with the community in all matters relating to the staff
• The staff could be particularly useful in assisting with data management and archiving

Some questions that minyanim should be sure to discuss as part of defining the role:
• Is the staff part of the community?
• Should the staff member be Jewish?
• Will he or she be expected to attend community events?

Examples of Minyanim with paid staff:
*Havurah on the Hill (Boston): works with the program coordinator of the Vilna Shul (where it meets) to coordinate with volunteers and administration matters
*Kehilat Hadar (New York): pays someone to do finances; pays people for High Holidays to daven and teach; pays teachers at education programs and a scholar-in-residence.
*DC Minyan (DC): has hired an administrator in the past
*Tikkun Leil Shabbat (DC): While close to 100% of the work is done by volunteers, they do benefit from the assistance of the staff of Jews United for Justice.
*Shirah Hadashah (Jerusalem): Pays a part-time administrator
*Washington Square Minyan (Brookline, MA): They pay their Tefillat Yeladim coordinator a small stipend to run services on Shabbat and holidays; they also offer an honorarium to people who will layn full parshiyot; they have one custodian every Shabbat morning
*Darkhei Noam (New York): We have a part-time administrator who orders kiddush, sets up our supplies before Shabbat, arranges registration for minyan events, etc.
*Shtibl Minyan (Cambridge, MA): pays someone to help out with childcare
*Minyan Tehilah (Los Angeles, CA): We have a high school students who sets up for us and cleans up after who we pay