How You can Support Bet Am Shalom

Can you help strengthen and sustain

Bet Am Shalom now and into the future?

There are many different ways to give. Click on a method below to get started:

Members can also sign into Shul Cloud and make a cash donation directly via your account 

Why your support is crucial 

As our Bet Am Shalom community celebrates its 70th anniversary with our wonderful new clergy and extraordinary member engagement, we are thriving! We look forward to continuing membership influx and deep participation in the fabric of our rich spiritual, intellectual, and caring communal Jewish life. But we know that the long-term health of any congregation also depends on a solid and sustainable financial foundation. 

Thanks to tremendous congregant generosity in response our recent Legacy Campaign, we have solidified reserves, and we are in a good position for this transitional time. But we are compelled to plan for the long-term future as well. 

As you may know, dues alone provide less than 60% of our annual budget. Annual Kol Nidre appeals, High Holy Day guest fees and the Purim-season Mishloach Manot project also furnish revenues that are indispensable for our basic operations. We depend each year on those vehicles for member generosity, as well as routine contributions — which we want to make easy for all to do. Your donations, in the form of cash donations, qualified distributions from retirement accounts or appreciated securities are crucial to our ability to survive and meet the needs of our congregants and community. 
Another important pillar of support, as with so many other synagogues, is for us to encourage congregants who treasure our community and want to “pass it on” to make provision for Bet Am Shalom in their personal estate planning. Toward that end, we hope to make “planned giving” a widespread practice among our members so we can ensure Bet Am Shalom vitality for the future. 

The new Chai Society aims to educate congregants about simple estate-planning techniques that can create a lasting legacy for Bet Am Shalom without affecting their assets during their lives, and to enlist commitments from a multi-generational array of members. Nearly 50 congregants have already created legacy commitments to the synagogue. 

This effort will inspire others to participate in sustaining a lasting future for our beloved Bet Am Shalom community, passing on the legacy to the generations that follow us. L’dor va dor, from generation to generation. Won’t you join us? It is really very easy. 

“We love this shul. We want to support, preserve and grow this place in which we’ve raised our children and found a Jewish home. We’ve found over time that Bet Am is wonderfully unique in so many ways. Even though we know our lives might change and our priorities shift over time, we want to leave whatever small legacy we can to help keep our beautiful Bet Am thriving and growing. Our synagogue is a treasure of American Judaism.” 

Ilene Semiatin and Vincent Park