Deciding on your Pledge Amount

Instead of traditional membership dues, Kahal B'raira asks members to make a Sustaining Pledge to contribute to the congregation according to your financial means. To help you decide your pledge amount, we provide some guidance and some examples of how additional support benefits our community.

Pledge Guidance

• Kahal B’raira means a Community of Choice, and your pledge amount is ultimately your choice.
• Aligned with our community’s values, we don't make recommendations based on your income or wealth. Instead, we hope this guidance provides some loose direction for how you might think about your pledge.
• If your financial means allow it, you can’t go wrong pledging the suggested amounts ($2,130 if you are a household member and $1,255 if you are an individual member). Our budget assumes that many of our members (about 50 overall) will do exactly this!
• If your financial means are more constrained, pledge what you can. KB values inclusivity regardless of means, and KB should be a meaningfully positive part of your life. We recommend choosing a pledge amount that will not negatively impact your life. We do ask that you pledge a minimum of $100.
• If you have the means to give more than the suggested amount, we encourage you to do so. Every pledge above the suggested amount helps support other members of our community with more constrained finances. Our budget expects that about 14 members will choose to pledge more than our suggestion, and that while many of these pledges will be 10-20% higher than the suggestion, a few will be significantly higher.
• Your pledge does not have to be the same from year to year. If you’re new to KB and unsure what your experience will be like, you might consider a lower pledge amount. If your means allow it, you might pledge the suggested amount this year and then, if life circumstances stretch your household budget next year, pledge a lower amount next year.

How do higher pledges support our community?

Every dollar pledged above our suggested amounts helps KB provide our breadth of programming, supports other congregants with less financial means, and helps sustain KB financially in the years to come. Here are some additional examples of how your pledge contributes to KB:

• $1,415 covers the cost of renting the Fayerweather space for one Sunday Community Gathering
• $1,013 provides a full scholarship to one Sunday School student
• $600 covers the cost of one youth member to attend Teen Retreat
• $150 covers childcare for one Sunday Community Gathering for children too young for Sunday School
• $100 covers the cost of hamantaschen for the Purim festival