Nonprofit organizations, such as TAS and MoTAS, thrive on your contributions. Whether contributions of time, contributions of money, or contributions of both — all are important for an organization’s survival. This is especially true of MoTAS, as we are not a dues collecting organization. Being a man, and being a member of TAS are the only requirements to be a member of MoTAS. Further, TAS does not financially support MoTAS in its operations, so the dues you pay to TAS are not indirect dues to MoTAS.

Financially, MoTAS survives on your contributions — primarily contributions to our annual appeal and contributions to our annual Golf Tournament. We held the Golf Tournament in October, and it looks like it did not bring in the surplus we had budgeted. This makes our annual appeal even more important.

In late January (right after the MoTAS Shabbat) we are mailing out our annual appeal letters. We urge you to provide financial support to our operations, at a level that is comfortable to your and that you feel reflects the contribution of MoTAS to your life and to the life of TAS. You may pay by check or credit card with the form in the letter, or you can contribution online at our Support Us link. We thank you in advance for your contributions; contributions $100 or over will be acknowledged on our Wall of Honor.

A question that has long plagued MoTAS leadership is how to get younger men — dads and college-age men — involved and active. We’re not alone in this; the question is regularly raised on Yammer (the URJ discussion board). It’s also not just a MoTAS question; congregations are also faced on how to get young adults involved in congregational life before school draws them in.

We do have some ideas. In the Spring, we’re doing to initiate some activities that are good for the family. We’re going to engage with AEπ at CSUN — they participated in Mitzvah Day, and we’re going to invite them to the MoTAS Shabbat and other events. We’re also open to your suggestions on how to get younger men involved.

We also encourage you to do your part. If you know college age men and men raising families, we encourage you to personally invite them to a MoTAS activity. Everyone benefits from the interchange.