Transparency: Kavana Cooperative Shares Their Evaluation Report & Insights

Nov 6, 2014 by Lisa Colton

The Kavana Cooperative is a pluralistic, non-denominational, and cooperative Jewish community that started 8 years ago specifically designed to meet the needs of 21st century Jews. Co-founders Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum and technology executive Suzi LeVine asked important questions about how it would serve the needs of the population, how it would be organized, and how it might differ (or be the same) from other traditional models of Jewish organizations. They aimed to create an organization that was open and experimental, as well as thoughtful and strategic. Kavana was envisioned as a cooperative in every essence of that word: it would be a place that empowered its constituents to create a meaningful Jewish life for themselves and their fellow community members.

Kavana’s focus on building community, strengthening social ties, and create a cooperative culture is paying off. Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum recently shared more about the model, their evolution, and their planning for the future in an important article in eJewishPhilanthropy, titled “Want to Build a Healthier Jewish Community? Nourish Informal Social Networks”. Rabbi Nussbaum went even further to share insights about and a link to the full report from their recent evaluation conducted with the guidance of HUC-JIR sociologist, Dr. Steven M. Cohen.

Read the full EJP article, and see a link to the evaluation report below.

http://kavana.org/sites/kavana.org/files/Kavana_Eval_Report.pdf