Maftir Yonah Campaign Goes Viral

Fundraising is not an easy industry, yet many Jewish institutions and synagogues enjoy a somewhat easier time of it during the High Holiday season.

Kol Yakov Yehuda is a shul for children, while that may not be unique, it is unique in that children manage and hold all positions in the shul. While the shul does not sell kibuddim over Rosh Hashana as many of the congregants respect their parents by davening next to them, they do sell a very unique Maftir Yonah. The maftir yonah is a co-op open to anyone who wants to donate even the smallest amounts for the zchus of maftir yonah, it is then read by one of the over bar-mitzvah members of the shul.

Wishing to increase the leverage of their maftir yona campaign, Kol Yakov Yehuda turned their annual maftir yonah campaign over to Social media.

Carefully wording the article to make it catchy and marketable, a press release was composed and a few postings were anticipated.

Within 24 hours, the article was picked up by more than 100 web based news outlets. Some of the notable ones were Wall Street Select, an affiliate of the Wall Street Journal, ask.com and the International Business Times.

It is one thing to go viral, but Kol Yakov Yehuda knows very well that a viral campaign is only as good as the bottom line. As for the past 13 years, they have been running the Maftir Yonah campaign to empower the leaders of tomorrow and after 13 years they are beginning to see the ripened fruits of his labor.

As they like to joke, the majority of his congregants are unemployed, this is not something they are ashamed of, what they are proud of though is that their unique shul for the kids by the kids has become a prototype for many young synagogues throughout the globe.

The children of today are the leaders of tomorrow, the Maftir Yonah Campaign is what powers that growth.

To Donate:
http://www.kolyakovyehuda.com/#!maftir-yona/c1fhd