Hillel Ontario

Expenses, reimbursements, mileage, my credit card, my corporate cell phone, programming budgets over $500, logistics, or any issue in my Hillel space?

• Call Dan Sennet, Director of Operations!

Vacation, sick and/or mental health days, onboarding, my letter of employment, logistics relating to staff trainings and/or professional development opportunities or anything in the Personnel Code?

• Call Shira Unterman, Talent Manager (and in her absence, call Dan Sennet)!

An inquiry from a newspaper or similar entity, Israel and/or antisemitic incident or crisis on campus, questions about Hillel’s Israel Partnership Guidelines, applying for a CIJA grant or Identifying and supporting students for political campaigns?

• Call Jay Solomon, Chief Communications & Public Affairs

Managing a challenging student, structuring my student leadership training and development, thinking through innovative engagement strategies, planning and budgeting for a campus-based program, recruiting for birthright, or figuring out how to integrate Jewish content?

• Call Seth Goren, Chief Education & Campus Officer, or Bev Shimansky, Chief Engagement & Campus Officer!

Having issues with your campus social media, promoting an external program, event support, marketing programs, website, google drive, newsletters, graphics or need swag approval?

• Call Jake Zeldin, Senior Creative Strategist!

Use any of these emails to book space in the Board Room (on the 1st Floor), or the Resource Room (2nd Floor), or the Spiritual Room (2nd Floor).

Mawrgan at the front desk:
mawrgan.shaw@dspm.ca 

Wolfond Centre generic email:
wolfondcentrebookings@gmail.com

Creative Assets – Any piece of creative that is used to support a program, initiative, or event. This could range from a Facebook banner, to an email header, to swag, to a poster/flyer/handout, to a microsite, etc.

The Drive – refers to the Google Drive. All documents should be saved on the Drive so that they can be accessed by other staff and shared accordingly. 

Team Drives – refers to the campus specific drives that are shared between MarComm and campus teams. There is also a Shared Resources Team Drive where you can find helpful documents. 

LGL – Little Green Light. Hillel Ontario’s previous CRM (Constituent Relationship Management system) that was used to capture both student engagement data, as well as fundraising data.

MarCom – Used to refer to the people in the Marketing and Communications Department and/or the need for this resource to be applied to a piece of work.

Mailchimp – Our email management system. All mass emails (i.e. campus newsletters, monthly newsletters, solicitations, etc.) are usually sent through Mailchimp. Mailchimp can only be accessed by the Marketing and Communications Department

Newsletters – Hillel sends newsletters to each campus weekly and on a monthly basis to all of its constituents. Newsletters are a set template that we fill with specific content, sent through Mailchimp to mass lists by the Marketing and Communications Department. Hillel Ontario’s policy is that every campus sends a weekly newsletter and the content is provided by campus staff. Every campus contributes content to the monthly newsletter, which MarCom is responsible for collecting and sending.

Schwipe – Hillel Ontario’s new CRM (see above) specifically designed for Hillel student data collection. Schwipe is based on students swiping their student ID cards to indicate their attendance at events. Schwipe integrates with Mailchimp, forms, and payment processing and will be the system where each campus tracks their student engagement data for Measuring Excellence.

Square One – An online form to collect all necessary information and to provide support for campus-based and organization wide programs and initiatives. Every staff is required to fill out Square One in the planning of a program, which initiates Mar/Comm’s work on the creative assets necessary to promote the initiative.

Board of Directors – A group of lay leaders who guide and advise the organization, are its champions in the community, and have fiscal responsibility for its operations. The Hillel Ontario Board of Directors is managed primarily by the CEO and its current Chair is Allan Weinbaum. The minimum gift to be a Board member at Hillel Ontario is $1800.

Board of Governors – A group of lay leaders who act as advisors and thought partners for the organization, but do not have any fiscal responsibility. The Hillel Ontario Board of Governors is primarily managed by the CEO, and the minimum gift to participate is $10,000. The Board of Governors is currently chaired by Hinda Silber.

Student Board(s) – a group of leadership students at each university who work with campus staff to create and organize programming, events, and engagement

Israel Partnership Guidelines – Hillel International has crafted a set of guidelines for all local Hillels to use when assessing partnerships with Israel-related organizations. Hillel Ontario fully adheres to these guidelines, which can be found here.

Measuring Excellence (ME) – The largest data collection effort in the world. All Hillels that participate do so voluntarily and are able to measure themselves against all other participating Hillels across the global movement. On going measurement through ME collects data around finance, fundraising activity, student participation, and employee engagement. Specifically for student engagement data, Hillel Ontario measures each campuses’ breadth, depth, and reach and compares these metrics year over year, as well as uses these metrics to report on our impact to donors and potential donors.

Breadth – Student engagement measurement that indicates students who have had 1+ interactions with Hillel. Based on the estimated Jewish student population on a campus, excellent Hillels strive for 70% breadth.

Depth – Student engagement measurement that indicates students who have had 6+ interactions or a high-impact experience with Hillel. Based on the estimated Jewish student population on a campus, excellent Hillels strive for 30% depth.

Reach – Student engagement measurement that indicates the percentage of students for whom we have at least one piece of contact information. Based on the estimated Jewish student population on a campus, excellent Hillels strive for 90% reach.

On One Foot (OOF) – On One Foot. A peer to peer fundraising campaign created by Hillel Ontario in 2016, for which we won the Innovation in Fundraising Award. After three years, OOF is taking a break, but may be back one day!

You Had Me At Hillel (YHMAH) – The newest campaign to celebrate our $1M matching gift for Talent and to build a platform to advance the conversation around talent in our community. YHMAH will be the on-going site of all information as it relates to working at Hillel Ontario – job postings, staff profiles, etc.

Hillel Ontario Student Leadership Council (SLC) – Hillel Ontario Student Leadership Council, which includes between two and four students from each campus, serves as an advisory group to the Hillel Ontario Board, and provides participants with opportunities for leadership development, Jewish learning, and relationship building.

GA – The General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America. This is a yearly conference that attracts Jewish professionals and lay leaders across the globe. The location of the GA changes year to year in North America, and every four years, the GA is in Israel. The GA usually has a student track and Hillel Ontario offers this travel and leadership opportunity to the SLC.

HIGA / Hillel International Global Assembly – Hillel International’s annual gathering/conference for all Hillel professionals across the globe. HIGA is typically in early December and will be held in Austin, Texas this year.

BRI / Taglit Birthright Israel – Taglit Birthright Israel is non-profit organization that gives every Jewish young adult around the world, especially the less connected, the opportunity to visit Israel on an educational trip. Birthright Israel is the largest educational tourism organization in the world that has given over 750,000 journeys to the magical state of Israel.

The Wolfond Centre “Wolfond” – UJA Federation of Greater Toronto launched a major, city-wide capital campaign in the 90s, called Jewish Toronto Tomorrow, under the leadership of long time, former UJA CEO Ted Sokolsky. The first phase of this campaign was the redevelopment of Jewish downtown. The Wolfond Family made a capital gift as part of this campaign to construct a Hillel building at UofT that would primarily serve the Jewish student population downtown but also serve as a hub for the downtown Jewish community. Multiple organizations have occupied and/or regularly used the Wolfond Centre as their home over the years, with Hillel always being the primary tenant. When the former organization, Hillel of Greater Toronto, transitioned to become the larger Hillel Ontario, any non-campus based staff were placed at the Wolfond Centre. Today, given the way in which Hillel Ontario has grown, the first floor of the Wolfond Centre is specifically for Hillel UofT Team, as well as select positions from the Development, Marketing, and Operations Team, as well as the CEO, are all located in offices on the third floor of the Wolfond Centre. While the building is owned and operated by UJA, Hillel is now the only tenant. The Wolfond family has now made a second, capital commitment to renovate the building to better suit the needs of Hillel Ontario. This is a long term project that is currently still in negotiations with the university and UJA.

Interns – peer-to-peer student engagement interns. Student interns are responsible for building relationships with other students, developing programs that speak to students’ needs, and promoting events to the community. In cultivating these community engagement skills, interns will receive extensive training, learning, and mentoring around outreach, one-to-one conversations, and project management, among other topics.

Engagement – Hillel defines engagement as “the act of reaching others, getting to know them, and connecting with them on the basis of their interests, ambitions, and passions. Hillel attempts to engage others, seeking first to understand them, and then to identify common interests, offerings, or experiences that meet them where they are. With a focus on relationships and not on participation, we create vibrant, relevant, Jewish life across campus, enhancing the accessibility of Jewish experiences for all students through conversations with peers.”

Advocacy – Public support or recommendation of a specific cause through campaigns and other methods for promoting change

Education – Guided or independent learning that leads to changes in behavior, feeling, knowledge, skills, or perspective and that bolster understanding of oneself, Judaism, Jewishness, and the surrounding world

Community partners – external organizations with whom we engage and run programs and initiatives

Crisis – a time of unexpected difficulty, trouble, or danger relating to Hillel Ontario, either at large or on campus, usually associated with antisemitism and/or anti-Israel sentiment.  The severity of a crisis is determined by the amount of additional resources required to respond to the issue.

Zoom – An online platform for video conferencing that we use across Hillel Ontario. The Hillel Zoom account can be reserved through the Google calendar by writing “Zoom” in the calendar and inviting the administrator to the meeting.

Talent – The term that Hillel uses to refer to its professional staff and human resource strategies around recruitment, retention and training.

IFs / Israel Fellows “Shlichim” – These fellows are Israeli Ambassadors from Israel that are placed on university campuses throughout North America through a global partnership between Hillel International and the Jewish Agency for Israel. An Israel Fellow has typically completed his/her army service, and works on a campus for an average of two years. IFs bring the “authentic” Israel to our students on campus.

Shinshinim – UJA’s Israel Engagement ShinShinim are young Israeli leaders who defer their army service for one year to volunteer in the GTA. Each year, the ShinShinim are hosted by local Toronto families, and engage Jewish community members with cutting edge programs focusing on contemporary Israel. The ShinShinim informally teach about Israel through creative programs and challenging discussions, bringing an authentic Israel experience to the Toronto Community. Hillel Ontario has two Shinshinim serving the GTA campuses.

ED Team / Education Team – about seven Hillel Ontario staff people who have a background in Jewish education gather every other week to discuss programs and initiatives that support Jewish education for students and within Hillel Ontario. The Chief Education & Campus convenes these meetings and oversees the group.

Out of Sync (OOS) – each year, Hillel Ontario does one initiative across all of it campuses that asks students, in partnership with their campus professionals, to raise money to support Hillel’s programming on their campus. In its first year (2019), the event featured Israeli Eurovision Netta Barzilai and over 100 participating students on stage. The event raised approximately $100,000 in corporate sponsorships and individual donations.