March 31, 2023 -Good Newsletter
Greetings and Blessings to you all,
Spring is here - we had a very snowy March! We started the month with a Congregational retreat and ended with a marvelous mash up weekend full of crafters, the 60th Anniversary Taskforce members, and volunteers ready to take on a huge project down by the floating bridge. March went in and out with the Holy Spirit. Amen!
The staff see the spring and summer events getting closer day by day and are busy preparing for a safe, fun, and transformational 60th anniversary year.
Read on for our March news and updates!
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Dr. Kathleen Kristin Ruen (pictured here with Rev. Bob Isaksen) was welcomed at four churches this month and asked to talk about the Capital Campaign with three of their church councils. Rev. Cricket Cooper from St. Luke's asked Kathleen to give a talk during the sermon March 5th.
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Board President Report
Happy Spring! Things continue to progress at Koinonia, and we are excited about the year ahead. In March we trained our new Board Members, met with GSB on planning a 60th anniversary film, and began planning and inviting people to participate in our Strategic Planning weekend in September. Please see below for progress on our 3 goals, which we are keeping for this year to continue to build a strong foundation for future growth.
Goal Committee Work
Goal 1 – Operating Revenue (Champion – Mark Wilson): Conference Center Income - $136k
Philanthropic Revenue - $300k, Other Rental Income - $62k. We are continuing to conduct outreach to bring in both philanthropic dollars and rental revenue to ensure a balanced budget by the end of 2023. Late winter is a slower time for rentals at Koinonia, but we do have activity on the horizon. The Crafting weekend on March 24-26 has a higher reservation rate than last year, and there is interest in the upcoming Women’s retreat and Quilting/Craft week in April. Our pilot aftercare program began on January 17 and is going well. Registration for Nature Camp opened on March 1, and we have 20 applications in.
Goal 2 – Connections to member congregations (Champion – Kristi Jasberg-Robinson): Continue relationship building with member and other congregations. Grow social media following and engagement. This committee has set goals for 2023 and met on March 27. We continue to cultivate relationship with our member congregations and the social media subcommittee has postings planned for Instagram and Facebook.
Goal 3 - Capital Campaign (Champion – Anthony Geraci): Reach stretch goal of additional $500,000 (beyond the $1M) funds raised. The Capital Campaign is focused on our stretch goal of raising an additional $500k in 2023. We reaching out to congregations and alumni. We received our first congregational goal of $3,000 from my home church, St. JME.
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Fundraising/ Finance Update
As of March 1, we have received
$13,689.46 in donations (not including Capital Campaign funds)! Thank you!
Our Capital Campaign Gifts and pledges are $1,080,049.40, total gifts (2020-present) are $662,831.67, and donations received this year as of March 1 are $60,093.34.
We sent out an appeal letter in mid-March asking current donors to renew for 2023 and have been getting a wonderful response. This is helping us prepare for the summer!
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Property Updates
We had a few heavy snows this month, and Matt Baumhardt spent some long days plowing the roads. The main road will need some work on potholes in the spring. The roofer for the Conference Center has not returned to make repairs as promised, and unfortunately, we will need to hire another roofer to do this. The Sunago Floating Bridge has been completed and will be delivered to the camp in the next two weeks. On the last weekend of March Matt led a group of volunteers to take apart the old bridge, to make room for the new. Thank you, volunteers!
The property team reconvened its monthly meetings in March, welcomed new members, and began planning work weekends for the spring.
The Waterfront 60 project is moving along, with a path cut to a lookout point, clearing of some trees to increase air flow and visibility, and two contractors selected for the next step, which is putting in new roads to the beach and the rafters, putting in a new set of stairs, and laying down stone for a patio next to the beach area. It's going to be beautiful.
The Full Time Facilities Manager position is open! Apply here
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Outreach/Marketing
Facebook post reach was up +16% from the previous 90 days, we added 7 more followers in the past month, and post engagements hover between 350 and 1,500. The last newsletter had a 49% open rate, down from the January 51% open rate.
The Outreach/Marketing team reconvened this month, adding a new team member. The Goal 2 Social Media Taskforce met, creating posts with the new goals in mind. Some work has been done on the website search engines with a volunteer SRO consultant helping to increase visibility on Google. Lora and Kathleen are working with GSB on a design for a common ground brochure and a Diamond Club ($1,000 or more a year) brochure.
Kathleen has visited four churches this month, including a zoom council meeting. Lora sent out letters to all of the MetroNY Synod Conferences to suggest that they share the campaign film during their March meeting. Kathleen and Lora are planning on attending the MetroNY Synod Assembly the first weekend in May. Koinonia is co-hosting a coffee hour, which means can have a table, advertising time, and plenary time. It's a great opportunity for Koinonia.
On the local level, Becky Morabito and a representative from the Sullivan County Childcare council were at the Highland Town Hall on Saturday March 25th to share information about the Nature Camp and Aftercare program. Koinonia was also listed in the monthly email of the Barryville Chamber of Commerce and has an ad about the 5K in a special issue of the Sullivan County Democrat.
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Worship and Programming
It has been quiet on site for most of March, but there has been a lot of activity planning for the spring and summer. There is a lot of interest in the upcoming Women’s retreat and Quilting/Craft week in April, and of course for the 60th Anniversary Events.
Registration for Nature Camp/Young Leaders opened on March 1 and we have 20 applications in. if you have children ages 4-15 you can come up as a family and send your children to Nature Camp!
Pastor Mary Button will be partnering with Koinonia and the Salvation Army on a swim camp in Port Jervis.
Pastor Mary Button is also going to be in the Conference Center on Maundy Thursday and will set up prayer stations all afternoon.
The Aftercare program continues to run well, and Becky Morabito (Childcare Director) is working on the Afterschool license and being a place that can take Sullivan County Childcare vouchers.
Lora Baumhart has opened the 5K registration, and with the date a week before Memorial Day Weekend, is expecting a bigger turnout. Consider registering as a virtual team if you can't make it.
Jean Sandberg let all previous Advent participants know that we are opening Advent registrations now, rather than in September of 2023, and several have already booked. Advent registration is open!
Jean Sandberg is taking a more active role in programming in 2023, and in working with congregation retreats on their needs.
The 60th Anniversary Taskforce met on the weekend of March 24-26. They sorted photos and began solidifying the schedules for the events-more to come soon!
There is so much going on and going to happen this year! Please take a look at our website to learn more about everything-Jackie Lund has been doing a great job updating the calendar.
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60th Anniversary Programming
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Our Mission is reaching more people, and our vision to become "a flourishing outdoor community that cultivates transformation and ripples peace and reconciliation to the world" is leading us to the future. Thank you for reading this newsletter, for your prayers, your volunteering, your booking of buildings and rooms, and for your financial support. Together, we can build a ministry that will last for the next 60 years and beyond.
God Bless,
Katie Cunningham
Board President
Kathleen Ruen
Executive Director
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