PresenTense Year in Preview 5772

Once a year, we at the PresenTense Group try to take a step back to reflect on our plans for the year ahead through the prism of our mission and the requirements of the sector we work in. It's an engaging, inspiring and sometimes frustrating process, one that we throw ourselves into out of the recognition that we are working in PresenTense to serve a higher calling, and that the community which makes our work possible deserves to know what it is we are planning to do with their volunteer hours and their dollars.

This year's process began in June, when we brought together our staff from around the world to look a few years ahead and envision how we'd like the future to be, and how we could use the tools we have to get there. The next two seminars, in July and August, were devoted to the more practical matters, turning those visions into reality.

The result of this process is the Year in Preview document, included here. The Year in Preview is broken into three parts: first, an introduction, giving a high-level overview of how PresenTense views the year to come, and what new assets we have at our disposal to make sure that this coming year results in successful programs and positive change for the Jewish People and the World. Second, a more in-depth look at our programs through what we've called Project Summaries, which provide a clearer look at the 'how' of what we do. Last, our budget, which can provide those with a more quantitative mind a sense of how we are allocating resources and setting priorities.

As we write in the introduction, the Year in Preview was developed by PresenTense to provide robust information to our constituency about what we do to leverage their time and money for social impact. As a nonprofit organization, PresenTense sees itself as a public emissary in the broadest sense of the term: owned and accountable to the public, and operating on behalf of the public’s interest. Through this Year in Preview, we hope to provide the public sufficient information to provide informed guidance and critique to Group management as we grow our impact and push ahead towards our goal of realizing the Jewish People’s collective potential in the 21st century.

We look forward to your thoughts. Comments can be sent to yearinpreview@presentense.org, or posted on blogs or wikis (but please share the link with us by email, or post it to twitter with the information @presentense #yearinpreview as part of the tweet).

Enjoy.