Annual Congregational Mailing List Update

Every year, United Synagogue updates congregational mailing lists so we may send CJ: Voices of Conservative/Masorti Judaism and other mailings directly to the members of our affiliated synagogues. By September, every congregation will have received information on how to update, either electronically or by editing hard copy. We ask that all congregations send in their lists when they receive these materials. If possible, congregations should update electronically according to the formatting instructions below. Call Bonnie Riva Ras at the communications department at 212-533-7800, ext. 2600, or e-mail her at ras@uscj.org.

Quicker, Easier and More Accurate: Options for Sending Membership Files

To better serve congregations, the United Synagogue requests that your updated membership list be sent to us electronically. We can accept a number of popular file formats.

Please be sure to check your file for viruses before sending it to us.

Although a paper printout may be included with the mailing, we can also email your most recently updated list in an Excel format, and you can insert updates on it. Instructions will accompany each file. To request an Excel file, email your request to conglist@uscj.org. The file will be emailed back to that address. Be sure to specify your congregation ID number and name.

Who is a Member? We know that your congregation may list every person in a household as a separate member (husband, wife, children). We need only the adults' names,which should be listed in the "preferred name" section on the Excel spreadsheet. One listing per family, please.

Technical questions should be directed to the department of information technology at 212-533-7800, ext. 2402. Please call Bonnie Riva Ras at 212 533-7800, ext. 2600, for general information on the membership update process.

Instructions for File Output

Congregations use various database programs; we are not able to accept a simple copy of your membership file. Instead, we ask you to submit your list of members in a formatted file using the file type as comma separated value text or ASCII delimited text. (Note that the file type may appear in your program with a slightly different name.) This is a standard export feature in nearly every database program. In addition to text formats, we can accept files created in Excel or Access, and software packages that use a *.DBF file format. Your consultant or the manual for your database program should be able to explain how to export the data from your database in the correct format. If you use software from Rakefet or Chaverware, a company representative can help walk you through the process; other software companies may offer similar services. This should be a quick and uncomplicated procedure.

The following fields must be included and in the same order listed below. Please be sure that the data is packed; eliminate all extra spaces.

Record Layout:

TITLE

FIRST_NAME

LAST_NAME

SUFFIX (May be blank)

PREFERRED_NAME (Use this for more than one adult's first and/or last name;may be blank)

STREET_ADDRESS

STREET2 /CARE_OF (May be blank)

CITY

STATE

ZIP_CODE+4

PHONE# (INCLUDE AREA CODE)

For example, this is what a comma-delimited file would look like with blank SUFFIX and blank STREET2:

“Mr. & Mrs.”,“Mark”,“Cohen”,” ”,”Mr. Mark Cohen & Ms. Andrea Smith”,“155 Fifth Avenue”,” ”,“New York”,“NY”,“10010-1016”,“212-533-7800"

Other Information:

• Please save the file using the congregational code number, which you will find above the name of your congregation on the congregational mailing list update form that you will receive in the mail. Example: The ASCII file name for Temple Israel with Cong. Code #000999 is simply 000999.
• When you email the list, please send it as an attachment to conglist@uscj.org. Please remember to send us your cover sheet to alert us to the email; fax it to 212 353-9439 or mail it to us at 155 Fifth Ave., New York NY 10010.
• If you send an electronic file to us through the post office, please put it on CD-Rom. If you must, you may send us an IBM/PC compatible  3 ½"  high density disk, an 100MB or 250MB zip disks, but those methods are less desirable. Be sure to attach a label with the file name, the name and address of your congregation and a contact person.