The MASA scholarship is the primary tool for recruiting participants throughout the world to long-term programs in Israel. To date, the scholarship policy has been guided by needs-based criteria (aside from college students, who each receive a universal grant of $2,000). The scholarship system has reached a high level of precision in the way applications are processed. However, the MASA Company has identified several serious shortcomings in the current system:
- The lengthy process of applying for a scholarship and awaiting MASA’s response leads to a situation where students have to make a decision whether to enroll in a long-term program in Israel without knowing the amount of their scholarship.
- The scholarship application requirement of disclosing personal financial information is onerous to many families
- The percentage of applicants for scholarship in 2006-07 is around 55%. A person who does not request a scholarship does not see themselves as a MASA participant, thus limiting MASA’s ability to develop a sense of a shared universe and foster future active Jewish leaders.
In light of the above, and after extensive analysis of two years of data, MASA has developed a new scholarship policy for 2007-08, one that combines principles from the current policy and corrects some of its limitations.
The policy for 2007-2008 is different from country to country, however, despite the variations there are several general principles common to the policy in every country.
- All participants will receive a grant from MASA
- All participants will be connected to the project and identified with MASA
- 75% of participants will know the size of the grant that is available to them from the start
- The new policy will create a simplified and more efficient financial aid system
- The new policy will be a strong marketing tool to stimulate new populations for MASA, especially in the United States
For additional information on the policy of a specific country, see the MASA website www.masaisrael.org.
Incentives for Program Operators 2007-8
As part of MASA’s pro-active efforts to stimulate the creation of new long-term programs in Israel as well as strengthening the capacity of existing programs, MASA is significantly increasing the cash incentive for operators in order to increase enrollment for the 2007-2008 year. Whereas in the past operators received a cash incentive of $350 for each additional participant who enrolled over the previous year, operators will receive $1,250 for each additional participant who enrolls in the 2007-2008 year. This grant aims to help the organizers with their marketing efforts.
Marketing Highlights and Initiatives
MASA's marketing and publicity activities in Israel and the world are conducted simultaneously on two fronts:
- Recruitment of future participants
- General marketing activities concerning the branding, public relations, and grounding of MASA in Israel and abroad.
Below are some examples of MASA’s recent marketing efforts and campaigns.
Recruitment through the MASA website
The MASA website is one of the key marketing and information tools for potential MASA participants. In an average month there are 50,000 entries into the site from people throughout the world. Recently, MASA engaged in a massive marketing campaign through “Google”. Thanks to this campaign, there has been a significant jump in entries to MASA’s website (70,000 “hits” and more each month).
During September-December 2006, MASA ran a campaign on the Ha'aretz website in order to recruit participants for “Go Galil.” The campaign took the form of flash-advertisements on the website and yielded about 500 “hits” per month.
MASA employs a staff to enter information and provide advice for the website users. The staff includes 4 English-language staffers, 2 Spanish, 1 Russian, and 1 French. This staff designs, writes, and transfers MASA content to our website. Additionally, they work with the various MASA programs in order to present them on the site in an attractive and marketable way. The staff answers questions received electronically and by phone concerning grants and the various MASA programs.
Media Advertising and Public Relations
- In the past few months, MASA broadcast four different advertisements about MASA on the Israeli television satellite channel. The advertising is designed for children of Israelis living abroad, and aims to encourage them to participate in long-term programs in Israel.
- In December-January and June-August MASA will advertise in El Al’s “Atmosphere” magazine. These are the months that draw large numbers of Birthright groups and other groups of young people that are prime candidates for MASA programs.
- Press releases are regularly submitted to the Israeli and world Jewish press and cover unique “items” such as: participants from India, various MASA mega events, the opening of unique programs, volunteers in the North, etc.
- In October and November MASA ran a radio campaign in Israel for the first time, that was designed to familiarize Israelis with the project. The campaign consisted of two radio advertisements presenting MASA participants studying and volunteering in the North and the South.