Survey Will Say, ‘I Am Jewish Atlanta’

The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta is undertaking a communitywide survey to learn not only how many people are part of Jewish Atlanta, but what they want and need from communal organizations.

The results are meant to update what Federation learned through its 2006 community study, which put the area’s Jewish population at 120,000 through a meticulous process of dialing random phone numbers in specific ZIP codes.

But in continuing its practice of studying the community every 10 years, Federation is more interested in quality than quantity.

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“It’s all about finding ways to really service the community,” said Matt Bronfman, who co-chaired Federation’s community study committee.

So instead of pollsters trying to find the Jews, Philadelphia-based market research firm Melior Group is working to get Jewish Atlantans to come to the survey.

From June 6 to 30, anyone age 15 or older in metro Atlanta and identifies as Jewish or lives in a Jewish household is invited to take the survey at www.IamJewishATL.com. The full survey will take about 20 minutes, although shorter versions will be served to younger participants and to people taking it through mobile devices. You can text JEWISHATL to 41411 to have the survey sent to your smartphone.

The goal is to get at least 2,500 respondents, said Renee Kutner, Federation’s vice president of marketing. To hit that mark, Federation is promoting the survey through its database of 32,000 households and through social media and is distributing 60,000 “#IamJewishATL” postcards.

Synagogues, day schools, and other communal organizations, including those that do not receive Federation funding, are being recruited to promote the survey because the findings will help all of them, Kutner said. “We’re not the ones who primarily will benefit from this.”

In addition to getting their voices heard in communal planning and programming, survey takers will be entered in a drawing for a $500 gift card and two $250 gift cards.

Melior, which has conducted similar surveys in communities in the Northeast, has spent months doing market research in Atlanta, and it will supplement the online survey with 250 phone interviews.

By the end of August, Melior should report its findings to Federation, including a solid estimate, if not an exact figure, for the size of Jewish Atlanta.