The Institute for Jewish PolicyResearch (JPR) announces the launch this week of a major national survey ofJewish opinion, in order to generate data to support the policy needs of Jewishcharities working across the community.

The National Jewish CommunitySurvey (NJCS) will be the first survey of its kind for over a decade, and isbeing funded by Pears Foundation, JPR, and a wide range of community charitiesincluding UJIA, Jewish Care, Norwood, Nightingale House and several of thesynagogue movements. In addition, numerous other communal organisations havegiven active support to JPR in the development of this project through anextensive consultation process which examined issues such as Jewish religiousand communal life, social care and welfare, fundraising and charitable giving,and education - all of which are covered in the survey.

The NJCS is also being designedto be used alongside the data on Jews derived from the 2011 UK Census, which isbeing released in stages by the Office of National Statistics. JPR has alreadybegun its analysis of the Census data and has published two initial reports.

The NJCS is being conducted byJPR in association with the research agency Ipsos MORI. The team includes twoof JPR’s Senior Research Fellows: Dr David Graham, the expert on Jewishdemography who undertook much of JPR’s work on the 2001 Census and co-authoredJPR’s 2010 Israel Survey and 2011 National Jewish Student Survey, and Dr LauraStaetsky, a social statistician who previously worked at RAND Europe, andIsrael’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

The initial findings report isscheduled to be published towards the end of this year. From that point onwardsJewish community organisations will be able to commission JPR’s research teamto produce bespoke reports that focus in greater detail on their specificinterests.

Jonathan Boyd, ExecutiveDirector of JPR, explained: “The National Jewish Community Survey is part of aconcerted effort to generate empirical data designed to serve policy planning acrossthe Jewish community in the coming years. The data we gather now will have asignificant bearing on how Jewish charities serve people’s needs going forward,and JPR’s research team will be heavily engaged in ensuring that the findingsare made available to as many charities as possible. This survey embodies JPR’sstrategic approach – providing data about the community, for the community – soplease look out for an email about it in your inbox and take the time tocomplete the questionnaire.”

To take part in the NationalJewish Community Survey please click here

For further informationabout the National Jewish Community Survey please click here