Online Jewish Community Trustees’ Conference on Governance and Fundraising

On Thursday 19th September, 25 communal Chairs and Trustees joined our Leadership Development division Lead for an online Trustee training opportunity, held in partnership with the Jewish Volunteering Network.

With the current landscape as it is, being a lay leader for a charitable organisation has never been so important which is why it is vital that we are able to host training events like this. The event focused on two key areas: Governance and Fundraising. These sessions were led by charity experts: Joanna Blackman who is a partner in the charities and social economy team at Wrigleys, and Sylvia Pearl a senior consultant with over three decades of experience who specialises in strategic development and income generation.

After a Governance overview by Joanna and a strategic update from Claire Mandel, the JLCs Head of Strategic Programmes who is leading on our Forge the Future initiative, attendees had the opportunity to attend one of two workshops:

Developing a Fundraising Audit and Strategy

In this session, participants were shown how a fundraising audit and strategy should look, how to best assess their current fundraising efforts, and how to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for growth to ensure their efforts align with their charity's mission. Understanding these requirements allow participants to delve into strategic thinking around their organisation's fundraising needs and how they can achieve their charity's mission and build a sustainable future for their organisation.

Horizon Scanning; Addressing Problems Through Good Governance

This interactive session allowed participants to explore how good governance can head off contentious issues before they arise, and what to do if, and when, they do. Attendees left the session with a better understanding of key practices and procedures that should be put in place, and going forward will help address issues around reputation, freedom of speech, disputes and complaints, and regulations.

The evening concluded with a collaborative session facilitated by Leeds Jewish Representative Council COO Susie Gordon. The session, titled ‘Collaborative Solutions: A collective voice’, encouraged participants to share issues they were facing and to then break into groups to discuss the relevant issues they had an interest in. Challenges included trustee recruitment, dealing with potential conflicts of interest and further fundraising challenges.

Quotes from participants:

“This was a really useful session for all trustees to understand recent charity law developments and apply the learning to really relevant case studies and practical issues.”

“I would definitely recommend this training for anyone that is a trustee or works with them. The update on regulations and responsibilities were very well delivered, the sign posting of resources were very valuable, and talking to others with similar concerns was very interesting. 10/10!”