An MBA with a Twist

from about.com: A Guide to Nonprofit-Focused Graduate Degree Programs Ten million people, or about 7% of the U.S. workforce, are employed by the nonprofit sector. Are you one of these people? Do you want to be? Whether you’re looking for a career boost or an opportunity to break into the nonprofit world, a master’s degree focused on the public sector can help you get there. As the realization that passion doesn’t automatically lead to success comes to more and more non-profit managers, public sector organizations have changed their business model to run themselves more and more like their for-profit counterparts. No one has made this quite as clear as Warren Buffett, who made a global statement about the importance of business know-how in the public sector with his multi-billion dollar gift to... Continue Reading

The New Generation of Nonprofit Leaders

from The Chronicle of Philanthropy: Are nonprofit groups doing enough to engage and sustain young workers who are ready to assume leadership roles? Members of the Washington chapter of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network say opportunities are expanding, but they also have concerns about their futures in the nonprofit world. [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

CLI: Cultivating Excellence

Back in December we wrote that the Center for Leadership Initiatives (CLI) was named the 2009 Leadership Formation Award recipient by the Harvard Club of Israel, the Harvard Business School Alumni Association of Israel (HBSAAI), the Penn Club of Israel and the Wharton Club of Israel. But for many, the question was “who/what is CLI?” Perhaps this new video can help shed some light. Based in Vancouver, BC and Jerusalem, CLI was founded in 2006 by Lynn Schusterman and is part of the Schusterman Philanthropic Network, which also includes the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and the Schusterman Foundation-Israel. [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

Facilitating a Holy Space for Conversations

by Yonatan Gordis Once upon a time, the Jewish people were grouped into tribes, some of whom had very specialized service roles. The priests, descendents of Aharon, were conduits for those seeking to connect with the Divine, with ritual, and with others who were living in a similar culture and community. Ultimately, they facilitated Jewish conversations so that the three systems of Jewish life (human-to-self; human-to-human (community); and human-to-Divine) could flourish. However, with the shifting of time and countless systems (ritual, prayer, language, community and more), the specialized roles of the priests have all but disappeared. One of the key competencies that the Center for Leadership Initiatives (CLI) seeks to bring to the Jewish community is the facilitation and convening of meaningful... Continue Reading

The 2010 ROI Community Summit

from the ROI Community Website: 2010 ROI Summit In celebration of ROI’s 5th anniversary, the ROI team led by Lynn Schusterman has decided to change things up a little this year: The 2010 ROI Summit will be a gathering for current members of the ROI Community.  In other words, if you have participated in a past ROI Summit or Regional Gathering, or were a Charlie Award recipient, you are eligible to apply for participation in this special 5th anniversary ROI Summit. Why are we doing this? As the program turns five years old, we are trying to strengthen our ROI Community, which has expanded every year. Expansion is good, as it widens the network. But what ROI 2010 will provide is an opportunity to go deeper as it grows wider – enabling us to work together with you on a strategy that will... Continue Reading

Leadership: The Risk and The Reward

by Laura Freeman Every day, there are opportunities to “lead.” It could be in the work place, at home, or while volunteering in the community. The chance to make a difference, chart new territory and galvanize a team beckons us to the front of the line. However, for all the excitement and promise, passion and reward, leading is a risky business that keeps most of us on the sidelines. Why take the risk? Real leadership – the type that challenges the status quo, questions long standing policy, views circumstances through a different lens and ultimately expects people and organizations to operate differently, makes many people feel uncomfortable. We inherently don’t like change; we consciously avoid it and can overtly resent the change agent. As a result, “real leaders” can at times... Continue Reading

Do You Work in Israel’s Nonprofit Community?

An open invitation from the Israel Association of Professional Fundraisers Shalom Friends and Colleagues, As you recall, about a year ago we began the process of creating a professional organization for fundraisers, consultants and resource development staff in Israel. The initiative began as a result of various reports in the media that dealt a severe blow to the image of professional fundraisers. It hit home with many of us since the profession is seen as an ‘orphan’ or ‘stepchild’ and isn’t given the proper recognition by the public, despite our sizable contribution to Israeli society in general, and the philanthropic sector in particular. In Israel, as opposed to many countries in the world, fundraisers have no professional organization representing them. The Non-Profit... Continue Reading

The Birth of NewCAJE

Going to its Grassroots, NewCAJE Launches as an Innovative, Pluralistic Network of Jewish Educators An intergenerational group of Jewish educators has issued a call to the grassroots membership of the Jewish educational community to re-establish the pluralistic network that was CAJE under the name NewCAJE – New Coalition for Alternatives in Jewish Education. A letter from Rabbi Cherie Koller-Fox, a founder of CAJE, endorsed by seven other past CAJE presidents, went out this week to former members inviting them to become charter members of NewCAJE and outlining a series of steps to make the organization viable. The letter was accompanied by an endorsement from some forty young leaders – Jewish educators, rabbis, and communal workers in their twenties and thirties – pledging their support... Continue Reading

Innovation, Management and Leadership

Jews have been debating leadership since Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. Now, as established institutions begin to make room for innovative startups in Jewish life, discussions of leadership become more complicated and confusing, starting with what the word itself means. A leader is sometimes thought of as anyone who is highly placed in an organization. A major donor may be called a “lay leader,” suggesting that leadership amounts to having power or influence. A consulting firm that focuses on nonprofits, The Bridgespan Group, issued a report called “The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit,” which reported that nonprofits “will need to attract and develop some 640,000 new senior managers” over the next decade. They use “leader” to mean “manager.” A news story... Continue Reading

Trust, Transparency and Ethical Conduct

When it comes to issues of trust, transparency, and ethical conduct, the question for UJA-Federation of New York has never been “Have we done enough?” Instead, they push to answer tougher questions: What more can we do to raise the standard? How can we be more transparent? What measures do we need to take to avoid conflicts of interest? Every decision and every investment needs to be made with full transparency. At the recent General Assembly in Washington, D.C., John Ruskay, UJAFed NY’s executive vice president and CEO, spoke on a panel titled “Betrayal, Redemption, and Reward in a Post-Madoff World.” As the panel touched on many of our core themes, John has graciously made his remarks available to us: For me, this session comes down to the question in the forum description: “How can... Continue Reading

Next Page »