Hebrew College and Boston University’s Institute for Nonprofit Management and Leadership will launch a first-of-its-kind certificate program in organizational leadership for rabbinical students and rabbis.

The program, supported with funding from The Samuel Bronfman Foundation, will provide students with a strong foundation in development, finance and marketing while also developing their reflective and strategic leadership skills. The program is unique in the Jewish world in bringing together a rabbinical school with a highly acclaimed leadership institute.

Following an opening intensive seminar this spring, classes for the two-year, part-time program begin in the fall at Hebrew College in Newton Centre, Mass.

Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, dean of Hebrew College’s rabbinical school, said the new program responds to the changing nature of rabbinic work by giving visionary spiritual leaders the skills they need to thrive.

“This program will prepare rabbis for leadership in an increasingly complex, diverse and dynamic Jewish world,” said Anisfeld. “We encourage our students to develop visions for rabbinic leadership that are innovative, inclusive and entrepreneurial, and this program will allow our rabbis to bring these visions to life.”

The Boston University Institute for Nonprofit Management and Leadership teaches students a firm grasp of business fundamentals, an ability to think and act strategically, and a capacity to make tough yet humane decisions. In its five years, the program has grown from an inaugural class of 14 to a cohort of about 90.

The certificate program will include a management seminar focusing on the development of skills and an understanding of the theory and practice of management; a practice seminar to help students adapt management skills to individual values, abilities and temperament; and intensive mentorship from skilled leaders in the Jewish community.