10th Annual Jewish Community Trustees’ Conference

Photos Credit: Paul Lang

Brighton & Hove Albion Chairman Tony Bloom leads the line-up at 10th Annual Jewish Community Trustees’ Conference

On Sunday 10th July, Lead, the leadership development division of the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), in partnership with the Jewish Volunteering Network (JVN) hosted the 10th annual Jewish Community Trustees’ Conference which was supported by the Bloom Foundation. This was finally able to take place in person following two years of online only events and welcomed 77 people from 36 organisations.

Following a welcome by JLC Vice Chair Debbie Fox, keynote speaker Tony Bloom, founder of the Bloom Foundation and Chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club reflected on his philanthropic journey, sharing his vision for the community and his top leadership advice.  Participants of the conference were motivated and grateful to hear from Tony with many of them inspired by his vision for regional regeneration.  Charity Lawyer, Jo Coleman, who is a partner at Womble Bond Dickinson, then provided an update on the landscape of charity governance and an overview of upcoming legislative and policy changes over the coming year.

The in person gathering was welcomed by those in attendance who shared that the conference was ‘ideal to re-meet people and make new contacts’ as well as ‘an extremely valuable forum to network, listen and learn’.  One delegate commented on how it was ‘encouraging to see so many leaders give up their time to enhance the work of such a wide range of charities’ whilst another stated that ‘All Chairpersons should mandate Trustees and CEOs to attend this invaluable event!’. 

Participants were then invited to join a variety of engaging breakout sessions on topics ranging from diversity to sustainability. Leila McKenzie-Delis, founder of The McKenzie-Delis Charitable Foundation & CEO of DIAL Global encouraged the audience to look closely at their working culture, recruitment, attitudes and understanding of diversity in all its forms. Using the McKenzie-Delis Review, a ground-breaking report on diversity and inclusion in the UK workplace, participants were able to gain insight into the ten visible and invisible facets of workplace diversity and inclusion.  The conference also hosted Catherine Mahoney, Research Manager and Caroline Jones, Senior Communications Manager, both of Charities Aid Foundation who discussed their wide ranging, newly released UK Giving Landscape research which focussed on the current cost of living crisis amongst other topics.

Jon Boyd, Executive Director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR), addressed the longer-term trends in the community, discussing insights from research conducted by JPR and drawing on data from multiple sources.  Participants heard about key trends in the Jewish community in terms of geographical shifts, denominational changes, synagogue life and Jewish schooling.

Younger Trustees were put on the agenda with a panel session welcoming Robin Moss (a trustee for Jewish LGBTQ+ charity KeshetUK and the Jewish Youth Fund) and Directly Elected Mayor of the London Borough of Lewisham, Damien Egan (a trustee for Jewish Museum) where they discussed what it is like being a ‘younger’ trustee in the community, what more organisations can do to attract younger talent and what the benefits are of diversifying a board.

Sarah Williams, a Senior Consultant from ThinkNPC, shared a wealth of resources and tools to support impact measurement in charities.  She stressed that by understanding what's going well and learning from what’s not, charities can take important steps to better serve the people and causes they support.

Sustainability was discussed by Kate Bernstock from Sadeh Farm where they linked Jewish values to environmental issues explaining what we can do more of to protect the environment. D'Arcy Myers, a consultant at Getting on Board, also looked at relationships in the context of boards and professionals, exploring ways people can foster positive relationships between people who occupy these two different roles in a charity organisation.

Finally, Sarah Ghaffari and Nathan Hollow from PLMR Charity Comms delivered an interactive session to help organisations prepare their response in the event of reputational damage, with their top tips on how to handle a media crisis.

During the conference, Chairs, CEOs, Trustees and Aspiring Trustees had an opportunity to network together, discuss shared issues and consider action moving forward.

Michelle Janes, Executive Director of Lead and the Co-CEO of the JLC said of the event:

‘It was hugely interesting and motivating to learn together with fellow leaders and such experienced speakers. The Trustee role is integral to a thriving Jewish Charitable sector, and I’m delighted that the JLC, through this event, can support people already in these vital positions of leadership and those thinking of making a step into these roles.’

Nicky Goldman, CEO of JVN said:

“This year was the tenth anniversary of the Jewish Community Trustees Conference, a collaboration between Lead and the Jewish Volunteering Network. The focus of both our organisations are leaders and volunteers, which represents the core of what a trustee is.  The Jewish Community is blessed with a long tradition of people who take on a trustee role. This role within charities has been especially challenging over the past couple of years, so it was truly inspiring that trustees and CEOs of communal organisations came together last Sunday to learn, share and network in person. We were honoured that Tony Bloom and Jo Coleman could share personal insights of their experiences and expertise followed by workshop sessions that were both purposeful and helpful.”

Tony Bloom, founder of the Bloom Foundation said about the day:

“I was delighted to take part in JCTC 2022. The sessions I attended and conversations I had all touched on the future of the Jewish Community, and the efforts to ensure our leaders are equipped with the right tools, networks and support to address future challenges. JCTC is a well-run and important platform to bring communal leaders together to reflect, connect and engage in conversations that go beyond the day-to-day. Mazel Tov to JCTC for their 10th anniversary and for organising such a great event."