Graduates Unit Opens Course for Resource Development
In response to the growing interest of numerous Mandel graduates who hold leading roles in social and educational organizations, the Graduates Unit has organized a Resource Development course.
The course is being taught by Mr. Avi Armoni, consultant to the CEO of the Edmond J. Safra Fund, and Directorate Chairperson of the Israel Association of Community Centers, who has extensive knowledge and expertise in the field of resource development.
Many Mandel graduates cope with the challenges of fundraising on a daily basis. The purpose of the course is to enable them to obtain tools and skills with which they will be able to analyze their organizational situation, and formulate paths of activity which suit the character and unique needs of the organization. These tools and skills will give leverage to the graduates’ personal abilities, as well as enabling the organizations in which they work to create sustainable change in their fields. Furthermore, graduates will acquire tools which will enable them to advise other members of the Mandel community in this field in the future.
“The course is important in my eyes because it gives tools beyond resource development. It is helping us with our organizational identity,” said participant Yuval Ivri, a recent graduate of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. Ivri, who coordinates the Center ‘People Facing the Periphery” at the Hebrew University hopes this process will help him and other course participants to clarify the vision, aims and successes of their organizations.
Subjects taught during the course will include ways of recognizing and referring to sources of funding; questions of motivation for giving; the discussion of central aspects of marketing; interaction between philanthropists and social organizations; and processes of strategic planning of resource development in which essential components such as vision-building, organizational values and declaration of the organization’s mission will be presented.
“Avi Armoni brings with him experience as a fund raiser together with managerial experience in a public company and the private sector. I hope to receive from this course the tools to raise funds and develop resources together with tools for vision-building and measuring success. I would also like to become acquainted with the world of foundations and philanthropy,” said Ivri.
In order to benefit the wider Mandel graduate community, The Graduates Unit is active in the assembly and preservation of the unique knowledge developed in the course. The course is accompanied by an active website on which exclusive materials produced for the course can be found. Amongst these materials are the PowerPoint presentations and video recordings of each meeting.